which have a nest in the corner of my room, under the ceiling. There is
hardly a room, kitchen, or outhouse, in the country, without these
inmates, and it would be thought next to murder to kill them. They build
their nests of clay in the shape of a bottle; they line them with the
softest down, and, though they leave the country during the winter, the
same birds always return to the same nests after their emigration. As
the room doors usually stand open in the day, they go in and out
whenever they please; but if the door is shut, they give notice of their
wish to go abroad, by a gentle piping and flying about the room; and no
one thinks it troublesome to let them out: indeed, I have often left my
bed to open the door for them.”
I forgot to mention that my uncle told us there was no country in the
world which was not visited by these little swift-winged creatures. They
were seen, for a short time, even in the frozen regions of Baffin’s Bay
and Melville Island; and Captain Franklin says, they made their first
appearance at Great Bear Lake the middle of May, to feast on the
mosquitoes and other insects that abound on the northern shores of
America. Wentworth says, they may be literally called cosmopolites.
_31st._--After dinner yesterday, the conversation turned on the
importance of the palm tribe in their native countries to the
inhabitants. Sago, cocoa-nuts, dates, oil, and various other articles of
excellent food which they produce, were all discussed; and each of us
mentioned some of the many uses to which the stems, the leaves, and the
fibrous parts were applied. Miss Perceval afterwards endeavoured to
explain the botanic distinctions between palms and tree-ferns, which
have so many points of resemblance in their mode of growth: but my aunt
suggested, that her description would be much more interesting if we
were looking at the plants; and she kindly proposed another expedition
to those magnificent stoves of Lord S. that we had seen with so much
pleasure last autumn.
Miss P. approved of this arrangement, and she has been exceedingly
gratified to-day with all she saw; but none seemed to be more delighted
with our visit than the old gardener. He perceived how well she could
appreciate his difficulties and his success; and he listened with the
greatest attention to all her remarks. Miss P., however, did not forget
the circumstance that led to our visit, and she shewed us in several
different palms, that the scales of the foot-stalks completely sheath
the stem; and that after the decay of the leaf they form an entire ring,
which has a very different appearance from the separate marks or
cicatrices left by the fronds of the fern.
She had never seen so fine a collection of palms in this country; and
she told us many circumstances of their history and habits. She made us
observe, that in the leaves the fibres run parallel to the edges. There
are two grand forms to which the leaves may all be referred; pinnated,
as in the cocoa and date; and fan-shaped, as in the dwarf and fan-palms.
In the dwarf which we examined, the breadth of the leaf is considerable,
but from the direction of the fibres, and the manner in which it is
folded, previous to developement, it may rather be regarded as composed
of several leaves.
The flowers of palms are even more numerous than I thought, though I
remember, at Rio, trying in vain to count those of the _alfonsia
amygdalina_--it would have been a hopeless work, for Miss P. says one
spathe sometimes contains sixty thousand.
Some palms are gregarious, forming large woods, and naturally spreading
over whole districts; as the dwarf palm does in the South of Europe. She
says, that the different species are never much intermixed; though their
districts are small, they are generally distinct from each other. It is
remarkable, that no palm of the old world is found in America, except
the cocoa-nut and the oil-palm of the coast of Guinea; and that there is
but one species common to Asia and Africa. The palms of New Holland,
also, are peculiar to that country; and I believe that she said, those
of the Mauritius only occur in those islands. The cocoa, the date, and
the sago palms, are the most widely distributed; but the true home of
the palms is the torrid zone; for, of 110 well known species, only
twelve are found outside the tropics.
I asked Miss P. whether the leaves which are found lining the
tea-chests, belong to a palm. Certainly not, she said, nor to any of the
cane families, as is evident from the want of a mid-rib; it is generally
believed that they belong to some of the grass tribes, and indeed very
closely resemble the broad-leaved _pharus_.
My uncle pointed out to her several large and flourishing plants of the
_ficus elastica_, or caoutchouc tree. They have succeeded so well for
the last two years in a stove kept at a very low temperature, that some
of them are now removed to the green-house, and even one or two are put
out of doors. As we drove home, I asked my uncle at what time
caoutchouc, or Indian rubber, was brought to this country.
“It appears,” said he, “to have been first introduced into Europe, about
the middle of the last century; and is, I am sure you know, procured
from two other South American plants, as well as from the ficus; I mean
the _hævea_ and the _jatropha_. The juice, which is obtained by an
incision in the bark, is made to spread itself in successive layers,
over clay moulded into the form of a bottle, and when sufficiently
thick, it is hung over the smoke of burning wood, which hardens, and
gives it a dark colour: the clay is afterwards crumbled and thrown out.
It is fabricated, by the inhabitants of its native country, into vessels
to contain water and other liquids; and it is in some places used by the
fishermen for torches.
“Caoutchouc is also procured from a climbing plant, _urceola_, a native
of Sumatra. If one of its thick old stems be cut, a white juice, like
cream, oozes out; by exposure to the air, a decomposition takes place,
and while part of it concretes, a thin whitish juice is separated. Cloth
well covered with this juice, becomes impervious to water; and the
pieces so prepared are easily joined together by applying fresh juice to
the edges.”
I asked my uncle, on our road home, if it was by means of that juice
that the water-proof cloth, which he had seen in London, was prepared.
He answered, that he had seen some of the juice at the Royal
Institution, where it had been brought from Mexico to be analysed; but
that, in general, caoutchouc was imported in a solid state. “A cheap
method,” he continued, “of dissolving it was discovered by Mr.
Mackintosh; and his mode of applying it to cloth, linen, silk, or any
materials of that kind, was equally ingenious and useful. When reduced
to a fluid state, a sufficient coat of it is laid upon the cloth, and
another piece being then spread over it and pressed together, they
become permanently united as well as water-proof; but as the outside and
the inside need not be similar, you may have the one of cloth, and the
other of velvet; or a camlet cloak lined with silk, or any other
combination you please.
“There are many other purposes to which this contrivance has been
applied. _Hoses_ for conveying the water from fire-engines, when made of
canvas and caoutchouc, and without seam, are much stronger, more
durable, and more flexible than those made of leather. I have been told
by a naval officer that a hose of this sort affords an excellent mode of
filling the casks in a boat, from a well or stream near the shore, when
a heavy surf prevents their being landed; for it is obvious that such a
hose may pass through the sea, without the possibility of the fresh
water it conducts being tainted by the salt. It is also well adapted to
tilts for waggons and hayricks; it would make admirable military tents;
and you may imagine what a comfort water-proof bags must have been in
Captain Franklin’s expedition to the Polar Sea, in keeping the men’s
clothes dry, notwithstanding the dismal weather to which they were so
often exposed.
“There is only one more use which I will now mention. Any substance that
is carefully coated with this gum is as impervious to air as to water:
bags therefore made in the shape of cushions or pillows, which can be
folded up and carried in the pocket, may be in a few moments inflated
with the breath, by means of a small pipe; and even beds, which when
empty would occupy but little room in a portmanteau, would often
preserve the health, and greatly add to the comfort of travellers in
certain countries, where a dry, clean, and soft bed is an unattainable
luxury.”
Miss Perceval told us that in some of the forests of Guiana, a
substance, called _dapicho_ by the Indians, is found in large masses
under ground; and which, having all the properties of the recent gum,
was long known by the name of fossil caoutchouc. But the indefatigable
Humboldt, having at last succeeded in finding some of it undisturbed in
the ground, at once perceived that it had oozed out of the roots of
caoutchouc trees which were so old that the interior had begun to decay.
It is white and brittle, till exposed to a strong heat; and when
sufficiently beaten with a heavy club it acquires great elasticity. The
Indians make their famous tennis balls of it; it is also cut into corks,
which are very superior to those made of the cork tree; and it is worked
up into enormous drum-sticks--the drum being merely a hollow cylinder of
wood about two feet long.
“There is, however,” my uncle observed, “a species of fossil caoutchouc.
It is, in fact, a bitumen, but flexible and elastic; and, as it has the
property of cleaning off pencil-marks in the same manner as Indian
rubber, it has been named mineral caoutchouc.”
I asked him if it might not be some of the dapicho, which had lain
buried in the ground, long since the trees, from which it oozed, had
perished?
“I have but two reasons, Bertha, to oppose to your theory. It is only
found near Castletown in Derbyshire, and you know the English climate is
not very well suited to those trees--and secondly, it is in the deep
recesses of a lead mine, surrounded by spar and limestone.”
_June 1st._--You may remember, mamma, how much I was interested, last
year, by my uncle’s illustrations of the Mirage and the Fata Morgana.
The subject was often afterwards alluded to in conversation; and my aunt
having incidentally mentioned it to her charming correspondent in Upper
Canada, I was this afternoon agreeably surprised by her reading aloud
the following passage in a letter which she had just opened:--
“Your young friend Bertha will be pleased to hear that last June I
witnessed something very like that curious phenomenon which you say
interested her so much. One morning I awoke just at the break of day,
and accidentally directing my eyes to the window, which has a southern
aspect, I was astonished to see--instead of the black monotonous forest
by which we are surrounded--a wide, magnificent sheet of water,
connected with a spacious river winding to a great distance, and
confined by gentle slopes and grassy banks; and all this so distinct
that the bright fresh green of the young leaves was beautifully
contrasted with the dark foliage of the pine woods.
“I rubbed my eyes, and looked again--for it appeared to be exactly our
lake near Peterborough, with the Otanabee River winding towards Rice
Lake, except that the whole view was reversed. I wondered how all this
could be seen over our lofty trees, and I went to the window and leaned
out to look for objects which I knew--but nothing was to be seen except
my beautiful and inexplicable landscape. I lay down--and still saw it
from my pillow;--but my eyes gradually closed--and, when I again
wakened, heavy mists had risen with the sun--and my fairy prospect had
vanished.
“I now recollected the description I had long ago read of the Fata
Morgana, and I was satisfied that this was no vision of my fancy, but
the reflection of real scenery upon some peculiar vapour which only
appears at that early hour of the morning.”
_2nd._--I spent a great part of this morning in examining the ingenious
leaf-nests of some little caterpillars, which Mary says are the larvæ of
the _tinea_ moths. She explained to me their construction. The
caterpillar fixes a number of fine silken cords from one edge to the
other of the leaf, and by pulling at them with its many strong feet, the
sides are gradually forced to approach each other till they meet, when
it fastens them together with short threads. Sometimes the large nerves
of the leaf are too strong to yield to these efforts, and the clever
little creature immediately weakens them by gnawing them half through,
in different places. I could distinctly perceive those places in
several of the leaves which we opened. Some species cut out a long
triangular portion from the edge of the leaf, and form it into a conical
roll, like a paper of comfits: in one spot, however, they let it remain
attached to the leaf, by way of a base; and then, by fastening little
cords to the point of the cone, it is actually pulled upright on the
remainder of the leaf, where it stands like a tent. But there are other
tineæ which shew still more dexterity in constructing their habitations.
Some of them we found on the under sides of the leaves of the rose-tree,
apple, elm, and oak; and Mary made me observe how nicely they form an
oblong cavity in the interior of the leaf, by eating the pulpy substance
between the two membranes composing its upper and under sides. The
detached pieces are then joined with silk, so as to make a case or horn,
which is cylindrical in the middle, with an orifice at each end, the one
being circular and the other triangular; and the seam is so artfully
made, as to be scarcely perceptible even with a glass. Were this case
all circular, it would be more simple, but the different shape of the
two ends renders it necessary that each side should be cut into a
different curve.
But I should fill my whole journal, were I to tell you all the beautiful
contrivances of these insects, and the instinct, or, I might say, the
reason which appears in all their contrivances.
_3rd._--My uncle mentioned yesterday, that in returning a few years ago
from Berwick upon Tweed, he was much surprised, as night came on, at
seeing two immense fires near Newcastle. Upon inquiring, he found that
they were the small coal which does not readily sell, and is therefore
separated by screens from the larger blocks. Prodigious heaps are thus
formed at the mouths of the pits; and from the decomposition of the
pyrites, they take fire, and continue to burn for years. One of these
huge mounds was but a few miles from the road; it was said to cover
twelve acres of ground, and to have been burning for eight years.
As all that small coal might be made use of to produce coal gas, he says
the legislature should interfere to prevent such a shameful waste, for
not less than one hundred thousand chaldrons are thus annually destroyed
on the banks of the River Tyne; and nearly the same quantity on the
Wear. Beneath these burning heaps, he found a bed of blackish scoria,
which resembles basalt, and which is used for mending the roads.
To the west of Dudley, in the great Staffordshire coal district, my
uncle says that some of the collieries took fire spontaneously many
years ago. The subterraneous conflagration spread to a great extent, and
produced some singular effects; smoke and steam were seen to rise from
the earth, the vegetation appeared to be hastened by the heat, and even
the ponds were warm. What was still more remarkable, where the ignited
part of the coal came near the surface, the argillaceous strata (or
potter’s-clay) covering it have been converted, by the intense heat,
into a species of porcelain jasper, which is sometimes beautifully
striped; this last circumstance being caused by the various degrees of
oxidation of the iron that is contained in the clay.
_4th, Sunday._--This morning--perhaps the last Sunday that we shall
spend at Fernhurst for many months--my uncle finished explaining to us
the three dispensations; and it made the more impression on me, as I
fear that, on our journey, we shall not have any of those regular Sunday
conversations, which have been so instructing and satisfactory.
“The object of the Christian Dispensation,” said he, “was to ratify the
promises of redemption and of eternal life, through the merits of a
divine mediator. What the former dispensations announced as _to come_,
this concluding dispensation has exhibited in actual accomplishment. The
long-expected Redeemer has been manifested; he has made the promised
atonement for the sins of mankind; he has shewn himself as the mediator
of the new covenant, and the doubts of ages have vanished before the
light of the Gospel.”
I ventured to interrupt my uncle, to ask why it is called the _new_
covenant, as if it was of a different nature from the two former ones.
“It is so styled,” he answered, “not as being new in its nature, or
different from those which preceded it; but merely as being new, or
last, in order, and therefore superseding all others. The typical
sacrifices of the two former were, you know, the symbols of the real
victim who consummated the Christian covenant. In each of them provision
was made for the reconciliation of fallen man; and the object of each
being the same, the terms were the same: Jehovah graciously promising on
his part to accept the meritorious death of the Messiah, as a full
acquittal and satisfaction of all sin; but, on the two-fold condition,
of faith, and of obedience on our part.
“The doctrine of atonement through the sufferings of the Mediator, forms
the basis of each of the covenants, and is justly considered by all
those who take their religion from Scripture as the corner-stone of the
Christian dispensation. The proofs of this essential tenet are as
numerous as they are clear and explicit; and in the last discourse which
our Saviour held with his disciples, and which is fully recorded by St.
John, you will find it very distinctly stated.
“A being of that transcendent dignity who could say, ‘All power is given
to me in heaven and in earth,’ would scarcely have been sent for the
mere purpose of communicating a clearer knowledge to mankind of their
duty, or of setting before them an example of practical holiness. These,
no doubt, were among the objects for which the Son of God became man;
but they were only collateral objects. In order to appreciate the
importance of his mission, we must compare it with the modes adopted on
former occasions. When the corruption of mankind drew down the dreadful
chastisement of the deluge; and when, after that catastrophe, the
patriarchal covenant was renewed, and fresh blessings and privileges
were offered to the posterity of the second father of mankind, the only
communication of these signal events was announced through Noah. When
God vouchsafed the second covenant, and established the Jewish religion
by direct revelation, a mere human agent, Moses, was employed. And when
the idolatries and wickedness of the Israelites induced the merciful
Governor of the universe to interfere, Elijah and other mere prophets
were sent to reclaim them.
“If therefore, when Christianity was revealed, the only intention had
been to prescribe a purer mode of worship, and to withdraw mankind from
their vicious career, why should not that mission have been entrusted to
another prophet, instead of requiring the special interference of the
Son of God?--Still more, if no other purpose was to have been
accomplished by the coming of Christ, why was it ordained that he should
suffer death, in attestation of his doctrines? Noah died a natural
death; so did Moses, full of years and honour; and Elijah was
distinguished by the privilege of not dying at all. From this comparison
alone we might safely infer, that the sufferings of our Saviour were
connected with some other momentous object--and in all parts of the
Scriptures we find that object declared in the most express terms. I
will point out to you a few passages which cannot be mistaken or
perverted.
“‘He was wounded for our transgressions; and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all.’ ‘He was made an offering for sin.’ ‘He taketh
away the sins of the world.’ ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ.’ ‘Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us.’
‘We have redemption through his blood.’ ‘The Son of man came to give his
life a ransom for many, a ransom for all.’
“These passages solve that great enigma, and explain in the most
distinct language the sublime and merciful object of the Christian
dispensation. And now let me ask you all, what are the impressions with
which this view of it should fill our hearts? Should we not be
overwhelmed with the magnitude of the mercy; and eager to exclaim with
the Psalmist, ‘Lord, what is man, that thou so regardest him!’
“But in thus summing up the proof of this mysterious plan of redemption,
it is highly necessary to remind you that it is _conditional_; that
salvation is offered to you, not forced upon you; and that it is offered
solely on the terms of implicit submission to the commands of our
Redeemer. If you reject the Gospel; or if, persuading yourselves that
you believe in its truth, you allow your actions to be in contradiction
to its precepts; or if, in cowardly subservience to the fashions of the
world, you seem ashamed of your Mediator and Substitute, then you can
claim no share in his ransom. My dear children, the alternative is
fairly set before you, and you must make your own choice.”
Mary asked her father whether this third dispensation did not materially
differ from the Levitical, in its again embracing _all_ mankind in its
offered benefits.
“Yes,” said he, “like the Patriarchal dispensation, it is universal in
its object. Christianity is, in fact, but the completion of
Patriarchism; the law having been a connecting chain between them.
Under the Patriarchal dispensation all men were taught to look forward
to the promised Deliverer; under Christianity all men are taught to
rejoice in the actual appearance of that promised Deliverer, who has
done and suffered everything that was predicted of him.
“Christianity has not yet become universal; but the purpose of the
Almighty is still powerfully though silently working. In the appointed
time, ‘the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,’ and the
Messiah will be universally acknowledged by Gentiles, Jews, and all
nations. ‘Thus from first to last, under the Three Successive
Dispensations,’ has God carried on one consistent and harmonious scheme
of grace and mercy for the salvation of his fallen creatures.”
_5th._--This evening, in talking of the variety of representations that
different historians give of the same facts, my uncle was lamenting the
loss of the many ancient works which are alluded to in contemporary
authors, but which appear to have perished; and he particularly
regretted the 105 books of Livy’s Roman History, which originally
consisted of 142.--“But,” he added, “there are some hopes that they may
yet be recovered.”
Mary asked him if there was any chance of their being found among the
Herculaneum manuscripts?
“Very little indeed,” he replied. “When those famous rolls of papyrus
were disinterred nearly eighty years ago, great expectations were
formed, of the literary riches they might contain. Their original number
was 1700, but by far the greater part were found, on closer inspection,
to be so mangled that there was not the least probability of recovering
any portion of their contents. Of those that were in a better condition,
many were destroyed by the first awkward attempts to unrol them; and,
unfortunately, the remainder have suffered great additional injury from
long exposure to the air.”
“I should have thought,” said Wentworth, “that having been partly
charred by fire, they would be proof against air and damp; as we find
old stumps of charred gate posts in the ground, which seem to have
remained there an immense time, perfectly unchanged.”