descent, Mr. Rupp made arrangements for causing some of the trees to spring from the slide. They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet in the earth, and one of the trees having by accident struck against the other, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning.

After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne.

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1Alpnach, a Swiss village at the foot of Mount Pilatus, one mile and a half from Lake Lucerne. The slide of Alpnach is no longer used, the wood being now drawn down by horses and oxen. 2 impenetrable, incapable of being penetrated or entered. 'utility, benefit; use; service; profit. recesses, literally, the parts hidden from the outside; hence secret places. chamois, a species of antelope living among the lofty ridges of the Alps, Pyrenees, and Carpathians. The chamois is about the size of a large goat. The aromatic and bitter plants of the mountain pastures are its favourite food. It is an animal of extraordinary agility, and can leap over ravines sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and pass up and down precipices where scarcely any other quadruped would venture. When a flock is feeding, one is always on the watch, and by a sort of whistle announces danger. It has given its name to a kind of soft leather, first prepared from its skin. 6 impracticable, that could not be accomplished by human means; not able to be done. inaccessible, not accessible; unable to be reached. *sanguine, confident; feeling assured; full of hope. commune, a small territorial district. 10 ingenious, skilful; clever; exhibiting genius, or the faculty of invention, in its construction. "friction, the effect arising from one body rubbing against the surface of another. 12 characterizes, marks; distinguishes. 13 sagacity, shrewdness; wisdom; discernment; quality of keen penetration and judgment. invincible, incapable of being conquered; not able to be overcome. 15 velocity, swiftness; speed.

HUMAN LIFE.

'THE lark has sung his carol in the sky;
The bees have humm'd their noontide 2lullaby;
Still in the vale the village-bells ring round,
Still in Llewellyn-hall the jests resound;

For now the caudle-cup is circling there,

Now, glad at heart, the 'gossips breathe their prayer,
And, crowding, stop the cradle to admire

The babe, the sleeping image of his *sire.

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"A few short years-and then these sounds shall hail
The day again, and gladness fill the vale ;

So soon the child a youth, the youth a man,
Eager to run the race his fathers ran.

Then the huge ox shall yield the broad sirloin;
The ale, new brew'd in floods of amber, shine;
And basking in the chimney's ample blaze,
'Mid many a tale told of his boyish days,

The nurse shall cry, of all her ills 'beguiled,
""Twas on these knees he sate so oft and smiled!"

10 And soon again shall music swell the breeze!
Soon, issuing forth, shall glitter through the trees
Vestures of "nuptial white; and hymns be sung,
And violets scatter'd round; and old and young,
In every cottage-porch with garlands green,
Stand still to gaze, and, gazing, bless the scene •
While, her dark eyes "declining, by his side
Moves in her virgin-veil the gentle bride.

13 And once, alas! nor in a distant hour,

14 Another voice shall come from yonder tower;
When in dim chambers long 15 black weeds are seen,
And weeping's heard where only joy has been ;
When by his children borne, and from his door
Slowly departing to return no more,

He rests in holy earth with them that went before.

And such is Human Life ;-so gliding on,
It glimmers like a 16 meteor, and is gone!
Yet is the tale, brief though it be, as strange,
As full methinks of wild and wondrous change,
As any that the wandering "tribes require,
Stretch'd in the desert round their evening fire;
As any sung of old in hall or bower

To minstrel-harps at midnight's 18 witching hour!
Rogers.

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1 The first verse describes the birth of an infant. 2 lullaby, a song sung to quiet babes and send them to sleep; the word here refers to the drowsy hum of the bees. caudle, a kind of warm broth, containing wine and other ingredients. gossips, properly god-parents; neighbours who drop in to hear the news and talk about it to each other. sire, father. The second verse describes his coming of age (his twenty-first birthday). sirloin, a loin of beef, said to have been knighted by one of the kings of England. amber, a light-coloured semi-transparent substance. beguiled, cheated, deprived. 10 The third verse describes his marriage. "nuptial, belonging to a marriage. 12 declining, casting down. 13 The fourth verse describes his death and burial. 14 another voice, the sound of funeral bells. 15 black weeds, mourning garments, especially of a widow. 6 meteor, a falling star. tribes, the Arabs, famous for their wonderful stories. 8 witching, belonging to witches, who were formerly believed to roam about at midnight.

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DE SAUSSURE, a celebrated Swiss geologist, was born near Geneva in 1740. At the age of twenty-two he was one of the head teachers in the University of Geneva. Six years afterwards he commenced the famous series of journeys which were fraught

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with such important consequences to science and to his own reputation; and during the course of which he visited the Jura and Vosges mountains, the mountains of Germany, Italy, England, Switzerland, Sicily, and the adjacent isles. He traversed the Alps no less than fourteen times, and was the first traveller who ever ascended to the summit of 4 Mont Blanc. During this extensive course of travel, he made numerous observations on the minerals, physical features, 5 botany, etc., of the mountain ranges he visited; and these observations were found, after having undergone a searching examination, to be as correct and valuable as they were numerous. After a long and painful illness, he died at Geneva in 1799, aged fifty-nine years.

HUMBOLDT was born in Berlin in 1769. Scarcely any man of modern times has done more to advance several departments of 6 physical science than Humboldt. He made visits of scientific exploration to the 7 Harz mountains, and the banks of the Rhine. He made a tour through Belgium, Holland, England, and France, and spent some years investigating the mines in Prussia. In 1799 he left Europe on a scientific tour to South America. On his way he visited Teneriffe, ascended the Peak, and made many scientific observations. He spent five years in exploring South America, and on his return wrote an account of his travels. This is full of instructive matter relating to natural history, botany, geography, and other sciences. The geography of Spanish America was most imperfectly known pre

vious to his travels there, and to him we are largely indebted for the full knowledge of it which we now possess.

In 1829 Humboldt led an expedition to explore

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the Ural and 10 Altai mountains, and the " Caspian Sea. Its principal results were the scientific examination of the beds which produce gold and 12 platina, the discovery of diamonds, and the acquisition of geological and botanical collections.