Ye are so very fair, so passing bright,— Lest a foul taint of death Should lurk therein, your beauties all to blight. Methinks of speech A silent faculty ye have, to teach Nor murmur, nor repine. Ye smilingly fulfil All meekly bending to the tempest's weight; Though richly raimented, As is a monarch in his robes of state. How much might he avoid of envy, strife, and hate! FANS. A FAN is indispensable in all seasons, both in and out of doors. Any lady might as well want her tongue as her fan, which, indeed, has this advantage over the natural organ of speech-it conveys thought to a greater distance. A dear friend, at the farthest end of a public walk, is greeted and cheered by a quick tremulous motion of the fan, accompanied by several significant nods. An object of indifference is dismissed with a slow, formal inclination of the fan, which makes his blood run cold. The fan, now, screens a titter and whisper; now condenses a smile into the sparkling eyes, which take their aim just above it. A gentle tap of the fan commands the attention of the careless; a waving motion calls the distant; a certain twirl between the fingers betrays doubt or anxiety; a quick closing and displaying of the folds, indicates eagerness or joy. In fine, the fan is a magic wand; and is more easily felt than described. THE engraving at the head of this article is a portrait of the Hercules Tortoise which was brought from the Carraccas, by Sir Robert Ker Porter, and presented to the Zoological Society of London. The Tortoise tribe possesses an advantage over inost other members of the animated kingdom, in inhabiting a durable house, an asylum which shelters it from the attack of very powerful enemies, and yet is not confined to one locality. Their shell is formed of two plates, one above and one below, which are joined at the sides. The upper plate is convex, and the ribs and back bone are inserted in it. There is a hole at each end of the shells; one for the reptile's head, neck, and fore feet to pass through, and at the other for the hinder feet and tail. The Tortoise is said to be very tenacious of life, so much so, that if the head be cut off, and the chest opened, as to continue alive for many days. The Tortoise is proverbially slow in its movements, occasioned, it is alleged, by the position of its legs, which are at the sides of the body, and consequently wide apart; and also by the immense weight of shell pressing upon them thus unfavourably placed. In walking, the claws of the fore feet are rubbed separately, one after another, against the ground; when one of its feet comes in contact with the ground, the inner claw first bears the weight of the body, and so on along the claws in succession to the N outermost; thus in some manner performing the opera tion of a wheel. The Tortoise feeds on herbs, fruit, worms, snails, and various insects. It never attacks warm-blooded animals or fish. It is easily domesticated, and is useful in the garden, destroying slugs and insects. It remains in a state of torpor during the winter months, and makes its appearance as soon as it feels the genial influence of spring. The eminent Mr. White, of Selborne, has recorded some interesting particulars of the habits of one which he had frequent opportunities of noticing for nearly thirty years. This individual would retire under ground in November, and re-appear about the middle of April. In the midst of summer it showed a most voracious appetite, delighting in milky vegetables, as lettuces, dandelions, and sow-thistles; but in the spring and autumn it ate very little. In forming its winter retreat, it scraped the earth with its fore feet, throwing it up over its back with its hinder legs. It laboured diligently night and day in this operation, which from the slow motion of the reptile's legs, occupied more than a fortnight to complete. It seemed alarmed if surprised by a sudden shower when searching for food. Though its shell would have secured it from injury, even if run over by the wheel of a loaded cart, yet it evinced as much solicitude about rain, as a lady dressed in her most elegant attire; shuffling away on its first sprinkling, and always, if possible, running its head up into a corner. There are many interesting stories told of others of the tribe, but we have not space to record them here. LEAVES FROM MY LOG. MAKING LAND. "BLEST if I did'nt ketch a sight o' the lights on the starboard bow," shouted one of the look-outs to a topman. Twenty pair of eyes were instantly turned in the direction pointed out by the quicksighted Tar. "Bet ye'r a week's grog it wo'rnt no more nor a star a'ter all," growled an envious messmate who had been straining his eyes most industriously during the preceding four hours, in hopes of gaining the "Nor' Wester" promised to the first proclaimer of the glad tidings. Once again the swell lifted the ship's head high above the surrounding seas, and the announcement of eagle eyed "Bill" was confirmed from the fore-topsail yard. "'Pon deck, there." "Lights well on the starboard bow." Away skipped the Mate of the Watch to the mast head to put the truth of the information to the test of his own ocular powers, after sending the boy to rouse up the "Schipper." It was now five bells in the middle watch (half past two A.M.), and malgrè the almost ceaseless labours of trimming sail to catch the light breezes from the land, to which they had been subjected; most of the other watch had preferred remaining on deck, and the employment of looking out for land, to going below and taking the rest they so much needed, so that the party on deck being still further augmented by some of the passengers, the assemblage on the deck of the good ship, at the time of " making land," was rather formidable. "Boy Jack" having by this time succeeded in rousing the slumbering "schipper," who was performing a most unmelodious solo, with his head covering a large proportion of the continent of New Holland (on the chart) with a few islands of minor importance, and a considerable part of the superficies of the cabin table, and impressed on his (the schipper's) mind the fact of the lights being visible, and that there was no necessity for his stabbing himself with his compasses, or braining himself with the parallel ruler (inasmuch as the ship was not in any immediate danger,) the worthy personage commenced the ascent of the companion ladder in rather an excited state of mind at being found "caulking" (nauticè, snoozing) by one of his boys, when he should have been ascertaining the exact situaton of his ship, or involved in the study of the navigation of Port Jackson. Having reached the deck, examined the bearings of the light-house, and issued the necessary orders for "heaving to," the captain's good temper quickly returned, and the passengers having fully satisfied their curiosity, and sufficiently bothered the schipper with their congratulations, retired to their berths to sleep, if the delectable noise of the men raising the chain cable from its retreat in the lockers, and then dragging it over their devoted heads, along the decks, would allow them. Gradually the day broke, the anchors were over the bows, and the cables having been riveted thereto, all was silent with the exception of the occasional announcement of soundings from the leadsman in the main chains. It was now light enough to discern the long low coast at a great distance, the watch were called to assist in making sail, the ship gently surged thro' the water, the increased noise roused a restless passenger, who might be seen in slippers and unwhisperables, sleepily ascending the companion; gradually approaching the ship's side, and carefully scanning the horizon, announcing that he "sees the land quite plain," the worthy gent having at the time his back to terra firma and his "Dollond" pointed in the direction of a fog bank, soon to be dispelled into " thin air" by the beams of the rising sun. Another animal of the same genus now made his appearance; he reached his friend equally confident was he of having made the same discovery, nor were the two chuckling worthies aware of their error till the helmsman having sufficiently gratified his risible propensities at their expense, condescended to inform them that the land happened to be on the "other quarter." : The sun had now risen in all his splendour; the deep blue of the ocean had changed to a beautiful green, thereby indicating, if other signs were wanting, the immediate vicinity of land, shoals of fish were sparkling in the sun's rays as they leaped from the water around the vessel, and an occasional visitor in the shape of a bird, which the sai |