the house where her sisters were lodging, late one evening; that was the last time they saw her alive. She had been found dead, lying along the rocks under the cliff. This was all that there really was to tell. There was nobody near her when she was found, and no evidence to show how she came there. I cannot remember what happened for some days afterward, for 1 was seriously ill, and kept my bed; and often in the long nights I would lie awake, thinking about my friend, and fancying she would appear again. But she came no more. Time passed on, and brought the last day of the vacation. I was sitting by myself in the study, Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Sparkes having both gone out, when a servant ushered in a strange gentleman, who, when I told him that Mrs. Wheeler was from home, immediately asked for Miss Irvine. On hearing that I was the person inquired for, he requested five minutes' conversation with me. I showed him into the back parlor, and waited, rather surprised and nervous, to hear what he had to say. He was a young man, not more than twenty-one or twenty-two years of age, and had a very grave manner; and though I was certain that he was a stranger, yet there was something in his face which seemed not altogether unfamiliar to me. He began by saying: "You were very fond of a teacher who was here, of the name of Winter. In her name and for her sake, I thank you for the love and kindness you showed her." "You knew Miss Winter, sir ?" I asked, as calmly as I could. "I am her brother," he replied. There was silence between us, for the tears had sprung to my eyes at the mention of my dear lost friend's name; and, I believe, at heart he was crying too. At last he mastered his feelings, and by an effort resumed his former calm manner. "I have been for this last week seeking for some papers which my poor sister must have left behind her, and always seeking them in vain," he said. "If you could give me any clew to where they may be, you would do a great kindness to my remaining sisters and myself." He still spoke calmly; but there was a look in his eyes which showed me that he was suffering terrible anxiety. I hastened to relieve it by saying: “I have reason to think that you will find the papers you are in want of in a small oak wardrobe which belonged to dear Miss Winter. If you please, I will show you where it stands." How his face lighted as he rose to follow me! his lips moving evidently with voiceless but thankful words on them. We went up-stairs to the room that had been his sister's, where I pointed out the piece of furniture to which she had referred me on that dreadful night. And after using some considerable force, the lock yielded to his determined hand; and there, concealed under a false bottom, in one of the drawers, were the papers he sought for. When he had taken them from the secret ledge, he turned to me, and said, "How much do you think these papers are worth to me?" "Indeed, I can't tell," I replied; “but thank God you came hither to seek them, for I am so glad they are found." "I thank you," he said; "I thank you, with all my heart." We went down-stairs again into the parlor; and then he told me how a kinsman of theirs, who was very rich, but nevertheless a great miser, had borrowed a large sum of money from their dead father, which he now refused to repay, and was even wicked enough to deny he had ever received; how they had gone to law about the matter; and how, if the papers he had just found could not have been produced, he and his sisters would have been penniless; but as it was, they would recover the sum to which they were justly entitled, with interest for five years. After this he begged my acceptance of a locket containing some of my dear Miss Winter's hair, and with her Christian name and the date of her death inscribed upon it and bade me remember, if I should ever be friendless or in distress, (which he prayed God I might never be,) that he felt toward me as a brother. I was quite overcome, and hid my face on the table. When I looked up again he was gone. A fresh surprise awaited me. The next day I met Mrs. Wheeler as she was coming to bid me go into the parlor; and her manner was so gracious that I obeyed her without fear. My dear father was there. He was so shocked at my ill looks that he resolved to remove me home without loss of time. I sought out my poor friend's grave, and made it as beautiful as I could with grass and flowers. There was no tombstone there then, but there is one now. N° TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS. TO one familiar with the Brazil nut it châtaigne d'Amérique and noix du (Bertholletia excelsa) can fail to rec- Brésil. But the English term, "Brazil ognize it in the engraving we here pre- nut," is the least objectionable of all the sent, although the leaf and the inclosing foreign appellations. shell of the nuts are not so familiar to our eve. As the name implies, the nut is found in Brazil, where the natives call it juvia and the Portuguese inhabitants capucaya. In Portugal it is denominated Castañas de Marañon, and the French call The Brazil-nut tree has been till quite recently unknown to the botanical world, although its fruit has for a long time been a staple article of food in the countries where it is produced. We owe the first description given of it to the celebrated travelers Humboldt and Bonpland. established its genus and species, and dedicated it to the illustrious Berthollet. These two savants The dimensions of the tree are sometimes quite colossal. It has been found over one hundred feet in height. The trunk is straight, and cylindrical, with a diameter of about three feet; the bark is grayish and of a firm texture. At a distance this tree strongly resembles the chestnut. Its branches are alternate, spreading very long, covered with leaves, and drooping at their extremities. The leaves are also alternate, petiolate, oblong, and semi-coriaceous, about two and a half inches broad by fifteen in length, of a fine green, distinctly marked above with longitudinal veins, and a deep furrow corresponding with the principal nerve. Below, the veins are still more distinctly marked in relief. The petiole is over half an inch in length, fleshy, deeply sulcate within, and convex without. The flowers are of a light yellow, with white stamens, and form a kind of cluster; they are very fragrant. The calyx is tubular and six parted; corolla six petaled. The fruit appears in a spherical mass of the size of an infant's head, and often larger. This mass is divided interiorly into four cells, each one of which contains several nuts; the whole is inclosed in a green shell, or shuck, firm and glossy. The woody internal and principal envelope is rough, and strongly marked with furrows ramifying on its exterior, and is about one fourth of an inch thick. Its membraneous partitions, by which it is divided into the four above-mentioned cells, become nearly or quite obliterated as the fruit ap proaches maturity, although traces of them still remain. Each of these cells contains six or eight nuts, making the whole number either twenty-four or thirtytwo. They are fixed to a central columella by their inferior extremity. They are from one and a fourth to two inches in length, and of an irregular triangular form, tubercular, and of a pale crimson color. The kernel is oblong, obtusely triangular, and composed of a white substance of the same nature as the almond. It is excellent eating when fresh, but soon becomes rancid on account of the large proportion of oil which it contains. The Bertholletia is one of the most interesting plants on this continent, and should be cultivated in all the warm countries of America with as much care as walnuts and almonds are cultivated in Europe. The tree bears a large number of fruits, and each of these contains, as we have seen, from twenty-four to thirty-two large nuts which are valuable food; besides this, the oil which they furnish unites such qualities as have made them much sought for some time in Central America, and on account of which they constitute a very valuable item of Brazilian exports. Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland say: "We were delighted to find these nuts during our voyage upon the Orinoco. For three months we had lived on poor chocolate and rice boiled in water without butter, and sometimes without salt, when we procured a large quantity of the fresh fruits of the Bertholletia. It was in the month of June, and the Indians were just returning from harvesting it." At the time of the journey of Humboldt and Bonpland to America, which was about the first of the present century, the Portuguese of Para were carrying on a trade of long standing in these nuts. They shipped cargoes of them to French Guiana, to Lisbon, to England, and to the United States. There is a species of the Bertholletia, commonly called the Paradise nut, found far in the interior of the country. It is less triangular in shape than the common Brazil nut, and of a brownish color; the meat is less oily, more tender, and better flavored. The natives make periodical visits to the interior, and bring the Paradise nut with them on their return; hence it is only seen here about once in four or five years. THE VANILLA. We recognize in the Vanilla another valuable article of commerce from the tropical regions of America. It is more widely diffused than the Bertholletia, being found not only in Brazil, but also in Mexico and Columbia, and even in some of the countries of tropical Asia, although it appears to have been introduced into these latter regions by the British. The vanilla grows in humid, shady places, among springs, or more generally in places subject to inundations in the neighborhood of salt or brackish waters. It flowers in May, and its fruit comes to maturity about the last of September. Several distinct species of the same genus have for a long time been confounded with the aromatic vanilla. The best known of the species is found widely disseminated in Mexico. It is distinguished by botanists as the Smooth-leaved Vanilla. The vanilla of commerce is nothing less than the prepared fruit of the latter species. This fruit, as we receive it, is not more than three fourths of its natural size; it is deeply wrinkled, its surface oily, its color a brownish black, its pulp soft and brown, shedding a powerful, yet savory odor; its flavor warm, piquant, and agreeable. The principal varieties of the vanilla are known in commerce as the Pompona or Bova, so named by the Spaniards, which has a coarse taste and strong smell. The variety Batarde has less taste and smell, but the true vanilla has a delicate flavor and a delicious odor. Its color, when of a good quality, is of a rich reddish brown, and it should be neither too moist nor too dry. When one of the well-conditioned pods is opened it is found filled with a black, oily, balsamic liquor, in which float an infinity of little black, almost imperceptible seeds, and it has an odor so lively and penetrating that if breathed for a long time it would induce drowsiness or cause a kind of intoxication. In Central America it would be easy to give the vanilla a systematic cultivation. Plantations of it could doubtless be made in a short time, and the abundant harvests would find ready market, both in Europe and America, but the indolent inhabitants content themselves with gathering that which grows spontaneously. The vanilla has for a long time been cultivated in Guiana and Cayenne, and an effort has recently been made to introduce it into Europe with the promise of abundant success. Vanillas have been obtained which, in quality, fully equal those imported from Mexico. The vanillas undergo much preparation ere they are fit for commerce. A certain number of pods being strung, they are just dipped into boiling water, which blanches them on the instant; they are then exposed to the open air and sunlight. After a day's exposure they are gently rubbed with oil, and then dried slowly. Each one is tied with a fine thread of cotton to prevent the separation of the valves, and the superfluous viscous liquor is drawn off at the end. Having thus lost their viscidity, they rapidly acquire the various properties which we have already mentioned. The vanilla was formerly employed in medicine as a tonic and stimulant, but at the present time its use in therapeutics is wholly abandoned. It might always be used advantageously mingled with some dishes to facilitate digestion in dyspeptic subjects; but it is as a perfume that the vanilla is mostly sought; it is used to flavor creams, sherbets, and especially chocolate, to which it communicates a most agreeable taste and odor. It forms a large item of our importations, and as the duty is quite heavy, it is estimated that we pay ont several millions of dollars annually for this condiment and perfume. thick and fleshy, and the cavity filled with a pulp, in which are scattered the numerous little black globular seeds. It is this pulp which constitutes the aroma known under the name of vanilla. IN FRANCIS XAVIER. N the year that Columbus died Francis Xavier, was born. His birth-place was the castle of Xavier, in Navarre. He was illimitably illustrious by descent: of gentle, noble, royal race. He was the youngest of a large family: brought up at home for a while with no strict discipline, but yet in a somewhat instructive way: though free, not lawless; wandering at will amid the wild pine-forests and dark, precipitous rocks of his Pyrenean home. And so, amid the silent majesty of surrounding nature, and under the impressive influences of a religious household, he grows up an enthusiastic and somewhat superstitious boy; contemplative, complying, gentle, but withal of a robust, manly cast; studious at times, but also fond of athletic sports, fondest of all excitement, whether of danger or of pleasure; fitfully idle and ambitious; an uncommon compound. All his brothers chose to be soldiers; he would be a scholar, that he might thus add to his family distinctions that only ornament they wanted, learning. So he goes up to the University of Paris at eighteen: a fine youth full of life and buoyancy; well favored every way; above the middle size, well formed, with blue eyes and dark auburn hair of pleasing rather than of remarkable bearing. lives at college (the college of St. Barbara) much as other youths of his time, only more successfully uniting study with pleasure than most. He takes his degree of Master of Arts at twenty, and is appointed to teach philosophy at Beauvais College soon after, though he still keeps his rooms in St. Barbe. He does this with applause; and when he has been thus engaged for a year and a half, or more, a strange man-lame and mean He It now only remains to point out the botanical characteristics of vanilla. It belongs to the numerous and brilliant family of the orchids, and has for its generic traits an irregular corolla, a single terminal anther, the pollen in two small granular masses, etc. The stem is green, cylindrical, and mostly of the thickness of one's finger, which does not sensibly vary in the whole length; from time to time it throws out simple tendrils, by the aid of which it fixes itself in the fissures of rocks, or climbs trees, gaining often a considerable elevation. The root is also creeping, very long, tender, succulent, and of a pale red. The family of orchids em-looking, and much older than men usually braces many grotesque but splendid genera and species, which are among the most interesting objects of our hot-houses. The fruit is a sort of silique, indehiscent, cylindric, slightly curved, of the thickness of one's finger, and six or seven inches in length, its walls and divisions go up to college, perhaps fifteen years older than himself who has just entered as a pensioner of the college, comes into rooms near his. You could not have made much out of this man's appearance as to who and what he was; nor would the stories you would have heard in col |