a livid hue; the words appeared to leave his mouth without the feature altering its position, so rigid was his look, so fearful was he lest the slightest muscular movement should alarm the serpent and hasten his E dreadful bite.

休息

We were in agony little less than his own during the scene.

"He is coiling round!" muttered Maxey; I feel him cold-cold to my limb; and now he tightens-for the love of goodness call for some milk!-I dare not speak loud; let it be placed on the ground near me; let some be spilt on the floor."

cautiously

Churchill gave the order, and a servant slipped out of the room.

"Don't stir. Northcote, you moved your head. By everything sacred, I conjure you not to do so again! It cannot be long ere my fate is decided. I have a wife and two children in Europe; tell them I died blessing them-that my last prayers were for them-the snake is winding itself round my calf

-I leave them all I possess-I can almost fancy I feel his breath. How fearful to die in such a manner !"

The milk was brought and carefully put down; a few drops were sprinkled on the floor, and the affrighted servants drew back.

Again Maxey spoke :

"No-it has no effect! On the contrary, he has clasped himself tighter-he has uncurled his upper fold! I dare not look down, but I am sure he is about to draw back and give the bite of death with more fatal precision. Receive me, O Lord! and pardon me-my last hour is come!-Again he pauses. I die firm, but this is past enduranceah, no!-he has undone another fold, and loosens himself. Can he be

going to some one else?" We involuntarily started. "Pray remain quiet, stir not!-I am a dead man: but bear with me! He still loosens he is about to dart! Move not, but beware! Churchill, he falls off that way. Oh! this agony is too hard to bear! Another pressure and I am dead !-No!—he relaxes !"

At that moment poor Maxey ventured to look down; the snake had unwound himself, the last coil had fallen, and the reptile was making for the milk.

"I am saved!-I am saved!" and Maxey bounded from his chair, and fell senseless into the arms of one his servants. In another instant, need it be added, we were all dispersed the snake was killed, and our poor friend carried more dead than alive to his room.

ESQUIMAUX.

THE Esquimaux are spread over Labrador, the American coasts of the Arctic Ocean, in Greenland, and on the islands between America and the Pole. Their villages consist of tents, constructed of a few sticks, placed in the ground, and meeting at the top in a conical form when covered. A few logs form the floor, on which the skins for sleeping are spread. They cook their provisions in the open air, in earthen pots. Their chief food is the walrus, seal, rein-deer, and fish; and as they procure more in summer than is required for immediate use, the rest is buried in the sand for winter consumption. The men excel in slinging stones, with which they frequently hit a bird on the wing. They have also another method of catching birds, by means of a number of ivory balls, each attached to a piece of string about six inches in length, the ends of which are all tied together. This missile is whirled round until the balls get a rapid circular motion, and is then launched forth at the birds, which get entangled among the lines.

The dangers incurred by navigators in the Arctic Seas are very great, as will be seen by the following incident, which relates to the whale fishery in these parts :

One serene evening, in the middle of August, 1775, Captain Warrens, the master of the "Greenland" whale ship, found himself becalmed among an immense number of icebergs, which had collected in a mass. On one side, and within a mile of his vessel, these were closely wedged together, and a succession of snow-coloured peaks appeared behind each other as far as the eye could reach, showing that the ocean was completely blocked up in that quarter, and it had probably been so for a long period of time. Captain Warrens did not feel altogether

satisfied with his situation; but there being no wind, he could not move one way or the other, and he therefore kept a strict watch, knowing that he would be safe as long as the icebergs continued in their respective places.

About midnight the wind rose to a gale, accompanied by thick showers of snow, while a succession of tremendous thundering, grinding, and crashing noises, gave fearful evidence that the ice was in motion. The vessel received violent shocks every moment; for the haziness of the atmosphere prevented those on board from discovering in what direction the open water lay, or if there actually was any at all on either side of them. The night was spent in tacking as often as any cause of danger happened to present itself, and in the morning the storm abated, and Captain Warrens found, to his great joy, that his ship had not sustained any serious injury. He remarked with surprise that the accumulated icebergs, which had on the previous evening formed an impenetrable barrier, had been separated and disarranged by the wind, and in one place a canal of open sea wound its course among them as far as the eye could discern.

its

It was two miles beyond the entrance of this canal that a ship made appearance about noon. The sun shone brightly at the time, and a gentle breeze blew from the north. At first some intervening icebergs prevented Captain Warrens from distinctly seeing anything but her masts; but he was struck with the strange manner in which her sails were disposed, and with the dismantled aspect of her yards and rigging. She continued to go before the wind for a few furlongs, and then, grounding upon the low icebergs, remained motionless.

Captain Warrens was so much excited that he immediately leaped into his boat, with several seamen, and rowed towards her. On approaching he observed that her hull was miserably weather-beaten, and not a soul appeared on the deck, which was covered with snow to a considerable depth. He hailed her crew several times, but no answer was returned. Previous to stepping on board, an open porthole near the main chains caught his eye, and on looking into it he perceived a man reclining on a chair, with writing materials on a table before him ; but the feebleness of the light made everything indistinct. The party went upon deck, and having removed the hatchway, which they found closed, they descended to the cabin. They first came to the apartment which Captain Warrens viewed through the porthole. A tremor seized him as he entered it. Its inmate retained his former position, and seemed to be unconscious of the presence of strangers. He was found to be a corpse, and a green damp mould had covered his cheeks and forehead, and veiled his open eye-balls. He had a pen in his hand, and a log-book lay before him, and the last sentence in its unfinished page ran thus:- "Nov. 15, 1762. We have now been enclosed in the

ice seventeen days. The fire went out yesterday, and our master has been trying ever since to kindle it again, without success. His wife died this morning. There is no relief-"

Captain Warrens and his seamen hurried from the spot without uttering a word. On entering the principal cabin the first object that met their attention was the dead body of a female reclining on a bed in an attitude of deep interest and attention. Her countenance retained the freshness of life, and a contraction of her limbs showed that her form was inanimate. Seated on the floor was the corpse of an apparently young man, holding a steel in one hand and a flint in the other, as if in the act of striking fire upon some tinder which lay beside him. In the fore part of the vessel several sailors were found lying dead in their berths, and the body of a boy was found crouched at the

bottom of the gangway stairs. Neither provisions nor fuel could be discovered anywhere, but Captain Warrens was prevented, by the superstitious prejudices of his seamen, from examining the vessel as minutely as he wished to have done. He therefore carried away the log-book already mentioned, and returned to his own ship, and immediately steered to the southward, deeply impressed with the awful example which he had witnessed of the danger of navigating the Polar seas in high northern latitudes.

On returning to England Capt. Warrens made many inquiries respecting

vessels that had disappeared in an unknown way, and by comparing the results of those with information which was afforded by the written documents in his possession, he ascertained the name and history of the imprisoned ship and of her unfortunate master, and found that she had been frozen thirteen years previous to the discovery of her among the ice.

ALL my young friends are no doubt familiar with the habits and peculiarities of this noble animal, usually termed, from his strength and majestic appearance, the king of beasts. I will not, therefore, tire them with needless particulars, but detail a few stories, in which his remarkable instincts and courage are conspicuous.

"Some years ago it was my fortune," says an officer in the army, "to be attached to a party of the Cape Cavalry, encamped on the banks of the Orange River, in South Africa, for the protection of the boors