the Greeks, Aristotle makes no mention of this animal; but Pliny speaks of it, and Oppian describes it in a manner that is far from equivocal. The Camelopard,' says this author, 'has some resemblance to the camel: its head and ears are small, its feet broad, and its legs long; but the height of the last is very unequal, the fore legs being much longer than the hinder, which are very short; so that, when the animal appears standing and at rest, it has somewhat the appearance of a dog sitting. There are two prominences upon the head, just between the ears: they resemble two small and straight horns. Its mouth is like the stag's; its teeth small and white; its eyes full of fire; its tail short, and furnished with black hair at its end.' "There is,' says Strabo, 'a large beast in Ethiopia called Camelopardalis; although it bears no resemblance to the panther, for its skin is not spotted in the same manner: the spots of the panther are orbicular, and those of this animal are long, and nearly resembling those of the fawn or young stag.' Gillius's description seems still better. 'I have seen,' says he, three Camelopards at Cairo. On their heads are two horns, six inches long; and, in the middle of their forehead, a tubercle rises to about the height of two inches, which appears like a third horn. This animal is sixteen feet high when he holds his head erect. Its neck alone is seven feet; and it is twenty feet long from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. Its fore and hind legs are nearly of an equal height; but the thighs before are so long in comparison to those behind, that its back seems to slope like the roof of a house. Its whole body is sprinkled with large_brown spots, which are nearly of the same form. Its feet are cloven like those of the ox.' "In inspecting accounts travellers have given of the Camelopard, I find a tolerable agreement between them. They all agree, that it can reach with its head to the height of sixteen or seventeen feet, when standing erect; and that the fore legs are as high again as the hinder ones; so that it seems as if it were seated upon its crupper. They all likewise agree, that it cann run very swift on account of his disproportion; that it is very gentle, and that by this quality, and even by the shape of the body, it partakes more of the shape and nature of the camel than of any other animal; that it is among the number of ruminating animals, and, like them, is deficient of the incisive teeth in its upper jaw. By the testimonies of some, we find that the Camelopard is to be met with in the southern parts of Africa, as well as in those of Asia. "It is very clear, from what we have mentioned, that the Camelopard is a very different species from every other animal; but if we referred it to any, it would be the camel rather than the stag. "We are ignorant of the substance of the horns of the Camelopard; and in that part it may resemble the stag more than the ox, though possibly they may be neither solid, like those of the first, nor hollow, like those of the ox, goat, &c. Who knows but they may be composed of united hairs, or of a substance and texture entirely peculiar to themselves? The horns of the Camelopard are surrounded with large coarse hair, and not covered with a down or velvet, like those of the stag. The tubercle in the middle of the head seems to form a third horn: the two others, which are not pointed, but have mossy nobs at their ends, are perhaps only tubercles somewhat resembling the former. Travellers inform us, that the female Camelopards have horns like the males, with this difference only, that they are smaller. If this animal, therefore, was really of the stag kind, the analogy would be vio lated here likewise; for, of all such animals, there is only the female rein-deer that has horns. "Since the period when Buffon wrote, the Giraffe has become much better known. Several have been brought to Europe. One of them was sent as a pre sent to his Majesty by the Pacha of Egypt, and arri ved in this country in 1827. It died recently. There is still one existing in the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris. M. le Vaillant, the first naturalist who had an opportunity of closely examining the Giraffe, gives a full and accurate description of it in his Travels. The Giraffe chews the cud, as all horned animals with cloven feet do. Like them, too, it crops the grass; though seldom, because pasture is scarce in the country which it inhabits. Its ordinary food is the leaf of a sort of mimosa, called by the natives kancap, and by the planters kamel doorn. The tree being peculiar to the canton, and growing only there, this may be the reason why it takes up its abode in it, and why it is not seen in these regions of the south of Africa where the tree does not grow. This, however, is but a vague conjecture, and which the reports of the ancients seem to contradict.' "Its head is unquestionably the most beautiful part of its body. Its mouth is small; its eyes large and animated. Between the eyes, and above the nose, it has a very distinct and prominent tubercle. This is not a fleshy excrescence, but an enlargement of the bony part, the same as the two little bosses, or protuberances, with which its occiput is armed, and which rise as large as a hen's egg, one on each side of the mane, at its commencement. Its tongue is rough, and terminates in a point. Each jaw has six grinders on each side, but the lower jaw only has eight cutting teeth in front, while the upper jaw has none. "The hoof is cloven, has no heel, and much resembles that of the ox. It may be observed, however, at the first sight, that the hoof of the fore foot is larger than that of the hind foot. The leg is very slender; but the knee is swelled like that of the stumbling horse, because the animal kneels down to sleep. It has also a large callosity in the middle of the sternum, owing to its usually reposing on it. "If I had never killed a Giraffe, I should have thought, with many other naturalists, that its hind legs were much shorter than the fore ones. This is a mistake: they bear the same proportion to each other as is usual in quadrupeds. I say the same proportion as is usual, because in this respect there are variations, even in animals of the same species. Every one knows, for instance, that mares are lower before than stallions. What deceives us in the Giraffe, and occasions the apparent difference between the legs, is the height of the withers, which may exceed that of the crupper from sixteen to twenty inches, according to the age of the animal; and which, when it is seen at a distance in motion, gives the appearance of much greater length to the fore legs. "If the Giraffe stand still, and you view it in the front, the effect is very different. As the fore part of its body is much larger than the hind part, it completely conceals the latter; so that the animal resembles the standing trunk of a deep tree. "Its gait, when it walks, is neither awkward nor unpleasing; but it is ridiculous enough when it trots; for you would then take it for a limping beast, seeing its head, perched at the extremity of a long neck which never bends, swaying backwards and forwards, the neck and head playing in one piece between the shoulders as on an axis. However, as the length of the neck exceeds that of the legs at least four inches, it is evident that the length of the head, too, taken into the account, it can feed without difficulty, and of course is not obliged either to kneel down or to straddle with its feet, as some authors have asserted.* "Its mode of defence, like that of the horse and other solidungulous animals, consists in kicking with the heels. But its hind parts are so light, and its jerks so rapid, that the eye cannot follow them. They are It is, besides, unnecessary for the animal to kneel, as it feeds principally on the boughs of a species of acacia, which it draws down to its mouth with its long and flexible tongue. even sufficient to defend it against the lion, though they are unable to protect it from the impetuous attack of the tiger. "Its horns are never employed in fight. I did not perceive it used them against my dogs; and these weak and useless weapons would seem but an error of Nature, if Nature could ever commit error, or fail in her designs. "In their youth, the male and female Giraffes resemble each other in their exterior. A knot of long hair then terminates their obtuse horns; this peculiarity the female preserves for some time, but at the age of three years the male loses it. At first, the hide is of a light red, but it deepens in colour as the animal advances in age, and at length it is of a yellow brown in the female, and of a brown bordering on black in the male. The male may, even at a distance, be distinguished from the female by this difference of colour. As to the arrangement and form of the spots, the skin varies in both sexes. The female does not stand so high as the male, and the frontal prominence is less marked. She has four teats; and, according to the account given by the natives, she has one young one at a birth, with which she goes twelve months." ON BLESSING PERSONS WHEN THEY SNEEZE. This custom is derived from very ancient times, and its origin has been variously accounted for. Several writers affirm that it commenced in the year 750, under Pope Gregory the Great, when a pestilence occurred, in which those who sneezed died; whence this Pontiff appointed a form of prayer, and a wish to be said to persons sneezing, for averting this fatality from them. But the custom is of much more ancient date. It was accounted very ancient in the time of Aristotle, who, in his Problems, has endeavoured to account for it. It is alluded to in the Greek Anthology in an epigram, in which the salutation of salve Jupiter is given as a familiar phrase addressed to sneezers. Alexander Ross says, "Prometheus was the first that wished well to the sneezer, when the man which he had made of clay, fell into a fit of sternutation, upon the approach of that celestial fire which he stole from the sun. This gave origin to that custom among the Gentiles in saluting the sneezer. They used also to worship the head in sternutation, as being a divine part, and seat of the senses and cogitation." Various testimonies show the antiquity of this custom, and Aristotle has a problem "why sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from night to aoon unlucky." If he lived in these times, I query whether he would not be pulled up to Union Hall to answer for his necromancy. WORSHIPPING THE DEVIL. Whatever may be men's subserviency to his sable Majesty, few are willing to confess it. But it seems by the following extract from the Liberian (Africa) correspondent of the Commercial Advertiser, that religious homage is statedly paid to him by a whole nation: The writer says "Doubtless you are aware, that the natives have stated times to assemble in what they call the " Devil's Bush," to carry their offerings and pay homage to the Devil; or as they assert, to appease his anger, and make him their friend. They have a select man, whose office it is to find the Devil. He carries a bowl of Palaver Sauce, (a great dish among them, prepared with rice and palm oil, and a certain leaf, with which it is seasoned,) every evening. On the morning the bowl is found to be empty, and the people are made to believe the Devil has eaten the food." FROM OSSIAN. A Tale of the times of old! the deeds of days of other years! The murmur of thy streams, O Lora! brings back the memory of the past. The sound of thy woods, Garmallar, is lovely in mine ear. Dost thou not behold, Malvina, a rock, with its head of heath? Three aged pines bend from its face; green is the narrow plain at its feet; there the flower of the mountain grows, and shakes its white head in the breeze. thistle is there alone, shedding its aged beard. Two stones, half sunk in the ground, shew their heads of moss. The The deer of the mountain avoids the place, for he beholds a dim ghost standing there.* The mighty lie, O Malvina! in the narrow plain of the rock. A tale of the times of old! the deeds of days of other years! * Who comes from the land of strangers, with his thousands around him? the sun-beam pours its bright hills. His face is settled from war. He is calm as stream before him; his hair meets the winds of his the evening beam that looks from the cloud of the west, on Cona's silent vale. Who is it but Comhal's son, the king of mighty deeds! he beholds his hills with joy, he bids a thousand voices rise. "Ye have fled over your fields, ye sons of the distant land! The king of the world sits in his hall, and hears of his people's flight. He lifts his red eye of pride; he takes his father's sword. Ye have fled over your fields, sons of the distant land!" of my joy? Sullen and dark he passes his days in the vale of echoing Lora; but behold, he comes from the hill, like a steed in his strength, who finds his companions in the breeze, and tosses his bright mane in the wind. Blest be the soul of Clessammor, why so long from Selma ! Such were the words of the bards when they came to Selma's halls. A thousand lights from the stranger's land rose in the midst of the people. The feast is spread around: the night passed away in joy. The Rev. John James Blunt (in his "Vestiges of Where is the noble Clessammor!‡ said the fair-haired Ancient Manners and Customs, discoverable in Mod-Fingal. Where is the brother of Morna, in the hour ern Italy and Sicily,") says, "Whatever may have been the cause, something mysterious seems always to have been attached to the act of sneezing. Any future evil, however, to which it might have been the prelude, was supposed to be averted by a word of good augury from a bystander. This, like many other unintelligible notions, has descended from the Romans (at least, more immediately from them, though the same fancy prevailed amongst the Jews and Greeks,) to several modern nations. In our own, the salutation of "God bless you" is sometimes given upon such occasions; in France, "Dieu vous soit en aide," is not uncommon; but in Italy, that of " Viva," or "Felici- of your eyebrow, millions of hearts are wounded. When your glances dart like arrows from the bow ta," is paid with the utmost scrupulousness. Thus too it is recorded of Tiberius, that whenever he sneezed You now direct your shafts against a languishing in his carriage, he exacted such a mark of attention soul; but though aimed at it for the first time, their from his companions with the most religious solicitude." And Brown, in his "Vulgar Errors," says, "We read in Godignus, that upon a sneeze of the Emperor Monomopata, there passed acclamations successively through the city." -London Mirror. ORIENTAL LOVE-LETTER. bassador Abba Mirza, to an English lady, who had The following letter was sent by the Persian ammade a deep impression on his Excellency's heart. Crona. Fingal returns here, from an expedition against the Romans, which was celebrated by Ossian in a poem called the strife of + Probably wax-lights; which are often mentioned as carried, among other booty, from the Roman province. Clessamh-mor, mighty deeds. POETRY. BRYANT. Stranger, if thou hast learnt a truth which needs aum could not be missed. When sharing with you the intcricating cup of love, if an angel descended from Heaven were to appear at the gate of my palace, INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE INTO A WOOD. I would not open it. In vain the most fatal examples warn us not to enter the bazaar of love; I heed them not, and constantly expose myself to new dangers. I have thrown open the magazine of my soul; alas! I tremble lest the purchaser should enter at my cost. My heart, sick with love for you, drinks with rapture the poisoned cup of death; but such are the transports I experience, that thousands must envy my lot. The dust of the threshold of your door is a precious ointment to my eye-why am I not permitted to enjoy_it? A thousand afflictions weigh on the heart of the Ambassador; when separated from you, perhaps these lines may recal him to your memory.” INDIAN SERENADE. Awake! flower of the forest; beautiful bird of the Prairie. Awake! awake! thou with the eyes of the fawn. When you look at me I am happy, like the flowers when they feel the dew. The breath of thy mouth is as sweet as the fragrance of flowers in the morning-sweet as their fragrance at evening in the moon of the fading leaf. Does not the blood of my veins spring towards thee like the bubbling springs to the sun in the moon of the bright nights?-(April.) My heart sings to thee when thou art near, like the dancing branches to the wind in the moon of strawberries. (June.) When thou art not pleased, my beloved, my heart is darkened like the shining river, when shadows fall from the clouds above. Thy smiles cause my troubled heart to be brightened, as the sun makes to look like gold the ripples wich the cold wind has created. Myself! behold me! blood of my bleeding heart. The earth smiles--the waters smile-the heavens smile; but I-I lose the way of smiling when thou art not near-awake! awake! my beloved. ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE. Father Peters, the Jesuit, calculated that in 208 years, four men might have 258,719,000,000 of descendants. Enough to people many such worlds as ours. Sir W. Blackstone shows that in twenty generations, every man actually has 1,048,576 ancestors. One of the greatest curses of a despotic government is a standing army. An army of mercenaries strikes terror to the hearts of the people. We may gather a good idea of European freedom from the number of their military power. Russia has an army of Austria Prussia German Confederation 500,000 And view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade And made thee loathe thy life. The primal curse To guilt. And hence these shades are still the abodes That sucks its sweets. The massy rocks themselves, GEM. A precious stone; or a sort of siliceous earth, consisting of silica and alumina, with a small portion of lime and oxide of iron. The gem is remarkable for its hardness and internal lustre. Under this name is comprehended the diamond, ruby, sapphire, hyacinth, beryl, garnet, chrysolite, &c. To these have been added rock crystals, the finer flints of pebbles, the cat's eye, the occulus mundi, the chalcedony, the moon stones, the onyx, the cornelian, the sardonyx, agate, &c. The imitation of antique gems, by taking the im460,000 pressions and figures upon them, in glass of the colour 350,000 of the original gem, or on sealing wax or brimstone, 210,000 has been practised at different times by persons who, in respect to the first method of taking them on glass, have kept the art to themselves, and suffered it to die with them. But the process adopted by Mr. Homberg, which has also been communicated by him to the world, is highly esteemed for the perfection to which he has brought the art. From the engraved gems of the king's cabinet, he took such exact resem 1,520,000 The city of Pasta, in South America, containing a population of 12 or 15,000 inhabitants, was destroyed by an earthquake on the 22d of January, by which 50 lives were lost. The city of Popayan, containing 30,000 inhabitants, has also been destroyed. The entire country, for leagues around Pasta has been converted into a scene of complete desolation and mourning. nicest judges, who mistook them for the true antique stones. His method consists in taking the impression of the gem in a very fine earth, and then conveying the impression from the earth to a piece of half-melted glass. A worm was lately taken away from a young man in Rox-blances of the originals as sometimes to deceive the bury, by Dr. Stewart, which was over 30 feet in length! Its appearance was perfectly white, with joints beginning almost imperceptibly at the head, increasing in size and length to its extremity-the longest being something more than an inch. The head run to a point as fine as that of a lancet.-Its body was flat, and about half an inch at the widest part. The young man, who is about 26 years of age, says he feels confident this creature has been with him from infancy, and so great was the torture occasioned by it, that he thought death could only relieve him. Dr. S. invites the curious to call and see it, at his house. He has it preserved in spirits. It is really a curious case.-Boston Centinel. One third of the inhabitants of Connecticut, over 16 years of age, have pledged themselves to total abstinence from ardent spirits. GLUCINE. An earth of a sweetish taste, which has been lately discovered by Vauquelin in analyzing the beryl. It is infusible in fire, and insoluble in water, but combines with acids, making with them soluble salts. HISTORY. DISTINGUISHED HISTORICAL CHARACTERS DU- YU-TA was the founder of the Chinese Monarchy. His surname Ta signifies the Great. He was distinguished for literature and science, as well as for political management, being an adept in agriculture, astronomy, and other subjects of a kindred character. Agriculture in particular was greatly indebted to him for an excellent treatise which he wrote upon that subject at this early period: though, when we speak of writing among the ancient Chinese, we should bear in mind that the characters by them used were pictures of various things, and not letters, nor even the present Chinese characters. This illustrious monarch reigned 17 years, and died much lamented by his people. After cess, he undertook fresh enterprises, and overran many small states, till at length he reached Bactria, where he met with the most determined opposition; but through the skill of Semiramis, the wife of one of his officers, he succeeded in the capture of its chief city. After this he made Semiramis his queen, by whom he had a son named Ninyas. Ninus reigned 52 years, SEMIRAMIS, the queen and successor of Ninus, was and is computed to have died A. M. 2017. one of the most distinguished characters that have ever figured in any age; and to this day her name is but another for female energy, skill, and intrepidity. To say of a queen, She is the Semiramis of the age, would be regarded as the highest possible compliment to her genius and statesmanship. This celebrated feintellect from the humble station of wife of a captain The cause of male sovereign rose by the strength of her own native in Ninus's army, to that of queen of the greatest mose-narchy of the age in which she lived. which she evinced in her plan for the capture of the her elevation, as we have already seen, was the skill Bactrian capital. After the death of her husband, she became the reigning queen of his dominions, and removed the seat of government from Nineveh to Dabylon. The latter place she embellished beyond all former precedent, and rendered it the wonder of the world. Having accomplished this, she raised a mighty 66 She advanced toarmy, and commenced a new military career. subduing a portion of Ethiopia, she undertook an expedition to India, to complete the conquest commenced by her husband in that quarter. wards the river Indus, and having prepared boats, attempted to pass it with her army. The passage was for a long time disputed, but after a bloody battle, she put her enemies to flight. Upon this she advanced directly into the country. As soon as the Indian king thought her sufficiently advanced, he gave her battle, and routed her in his turn. Semiramis, twice wounded, was obliged to return to her country, with scarcely one third of her army. Sometime after, discovering that her son was plotting against her, she abdicated her throne, put the government into his hands, and withdrew from public life. She lived 62 years, of which she reigned 42." She died an example of unhallowed ambition and perverted talent-a warning to NINYAS, her son and successor, was a peaceful prince, the ambitious of all succeeding ages. On account of this his pacific disposition, he seeking rather the welfare than the false glory of his people. has been stigmatized by some historians as effemiIt is time that conquerors were nate and imbecile. But it is time that things were called by their right names in history, as well as in every other case. viewed in their true light-viewed as wholesale robbers and murderers-while those rulers who cultivate the arts of peace, and forego their own aggrandizement for the welfare of their people, should be revered as the truly great ones of the earth. We trust the time is not far distant, when those mighty chieftains who have deluged the world with tears and blood will be remembered only with abhorrence; and, on the other hand, when the memory of those who have pursued a different course will be embalmed in the affections of the human race. BELUS was the successor of Nimrod, the first monarch of Babylon. He, like his predecessor, was lected by the people, on account of his eminent talents, to be their sovereign. He was a scholar as well as a statesman, and sought the intellectual improvement of the people whom he was chosen to govern. He is said by Pliny to have been the inventor He reigned 60 years, of the Chaldean astronomy. and died A. M. 1966. After his death, a statue was erected to his honour. To this statue the same respect was paid by the people as they had been accustomed to pay to Belus when alive. It was likewise a refuge for the criminal, who might flee thither from the pur. suit of the avenger. At length the veneration of this statue rose to such a degree, that it became absolute adoration; and Belus was thenceforward regarded as more than man, and was deified under the name of Jupiter according to some, and Saturn of Babylon according to others. This is the Bel, Baal, &c. of scripture. A most magnificent temple was erected to his honour in Babylon, the remains of which are still supposed to be visible. The Chaldeans and Babylonians held, that Belus destroyed the first inhabitants of the earth, who were monsters produced by chaos; that he completed the sun, moon, and planets, which before were in an unfinished state; and that he created man from the dust of the earth, infusing into him divine reason. Berosus says, that Belus cut in sunder a woman, and formed the earth out of the one half of her, and the heavens out of the other. He also divided the darkness, and separated the heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order. But the animals not being able to bear the prevalence of light, died. Belus upon this, seeing a vast space unoccupied, though by nature fruitful, commanded one of the gods to take off his head, and to mix the blood with the earth, and from thence to form other men and animals, which should be capable of bearing the air. Bélus formed also the stars, and the sun, and the moon, and the five planets. NINUS was the successor of Asshur, the founder of Some make him the son of the Assyrian empire. Belus; but this we conceive to be a mistake. Belus was king of Babylon, and Ninus was its conqueror how then could the one have been the son of the other? Ninus was an ambitious character, and waged the first wars of which we have any account. His first attempt was against Babylonia, his father land; which at tempt proved successful. Encouraged by this sucVOL. II.-9 PATHRUSIM, a son of Mizraim, was one of the most famous characters of this period. He was king of Thebais in Egypt. The Egyptians called him Thyoth or Thoth; the Greeks, Hermes; and the Latins, Mercurius. He was beyond doubt the inventor of letters. He was likewise distinguished in many other respects, being a celebrated lawgiver, astronomer, and divine. TERAH, the father of Abraham, was one of the conspicuous characters of the period we are now considering. He lived at first at Ur of the Chaldees, but finally emigrated with his family to Haran. He was noted as one of the patriarchal line, and the father of that remarkable man, Abraham. He died at the age of 205 years. In our first No. of the present Vol. we introduced a cut under our historical head representing the tower of Babel, together with an accompanying, though very brief description of that tower. The following article is a more full description. REMAINS OF THE TOWER OF BABEL. The most remarkable ruin, both in magnitude and name, is that called by the Arabs birs Nimrod, or Nimrod's tower. This, there is every reason to believe, was the ancient tower of Babel, the earliest and mightiest specimen of human skill and human audacity. The travels of Mr. Rich and Sir R. K. Porter, have rendered us more familiar with those huge ruins than could previously have been hoped for. The compressed view of their accounts given by Heeren is very striking and animated. there, and satyrs shall dance there. Jackals shall howl in their palaces, and wild hounds in their pleasant places!"—Presbyterian. LITERATURE. LANGUAGE. All evidences, as we have seen, tend to show, that Pathrusim, the son of Mizraim, the son of Ham, was the inventor of letters. This invention greatly diminished the labour of writing, and facilitated the circulation of knowledge. Hence the superiority of those nations in this respect, to those who still adhere to hieroglyphics, like the Chinese. We are not to consider letters in the light of an isolated invention, springing up spontaneously in the mind of their author as by a kind of inspiration. But we are to regard them as the result of the natural progress in improvement which is the characteristic of mankind. The most natural mode of conveying ideas through the medium of the sense of sight, is, by pictures, representing what we wish to describe. This is the mode now practised by the tawny sons of our own American forests, and by all savage tribes who have made no advances towards civilization. It was the mode practised in the first ages of the world. This is denominated pictorial writing. An improvement on this mode would gradually be made, by abridging certain parts of those pictures, still leaving enough, however, to show what they were intended to represent. This abridgment would still go on, till at length the characters under consideration would lose their resemblance of the things once signified by them, and would then be understood as signifying those things, not from any resemblance, but from being used in their stead. This mode is denominated the symbolical or hieroglyphical kind of writing, and is the present Chinese mode.* But its inconvenience, in consequence of the vast number of symbols which must be made use of in order to convey all necessary ideas, together with the difficulty of expressing in this manner some ideas at all, would tend to induce men to resort to some expedient whereby they could convey ideas with greater facility and convenience. But what new mode could be devised to accomplish this object? "This huge mass of building lies about six miles southwest of Hillah. It has the appearance of an oblong hill, the base of which, according to Porter is two thousand and eighty-two feet in circumference. Rich reckons it two thousand two hundred and eighty six. It may easily be conceived, that it is scarcely possible to fix in a positive manner the circumference of such a ruin. Its present height, reckoning to the bottom of the tower which crowns its summit, is two hundred feet; the tower itself is thirty-five. Looking at it from the west, the entire mass rises at once from the plain, in one stupendous, though irregular pyramidal hill. It is composed of fine bricks, kiln-baked. From the western side, two of its stories may be distinctly seen; the first is about sixty feet high, cloven in the middle by deep ravines. The tower-like looking ruin on the summit is a solid mass, twenty-eight feet wide, of the most beautiful masonry; to all appearances it formed an angle of some square buildings, the ruins of which are yet to be seen on the eastern side. The cement which connects the bricks is so hard that it was impossible to chip the smallest piece; and for this reason none of the inscriptions can be copied, as they are always on the lower surface of the bricks. It is rent from the top nearly half way to the bottom; and at its foot lay several unshapen masses of fine brick work, still bearing traces of a violent fire; which has given them a vitrified appearance, whence it has been conjectured that it has been struck by lightning. The appearance of the hill on the eastern side evidently shows that this enormous mass has been reduced more than half. Only three stories out of the eight which it formerly contained can now be discerned. The earth about the bottom of the hill is now clear; but is again surrounded with walls, which form an oblong square, enclosing numerous heaps of rubbish, probably once the dwellings of the inferior deities; or of the priests and officers of the temple. The appearance of To show the tendency of written language, whether the tower of Nimrod is sublime even in its ruins. pictorial or hieroglyphic, to advance towards the alClouds play around its summit; its recesses are inhab-phabetic, it should be remarked that the Mantcheu or ited by lions, three being quietly basking on its heights Tartars in China have a system of verbal writing. when Porter approached it; scarcely intimidated by And even the Chinese characters themselves have in the cries of the Arabs, gradually and slowly descended certain cases been already used as the representatives' into the plain. Thus the words of the prophet have of sounds. been fulfilled. "Wild beasts of the desert shall be there; owls shall fill their houses, ostriches shall dwell To every character there was of course attached a sound or name according to the thing represented; and thus symbol and sound became associated. Now, as there are but few simple sounds, insomuch that it would require but few characters to represent them, and as different sounds by coalescing form other sounds, the idea that would most naturally suggest itself to an individual in attempting to improve written language, when it could no longer be improved in the hieroglyphic character, would be, to make an experiment in sound, which is the basis of vocal language, and to cause certain characters to stand for certain sounds, instead of certain things. It must be obvious at first thought that this would be an immense improvement. But few characters would be necessary; and, to express any particular word, it would only be requisite to combine such of those characters as would represent the sound of the word when uttered. Thus, the same few characters variously combined would represent all words, and convey any idea whatever, instead of taxing the memory with numerous characters. In this way undoubtedly came alphabetical letters. Illustrations of both the pictorial and heroglyphic modes of writing are given in Vol. I. of this work, pp. 225, 236, and 329. |