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neighborhood of Cuba, to prevent the landing of vessels engaged in the slave trade, and that this will prove more effectual than cruising upon

the coast of Africa.

gentlemen furnished ground provisions, bread, &c., and while the food was being prepared, the whole of the human cargo was brought upon deck and washed, and had blankets given them until clothing could be procured. Thirty of them were in a dying state, but the most humane attention was paid to them, and up to the time when our informant left St. Ann's Bay they were all alive, and expected to do well. The Hon. Charles Royes, Custos of the Parish, sent off, without loss of time, a dispatch to his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, acquainting him with all the circumstances connected with the capture, and requesting to be informed whether the captives should be handed over to proprietors of estates who were anxious to procure their services.

The capture of this schooner is regarded as the first effectual blow which has been given to the slave trade, and it is believed that if the supply to Cuba can effectually be cut off, the planters of the West Indian Colonies will be able to compete sucessfully with their rivals whose slave markets are supplied by American slave ships.

CAPTURE OF AN AMERICAN SLAVER.

373 Negroes rescued.

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The captain of the schooner refused to give his name or the name of the vessel, but stated that he would be a loser of $30,000—a loss which did not cause him much concern, as he had made other and successful trips. A great deal of information, however, has been obtained from the interpreter, who mentioned that several vessels were left on the African coast-that they were to have sailed soon with full cargoes-that, upon an average two vessels departed weekly, each with 500 to 700 slaves on board--that the trade was rapidly increasing--and that the slaves on being landed in Cuba were worth from $500 to $700 each. With regard to those that were captured in the schooner, there was but one day's supply of provisions on the day of capture, and so limited was the quantity of food doled out to them during the passage that when they saw the soup, bread, yams, &c., which were sent on board by the gentlemen of St. Ann's, they made a rush to get at them, and it was found necessary to exercise a rigid discipline, in order that the numbers that were the most enfeebled should be the first supplied.

On Thursday last, the 16th inst. the inhabitants of St. Ann's Bay were thrown into a state of considerable excitement by the arrival of a schooner-evidently American-towed into port by her Majesty's brig Arab. It was soon ascertained that the schooner was a slaver, and that she had on board a large number of captives. It appears that the Captain of the Arab had received information that a bark and schooner were expected in Cuba from the Coast of Africa, each with a cargo of slaves. A strict watch was therefore kept, and on Monday, the 13th inst., a suspicious-looking craft was seen with a full press of sail, making the best of her way to her destined port. She was closely pursued, and the Captain finding that there was no possibility of escaping from the Arab, deserted her, taking with him in a shallop his crew, money, chronometer and other useful articles. The commander of the Arab dispatched his gunboat, with fifteen men, under the command of his First Lieutenant, with orders for the capture of the shallop. The chase continued for nearly three hours, and a shot having destroyed the rudder of the shallop, the Captain, who was owner of the slaver, surrendered. Two of his principal slaves and an interpreter were taken from the shallop, and the crew were left in it to make the best of their way to Cuba.

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The slave schooner has two decks, and between them the captives were packed in such a manner that they had scarcely room to move. During each day of the voyage they sat in a painful posture, eighteen inches only being allowed for each to turn in, and in a deck-room of 30 feet in length 300 human beings were stowed away, and brought up in platoons once every day to get a small portion of fresh air. The schooner draws but six feet of water, is of great breadth, and flat-bottomed, and was thus built to enable her, in case of pursuit, to run into a port where there is not much depth of water. The interpreter states that when slave-trading Captains cannot escape cruisers they make their way to a particular point of land on the Cuban coast, run the vessels ashore, and leave the slaves to perish. The place alluded to is surrounded with rocks none but flat-bottomed boats can get in-and the whole of that portion of the coast is blanched with human bones.

The first Lieutenant then boarded the schooner, and found her filled with young Africans, males and females, to the number of 373, no less than 127 having fallen victims to the horrors of the middle passage during a voyage of 29 days. The poor captives were in a wretched condition -all of them were naked-and the greater part seemed to have been half-starved. They were packed closely together, and covered with dirt and vermin. On the arrival of the schooner in St. Ann's Bay, several gentlemen went on board, and their, sympathies were excited at the misery they witnessed. Messrs. Bravo & Brother suggested measures which were adopted, and, with their usual liberality, ordered a steer to be killed, and soup prepared for the sufferers; other

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The commander of the Arab is in pursuit of him three things: obedience, diligence and truth. the bark that sailed in company with the schooner, No better advice can be given by any parent. and we hope that we shall soon have accounts of her capture.-Falmouth (Jamaica) Post.

SPRING-TIME.

Away-away to the pleasant hills, where the grass is
springing forth,
And weaving its beautiful mantle of green all over the
joyous earth-

Where the white flowers bloom in the creviced rock,

and the violet's eye of blue

Smiles on the pure and beautiful sky through its pearly

tears of dew!

Go-leave the thick and crowded mart, and the city's noisome breath,

Where crime with its dagger lurks unseen, and the air is dark with death

Where avarice plucks the staff away wheron the

wicked lean

And vice leans over its midnight bowl, with the song and jest obscene.

Away-away, to the forest shades, where the boughs
are green again-

And the young bud opens its perfect leaves in the
Where the vine puts forth its delicate hands to clasp

kindly sun and rain;

the oak's huge limb

And the woodland flowers are blowing wild on the

shadowed streamlet's brim.

Away-'tis better to tread the earth, and breathe the
mountain air,

Than to muse o'er the love of other times by the
taper's yellow glare;
Better-far better the open page where the finger of

God hath been,

Than the dim, strange scrolls of forgotten days and the ponderous tomes of men!

Let the beautiful dancer leave the hall where the
midnight mocks the day,

And freer and lighter shall be her step where the
healthful breezes play-
Let the scholar turn from his weary task, and his heart

sball lose its pain,

The blood flow back to his pallid cheek, and his brow be smooth again.

Away--to the hills-the streams-the woods-for
spell of peace is there-

A welcorne bland from the early flowers, and a kiss
from the perfumed air-
Away-and thy heart shall find a friend in every flower

and tree,

SMITHSONIAN LECTURES.

Dr. D. B. Reid's First Lecture. Professor Henry introduced Dr. Reid to the audience, and, in adverting to his plans for ventilation, quoted an extract from some recent prowhere Dr. Bence Jones had given certain statis ceedings of the Royal Institution in London, tical details showing the great reduction of mortality in a hospital which Dr. Reid had ventilated, and that the mortality increased again when the ventilation was suspended.

Dr. Reid responded to Prof. Henry, stating the pleasure it had given him to renew his acquaintance in Washington with a gentleman whom he had formerly met on the other side of the Atlantic, and whose researches in electricity and other branches of science had made his name as familiar as it was respected throughout Europe. He claimed the indulgence of the audience in entering on a course while still imperfectly acquainted with this country, and perhaps not yet fully acclimated to it, as the experience of personal illness for the last fortnight had. taught him.

Dr. Reid then commenced his first lecture with a general sketch of the position in which man is placed on this globe. With his natural wants at first supplied in a congenial climate, he was still, at a very early period of history, like a traveller without a guide in respect to many departments of physique, an omnipotent Creator having in general given him his external senses as a guide in steering his course in the material world. Increase of knowledge, arts, and manufactures gradually accompanied an increasing population. New climates, new wants, and new occupations stimulated his ingenuity and reawarded his invention as much as it increased his comforts. Habitations in caves or clefts of rocks, such as are described in the Sacred Scriptures, as well as tents and huts, the primitive abodes of man, soon gave way in many places to more systematic habitations, though these are still to be found away from the scenes of civilization. Monuments and public temples thus arose in Cyclopean, Egyptian, Druidical, Indian, Chinese, and Mexican architecture. The Greeks, with the finest eye for beauty and proportion, excelled all their predecessors; the Romans added a gorex-geousness and luxuriance of ornament that competed with without rivalling the severe and more scrupulous taste of Grecian architecture; and then followed a host of styles that have multiplied to the present time, where the spire and the dome, the pointed and the circular arch are continued with endless modification to the crystal palace and iron buildings of modern times.

And Nature's pure and beautiful forms shall whisper of love to thee.

The attention of a little girl having been called to a rosebush, on whose topmost stem the oldest rose was fading, while below and around it three beautiful crimson buds were just unfolding their charms, she at once and artlessly claimed to her brother, "See, Willie, these little buds have just awakened in time to kiss their mother before she dies!"

OBEDIENCE, DILIGENCE, TRUTH.-It is said that when the mother of Washington was asked how she had formed the character of her son, she replied that she had early endeavored to teach

But during all this period comparatively little attention was paid to the question of air; which has been so much the subject of investigation in modern times. Buildings were at first too imperfect in their structure and fittings to form those air-tight receptacles that have multiplied so largely in the present day. The same resources and machinery were not available for their construction. The habits and occupations of the people were different. Few read, and still fewer wrote, till the press began to diffuse its influence among mankind. Gas lights were but a recent invention, and the illumination of rooms by night with an artificial daylight sun.

to New York or St. Petersburgh. Vain would the attempt be to extend properly the duration of man if the nervous system was exhausted, whether from an honorable ambition, a corrupt luxury, or a want of faith, hope, and contentment in the providence of the Creator.

Dr. Reid then turned his discourse to the physical evils attendant on human life, and explained the magnitude of the evils attendant on defective ventilation. Man respired, on an average, twelve hundred times an hour during the whole period of his existence. The lungs contained millions of cells, and if pure air were not supplied all these provisions for life and health were more or less frustrated; the blood became changed in its qualities; the brain, the eye, the ear, and every tissue and fibre of the human frame were more or less affected. The result varied in every degree, from the most trifling head-ache, listlessness, or languor, to every variety of fever, scrofula, consumption, or even, in extreme cases, to sudden and immediate death.

In large cities and in all populous districts a right system of drainage and external cleansing was the true remedy for periodical evils too often attributed to other causes. That being secured, the right ingress and egress of air in individual buildings and habitations became the next desideratum.

Dr. Reid then showed by experiments the fundamental principles of ventilation, illustrating the tendency of the air to assume rotatory movements, and thus induce the removal of vitiated and the supply of fresh air whenever expansion or any other cause produce a disturbance in the atmospheric balance. The effect of the human frame in inducing such currents was then pointed out, so that the body always ventilates itself if the natural currents it determines are not impeded by the architecture which surrounds it.

But with all these inventions the duration of human life has not increased. Passing over the times of the ancient patriarchs, human life seems still on the whole to have been diminishing from the time when it is generally supposed to have been reduced to three score and ten. How many places are there where from a quarter to a half the population now die within from five to ten years; born, as it were, to pass through an infancy of suffering and sorrow, and then to disappear from this transitory scene? And then, if we look to adults, is it not true that, so far from attaining three score and ten, many are cut off before they are twenty-five? An age of fifty years is beyond the average, and three score and ten or upwards is still more rarely attained. But is there any just foundation for the belief that three score and ten is the allotted period for man's existence? Is the passage from the Psalms correctly interpreted to which this alleged maxim is usually ascribed? He contended that it was not; that Biblical critics usually attributed this psalm to Moses, believing that it was written by him in the wilderness, when the Isrealities were exposed to great suffering. As yet he had met with no clergyman of any denomination who was disposed to insist on the popular interpretation usually ascribed to it. He thought this subject one of great practical importance; that the question should be set on a right footing; that if it were not only possible, but probable, that a very marked extension of five, ten, fifteen, and five-and-twenty years could be given to human life by fair attention to the moral, religious, and physical elements that entered into it, nothing would contribute more to place the whole subject of the The dials of the English Parliament clock duration of human life on a better footing than are twenty-two feet in diameter, and are the the right determination of this point. It would largest in the world. Every half-minute the regulate, or at least affect, the period of infancy point of the minute-hand moves nearly seven and education, the time of entering on business, inches! The clock will go eight and a half and form an element in all subsequent concerns days, and strikes only for seven and a half, so as of life. Above all, it would be one of the to indicate by its silence any neglect in winding strongest checks upon that fast system of living it up. The mere winding of each of the strik and that incessant strain upon the nervous sys- ing-parts will take two hours. The pendulum tem that was so marked upon thousands and tens is fifteen feet long; the wheels are of cast iron; of thousands, especially in great and populous the hour-bell is eight feet high and nine feet in cities, whether we looked to London or Paris, or diameter, weighing from fourteen to fifteen tons.

A special ventilating shaft has been constructed at the Institution for the illustrations, and a connexion is established between it and a tube and chamber in the experimental table, by which a ventilating power is brought to bear on any visible vapors used in explaining the principles and practice of ventilation.

LARGEST CLOCK IN THE WORLD.

The weight of the hammer is four hundred the third lying further back toward the southpounds.

THE LAST ERUPTION OF MOUNT HECLA.

At the commencement of the year 1845 Mount Hecla had for seventy-nine years been in a state of quiescence a period of rest longer than any that had occurred within the historical recollection of man. As early as 1839, however, there were indications that the smouldering fires contained in its bosom were far from extinguished. Still, the recollection of the last fearful eruption being long since forgotten, the minds of the inhabitants retained their newly-gained serenity; and when the outbreak did come, it took the public mind as much by surprise as though Nature had not already been frequently convulsed by, the titanic struggles of the mighty Fire monster hidden in the depths of Hecla's bowels.

On the 2nd of September, 1845, commenced the eighteenth eruption of Hecla, that has taken place within the memory of man. Heavy, murky clouds hung over the hilly districts in the vicinity of the volcano, and a dull, oppressive quiet pervaded the atmosphere, when at 9 o'clock in the morning both earth and air were suddenly convulsed and all nature was thrown into confusion. The earth shook, the heavens thundered in one continued roar, like the dashing of the surf on the southern coast in the Winter season, and impenetrable clouds of fog and mist wrapped themselves as a vail about the summit of the mountain, hiding it from the strained and anxious gaze of the trembling inhabitants.

About 10 o'clock this cloud darkened, and raising slowly from the peak of the volcano, spread itself over the whole sky, deluging the earth with a shower of ashes and scoria, and obscuring the atmosphere to such a degree that the people could with difficulty grope their way to their homes for shelter. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon daylight was restored, and the fall of ashes changed into a shower of volcanic sand which continued to pour down until the close of the succeeding day, by which time it covered the ground to the depth of nearly two inches.

It is worthy of note that the thunder which accompanied the commencement of this shower was very feebly heard in the immediate vicinity of Hecla, while in remote places it was distinctly audible. On the island of Grimsoe, lying 50 miles distant, it was mistaken for the discharge of artillery on board of a French privateer cruising in the vicinity. A slight trepidation of the earth was also perceptible in some places, while in others it was not at all noticed. When the cloud cleared away and daylight again made its appearance, Hecla was seen to be belching forth its contents through three different craters-one on the north-east summit of the mountain, one on the highest central peak, and

west. From the central crater issued a dark column of ashes, which, pierced by irregular flashes of lightning, and attended by mighty peals of thunder, raised its lofty head to the clouds before it broke in a shower of ashes on the eastern plains. Both of the other openings emitted dense clouds of white, steamy smoke, but it was seldom clear enough to distinguish them from each other, and the mass ejected by the three craters mixed into one dusky cloud of ashes, which appeared to issue from a single source. Measurements taken of this column of ashes indicate its actual height to have been twice that of the mountain itself, varying at different times in altitude from 6,774 to 13,926 feet.

About 7 o'clock in the evening a shock occurred, shaking the island to its very foundations, and filling the minds of the inhabitants, both brute and human, with consternation and alarm. The dogs, those faithful companions and assistants of the islanders in all their out-door and domestic operations, ran howling into the wilderness, and did not make their appearance in the vicinity of human habitations until after the lapse of a week. At this time an immense fan-shaped flame issued from amid the vapors which flowed from the crater, throwing pieces of scoria in every direction, and bearing in its midst huge masses of red hot stone, which after being whirled about a short time in the air, fell back into the fiery chasm whence they had emerged. As twilight approached, the lava was seen streaming down the west side of the mountain in a flood of liquid fire, overwhelming everything in its course and heating the streams in the neighborhood almost to the boiling point, so that hundreds of dead fishes were thrown to the surface, while at the same time the hot springs in the vicinity were deprived of their characteristic high tem perature.

From the 4th to the 9th of September, Hecla was completely enveloped in clouds and mist. There was only an incessant roaring and the constant showers of ashes to indicate the continued activity of the volcano. The violence of the eruption seemed, however, to be abating, notwithstanding the lava continued to flow at the rate of about 50 feet an hour, with heavy clouds of steam, pursuing its irresistible course, crushing and pushing the cracking masses of scoria sideways in every direction. By the 9th, this stream had advanced about half a mile, when it commenced hardening, and at length ceased to flow altogether. On the 12th, it again commenced, the roaring inside of the crater increased, and the column of ashes reappeared. The wind veered to the east, and for the first time the south-western districts received a sprinkling of ashes, destroying the plants and depriving the cattle of their means of subsistence. The volcano continued in activity until the 14th, roaring and

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puffing forth globular clouds of smoke and steam, like the breathing of an immense subterranean giant, while the snow-capped mountains, Triefjeld and Oefeld Jokeln, which had never been seen otherwise than of a dazzling white color, were for a time enveloped in black clouds. The volcano, after blustering harmlessly a few. days longer, appeared to have become appeased; a strong smell was at the same time emitted, resembling nothing that had ever been noticed at previous eruptions. The lava stream seemed to have accelerated its speed, opposing hills having turned its course into a narrow valley.

On the 8th of October the thunder increased in violence and the lava again foamed in a broad glowing stream around the talus of the hill. On the 4th of November the hill appeared like a mass of fire from summit to base, as the lava coursed down its sides in three streams, and so Hecla continued in a state of eruption, at times more or less violent until the middle of March. At times it was altogether hidden by mists and clouds, its existence and position only demonstrated by its continued groaning. Some days it would be entirely quiet, and a thin white vapory cloud played in the air directly over the crater. Then again the lava would flow forth, the column of ashes would be raised on high amidst the uproar of repeated peals of thunder, and would be swayed from side to side by the wind threatening one district after the other, or driven downward by the raging east-north-east wind, and rebounding from the earth would be rolled about in the air with resistless fury.

On the 25th of March the fire again lighted up, with a hitherto unequalled glare at first clear and distinct, and afterward separating itself in every direction in dark red beams of light, shooting about so rapidly that the eye could scarcely follow them in their course, and presenting all the phenomena of the northern

lights. This was the last effort of the volcano. On the next day the top of the mountain emerged from the smoke and flame which had enveloped it for over half a year, and during the next few weeks a slight emission of smoke and ashes was the only evidence of the eruption that had taken place. After the 6th of April these also disappeared, and by the 11th the lava had cooled off to such a degree that the falling snow lay unmelted npon its surface. Since then Hecla has remained at rest, and all rumors and reports of subsequent outbreaks may be directly traced to the anxiety caused by this eruption, the terrified inhabitants picturing a recurrence of the, catastrophe in every rumbling sound and every shower of dust carried by an easterly wind from the ash-covered districts around the volcano.

Truth will be uppermost, one time or other, like cork, though kept down in the water.

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GRAIN. Wheat is in demand, and prices firm. Sales of prime Pennsylvania red are making at $1 75 a 1 80, and $1 80 a 1 85 for good white. Rye is firm. Pennsylvania is held at $1 per bu. Corn is in demaud at at 83c for Southern yellow, afloat. Oats are steady; sales of Penna. and Delaware at 58} a 60c per bushel.

UMMER RETREAT AT HIGH LAND DALE. ST The season of the year is at hand, when many citizens leave their homes for the benefit of pure air; the attention of the readers of the Intelligencer is called to the pleasant Retreat of CHARLES and CATHARINE P. FOULKE, who have again enlarged their premises, and are prepared as heretofore to receive summer boarders.

Their farm and residence is near the crown of one

of the mountain ridges in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, about two miles from Stroudsburg, the county town, and three miles from the Delaware Water Gap, in one of the healthiest situations to be found in Pennsylvania.

On this high elevation and near the domicile is a large spring of excellent water, which supplies a Bath there is much to give comfort and create a home feelHouse attached to the premises,-while within doors ing, and make this a very desirable mountain Retreat.

The cars leave Camden in the morning and arrive at the Stroudsburg station within two and a half miles

of High Land Dale, early in the afternoon. 5th mo. 16-6t.

T. B. L.

HESTERFIELD BOARDING SCHOOL FOR

C YOUNG MEN AND BOYS. The Summer So sion of this Institution will commence the 18th of 5th mo. 1857, and continue twenty weeks.

TERMS.-$70 per session, one half payable in advance, the other in the middle of the term. No extra charges. For further particulars address, HENRY W. RIDGWAY,

Crosswicks P. O., Burlington Co., N. J. ONDON GROVE BOARDING SCHOOL FOR

YOUNG MEN AND BOYS.-It is intended to commence the Summer session of this Institution on the 1st 2d day in the 5th mo. next. Lectures will be delivered on various subjects, by the teacher. Also, on Anatomy and Physiology, by a medical practitioner; the former illustrated by appropriate apparatus ; the latter by plates adapted to the purpose. TERMS; 65 dollars for 20 weeks. No extra charge except for the Latin language, which will be 5 dollars. For Circulars, including references, and further particulars, address

BENJAMIN SWAYNE, Principal,
London Grove P. O., Chester co., Pa.

3d mo. 14, 1857.

Merrihew & Thompson, Prs., Lodge St., North side Penna.Bank.

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