unencumbered by a tree or bush, but covered with grass of such a height that the largest bullocks at thirty feet from the path will be completely hid from view. This land was at first supposed to be barren, and in 1792 would not have sold for twenty-five cents an acre. Now it is cheap at one hundred dollars per acre. The excessive and inexhaustible fertility of the soil is the chief obstacle against which the farmer has to contend. Large tracts in the valley, embracing many thousand acres of the best land in the state, were purchased at an early day by Messrs. James and William Wadsworth, and still belong to their descendants. At Rochester the Genesee is again precipitated the distance of two hundred and sixty feet within the city limits. Our engraving represents the Upper Fall, ninety-six feet in height, above which are the Canal Aqueduct and Railway Bridge, and from which the great jumper made his last leap. From the nature of the petrifactions in the region about Rochester and the polished surface of the rocks, many suppose it to have once been covered by the waters of Lake Ontario. The Upper and Lower Falls are also believed to have formed one cascade. The present separation is accounted for by the different degrees of hardness in the strata of rocks over which the river flows at this point. Geologists, VOL. XII.-9 however, contend that in consequence of the Upper Fall having reached a stratum of limestone, the two cascades are now approaching each other, and perhaps some thousands of years hence our descendants may see them again united. But this fact does not diminish the value of the "millsites" upon the neighboring cliffs, where flour is ground for the world. Canandaigua had become a considerable village before Rochester could boast of a single inhabitant. From the capital and industry concentrated there at an early day, the former contains, for its size, probably the wealthiest and most refined population of any town in the Union. We may hereafter illustrate some of the beautiful views afforded by Canandaigua; but at present confine ourselves to an engraving of the Ontario Female Seminary, an ornament of the village, and one of the principal institutions of learning in Western New York. When Gorham and Phelps effected their great land purchase of the Indians in 1788, the Indians made them a present of a tract of twenty-four miles by twelve on the Genesee as a "mill-yard." Of this tract one hundred acres, on the site of the future city of Rochester, were presented by the owners to "Indian Allen," on condition of his erecting a mill to accommodate the few settlers in the adjoining region. Allen was a notorious character in the early history of Western New York. He was one of the blood-thirsty tories leagued with the savages during the Revolution. Near the close of the war he went to the valley of the Genesee, and became an Indian trader. His life was marked by the most inhuman atrocities, and upon his death in Canada he left, as his chronicle states, "two white widows and one squaw, with a number of children, to lament his loss." the havoc of those who have searched for an entrance; we therefore ascend on the south side, and arrive, without much difficulty, at that point which travelers generally attain. The steps henceforth are cut away as with a plane, not even a ledge is left; and to form an idea of the whole, you must fancy the pyramid of Caius Sestus smoother than a slated roof, and placed at such a height from the earth, that the slightest false step would occasion a fall double what it would be from the top of the London Monument. Such a barrier as this would be insuperable, were it not that time and Arabs have crumbled away the edges of most of the stones, so that a line of holes may assist you in the ascent; but these stones themselves are in some places three feet thick, and not every tier of which has a hole in it; and where there is a hole, the stone is liable to crumble; the first toe hole is at the height of three feet, and the first finger hole above six. One of our guides, a tall, powerful man, drew himself up by strength of arm, and, looking down upon us, told us sarcastically to reduce our dress to that of an Arab, if we still persisted in our determination; but no Frank, not even an Englishman, had ever ventured. We had already found a vulture's nest, a convincing argument that the road was mid-day, and the stones were burning hot, the not much traveled even by Arabs. It was now first finger hole was higher than I could reach, and would have afforded me a good excuse for receding; but the guide, supporting himself with one hand, laid hold of my wrist with the other, and drew me to a landing spot. It is the premier pas qui coute: I had passed the Rubicon; I forgot the heat of the stones, but still attempted to dissuade Macdonnel: however he would not listen to me; and with each a guide in advance, and climbing in a zigzag direction, according to the holes, we reached the top in about three quarters of an hour. We found only one other step similar to the premier pas; and, for the assistance of ourselves and those who may come after us, we broke away whatsoever we could. I have already described the top of the neighboring pyramid, Cheops, as presenting a surface more than thirty feet square, and from which probably eight layers of stones have been cast down: the top of this has lost a few, and but very few stones. The pyramid of Cheops presents a traveler's directory in all languages; on this there is only one inscription; it is in Arabic or Cuphic. We did not tarry long here, for there is not much room to stand, and I was clinging to a stone fearful of vertigo and of being blown over; I consequently proposed to return before my courage should cool. To descend safely is much more difficult than to mount, and the two pre-super-dangerous places excited no little fear; at the first of them, while my body was dangling from my fingers' end, and my feet feeling in vain for a resting-place, and when I was calculating upon how soon I should fall, the guide tore me down. very much against my will, holding me as he would have held a child over a precipice. The time occupied was about two hours. The locality does not appear to have been very inviting. Less than fifty years ago it was described as "a God-forsaken place! inhabited by muskrats, visited only by straggling trappers, through which neither man nor beast could gallop without fear of starvation or fever and ague." The bridge across the Genesee, erected in 1812, at an expense of twelve thousand dollars, was called an "extravagant folly," but the opening of the Erie Canal gave an impetus to the growth of the village, and Rochester, now containing over thirty thousand inhabitants, was long cited as the "fastest growing city" in the world. ASCENT OF THE PYRAMID OF THE following passage, giving an ac second of the great Egyptian pyramids, by an enterprising traveler, who visited that land before it became a resort for the tourist and the health-seeker, will be read with interest, as an instance of what may be achieved by boldness and intrepidity; although, as a feat imperiling life without any adequate object, it must be ranked in the class of rash and foolhardy enterprises. The writer says: "I had already ascended the pyramid of Cheops, as every other traveler has done; and I now felt an inclination to mount that of Cephrenes, because no other European had ever yet ventured: that idea alone was sufficient to stimulate a lieutenant in the navy, and Macdonnel and myself determined upon the attempt. The upper part of the pyramid of Chephrenes sents an inclined plane, and I had found it an effectual obstacle to my advancement in my former visit: an Arab, it is true, had offered to go to the top if I paid for it, which I declined, not anticipating any gratification from seeing a man perpetually in danger. There are some Arabs who are celebrated for the performance, and are distinguished by the name of (I believe) Butirists. We sent for two of them, and they engaged to assist us. The steps on the north side are nuch worn by the pelting sand, and "I ask permission to give some proofs of the real or imaginary difficulty of the undertaking; the Arabs in the neighborhood of Cairo are much bolder than elsewhere, and even make a practice of hooting and laughing at Franks. Macdonnel and myself, in our return toward the river, became the butts of some laborers in the fields; our guides, who were still in company, informed them that we had been to the top of the pyramid of Chephrenes, and the tongue of ridicule became immediately silent. "And when they talk of it they shake their heads, And whisper one another in the ear." Even the consul requested Mr. Hobhouse and others to certify having seen us at the top. Nothing," the traveler adds, " would tempt him to repeat his rash feat!" 66 to him, and the responsible agents in whose name the order is given dare not complain." In 1853 we find that three fourths of the officers commanding regiments were singers, eunuchs, or their creatures. That any good should come out of such a state of affairs seems to Mr. Grant " as impossible as that heart of oak should flourish in a dark cellar." He was deposed by Lord Dalhousie, and has been kept a prisoner at Calcutta, as a precautionary measure during the progress of the mutinies in India. A ROYAL GALAXY. Of her majesty the ex-queen we know very little. Despite her royal title, she, YOPIED from native drawings, we pre- like her predecessors, was never any thing COPIED from native drawings, we pre ers. (Lucknow) and of his royal partner. He is a cousin of the celebrated Nusseer-udDeen, whose career is graphically described, with his drunken orgies, his, licentiousness, sensuality, and cruelty, in a volume heretofore noticed in our pages, entitled "The Private Life of an Eastern King." His present ex-majesty followed in the footsteps of his predecessors. He was emphatically “a fast man.” more than a slave and a plaything. The harems of the Turkish ladies have often been described by Eastern female travelThe zenana of the Mussulman Indian courts appears to be conducted on the same principles of vailing and exclusion. Besides eunuchs the harem of the King of Oude used to be guarded by women, armed. Every portion of the private apartments of both the Palace of Lucknow and of the country seat of Dil Kushar, are inaccessible to the curious when the female part of the family is there. The author of the volume above referred to mentions that many of these ladies never see a garden or the outer world, and remark on flowers, "How beautiful must the place be where they grow!" and a European lady has been asked how they look in the ground. As we cannot describe the mental or the moral qualities of the exqueen, we may, perhaps, afford some amusement to our lady readers by describ | The revenues of Oude were very large, and he lived in the greatest magnificence. The females of his harem were covered with diamonds and precious stones; and attached to his palace were beautifullycultivated gardens, but with a rather tasteless profusion of painted statues, so that Jean Jacques Rousseau was cheek by jowl with Hebe and Hercules. On grand entertainments the table would be laid out with flower-pots which were all eatable-not only the leaves and the fruits, but even the apparent earth and the pots them-ing her dress. She wears, then, or did in selves. Unfortunately for the people of Oude, the king was such a slave to opium and every species of dissipation that the finances and the army fell into the greatest disorder. "His minister," says Colonel Sleeman, sees him occasionally, but he is the only gentleman that does see him. The only other men that see him are the singers from Rampore and Delhi, against whom he was so earnestly cautioned by the governor-general; and the eunuchs, whose influence is, if possible, still more mischievous than that of the singers. The minister is obliged to succumb to these singers and eunuchs, and conform to their will, or he would not hold his place. They meddle in all affairs, and influence the king's decision in every reference made | her palmy days, wide trowsers of satin, or cloth of gold, falling loosely over the instep, where they are either gathered and tied, or left as a train, according as the prevailing fashion may be. At the waist they, that is, the trowsers, are confined by a broad ribbon of gold or silver tissue, the ends of which hang down before, terminating in rich tassels which reach below the knee. These tassels are richly ornamented with jewels and pearls. The pyjamas (do you know what pyjamas are?) are much fuller below the knee than above, and gradually contract upward until they fit quite close at the waist. The bodice is of transparent gauze, without a single wrinkle, and adorned in the neck part with gold bangles or embroidery. The |