one miles. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight, surely one of the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of desert from west to north of us we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different distances, at times moving with great celerity, at others stalking on with majestic slowness: at intervals we thought they were coming in a few minutes to overwhelm us; and small quantities of sand did actually more than once reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. Their tops often separated from their bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large cannon shot. About noon they began to advance with considerable swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at north. Eleven of them ranged along side of us, about the distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest appeared to me at that distance as if it would measure ten feet. They retired from us with a wind at south-east, leaving an impression upon my mind to which I can give no name, though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable deal of wonder and astonishment. It was in vain to think of flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship would be of no use to carry us out of this danger: and the full persuasion of this rivetted me as if to the spot where I stood, and let the camels gain on me so much in my state of lameness, that it was with some difficulty I could overtake them.

On another day the same appearance of moving pillars of sand presented itself to us, in form and disposition like those we had seen at Waadi el Halboub, only they seemed to be more in num

ber and less in size. They came several times in a direction upon us; that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They began immediately after sunrise, like a thick wood, and almost darkened the sun, whose rays shining through them for nearly an hour gave them the appearance of pillars of fire. Our people now became desperate the Greek shrieked out and said it was the day of judgment. Ishmael pronounced it to be hell, and the Turcorories, that the world was on fire. I asked Idris if ever he had before seen such a sight? He said he had often seen them as terrible, though never worse; but what he feared worse was that extreme redness in the air, which was a sure presage of the coming of the simoon.-Bruce's Travels.

Where is God?

Where is he?-Ask his emblem,
The glorious, glorious sun,

Who glads the round world with his beams
Ere his day's long course is run.
Where is he?-Ask the stars that keep
Their nightly watch on high.

Where is he?-Ask the pearly dew,

The tear-drops of the sky.

Where is he?-Ask the secret founts
That feed the boundless deep:
The dire simoon, or the soft night breeze
That lulls the earth to sleep.
Where is he?-Ask the storm of fire

That bursts from Etna's womb,

And ask the glowing lava-flood

That makes the land a tomb.

Where is he?-Ask the awful calm
On mountain tops that rests;
And the bounding, thundering avalanche
Rent from their rugged crests.
Ask the wide-wasting hurricane,
Careering in its might;

The thunder-crash, the lightning-blaze,
Earth all convulsed with fright.

Where is he?-Ask the crystal isles
On arctic seas that sail,

Or ask from lands of balm and spice
The perfume-breathing gale.
Where in the universe is found
The presence-favoured spot.-
All, all proclaim his dwelling-place-
But say where is he not?-Shoberl.

10. Prospect from the Alps.

Magnificent; grand, splendid. Pic'ture; painting. Gild'ing; brightening. Scat'ters; dissipates. Va'pours; mists. Un'dulates; rolls as a wave. Rece'ding; retiring. Horizon; circle that bounds the view. Con'fines; boundaries. Di'vers; various. Lang'uages; tongues, speech. Enchant'ed; delighted, bewitched. Aston'ishment; wonder, surprise. Subsi'ded; sunk, become less. Sublime'; grand. Decliv'ity; slope.

WHAT a magnificent picture does nature spread before the eyes, when the sun, gilding the tops of the Alps, scatters the sea of vapours which undulates below! Through the receding veil the theatre of the whole world rises to the view! Rocks, valleys, lakes, mountains and forests, fill the immeasurable space, and are lost in the wide horizon. We take in at a single glance the confines of di

vers states; nations of various characters, languages and manners, till the eyes, overcome by such extent of vision, drop their weary lids, and we ask of the enchanted fancy a continuance of the scene. When the first emotion of astonishment has subsided, how delightful it is to observe each several part which makes up this sublime whole! That mass of hills which presents its graceful declivity covered with flocks of sheep, whose bleatings resound through the meadows; that large, clear lake which reflects from its level surface sunbeams gently curved; those valleys, rich in verdure, that compose by their various outlines points of perspective which contract in the distance of the landscape.

Here rises a bare, steep mountain, laden with the accumulated snow of ages; its icy head rests among the clouds, repelling the genial rays of noon, and the fervid heat of the dog-star: there is a chain of cultivated hills spread before the delighted eye; here green pastures are enlivened by flocks, and there golden corn waves in the wind : yet climates so different as these are separated only by a cool, narrow valley.

Behold that foaming torrent rushing from a perpendicular height! Its rapid waves dash among the rocks and shoot even beyond their limits. Divided by the rapidity of its course, and the depth of the abyss, where it falls, it changes into a grey moving veil, and, at length, scattered into humid atoms, it shines with the tints of the rainbow, and suspended over the valley, refreshes it with plenteous dew. The traveller beholds with astonishment, rivers flowing towards the sky, and, issuing from one cloud, hide themselves in the grey veil of another.-Baron Haller.

What is Life?

Lord, what is life?-Tis like a flower

That blossoms and is gone;

We see it flourish for an hour,
With all its beauty on;

But death comes like a wintry day,
And cuts the pretty flower away.

Lord, what is life?'Tis like the bow
That glitters in the sky;

We love to see its colours glow,

But while we look, they die.
Life fails as soon: to-day 'tis here,
To-night, perhaps, 'twill disappear.

Six thousand years have passed away,
Since life began at first;

And millions, once alive and gay,
Are dead and in the dust,

For life in all its health and pride,
Has death still waiting by its side.

Lord, what is life?-If spent with thee
In duty, praise, and prayer,
However long or short it be,

We need but little care,

Because eternity will last

When life, and death itself are past.

Peace in Believing.

11. The migration of Birds.

Migra'tion; departure. Considered; accounted, reckoned. In'stincts; propensities. Remarkable; worthy of observation. Uninstruct'ed; untaught. Depart'ing: going away. Arrive'; come. Steer; di