SAGE was anciently considered so rich in medicinal qualities that there was a Latin adage, "Why does any man die in whose garden sage grows?" (Cur moriatur homo cui salvia crescit in horto ?) Among its other virtues it was supposed to strengthen the memory, and to quicken and invigorate the senses. Its Latin name, salvia, is derived from salvus, i. e., in good health. Our English name comes from the French, sauge. The leaves of sage were used in divination by leaves, called by the Greeks, botanomancy. The inquirer wrote the letters of the alphabet contained in his name, and in the question he would ask, upon the leaves which he exposed to the wind; and all that remained after the rest had been blown away, were taken up and joined together, and whatever sense could be collected from them was believed to be the answer to the inquiry.

THYME was amongst the Greeks the emblem of activity (because it grows on the tops of steeps, as though it had climbed thither), and they applied it in ointments to the knee and the neck,' to invigorate those parts. Its Latin name, thymus, is derived from the nearly similar Greek word, signifying courage, strength. The woody and fragrant sprigs of the herb were burned in the temples as incense. In a Greek epigram of Dioscorides, he calls it "the Muses' pungent thyme." Partridges, storks, and wood-pigeous eat it to heal any wounds they may happen to receive: and the tortoise is said to make use of it as a preservative from the bite of the serpent. With bees the tiny purple blossoms are especial favourites. The honey of Mount Hybla is said to have owed its high reputation to the wild thyme growing there in abundance.

MINT was said by mythologists to be the metamorphosed form of a beautiful nymph-Mintha, the daughter of Cocythus, changed into this aromatic herb by Proserpine, who was jealous of the admiration with which Pluto beheld her. Ovid alludes to the fable in the eleventh book of his Metamorphoses

"An tibi quondam Fæmineos artus in olentes vertere menthas Persephone licuit."

The graceful feathery FENNEL, which an old superstition in Ireland considers an herb of such unlucky omen that it ought never to be planted in a garden, was, on the contrary, so much

esteemed by the Romans, that it was used to crown the victors in the arena; and was eaten by the Athletæ, in the belief that it increased their strength. According to Elian, the serpent cleanses the films off his eyes by eating wild fennel. Culpepper tells us that fennel is boiled with fish "to consume the phlegmatic humour which fish most plentifully afford;" he also commends it as tending to improve the pallidness

of the face after illness.

MARJORUM was the subject of mythological transformation. Amaracus, a page of Cynarus, King of Cyprus, was so afflicted at having accidentally broken a vase which he was entrusted, and thus spilling a very precious ointment which it contained, that he died of grief, and the pitying gods changed him into the fragrant marjorum. This herb was used by the Greeks in ointment applied to the hair and eyebrows. Hymen was represented as crowned with marjorum; we will add a small leaf to his garland

TOGETHER.

M. E. M.

O, wedded love's a blessed thing!

Through life enduring ever :
Pure gold, like its own hallow'd ring,

It rusts or cankers never.

The gold at times may dim-one light
Touch, soft as downy feather,
Restores its sheen; and smooth and bright
It binds two hearts together.

Oh! happy they, to whom one joy,
Together felt, is double;

And, when the ills of life annoy,

Grief shar'd seems lessen'd trouble. In vain the angry north-wind blows

O'er close-twin'd mountain heather; So storms of care uproot not those

Who bide them well together.

Aye blest are they who, hand in hand, Through youth, through age, are moving Still onward to that better land

Where all are lov'd and loving. Then let the grave its portal ope, They've borne life's varied weather And cheerfully, in faith and hope, Lie down to rest together.

Of CAPERS we can only remember that Zeno, the stoic philosoper, commonly swore by the caper shrub. The English substitute for capers, are the berries of the nasturtium, or great Indian cress. Elizabeth Christina, daughter of Linnæus, first noticed the

sparks of electric light which the nasturtium flower occasionally emits, and which are only visible in the evening. The nasturtium has of late obtained the name of tropæolum, or trophy flower, from the Latin tropæum, a trophy, because its helmet-shaped flowers, with their bright yellow and divided petals, marked with crimson patches, suggest the idea of golden helmets, pierced and stained with blood.

BORAGE, with its pretty blue round flowers, comes from Aleppo; it was unknown to the ancients. In the middle ages, it was believed to be a cordial, excellent to drive away melancholy, whether eaten in salad, or put into wine (the latter most probably). Its supposed exhilirating qualities were celebrated in a Latin adage :

"Ego, borago,

Gaudia semper ago.

Thus Englished:

"I, borage,

Bring always courage."

But gaudia means joy rather than courage. The Latin name, borago, is a corruption of cor-ago, "I bring heart." It is still occasionally put into a tankard with cider, or wine and water, to make the beverage called "Cool-cup;" for, as the herb contains a good deal of nitre, it has cooling properties; but its joy-producing powers seem to have long since forsaken it.

In old times, before horticulture was scientifically practised, and when gardens were chiefly confined to the possession of the better classes and the religious orders, men were glad to find in the woods and fields wild herbs to vary and flavour their repasts. The mealy-leaved goose-foots (chenopodium) were boiled as spinage, particularly those rustically called "fat ben," and "Good King Henry." The latter is said by the French, to be named after Henry IV., who paid some attention to botanic gardens; and by the English it is claimed for Henry VI., who was fond of a rural life, and better fitted for it than for royalty.

CHICKWEED (alsine media) is quite as good as spinage. Young shoots of hop, boiled, serve as a substitute (rather a poor one) for asparagus; as also the roots of rampion bell-flower, and those of Solomon's seal (so called

from some fancied marks on the root, like the engraving on a seal), are still used in Turkey occasionally as asparagus. The young leaves of the wild white campion, or bladder behen, when boiled, have some flavour of peas, and furnished food for the starving peasants of Minorca, when the locusts destroyed all their harvest in 1685. The roots of the water betony (scrophularia aquatica) gave food to the famished French Protestant garrison of Rochelle, when so vigorously besieged by Cardinal Richelieu, 1629. The heads of large thistles, and the unexpanded buds of the sun-flower have been cooked as artichokes. The earthnuts, or pig-nuts (called in Ireland, fairies' potatoes), when roasted, are little inferior to chestnuts. The very charlock and nettles provide the peasants with a dish of greens in times of dearth.

Then the hedges gave aromatic and pungent herbs for seasoning: the PEPPERWORT and SAUCE-ALONE, or Jack-by-the-hedge (erysimum alliaria), eaten with salt fish; and the HEDGE MUSTARD and TREACLE MUSTARD. The LAMB'S LETTUCE (valerianella olitoria), with its tiny lilac flowers (called by the French, salade de chamine, monk's salad), was termed by our ancestors, white pot-herb. The ARUM, that adorns the wood, with its long purple finger (thence familiarly called ladies' fingers), affords from its dried roots a flour often used as sago, and to make bread in times of scarcity, though its bright orange berries are a strong poison.

When we take up a botanical work and see what vast numbers of herbs and roots have been created for the service of man; all that daily supply his meals with not only wholesome, but even dainty fare; all that, though less pleasant to the taste, help him to food in a day of need; all that possess medicinal virtues to heal and alleviate his maladies; and all that supply his flocks and herds with nourishment, shall we not, indeed, acknowledge that when the earth brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed after its kind, God saw it, and it was good?" Shall we not be ready to join in the canticle, "Oh! all ye green things upon the earth, bless ye the Lord; praise Him and magnify Him for ever!" M. E. M.

WHо, that has tried, would compare the feeble luxury of timid indolence to the wild delight of the true sportsman, as his strong frame battles with the fierce elements, endures toil, and braves danger in the consciousness of iron vigour, and with the ardour of the successful chase? How gladly does even the gloved and booted elegant, after dissolving at the opera, doing duty at ball and dinner, and getting "usedup" at everything throughout the season, seek the more rugged life of the moors, and recruit his exhausted frame and languid energies upon the mountain heath! Of a truth, man must earn not only his bread, but his pleasures-his capacity for enjoyment "in the sweat of his brow.'

But yield ye, ye recreant shooters of partridge and of grouse; enlarge your notions of sport and danger; we offer you a new field of excitementa new remedy for ennui and indigestion. Allow us to introduce to you a gentleman, who, like yourselves, has frequented the fashionable salons of the gay world; who has been reared in luxury, and has cultivated the refinements of art, but who will tell you of more daring feats, and of nobler game than is to be found in our too civilised islands. So the introduction is made, and, we doubt not, you and Mr. Palliser will get on agreeably together. It will be refreshing to hear of any spot of the globe that has not yet been be-travelled, be-shot, and bebooked. Better again, to find a gentleman who did not go forth, pencil and paper in hand, to write a journal, and, of malice prepense, to indite a book; that is, to dilute a few facts with a vast amount of after-thought and imaginative comment; or swell out a trifle into a soufflée of three volumes. Our hunter is exactly the reverse. He went to shoot, and accordingly he shot. He went to see new and odd things and people, and he saw them. He now shortly tells, with simplicity, what he has himself done and seen, and has

thus unconsciously written a pleasant book.

Happily, he is no professor of writing. He narrates with an absence of art that has a graphic reality, the great charm of all travels. We feel that what we read is true, and this air of truth, so far from tending to matter-offact dryness, makes interesting much that might not be so, if we suspected it to be apocryphal. It is particularly essential, too, where there is so much that is novel. Since G. Cumming's wholesale battues, we have had no story of adventurous sporting of this kind. Probably, many may have performed similar feats, but what use has it been to us, who sit at home at ease, if either they did not commit their tale to writing, or if Mr. Murray did not transfer it to the all-diffusing type? We have, doubt. less, had plenty of passages of the Rocky Mountains, but none of these, that we are aware of, have yet touched on this northern region; or, if they have, it is but as a passage to a further goal, not as their final object.

After the ordinary tour in the States, which is dismissed in a few pages, but with some graphic touches, Mr. Palliser hunts in the Arkansas and the Illinois, and then ascends from St. Louis, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, about two thousand miles along the Missouri, to the Yellowstone river, where is laid the scene of his best adventures. The dates and times of his movements are not given with the precision they should have been, and it is exceedingly difficult to make out anything like a regular account of his erratic movements. It would seem as though in the savage life which he had to lead, hours, days, and dates were wholly lost, and were only now and then recorded when occasionally he emerged into some outskirt of civilisation. However, it is plain that he crossed over early in 1847, that his story covers a space of about two and a-half years, of which about half was devoted to the pursuits of the chase.

VOL. XLII.-NO. CCXLVII.

E

In Cairo, on the Missouri, he conceives that he has discovered the original "Eden," described by Dickens in "Chuzzlewit," and where Mark Tapley had a most favourable opportunity of "coming out strong under circumstances." Without doubting the reality of his discovery, we think he might easily have multiplied such instances along the dreary Mississippi. At New Orleans pleasure and hospitality seem to have reigned supreme amongst its semi-continental people; and ere we bid adieu to the courtesies of life, we may give a sketch of a trifling incident that marks peculiarly the easy manners of the place. On his first arrival, he fails to distinguish his own lodging under the light of the uncertain moon:

'Who is

"After a little hesitation, I entered that which I thought most probable to be the right one, and passing through the porte cochère, I went up stairs, found doors and windows all thrown open; and I continued for some time wandering through rooms where the gilding of beautiful pictures glanced in the moonlight. I had not gone far when I felt I had mistaken the house. Curiosity, however, induced me to wander a little further before retracing my steps. My situation forcibly reminded me of the account of Don Alphonso, in Gil Blas, when driven by the storm to take shelter in the old Spanish house, through which he continued wandering from room to room, amidst splendid furniture, partially lighted by expiring lamps, until he reached the apartment of Seraphine, where he found the beautiful widow sleeping heavily and uneasily, through the sultry Spanish midsummer night. These reflections, however, were quickly interrupted by a lady's voice, calling out, there?" I replied hastily, informing her of my having taken apartments in the Rue Royale that morning, and also of having forgotten both the number of the house and the name of its owner. 'Was it Mr. So and So's, or was it Colonel S.,' she kindly suggested; but quite in vain, nothing could bring it back to my memory. length she replied, as my brother is gone to the country, you can sleep in his room to-night. Take the first turn at the foot of the steps, cross the large landing-place, and go into the room at the head of the large stairs. Stay; I will give you a light.' After a short pause, I heard, at the other side of the closed door, a crackling noise, announcing the ignition of a lucifer match, and immediately afterwards a lighted candle made its appearance, as well as a very pretty little jewelled hand, neatly pressed at the wrist with a very pretty little lace frill. Having taken the proffered candle, I thanked my hostess, and easily found

'Well!' at

With the deer-hunting in the Arkansas his book may be said to commence. His first efforts are of a more simple description, being a few shots at a "deer-lick," or place where the deer come to seek some natural deposit of salt. This, however, is soon varied by a process, called "pan-hunting' at night, which reminds us of an analogous kind of warfare waged against the fish in the Mediterranean, the picturesque effect of which must always catch the traveller's eye :

"An iron pan attached to a long stick, serving as a handle, is carried in the left hand, over the left shoulder; near where the left hand grasps the handle is a small projecting stick, forming a fork on which to rest the rifle in firing. The pan is filled with burning pine knots, which being saturated with turpentine, shed a brilliant and constant light all round, shining into the eyes of any deer that may come in that direction, and making them look like two balls of fire.

"The night was most favourable, being pitch-dark, and after creeping about for some time, I beheld, from the light thrown from my pan, a pair of shining balls of fire moving up and down a short distance off. At first I took them for fireflies; but, on more attentive observation, I saw, by their simultaneous motion, that they must be the eyes of a deer. After groping a little farther in that direction, the eyes again appeared, and as they began to approach, the distance between them seemed gradually to increase, like the lamps of a travelling-carriage to a spectator watching its progress towards him, till the animal came so near that I could trace his outline; so, holding my pan steadily on my shoulder with my left hand, I raised my rifle with the right, the barrel resting in the notch before-mentioned, and suspecting that at night, from not being able to determine the hind sight, one is apt to shoot high in catching the front one clearly, I aimed so low that I could hardly, from force of habit, persuade myself to pull the trigger. When I fired, the deer gave a convulsive bound into the shades of night, and I thought he was lost.

"I had resumed my hunting-pan and rifle, and was leaning against a tree, when, like some phantom, the faint dusky outline of an

enormous stag walked noiselessly up, and was actually passing me. It made me, from the high state of excitement in which I then was, almost superstitious enough to fancy him the departed shade of an ancient denizen of these primeval forests. I fired rapidly as he passed in front of me. On receiving the ball, he rushed violently off; but, from the way in which I heard him thresh the bushes, I knew I had a good chance of finding him at daybreak. I had hardly loaded again, when three or four pairs of glowing eyes presented themselves, glancing about in several directions. I fired a chance shot at one, which fortunately brought the animal down on his tracks: hearing him struggling on the ground, I feared, by the sound, that he was not for one moment safe, I then threw down rifle and pan, and rushed up knife in hand. It was fortunate that I did so, for the stag was recovering, and just as I had seized him with my left hand by one of his horns, which being then only in the velvet, it broke in my grasp, so that I was compelled to drop my knife, and hold on to him with both hands, holloaing loudly for assistance, till the auimal tore the front and sleeve of my shirt with his fore-feet, and made such a powerful fight, that had it not been for Thibault, who came up, attracted by my shouts, and stabbed him through the heart, I should not only have lost my stag, but have got the worst of it into the bargain."-pp. 43-50.

Five capital bucks were the produce of this first night. Presently we have our traveller beginning in right earnest, making his solitary bivouac in the forest, shooting, skinning, and cutting up his own supper, with an awkwardness that subsequent practice makes him now look on with contempt, and finally, killing a panther that ventured to make too close an acquaintance with him. Henceforth we may fairly consider him as having passed through the ceremony of savage initiation.

A visit to the Mammoth caves forms a short episode: he there walks some twenty miles up and down hill, and across rivers, catches fish without eyes, and altogether passes a most subterranean day. Chacun á son gout; it seems that some people find a peculiar luxury in interring themselves alive in such a place by way of raising their spirits:

"The temperature is always uniform, uninfluenced by that of the external air, which renders them, consequently, comfortable in winter, and delightfully cool in summer. The air inside is very pure; so much so, that invalids have tried the experiment of remaining for weeks under ground, and notwithstanding the inevitable gloom that must

me.

have attended their sojourn in such a dreary abode, have found themselves greatly invigorated, and their appetites much increased. One gentleman recovered in a most wonderful manner, after a residence of several months in a cottage there, which was pointed out to The young ladies had, the year before, voted it too hot to dance above-ground, and had actually planned and given a subterranean ball; choosing a very fine cavern, spacious enough, but not too large to admit of its being properly lighted, and having a boarded floor laid down for the occasion."p. 72.

Our traveller now commences the ascent of the Missouri, aided by an intrepid little steamer, which once a-year faces the rapid current for 2,000 miles to Fort Union, a great depot of the Fur Company's trade, and again descends, freighted with the costly skins collected during the past winter. Taking advantage of this for but 500 miles, he then abandons such civilised refinements for a more primitive and independent mode of travelling.

His party is formed of hardy hunters and trappers, and every variety of wild men, moving together on horseback ; at night camping on the ground, and by day hunting the game on which they live. Occasionally this exposed them to some deficiencies in the commissariat that were not always supplied by any very delicate luxuries. Thus Mr. Palliser receives an invitation from the chief of an Indian tribe to a

dog-feast;" he accepts gladly the “at home," and despite some qualms of conscience and of stomach, does not fail to assure us that often afterwards, when assailed by the pangs of hunger, he turned to the remembrance of this feast with envious regret.

Their larder, however, was in general supplied with more palatable food, and Mr. Palliser waxes positively eloquent in his glowing description of the flavour of buffalo meat. He méntions some remarkable instances where both it and the oxen beef were tried

by Indians, Europeans, and Americans together, and where the verdict was decided and unanimous in favour of the wild animal. He several times recurs to this topic, and quaintly concludes an excellent description of the buffalo's appearance and habits, with the criticism of a practised purveyor-" Taken altogether, they are a curious and interesting animal, and uncommonly good eating!"