Dundas, a naval officer, then at Malta, was shipped on board the Ister frigate, commanded by Captain Forrest, which was bound from Gibraltar to that island. The vessel having struck on some shoals off the Point de Gat, at some distance from the shore, the ass was thrown overboard, to give it a chance of swimming to land a poor one, for the sea was running so high, that the boat which left the ship was lost. A few days afterwards, however, when the gates of Gibraltar were opened in the morning, the ass presented himself for admittance, and proceeded to the stable of Mr. Weeks, a merchant, which he had formerly occupied, to the no small surprise of this gentleman, who imagined that, from some accident, the animal had never been shipped on board the Ister. On the return of this vessel to repair, the mystery was explained; and it turned out that Valiante (as the ass was called) had not only swam safely to shore, but without guide, compass, or travelling map, had found his way from Point de Gat to Gibraltar-a distance of more than two hundred miles, through a mountainous and intricate country, intersected by streams, which he had never traversed before, and in so short a period that he could not have made one falseturn. His not having been stopped on the road was attributed to the circumstance of his having formerly been used to whip criminals upon, which was indicated to the peasants, who have a superstitious dread of such asses, by the holes in his ears, to which the persons flogged were tied. ANECDOTES. An old man who, a few years ago, sold vegetables in London, used in his employment an ass, which conveyed his baskets from door to door. Frequently he gave the poor industrious creature a handful of hay, or some pieces of bread or greens, by way of refreshment and reward. The old man had no need of any goad for the animal, and seldom, indeed, had he to lift up his hand to drive it on. His kind treatment was one day remarked to him, and he was asked if the beast was apt to be stubborn? "Ah! master," replied he, "it is of no use to be cruel, and as for stubbornness I cannot complain; for he is ready to do anything, and go anywhere. I bred him myself. He is sometimes skittish and playful, and once ran away rom me; you will hardly believe it, but there were more than fifty people after him, attempting in vain to stop him; yet he turned back of himself, and he never stopped, till he ran his head kindly into my bosom." The following anecdote, from the Sporting Magazine, will prove that the ass, when kept in good condition, is so far exalted in the scale as nearly to approach the horse. "On my return from the Epsom races, on the Derby day, 1824," says the writer, "my attention was attracted to what is vulgarly yclept a donkey chaise, in which were a man and woman of no small dimensions, going at a very rapid pace, and drawn by a small ass. Curiosity led me to follow them, when, as far as I could judge by the pace of my own horse, they were going at the rate of nine miles an hour, on a very indifferent road. On being observed by a friend, he rode up to me and told me he had seen this humble vehicle, on its way to the course in the morning, give what is called the go-by to several carriages and four, and that he was equally struck with the extraordinary appearance and action of the animal. On my asking the owner a few questions about him, he informed me that he had done three miles in fifteen minutes with him on the road for a wager, and that he would back him to do it in less; at the same time giving me his address, by which I found that he was a blacksmith residing at Mitcham in Surrey. 'Do you keep your ass on Mitcham Common?' said I, anticipating his answer. 'Oh, no,' replied the son of Vulcan, 'he has never been out of my stable for three years, and he eats as good oats and beans as your horse does.' It is accounted for,' said I to my friend: so we pulled up our horses, and gave Neddy the road." 12. How did the old man who sold ve 1. Why is the ass undervalued by us? 2. If we had not the horse, what ani-getables use his ass? mal should we most prize for labour then? 3. In what countries is the ass highly valued? 4. What about his food and his water? 5. Where is the wild ass found? 6. For what is he celebrated in the bible and other books? 7. For what astonishing faculty is the tame ass remarkable? 8. What distance is Point de Gat from Gibraltar. 9. Why was the ass thrown overboard? 10. Where did it find its way back to? 11. How did it happen that no one picked it up on the road? 13. What was the effect of his kindness on the ass? 14. What droll machine was seen returning from Epsom races in 1824 ? 15. Who were in it? 16. How fast was Neddy running? 17. How many miles had it done in fif teen minutes that morning? 18. How did this man use his ass? 19. Could any of you be cruel to an ass? 20. On what animal did Christ enter as a King into Jerusalem? 21. Was not this indeed humility? 22. Need we be afraid to come to Christ? 23. Will any one tell me what Jesus says, about coming unto him, &c. ? XII-ANECDOTE OF THE ALPINE SPANIEL. THE Convent of the Great St. Bernard' is situated near the top of the mountain known by that name, near one of the most dangerous passes of the Alps, between Switzerland and Savoy. In these regions the traveller is often overtaken by the most severe weather, even after days of cloudless beauty, when the glaciers glitter in the sunshine, and the pink flowers of the rhododendron appear as if they were never to be sullied by the tempest. But a storm suddenly comes on the roads are rendered impassable by drifts of snow: the avalanches, which are huge loosened masses of snow or ice, are swept into the valleys, carrying trees and crags of rocks before them. The hospitable monks, though their revenue is scanty, open their doors to every stranger that presents himself. To be cold, to be weary, to be benighted, constitute the title to their comfortable shelter, their cheering meal, and their agreeable con verse. But their attention to the distressed does not end here. They devote themselves to the dangerous task of searching for those unhappy persons who may have been overtaken by the sudden storm, and would perish but for their charitable succour. Most remarkably are they assisted in these truly Christian offices. They have a breed of noble dogs in their establishment, whose extraordinary sagacity often enables them to rescue the traveller from destruction. Benumbed with cold, weary in the search for a lost track, his senses yielding to the stupifying influence of frost, which betrays the exhausted sufferer into a deep sleep, the unhappy man sinks upon the ground, and the snow-drift covers him from human sight. It is then that the keen scent and the exquisite docility of these admirable dogs are called into action. Though the perishing man lie ten or even twelve feet beneath the snow, the delicacy of smell with which they can trace him offers a chance of escape. They scratch away the snow with their feet; they set up a continued hoarse and solemn 1 Gt. St. Bernard, a remarkable pass in the Alps, between Piedmont and the Valois. The convent stands 8150 feet above the level of the sea. As many as 600 travellers have been assisted by the philanthropic monks in one day. It is the highest habitation, the cold is intense, and in winter the snow accumulates to a depth of trom 10 to 40 feet. Bonaparte took an army of 30,000 men over this mountain 21st May, 1800. bark, which brings the monks and labourers of the convent to their assistance. To provide for the chance that the dogs, without human help, may succeed in discovering the unfortunate traveller, one of them has a flask of spirits round his neck, to which the fainting man may apply for support; and another has a cloak to cover him. These wonderful exertions are often successful; and even where they fail of restoring him who has perished, the dogs discover the body, so that it may be secured for the recognition of friends; and, such is the effect of the temperature, that the dead features generally preserve their firmness for the space of two years. There is a most interesting account of the rescue of a child from death by one of these dogs, which is sweetly put into verse by Mrs. Sigourney. ""Twas night in good St. Bernard's hall, And Winter held his sway, And round their fire the monks recall Their fruitless search 'mid storm and blast, A hymn of praise they blend; When loud at their monastic gate Long on the dreariest Alpine height His shaggy coat with frost-work white, And crouching at his master's feet, A beauteous babe, with aspect sweet, Parley's Tales. traveller that has lost his way. 8. How do the dogs act when a man lies deep buried in the snow? 9. With what necessary articles are the dogs provided? 10. What is the subject of these sweet lines of poetry? 11. Will any of you repeat them to me? 12. Is not God's providential care of his creatures strikingly exhibited in this story? 13. To whom should we ever look, while striving to walk in the way of duty ? XIII.-TRADE WINDS AND THEIR DISCOVERY. Neb'u-lae, n.................................nebula. LATIN. Per'ma-nent, adj.........manere. Fa-cil'i-tates, v...........facilis. Ce-lest'ial, adj.. .......coelum. Qua'drant, n........ ...quatuor. Com-mod'i-ty, n.........modus. Pa-cific, adj....... ...pax, facere. GREEK. Trop'ics, n.......... ...tropos. THE Trade winds are permanent, following the same direction throughout the year. They are met with between the tropics, and a few degrees to the north and south of those limits. The well-known name applied to them is a phrase of doubtful origin, but probably derived from the facilities afforded to trade and commerce by their constant prevalence and generally uniform course, though Hakluyt speaks of the "wind blowing trade," meaning a regular tread or track. The parallels of 28° north and south latitude mark the medium external limits of the trade winds, between which, with some variations, their direction is from the north-east,' north of the equator, and from the south-east, on the other side of the line, hence called the north-east and south-east trades. They are separated from each other by the region of calms, in which a thick foggy air prevails, with frequent sudden and transient rains attended by thunder and lightning. We owe the discovery of the trade winds to Columbus, and this would have been prominently connected with his name, had it not been supplanted by the glory of a greater achievement, the revelation of a new world to the knowledge of mankind. The ancients were entirely unacquainted with these permanent breezes, and though maritime adventure had been largely prosecuted by the Portuguese at the instigation of Prince Henry, they had not penetrated into the region of the trades. Proceeding cautiously along the shores of Bar 1 In speaking of the direction of currents of air and water, the indicating terms are used in an inverse sense, an easterly wind signifying a breeze coming from that quarter, an easterly stream, a flow of water towards it. 2 Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, a native of Genoa, born 14 35, died 1506. He discovered San Salvador, Oct. 11th, 1492. |