great Mediterranean basin, thus uniting them all in one common progress; while those of the New World, far removed from its eastern limit, rendering the entire continent accessible by the mighty streams collected from their lengthened slopes, have given facilities for the diffusion of the races of the Old World, developed in physical and mental energies by concentration and collision over its surface.

The use of the various paths of migration has, however, depended on the power of man to avail himself of them. The great plains offered facilities of migration to the pastoral inhabitants of the ancient world, to whom the seas were impassable; the coasts of the inland waters were therefore peopled long before communication existed between them. The valleys of the head waters of rivers were always, and are now, the only practicable paths across the primary water-sheds; by them, therefore, the stream of migration has been permitted to pass, and by them communication is maintained. The valleys of the great rivers have, therefore, inhabitants from their upper as well as their lower entrances.

The proximity of a primary watershed to the coast may, as in the case of Africa and America, entirely cut off one portion of a continent from communication with the other for many years, and therefore cause considerable difference in the character of their population: this is moreover also affected by the varying physical characteristics of the countries themselves, which are again consequent on their vertical contour; and thus it also happens that the commercial exchanges and consequent intercourse of countries is often rather with distant people than with our neighbours.

Since the development of navigation, commerce has been principally carried on by means of the sea: the old paths of intercommunication have been therefore abandoned; modern science has discovered means of cheap and rapid transport over the land, and we may thus fairly expect to see them reopened. Their disuse caused the decrease of population and civilization in the districts through which they passed, their restoration will cause their repeoplement and enrichment; and thus Syria, the valley of the Euphrates, Asia Minor, Persia, the Balkan, may before long be again important to the world, as Egypt has already become, and as we see Central America, Upper California, and Texas are becoming.

As the general distribution of the human race over the surface of the earth has been consequent on its larger physical features, so has the local arrangement been upon the presence of agricultural or mineral wealth. Agricultural districts, not requiring a

large population, or the possession of the knowledge of mechanical power in any great degree for their cultivation, have been early peopled. It is to the presence of mineral wealth, and the development of manufactures and commerce, that the congregation of numbers in small districts is owing; hence we find the greatest accumulation of men in masses at the mouths of rivers, in harbours, and where natural paths of communication intersect, directed by the necessities of commercial intercourse or in mineral districts.

In ancient times the presence of gold, copper, and tin, exercised great influence on the diffusion of population and the extension of commerce. To the former is attributable the first efforts to unite Greece with the eastern shores of the Baltic in commercial intercourse, of Solomon to carry Phoenician traffic across the Isthmus of Suez. The commencement of the era in which we live was marked by the discovery of the gold-producing countries of the New World, to which a constant stream of emigration has been since directed; and in our own day California, and possibly Australia, may owe their population to the same cause. Tin and copper have carried the ships of Carthage to England, and the ships of England to the Indian seas, Australia, and America. But since the use of machinery and the application of steam as power, coal and iron have exercised the greatest influence in this respect.

Nor is the providence of God in directing the distribution of the human race limited by the supply of the wants of man, the provision for the cure of his disease has its peculiar influence upon it. Even in savage countries among the natives, as among the beasts of the field, periodical visits to mineral springs have always been observable; and in civilized countries men have always congregated, and cities been built around them or in their immediate vicinity; while, too, in a smaller degree, even salubrity of atmosphere and beauty of scenery have influenced this localization.-Manual of Geographical Science.'

On the 23rd of June 1779, all communication was cut off betwixt Gibraltar and the surrounding country, and the fort was blockaded by the middle of the following month. Fortunately, in the early part of the year, General Elliot, who had been recently

I

appointed governor, had arrived in the fort, and brought to the approaching crisis the aid of his superior military science and talents. A supply of provisions had also been recently received.

The firing commenced on the 21st of September, when a cannonade was opened from the fort which did much damage to the besiegers' works, yet the blockade daily became closer; supplies could no longer be stealthily introduced; provisions were extremely dear; disease spread rapidly. The besiegers commenced firing on the 12th of January 1780. By the end of March, the garrison were cheered by the arrival of a supply of provisions, brought in by Admiral Rodney, who had made his way bravely in spite of all the efforts of the enemy. After this, the garrison and townspeople were repeatedly reduced to great extremities before provisions arrived.

In the spring of 1781 the besiegers completely destroyed the town by the fire of their batteries. On the 27th of April, however, a most gallant exploit was performed by a party from the garrison, who succeeded in reducing to ashes all the erections of the enemy. These, however, being repaired, the firing recommenced, and, for more than a year, continued incessantly. In the course of the year 1782, it was, on the suggestion of General Boyd, returned from the rock with red-hot balls, a device which was found to produce the most striking effect, The enemy, however, now prepared for a grand effort. On the 12th of September the combined fleets of France and Spain arrived in the Bay; next morning they were drawn up around the south and west sides of the promontory, a most formidable armament, consisting of forty-seven sail-of-the-line, seven of which were threedeckers, together with ten battering ships, the strongest that had ever been built, and many frigates and smaller vessels. On land there lay an army of 40,000, with batteries on which were mounted 200 pieces of heavy ordnance. On the other side, the garrison now consisted of about 7,000 effective men. The ships were permitted to take their stations without molestation; but about a quarter before ten o'clock, as soon as the first of them dropped anchor, the citadel began to pour upon them its hitherto reserved artillery. Now commenced a scene of terrible sublimity. Four hundred pieces of the heaviest ordnance thundered without intermission, and filled the air with smoke and flame. For several hours the attack and defence were so well supported, as scarcely to admit any appearance of superiority in the cannonade on either side. The wonderful construction of the ships seemed to bid defiance to the powers of the heaviest ordnance. In the afternoon, however, the face of things began to change considerably. The smoke, which had been

observed to issue from the upper part of the flag-ship, appeared to prevail, notwithstanding the constant application of water; and the admiral's second was observed to be in the same condition.

Confusion was now apparent on board several of the vessels; and by the evening, their cannonade was considerably abated. About seven or eight o'clock it almost entirely ceased, excepting from one or two ships to the northward, which, froin their distance, had suffered very little injury.

In the end, the attack concluded in the complete annihilation of the assailing squadron. All the larger ships were beaten to pieces or burnt. As night approached groans and distress from those on board the shattered navy supplied the place of the now slackened fire. Many of the wretched men were struggling for life in the waters, and the victors themselves at last put out to their assistance, and picked numbers of them up. The loss of the enemy was supposed to amount to about 2,000, including prisoners. Of the English there were only sixteen killed, and sixty-eight wounded. The rock was a much better defence than those strong-built men-of-war. The assailants had three hundred pieces of ordnance in play; the garrison only eighty cannon, seven mortars, and nine howitzers. Captain Drinkwater, in his interesting history of the siege, states that upwards of 8,300 rounds, more than half of which were hot shot, and 716 barrels of powder, were expended by the English artillery.— 'Stories from European History.'

I WAS the youngest of many brethren, and my parents were poor. My means of education were limited to the advantages of a district school, and those, again, were circumscribed by my father's death, which deprived me, at the age of fifteen, of those scanty opportunities which I had previously enjoyed. A few months after his decease, I apprenticed myself to a blacksmith in my native village. Thither I carried an indomitable taste for reading, which I had previously acquired, through the medium of the school library; all the historical works in which I had, at that time, perused.

At the expiration of a little more than half my apprenticeship, I suddenly conceived the idea of studying Latin. Through the assistance of an elder brother, who had himself obtained a collegiate education by his own exertions, I completed my Virgil during the evenings of one winter. After some time devoted to Cicero, and a few other Latin authors, I commenced the Greek. At this time, it was necessary that I should devote every hour of daylight, and a part of the evening, to the duties of my apprenticeship. Still I carried my Greek grammar in my hat, and often found a moment, when I was heating some large iron, when I could place my book open before me, against the chimney of my forge, and go through with tupto, tupteis, tuptei, unperceived by my fellow-apprentices, and, to my confusion of face, with a detrimental effect to the charge in my fire. At evening, I sat down, unassisted and alone, to the Iliad of Homer, twenty books of which measured my progress in that language, during the evenings of another winter.

I next turned to the modern languages, and was much gratified to learn that my knowledge of the Latin furnished me with a key to the literature of most of the languages of Europe. This circumstance gave a new impulse to the desire of acquainting myself with the philosophy, derivation, and affinity of the different European tongues. I could not be reconciled to limit myself, in these investigations, to a few hours after the arduous labours of the day. I therefore laid down my hammer, and went to New Haven, where I recited, to native teachers, in French, Spanish, German, and Italian. I returned, at the expiration of two years, to the forge, bringing with me such books, in those languages, as I could procure.

When I had read these books through, I commenced the Hebrew, with an awakened desire of examining another field; and, by assiduous application, I was enabled, in a few weeks, to read this language with such facility that I allotted it to myself, as a task, to read two chapters in the Hebrew Bible before breakfast each morning; this, and an hour at noon, being all the time that I could devote to myself during the day.

After becoming somewhat familiar with this language, I looked around me for the means of initiating myself into the fields of Oriental literature, and, to my deep regret and concern, I found my progress in this direction hedged up by the want of requisite books. I immediately began to devise means of obviating this obstacle; and, after many plans, I concluded to seek a place as a sailor on board some ship bound to Europe, thinking in this way to have opportunities of collecting, at different ports, such works in the modern and Oriental languages as I found necessary