any are suffered to enter, but at a square hole, through a thick wall, they may discern a little light of a lamp. The Lewes do their ceremonies of prayer there without. The Moores and Turkes are permitted to have a little more light, which is at the top, where they let down the oyle for the lampe ; the lampe is a very great one, continually burning." [Sepulchral Caves in the Cliffs of Wady Mousa, in Mount Seir. From Laborde.] arkes; and great summes of money are offered there. But surely, to any Iew coming thither, and offering the porters a reward, the cave is shewed, with the iron gate opened, which from antiquitie remayneth yet there. And a man goeth down with a lampe-light into the first cave, where nothing is found, nor also in the second, until he enter the third, in which there are the sixe monuments, the For upwards of a century, only two or three one right over against the other; and each of them Europeans have been able, either by daring or are engraven with characters, and distinguished by bribery, to obtain access to the mosque and cave. the names of every one of them after this manner :- Ali Bey, who passed as a Mussulman, has given a 'Sepulchrum Abraham patris nostri, super quem pax description of it; but his account is so incompatible sit; and so the rest after the same example. And with all others, and with the reports of the Turks, a lampe perpetually burneth in the cave, day and that it is difficult to admit of its accuracy. Accordnight; the officers of the temple continually minis- ing to all other statements, the sepulchre is a deep tering oyle for the maintenance thereof. Also, in the and spacious cavern, cut out of the solid rock; the self-same cave, there are tuns full of the bones of opening to which is in the centre of the mosque, and the ancient Israelites, brought thither by the families is seldom entered even by Moslems; but Ali Bey of Israel, which even untill this day remayne in the seems to describe each separate tomb as in a disself-same place." This curious account agrees tinct room, on a level of the floor of the mosque. pretty well with the above general description. The These rooms have their entrances guarded by iron word "Machpelah" means double, applied rather to gates, and by wooden doors plated with silver, with the field containing the cave than to the cave itself. bolts and padlocks of the same metal. He says:Benjamin's mention of the two valleys forming, as "All the sepulchres of the patriarchs are covered Purchas translates, "the field of duplicity," explains with rich carpets of green silk, magnificently emthe application which has perplexed Calmet and broidered with gold; those of their wives are red, others. Sandys, who was there early in the seven-embroidered in like manner. The sultans of Conteenth century, and who describes the valley of stantinople furnish these carpets, which are renewed Hebron as "the most pregnant and pleasant valley from time to time. I counted nine, one over the that the eye ever beheld," mentions the "goodly temple" built by the emperess Helena, the mother of Constantine, and afterward changed into a mosque, as a place of much resort to Moslem pilgrims. John Sanderson was there in the summer of 1601, and the account he gives agrees, as far as it goes, with that of the Spanish Jew; but access to the cave was more restricted than it seems to have been in the time of the latter. He says:-"Into this tombe not VOL IV.-5 11 other, upon the sepulchre of Abraham. The rooms also which contain the tombs are covered with rich carpets." We can only reconcile this with the other statements by supposing that the Turks have put these monuments upon the level of the floor, immediately over the supposed resting-places of the patriarchs in the cave underneath; and that, instead of conducting them into the crypt, these tombs above ground are shown to ordinary visiters. ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS. AMONG the many monuments of antiquity which the destroying hand of time has spared for the admiration of posterity, there are none more wonderful than those to be found in Egypt. The illustration at the head of this article represents a general view of the northern gate of Dendera. The ruin is described in Russel's interesting" View of Ancient and Modern Egypt," which forms the twentythird volume of Harper's Family Library. 6 He remarks: "Dendera, which is commonly identified with the ancient Tentyra, presents some very striking examples of that sumptuous architecture which the people of Egypt lavish upon their places of worship. The gateway in particular, which leads to the temple of Isis, has excited universal admiration. Each front, as well as the interiour, is covered with sculptured hieroglyphicks, which are executed with a richness, a precision, elegance of form, and variety of ornament, surpassing in many respects the similar edifices which are found at Thebes and Philoe. The height is forty-two feet, the width thirty-three, and the depth seventeen. Advancing along the brick ruins,' says Dr. Richardson, we came to an elegant gateway, which is also sandstone, neatly hewn, and completely covered with sculpture and hieroglyphicks, remarkably well cut. Immediately over the centre of the doorway is the beautiful Egyptian ornament usually called the globe, with serpent and wings, emblematical of the glorious sun poised in the airy firmament of heaven, supported and directed in his course by the eternal wisdom of the Deity. The sublime phraseology of Scripture, 'the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing on his wings,' could not be more emphatically or more accurately represented to the human eye than by this elegant device.' The temple itself still retains all its original magnificence. The centuries which have elapsed since the era of its foundation have scarcely affected it in any important part, and have impressed upon it no greater appearance of age than serves to render it more venerable and imposing. To Mr. Hamilton, who has seen innumerable monuments of the same kind throughout the Thebaid, it seemed as if he were now witnessing the highest degree of architectural excellence that had ever been attained on the borders of the Nile. Here were concentrated the united labours of ages, and the last effort of human art and industry, in that uniform line of construction which had been adopted in the earliest times. The portico consists of twenty-four columns, in three rows; each above twenty-two feet in circumference, thirty-two feet high, and covered with hieroglyphicks. On the front, Isis is in general the principal figure to whom offerings are made. On the architrave are represented two processions of men and women bringing to their goddess, and to Osiris, who is sitting behind her, globes encompassed with cows' horns, mitred snakes, lotus-flowers, vases, little boats, graduated staffs, and other instruments of their emblematical worship. The interiour of the pronaos is adorned with sculptures, most of them preserving part of the paint with which they have been covered. Those on the ceiling are peculiarly rich and varied, all illustrative of the union between the astronomical and religious creeds of the ancient Egyptians; yet, though each separate figure is well preserved and perfectly intelligible, we must be more intimately acquainted with the real principles of the sciences, as they were then taught, before we can undertake to explain the signs in which they were imbodied. The sekos, or interiour of the temple, consists of several apartments, all the walls and ceilings of which are in the same way covered with religious and astronomical representations. The roofs, as is usual in Egypt, are flat, formed of oblong masses of stone resting on the side-walls; and when the distance between these is too great, one or two rows of columns are carried down the middle of the apartment, on which the huge flags are supported. The capitals of these columns are very richly ornamented with the budding lotus, the stalks of which, being extended a certain way down the shaft, give it the appearance of being fluted, or rather scolloped. The rooms have been lighted by small perpendicular holes cut in the ceiling, and, where it was possible to introduce them, by oblique ones in the sides. But some idea might be formed of the perpetual gloom in which the apartments on the ground-floor of the sekos must have been buried, from the fact, that where no side-light could be introduced, all they received was communicated from the apartment quarters thick. There have been, at certain intervals, projections of the wall or towers; but it is difficult to say whether for purposes of defence or strength. above; so that, notwithstanding the cloudless sky and the brilliant colours on the walls, the place must have been always well calculated for the mysterious practices of the religion to which it was consecrated. On one corner of the roof there was a Dr. Richardson observes, in reference to the chapel or temple twenty feet square, consisting of sculptures on the temple of Dendera, that “the fetwelve columns, exactly similar in figure and pro- male figures are so extremely well executed, that portions to those of the pronaos. The use to which it they do all but speak, and have a mildness of feature may have been applied, must probably remain one of and expression that never was surpassed." Every the secrets connected with the mystical and some-thing around appears to be in motion, and to distimes cruel service in which the priests of Isis were employed, though it is by no means unlikely that it was meant as a repository for books and instruments collected for the more innocent and exalted pursuits of practical astronomy. The western wall of the great temple is particularly interesting for the extreme elegance of the sculpture, as far as Egyptian sculpture is susceptible of that character-for the richness of the dresses in which the priests and deities are arrayed, and even of the chairs in which the latter are seated. Here are frequent representations of men who seem prepared for slaughter or just going to be put to death. On these occasions, one or more appear with their hands or legs tied to the trunk of a tree, in the most painful and distorted attitudes. The grand projecting cornice, one of the most imposing features of Egyptian architecture, is continued the whole length of this and the other walls; a moulding separates it from the architrave; and, being carried down the angles of the building, gives to the whole a solid finished appearance, combined with symmetry of parts and chasteness of ornament. In a small chapel behind the temple, the cow and the hawk seem to have been particularly worshipped, as priests are frequently seen kneeling before them, presenting sacrifices and offerings. In the centre of the ceiling is the same front face of Isis, in high relief, illuminated, as it were, by a body of rays, issuing from the mouth of the same long figure, which, in the other temples, appears to encircle the heavenly bodies. About two hundred yards eastward from this chapel, is a propylon of small dimensions, resembling in form that which conducts to the great temple, and, like it, built in a line with the wall which surrounds the sacred enclosure. Among the sculptures on it, which appear of the same style, but less finished than those on the large temple, little more is worthy of notice than the frequent exhibition of human slaughter by men or by lions. Still farther towards the east, there is another propylon, equally well preserved with the rest, about forty feet in height, and twenty feet square at the base. Among these sacred figures on this building, is an Isis pointing with a reed, to a graduated staff, held by another figure of the same deity, from which are suspended scales containing water-animals; the whole group, perhaps, being an emblem of her influence over the Nile, in regulating its periodical inundations. The enclosure, within which all the sacred edifices of Dendera, with the exception of the last propylon, are contained, is a square of about a thousand feet. It is surrounded by a wall, which, where best preserved, is thirty-five feet in height, and fifteen feet thick. The crude bricks of which it is built, were found to be fifteen inches and a half long, seven and three quarters broad, and four inches and three charge the functions of a living creature; being, at the same time, so different from what is ever seen in Europe, that the mind is astonished, and feels as if absolutely introduced to personages of the remotest ages to converse with them, and to witness the ceremonies by which they delighted to honour their gods. The temple at Dendera, says this author, is by far the finest in Egypt; the devices have more soul in them; and the execution is of the choicest description. Edfou, the Apollinopolis Magna of the Greeks, presents several architectural remains worthy of notice. There are two temples in a state of great preservation; one of them consisting of high pyramidal propyla, a pronaos, portico, and sekos, the form most generally used in Egypt; the other is periptoral, and is, at the same time, distinguished by having, on its several columns, the appalling figure of Typhon, the emblem of the evil principle. The pyramidal propylon which forms the principal entrance to the greater temple, is one of the most imposing monuments extant of Egyptian architecture. Each of the sides is a hundred feet in length, thirty wide, and a hundred high. Many of the figures sculptured on it are thirty feet in height, and are executed in so masterly and spirited a style, as to add considerably to the grand effect of the building. In each division there is a staircase of one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty steps, which conduct the visiter into spacious apartments at different elevations. The horizontal sections of each wing diminish gradually from one hundred feet by thirty, to eighty-three by twenty, as will appear to the eye from the accompanying plate; although the solidity and height of the propylon give it more the aspect of a fortress or place of defence than of the approach to a religious edifice. As an explanation of this peculiarity, we are told that the addition of these gateways to a temple was permitted as a favour to such of the ancient kings of Egypt as, for their pious and beneficent actions, became entitled to perpetuate their names in the mansions of their gods. The Ptolemys, who claimed the right of sovereignty from conquest, indulged in the same magnificence, and built porticoes, propyla, and even temples. Cleopatra, in her misfortunes, is said to have removed with the most valuable part of her property to an edifice of a very extraordinary size and structure, which she had formerly erected near the fane of Isis. Most probably, as Mr. Hamilton thinks, it was a propylon of the kind just described. Nothing could be better adapted for her purpose; inasmuch as the variety of apartments offered every convenience that could be desired, and when the small door at the bottom of the staircase was closed, it was perfectly inaccessible. In no part of Egypt are more colossal sculptures seen on the walls of a publick building, than on the larger temple at Edfou. These, we are told, are extremely well executed, and in some cases the colours are still completely unchanged. Priests are seen paying divine honours to the Scarabæus, or beetle, placed upon an altar-an insect which is said to have been typical of the sun, either because it changes its appearance and place of abode every six months, or because it is wonderfully productive. We regret to find that both the temples, though well preserved, are almost concealed among heaps of dirt and rubbish; indeed the terrace of the larger one is occupied by several mud cottages belonging to the villagers, and the interiour chambers of the sekos are indiscriminately used as sinks, granaries, or stables. "The son of a Delaware chief was brought up from infancy as the playmate and friend of Mr. Wilkins. No difference whatever was made between the two boys; their dress, their meals, their beds, their education-all, were alike; and the lads themselves regarded one another as brothers. When young Wilkins arrived at the age when it was necessary for him to go to college, his companion was, in every respect, in appearance, in language, in feelings, an Anglo American boy; and the two friends parted in the hope of meeting again, unchanged, except in the addition of four years to their age, and a corresponding number of inches to their stature. "In four years, young Wilkins returned to the parental home; and while crossing the threshold of the house, his tumultuous thoughts were perhaps fully as much occupied by the friend into whose arms he was about to rush, as by any member of his father's family. He caught the eye, however, of a naked Indian sitting on the bench before the door, and paused as he was about to enter. The object, though picturesque, was common, and he turned his head, without knowing why, to look again at the face of the savage. The red youth then smiled; and his question, Do you not know me?' explained all. "After his friend went to college, and when he was thus thrown back, as it were, upon his own mind, the Delaware boy, as he said himself, was beset with strange wild thoughts, which he could neither understand nor describe. He felt an unconquerable longing for the liberty of the woods; a thirsting after the air of the desert; and, after struggling long and fiercely against a propensity which his habits of civilization persuaded him to be evil, and for the existence of which he could not in any manner account, he at length tore off his European dress, and fled into the wilderness. I cannot call to mind the name of this Indian; but he became a distinguished chief in the wars with the English, and was celebrated not only for bravery but for cunning. He was at length suspected of playing false on both sides; and Mr. Wilkins, in riding through a lying dead, and horribly mangled, at the foot of a wood, saw, accidentally, the body of his early friend tree. The Delaware had been murdered by his own countrymen." Indian Death-Blast.-AT Bandah, in Bundalcund, (one of the northern provinces of Hindostan,) there are numerous rocky hills, which, during the hot winds, become so heated as to retain their warmth from sunset to sunrise. The natives, at this sultry season, invariably wear large folds of cloth around their heads and faces, just leaving themselves sufficiently exposed to be able to see and breathe. This precaution is taken in consequence of the terrifick blasts which occasionally rush in narrow streams from between the hills. Persons crossed by these scorching winds drop suddenly to the earth, as if shot by a musket-ball. When medical assistance, or a supply of cold water, is instantaneously procured, a recovery may generally be expected; but if no immediate remedy be applied, an almost certain death is the result. Ed. Journal. AMERICAN TREES. [Spruce Tree.] Mi THERE are several varieties of the Spruce. chaux describes four:-They are, first, the Norway spruce fir, one of the tallest trees of the old continent; it is straight-bodied, from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty feet high, from three to five feet in diameter, and is a hundred years in acquiring its growth. Its dark foliage gives it a funereal aspect, which is rendered more gloomy by the declining of its branches towards the earth. The limbs spring from a common centre; the leaves are longer, but less numerous than those of the American species, and are slightly arched firm and acute. Second, the hemlock spruce, which abounds in Canada and in the northeastern states. This tree attains the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a circumference from six to nine feet, and is uniform for two thirds of its length. But if the number and distance of the concentrick circles are a certain criterion of the longevity of trees and the rapidity of their vegetation, it must be nearly two centuries in acquiring such dimensions. When arrived at its full growth, the large limbs are usually broken off four or five feet from the trunk, and the dried extremities stare out through the little twigs which surround them. The bark of the hemlock is sometimes mixed with oak bark, and used in tanning. For this purpose it is taken from the tree in June, and half the epidermis is shaved off with a plane, before it is thrown into the mill. The Indians, also, are said to die their baskets with it. Third, the white or single spruce. This species grows in nearly the same situations as the sec ond. It is, however, a smaller tree, rarely exceeding fifty feet in height, and twelve or sixteen inches in diameter at three feet from the ground. The quality of the wood is rather inferiour, and it snaps frequently in burning. The fibres of the roots, macerated in water, are very flexible and tough, and are used by the northern Indians to stitch together their canoes of birch-bark, the seams of which are afterward smeared with a resin that distils from the tree. Fourth, the black or double spruce, sometimes described, but erroneously, as the red spruce. Although most abundant in the Canadas and northeastern states, it is found also in New York, in Pennsylvania, and even on the Black mountain in South Carolina. The regions in which the black spruce is the most abundant are often diversified with hills, and the finest forests are found in valleys where the soil is black, humid, deep, and covered with a thick bed of moss; though crowded so as to leave a space of only three, four, or five feet, these stocks attain their fullest development which is seventy or eighty feet in height, and from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter. Their summit is a regular pyramid and when the trees are insulated it presents a beautiful appearance. The wood of the black spruce is extremely valuable, being used for the topmasts, yards, and knees of vessels: while from the young branches, are prepared the extract of spruce and spruce beer. With the summer's breath I must pass away. The maiden laughs in the sunny glade! Ah! why doth she laugh? Her joys must fade, All that is brightest, on me now shine; There's joy for me still in the lemon-leafed bower, I must leave them now! I must pass from the home of my childhood's mirth, He will sit and pine in his dwelling lone, For I was his all, and I shall be gone. I have taught my soft child to lisp his name, I forget I am dying-my pain is stayed. I trust his words, as on hope he dwells, I will come again, in the twilight gloom, I will pass by the hall of the glad and gay, |