Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

observed always something new to admire. The leaf on its surface is of a bright green, in form orbiculate, with this exception, opposite its axis, where it is slightly bent in: its diameter measured from five to six feet: around the margin extended a rim about three to five inches high; on the inside light green, like the surface of the leaf, on the outside, like the leaf's lower part, of a bright crimson. The stem of the flower is an inch thick near the calyx, and is studded with sharp elastic prickles about three-quarters of an inch in length. The calyx is four-leaved, each upward of seven inches in length and three in breadth at the base: they are thick, white inside, reddish-brown and prickly

were gazed at with much curiosity and interest by the multitudes who visited the gardens.

THE LESSER WEEVER.

outside. The diameter of the calyx is twelve to thirteen inches: on it rests the magnificent flower which, when fully developed, covers completely the calyx with its hundred petals. When it first opens it is white, with pink in the middle, which spreads over the whole flower the more it advances in age, and it is generally found the next day of a pink colour. As if to enhance its beauty, it is sweet-scented. Like others of its tribe it possesses a fleshy disk, and petals and stamens pass gradually into each other, and many petaloid leaves may be observed which have vestiges of an anther. We met them afterwards frequently, and the higher we advanced the more gigantic they became: we measured a leaf which was six feet five inches in diameter, its rim five and a half inches high, and the flower across fifteen inches. The flower is much injured by a species of beetle, which completely destroys the inner part: we have counted from twenty to thirty in one flower.'

Samples and seeds were afterwards transmitted to the Botanic Gardens at Kew. After many disappointments, at length, in 1849, success rewarded the persevering efforts which were made: thriving plants were reared, which flowered in the following years, and

One was sent to Chatworth,' it is said in the instructive and interesting work called 'Pictorial Half Hours,' 'the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, and placed under the care of his gardener, Mr. Joseph Paxton. A structure was built expressly for it, called the Lily House, which is interesting as having formed the type, as Mr. Paxton himself states, for the "Palace of Glass," about to be erected in Hyde Park for the Grand Exhibition in 1851. The Lily House is (See p. 87.) 61 feet 6 inches long, by 46 feet 9 inches wide. The foundation and tank walls are formed of solid rubble work: above this all is glass and iron. The tanks, of which there are five (a large central circular one for the Victoria Regia, and four corner tanks for other tropical aquatic plants), are all heated by four-inch cast-iron pipes beneath, and by smaller lead pipes on the surface, communicating with a boiler and furnace, which also heats the air of the upper part by iron pipes of six inches diameter. The circular tank is 33 feet diameter, within which is an inner circle of 16 feet diameter, of somewhat greater depth, containing the soil for the plant. In this hothouse, on November 1, 1849, it first flowered in England. It continued to bloom freely, and when in full growth the leaves were able to sustain a child on their surface without being immerged.

In the museum at Kew, there is a model of the flower made of wax. The magnificent plant was denominated VICTORIA REGIA, in honour of our own illustrious Queen.

It must ever be regarded as an instance of the goodness of God, that though, for man's sin, the earth was cursed and made to bring forth thorns and thistles, He yet permits us to be gladdened by the splendours and fragrance of His floral treasures. Here, as everywhere, in the midst of judgment He has remembered mercy.

[graphic][merged small]
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

DAVID LIVINGSTONE.

DAVID was born at the village of Blantyre, Scotland, in or about the year 1817, and when he was ten years of age, he says: "I was put into the factory as a piercer,' to aid by my earnings in lessening my mother's anxiety. With a part of my first week's wages I purchased Rudiman's Rudiments of Latin,' and pursued the study of the language for many years afterwards, with unabated ardour, at an evening school which met between the hours of eight and ten. The dictionary part of my labours was followed up till twelve o'clock or later, if my mother did not interfere by jumping up and snatching the book out of my hands. I had to be back in the factory by six in the morning, and continue my work, with intervals for breakfast and dinner, until eight o'clock in the evening. I read in this way many of the classical authors, and knew Virgil and Horace better at sixteen than I do now."

Everything in the shape of good books-that is, books of travel and treatises upon scientific subjects, he read with avidity; and, from his subsequent life, there can be no doubt that what he read he remembered-no mere timekilling, but earnest, anxious,

thoughtful reading, in order that he might know and learn. While he was at his work, even, he managed to turn to good account the stray moments which his employment afforded him.

"My reading while at work," he further says, 66 was carried on by placing the book on a portion of the spinningjenny, so that I could catch sentence after sentence as I passed at my work; I thus kept up a pretty constant study, undisturbed by the roar of the machinery. To this part of my education I owe my present power of so completely abstracting the mind from surrounding noises, as to read. and write with perfect comfort amidst the play of children or the dancing and songs of savages. The toil of cottonspinning, to which I was promoted in my nineteenth year, was excessively severe on a slim, loose-jointed lad, but it was well paid for; and it enabled me to support myself while attending medical and Greek classes in Winter, also the divinity lectures of Dr. Wardlaw, by working with my hands in summer. I never received a farthing of aid from any one, and should have accomplished my project of going to China as a medical missionary, in the course of time, by my own efforts, had not some

[graphic]

of my friends advised my joining the London Missionary Society; but it was not without a pang that I offered myself, for it was not quite agreeable to one accustomed to work his own way to become in a measure dependent on others; and I would not have been much put about though my offer had been rejected."

Livingstone does not regret that his first years were devoted to intense labour; on the contrary, he rejoices that they were so spent. He says:"Looking back now on that life of toil I cannot but feel thankful that it formed such a material part of my early education; and, were it possible, I should like to begin life over again in the same lowly style, and to pass through the same hardy training."

An observation may be made here, in opposition to the opinion generally entertained, that greatness or eminence is the result of some accident, or peculiarity of situation, or class of mind born or inherited. It was the opinion of Sir Joshua Reynolds that "the superiority attainable in any pursuit whatever does not originate in any innate propensity of the mind for that pursuit in particular, but depends on the general strength of the intellect, and on the intense and constant application of that strength to a specific purpose." David Livingstone, as we have seen, is no exception to this rule. By dint of hard work he finished his medical course of study, and was admitted a Licentiate of the Faculty of Physicians and surgeons. His delight on this consummation arose from the fact that he was now better fitted for works of practical benevolence, Owing to the China war, it was not deemed advisable that he should proceed to that country. Hearing the celebrated Robert Moffatt preach, upon his return from Africa, he determined, and, acting upon his determination, offered himself to the London Missionary Society to go out to that country. He was, to his great satisfaction, accepted, and returned with Moffatt to the Kuruman station. After leaving Kuruman he proceeded to Kolobeng, about two hundred miles to the north, where he built mission premises-chapel, school-house, dwelling-house, &c. Desirous of ascertaining the truth of the statement made by the people at the station that about a month's journey there was a large river and inland sea, he set out on an exploring expedition. Great difficulties were encountered in crossing the Sahara desert, but finally the noble river Zouga was reached. Here, impatient for further discoveries, Livingstone got a rude canoe constructed, and committed himself to the mercy of the waters of the newly discovered river. His object was, if possible, to arrive at the lake Ngami. On the 4th of July, 1849, David reached the broad part of the lake, "when, for the first time, this fine-looking sheet of water was beheld by Europeans." Having ascertained beyond all doubt the existence of this great river and lake, Livingstone planned a further journey across the Zouga, with the intention of seeing what country lay beyond. In this second journey he ascertained that the lake was seventy miles in length, about twenty-five miles in breadth, and that it was nearly 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. In the December of 1851 he commenced his third journey. After crossing the Zouga and travelling 200 miles north, he arrived at a dried-up salt lake, or inland sea, about 100 miles in length and fifty in breadth; it was encrusted with pure white salt. Diverging in a north-westerly direction he made the discovery of the splendid river Chobe, which is larger, and surrounded with finer scenery than the Zouga. After crossing the Chobe, he soon reached Linyanté, where he was most hospitably received. Finding, however, that the place was unfavourable for a missionary station, on account of its inundations, he returned to Kuruman, and wrote to the Directors of the London Missionary Society that he had only half done his work; but having had his arm broken by a lionthough that was nothing-and his throat being diseased, he should be compelled to go to the Cape to recruit.

Livingstone left Kuruman on his fourth journey in June, 1852. He crossed the river Zouga, and the dried salt lake, going in his former westerly direction. On this journey the weather was so bad that his oxen and waggon stuck in the mud, so that he had to go forward almost alone. Making use of a small boat he had brought with him, he cut his way for three days and nights down the river for twenty miles, by which means he arrived at Linyanté a second time. After resting awhile, he again started to reach the western coast, being accompanied by forty-seven of the natives. He and his party reached St. Paul de Loando, on the western coast, having endured on the journey a variety of perils.

In 1854, Livingstone commenced his last trip, prior to visiting his father-land. It was his intention to reach the other side of the continent of Africa. On this journey, which was full of difficulty

and peril, he discovered that the language into which the Scriptures had been translated by Moffatt and Hamilton, was the language spoken throughout Africa. He soon found, also, that which had been the anxious object of his search for six years-a high table land, in every respect well suited for a mission station. On this spot Livingstone founded a mission establishment; and then only did he return for a brief period to old England. He was anxious to bring over one of the natives, who had served him as a faithful servant, but such an effect was produced upon him by the steamengines and the other novelties of the vessel, that he jumped over. board in a fit of delirium, and was drowned.

On several occasions he was in imminent danger, at times by hunger and thirst, and then his life was in peril by the hands of savages, and the repeated attacks of fever, with exposure to drought and rains, to heat and cold, make it almost a miracle that he should have been preserved. After braving these dangers he returned to his dearly loved country, but for a brief seasonscarcely sufficient to render to his countrymen an account of his wanderings, and then returned to the scene of his usefulness; this time, as an explorer, bearing a government commission, and accompanied by companions suited for observing the various features of a newly opened up country.

No doubt the wonders of Africa are only just entered upon; and that, if the life of Livingstone is spared, his labours will not only result in incalculable blessings to the natives, but be the source of material advantages to his own countrymen. This imperfect sketch of Dr. Livingstone may be fittingly closed by the estimate of his character given at a great meeting held at the Senate House at Cambridge, by the eloquent and learned Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Gladstone. Upon that occasion he said :

"Dr. Livingstone is such a man as raises our idea of the age in which we live. That simplicity inseparable from true grandeur, that breadth and force, that superiority to all worldly calls and enjoyments, that rapid and keen intelligence, that power of governing men, and that delight in governing them for their own goodhe has every sign upon him of a great man, and his qualities are precisely those which commend themselves with resistless power to the young by whom we see this building crowded. For when I stand in this noble structure, I cannot stay for a moment to admire its magnificent proportions. It is not the gold, but the temple that sanctifieth the gold; it is not the Senate House of Cambridge, beautiful as it is, but it is the minds and hearts of those by whom it is filled that alone can draw attention for a moment. Let us render to Dr. Livingstone the full tribute of what we feel. Dr. Livingstone is a Christian, a missionary, a great traveller; he corresponds in every particular to that great name which the admiration of all ages has consecrated-he is a hero. Your own great poet-the great poet of this age-Alfred Tennyson-in his 'Idylls of the King,' a work which has taken its place in the deathless literature of the world, has carried us back to a period of heroic manners, heroic deeds, and heroic characters; but if the power which he possesses could have gone beyond what it has effected, could have gone beyond the almost living men whom it has portrayed, and could actually have evoked them from the tomb, not one among them, though the ideal of human nature, could have failed to recognize Dr. Livingstone as a brother, and to acknowledge him as his most worthy companion."

GENUINE BENEVOLENCE.

A MIDDLE-AGED single man was dangerously ill near St. Omer. He threatened to disinherit any nephew or niece that persisted in attending on him: all but one left him-of course they could not disobey the injunctions of a dying man; but Josephine would not desert the perverse sufferer-he might disinherit her, if he liked. He died, and it was then discovered that he had considered Josephine as the only relative who had proved disinterested, and he left her all his property, valued at 80,000 francs.

Josephine's conduct may be regarded as a practical comment on the text, Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.' Obedience to this precept proved its own reward.

PICTORIAL PAGES.

PRIVILEGE OF CHRISTIAN LABOUR.

Is there any one who wishes to be excused from this work of extending the cause of Christ? Why, my brother, would you be excused? Look again. Is it no privilege to be allowed to do something to promote that cause for which patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyr. have prayed, and toiled, and died? Is it no privilege to help forward that cause which has engaged the hearts and hands of all the wise and good of every age? Is it no privilege to be associated with the choicest spirits now on earth, in promoting the sublimest, the most benevolent, the most God-like cause that ever did, or can, employ the hearts and hands of men? Is it no privilege to labour, and pray, and give, for the advancement of that cause which awakens the deepest interest in the bosoms of all the heavenly host, and which is the occasion of their loudest and loftiest songs of praise? Is it no privilege to do something for him who left the highest throne in glory for the cross of deepest woe, in order to give men a place in the mansions of his love? Is it no privilege to be a co-worker with the blessed God, in rescuing souls from a course of eternal sinning and suffering, and raising them to everlasting holiness, and happiness, and glory? Is it no privilege to aid in forwarding the only cause for which the world was made, and for which all nature stands? The man who does not esteem it a high privilege that he may do something to promote such a cause, may have the name, but cannot have the heart, of a Christian. If, then, any one desires it, let him be excused. The cause will go on. It has many friends, and is rapidly gaining more. It has Omnipotence for its support. Jesus shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession.' He did not humble himself, and become obedient unto death,' for nought. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied.' 'All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.' 'The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' [Rev. W. Hervey, of Bombay.

PRAYER.

THERE is an eye that never sleeps
Beneath the wing of night;
There is an ear that never shuts
When sink the beams of light.
There is an arm that never tires

When human strength gives way;
There is a love that never fails

When earthly loves decay.
That eye is fixed on seraph throngs;
That ear is filled with angels' songs;
That arm upholds the world on high;
That love is thrown beyond the sky.
But there's a power that mancan wield,
When mortal aid is vain,
That eye, that arm, that love, to reach,
That listening ear to gain.

That power is prayer, which soars on high,
And feeds on bliss beyond the sky!

ST. SWITHIN'S DAY.

SWITHIN, or SWITHUN, was appointed by Ethelwolf to the bishopric of Winchester in 852, and died on the 15th of July 862. It was usual in those times to inter bishops in the chancel of the minster, but at Swithin's own particular request he was buried in the common cemetery. A report having been propagated that miracles had been wrought at the bishop's tomb, it was thought proper to remove his remains into the choir. When the removal was about to take place, it began to rain very violently, and continued raining throughout the remainder of the day, and during the thirty-nine days that followed, in consequence of which the design was abandoned, as displeasing to the saint. Hence arose the vulgar notion that if it rain on the 15th of July it will do so more or less during forty days.

Let us truly believe and diligently search the Scriptures, and all superstitious opinions and practices will be prevented.

THE CORYPHENA; OR, THE DOLPHIN OF THE POETS.

6

91

THE term Coryphaena is derived from a Greek word signifying the top of the head, the shape of which in the Dolphin is remarkable. The other appellation is the anglicised Greek name. Dolphins are famed for their beauty. When they swim embodied near the surface, and beneath the light of a cloudless sky, they seem effulgent with the richest gold, combined with the sparkling lustre of the topaz, the emerald, and the sapphire-and every brilliant hue in perpetual change accordant with the vivacity and varied grace of their movements.' They attain to five feet and more in length, and are very strong, active, and voracious. They frequent the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and are remarkable for their keen pursuit of the Flying Fish, which, when attacked, spring from the sea and take to their wings, but soon, wearied by their flight, drop down into the water, and become the prey of their pursuers. Our engraving (page 92) shows the dolphin and three flying fish-two of them in the air, the third in the dolphin's mouth.

The genus Coryphaena belongs to the great fish tribe of the Scomberidæ (from Scomber, the Latin for mackerel). To this tribe also pertains the genus named Temnodon (Greek-having cutting teeth), denominated also Perca saltatrix (Latin-the leaping perch), and called by sailors the skip-jack. This creature, like the dolphin, pursues, terrifies, and devours the flying fish. During my voyage to Calcutta I witnessed a very novel sight. I saw a fish, having the appearance of a very large mackerel, spring high up into the air. A sailor exclaimed, 'There goes a skipjack.' Immediately a shoal of flying fish rose a little above the water and flew to a short distance, and the skip-jack, in his ascent and descent having described two sides of an acute triangle, fell back into the ocean. A few minutes after, the scene again presented itself, and so at intervals for about half an hour, the shoal and its pursuers proceeding in the same direction as the ship. In the Encyclopedia Britannica it is said that the dolphin swims with great rapidity, and leaps so high out of water as occasionally to throw itself upon a ship's deck. As well as I could judge, the height to which the skip-jack ascended was from fifteen to twenty feet above the level of the sea.*

The dolphin only obeys its natural instincts in thus pursuing its living prey. We may take a lesson, however, from the fact above-mentioned-that the creature's over-eagerness is sometimes the cause of its destruction. Temperance in all things' is a good motto, even in the pursuit of that which is lawful.

* For a drawing and description of the Flying Fish, see page 4.

INDIAN CORN-MILL.

(Preserved in the Museum of the London Missionary Society.) THIS description of mill for grinding corn is still generally in use throughout the East, and has no doubt been so since the most remote ages. Many allusions are made to the use of mills in both the New and Old Testaments. In Genesis, Abraham directs Sarah to make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, and knead and make cakes upon the hearth,' for the entertainment of the three angels. The mills used in those ancient days have evidently been similar to the one represented in the engraving. The manner of using the handmill is, by two persons placing themselves opposite to each other. The corn having been placed between the stones, one takes hold of the handle, and impels it half-way round, and the other then seizes it, and completes the revolution. In Egypt, during the sojourn of the Israelites, the employment of turning the mill was performed by menials of the least consideration. And all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharoah that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of beasts.' Exodus xi. In eastern countries, where bread speedily dries up, the daily manufacture of bread is a matter of great importance. Hence the law, 'No man shall take the nether or the upper mill-stone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge.' Deut. xxiv.

[ocr errors]

Handmills, similar to the specimen engraved, are met with frequently, in close connexion with Anglo-Roman and Saxon antiquities, in both England and Scotland. In the Highlands of Scotland, and other thinly-inhabited districts, and in various parts of the world, the stone handmill is in use at the present day.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

We now see the end of the Christian life that our friend has for many years been enabled to lead. We say for many years, because it is evident that a long space intervenes between the time represented in our last engraving of this series, and the solemn moment depicted in the present Number. A solemn moment it is indeed-but also a joyful one. He can say, with St. Paul, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of joy.' Even his family, though mourning their impending loss, seem to do so with the calm resignation which the Gospel alone can impart. It is a sight to do one good, for

The chamber where the good man
meets his fate

Is privileged beyond the common walk
Of virtuous life: quite in the verge

of heaven.'

scene may be blessed to the everlasting reformation of the yet unawakened sinner. The wretched man seems impressed, and we would indulge the hope that it may not prove as the morning cloud, and as the early dew.'

THE DOLPHIN,

As Dr. Watts says 'Death, to a good man, is but passing through a dark entry, out of one little dusky room of his father's house, into another that is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining.' 'Absent from the body, present with the Lord,' But this can only be when due preparation has been made for that great event. Rutherford well says-'If you forget anything when your sea is full, and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it. Have all things in readiness against the time that you must sail through that black and impetuous Jordan; and Jesus-Jesus, who knoweth both the depths, and the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot.'

[blocks in formation]

·

Can we say, with the subject of these remarks, 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' He only can give us this victory, but He can. And if it be obtained, then death is no enemy -at least he is a conquered one. Meet him we must, in one aspect or the other. The Christian would not be content to live always.' As Dr. Young says

'Were death denied, this world a

[graphic]

scene

How dismal and forlorn!
To death we owe that 'tis to man
A blessing to be born.

When every other blessing fails,
Or sapped by slow decay,

Or stormed by sudden blasts of fate
Is swiftly whirled away—

How happy, that no storm, or time,

Of death can rob the just!

None pluck from their unaching heads

Soft pillows in the dust.

Reader, is this a paradox to you? If so, seek to be 'renewed in the spirit of your mind,' and it will be no paradox at all.

We cannot doubt that the good pastor, while commending the soul of our dear friend to God, will also earnestly pray that the

DEATH THE GATE OF LIFE.

Он, how unlike is this deceitful world
To that pure heaven, of untold ecstacy,
To which my ardent soul, with joyful hope,
And longing expectation, fondly looks,
And calls it home! Yes, 'tis my own sweet home,
My bright, eternal dwelling; where no tear
Was ever seen, no sigh was ever heard.
Should I then fear to die? fear to exchange
A world of woe for one of perfect bliss?
Death is the gate of life-why should I shrink?
One sigh, and all is o'er-my soul, released,
Springs to unutt'rable beatitude,

And clasps the bosom of her smiling God!

ANN P. T.

[graphic]

less, to take an expressive word, we scold our childrenthe more order and quiet we shall commonly secure. have seen a family, where a single word, or

I

« ÎnapoiContinuă »