after shaking the island to its centre by terrible explosions, and scattering ashes and scoria for three hundred miles from its base, sunk into the earth and disappeared; fifteen miles in length by twelve broad of this mountain was swallowed up. The subterranean noises constantly reverberating amongst the hills and valleys tend no doubt to keep alive and heighten that feeling of superstition which is so common among the inhabitants.

The general aspect of this country is exceedingly beautiful, uniting all the rich and magnificent scenery which waving forests, never-failing streams and constant verdure can present, heightened by a pure atmosphere and the glowing tints of a tropical sun. Nature's several kingdoms abound with wealth scattered profusely by the hand of a beneficent God. You feel His presence every where. The Cup Tree, alone, if insensible to every thing else, would strike the unbeliever with the truth of an Almighty Providence.

Imagine a tree of great height with spreading branches and glossy metallic leaves-through which the sun's rays at mid-day cannot pierce-imagine this tree covered with innumerable goblets, each cup supplied with a top moving upon a hinge of the most exquisite and delicate construction, which opens at night and receives the falling dew till filled with the pearly liquid to the brim, when the top closes and seals up the treasure. At the hour of noon, when the sun's rays pierce like a javelin, and every living and inanimate thing shrinks from his beams, the lid opens, the stem, which so firmly sustained the vase, bends, and a shower of crystal waters pours forth to refresh every thing within its influence-myriads of

birds and butterflies like golden blossoms gemming every leaf, chanting in the sweetest and wildest tones their praises of the Great Creator.

Send your unbeliever out of your crowded cities into God's holy temples upon the mountain's side or teeming valley-let him look upon this tree, blossomed with living creatures. Let him stand beneath its shade and receive a baptism from the dews of heaven at noonday, beneath an equatorial sun-and he will bow down before that magnificent shrine, humbled in spirit and elevated in sentiment.

DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.

A PORTION of the following sketches are semi-political, but not in the slightest degree tinctured with that bitterness which generally accompanies political matters. On the contrary, they abound with good-humoured jokes, intended to be hit off with pleasantry and classic humour. The distinguished public characters who occasionally figure in these pages, not excepting even the Emperor of China, will no doubt enter into the full enjoyment of the jeu d'esprits.

TO THE HONOURABLE C

Department of State.

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, from the United States of America to the Court of his most celestial majesty and highness Kiang Foo, the Emperor of China.

SIR-The President has been pleased, during the recess of Congress, and since you were rejected by the Senate, to confer upon you the appointment as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of his most celestial majesty the Emperor of China. In all human probability your nomination will not be con

firmed by the Senate; your time being short, you will therefore make the most of it.

I have, by order of the President, directed the Secretary.of the Treasury to honour your drafts for the full amount of your outfit and emoluments. I take this opportunity formally to express my regret that the compensation was not more liberal, it being in fact not equal to a private gratuity received by me from the merchants of Boston for a little business transaction done for them in England; yet the President joins with me in opinion, that considering the place of your birth, with proper economy, you may not only be able to perform all the duties incident to the very important mission, but lay up a comfortable subsistence for your future benefit.

As a particular mark of his favour to you, and with the view to make a signal and lasting impression upon his celestial majesty the Emperor of China and the Governors and Rulers of that great empire, the President has been pleased to send out with you his beloved son Bob, the author of Ahasuerus, the Lost Foundling, and other forthcoming poems. This has invariably, amongst all nations, been deemed the strongest evidence of confidence and the most distinguished mark of respect, and I have no doubt the Emperor will justly appreciate the sacrifice not only made by the President but by the whole people of the United States, who feel the most lively interest in the welfare of that prepossessing youth.

With a view to a partial mitigation of the affliction incident to so painful a bereavement, I have likewise directed the Secretary of the Treasury to honour his drafts for a handsome outfit and emoluments, and charge

the same to incidental expenses, and ere this, that gifted young man no doubt has pocketed the same.

As the people of China attach great importance to show and parade, and will no doubt be greatly influenced by the appearance of the Envoy and his suite, you will let no opportunity slip of adding to the dignity and importance of the nation you represent.

For this purpose you will depart from the severe simplicity of our republican manners, carried perhaps to an excess by our present Envoy to the Court of Vienna, and pursue a course more consistent with the character of the government and people with whom you are to reside. I will not presume to dictate to you upon a matter so especially within your own discretion, but will very respectfully suggest that a vast display might be made at a trifling cost by the free use of Chinese crackers and other fireworks.

The Chinese being a curious and ingenious people, and celebrated for their skill in the mechanic arts, you will carry with you a plentiful supply of specimens of the notions and inventions of New England. The President has requested your attention especially to be drawn to a box of beautiful workmanship, made from some choice remnants of lumber found at Harrisburg, the Capital of the great and thriving state of Pennsylvania, presented to the Government by Kickapoo, the worthy Governor of that State, obtained through the mediation of our principal War Mandarin, and chief of Indian Affairs, in which are contained two elaborate specimens of the wooden ham and nutmeg, an article of commerce for which your countrymen, and I am proud to say, mine, are famous.