Hatze, or royal almoner; after which they retire clothed with the caftan. Having mounted horses given them by his majesty, they ride in great state, in the midst of loud acclamations, to the house of the husband. A dinner is prepared, in the course of which many oxen are slaughtered at the door in order to furnish brind, which is served up reeking and quivering from the body of the animal. Deep drinking then commences, in which the ladies and gentlemen indulge to a degree which to a European appears altogether incredible. These marriages, it is added, are by no means permanent; many of the Ozoros entering into new engagements as often as they please, and dissolving the preceding contract at the suggestion of convenience and fancy.

"Pearce mentions a singular practice, which he remarks might appear fabulous to any one who had not witnessed it. When a woman has lost two or three children by death, she is induced, in the hope of saving the life of another just born, to cut a piece from the tip of the left ear, roll it up in a piece of bread and swallow it. For some time,' says he, I was at a loss to conjecture the reason why a number of grown people of my acquaintance had one ear cut; and when told the truth I could scarcely believe it, till I went into the house of a neighbour, though contrary to custom, purposely to see the operation. An old woman cut off the tip of the ear, and put it into a bit of cold cooked victuals called sherro, when the mother of the infant opened her mouth to receive it, and swallowed it, pronouning the words, In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!" They have recourse to many other superstitious and whimsical practices to prevent children from dying."

This excellent volume concludes with a most interesting chapter on Zoology, and one on Botany, for which the writer professes himself indebted to the eminent Naturalists Mr. Wilson and Dr. Greville, and which serve to complete the stock of information which Mr. Russell has afforded us in his most ably executed work. We look forward with anxiety to the next Number of this most deserving and successful Series.

ON THE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN TRACKING BOATS ON CANALS.

The attention of the public has been lately a good deal occupied with the discovery made, and now fully established, by the persevering exertions of Mr.

Graham of Glasgow, and Mr. Houston of Johnstone, that boats of a peculiar construction, can be drawn along a canal at the rate of from eight to fifteen British miles an hour, without producing any wave or swell in front, and unaccompanied with a surge on the sides injurious to the banks. As the subject has given rise to much enquiry and examination, we may be permitted to offer a few practical observations, and to attempt some explanation of the causes of these extraordinary results.

We have always observed, that when one of the passenger boats, hitherto in use on canals, is drawn at the rate of four or five miles an hour, the water is raised more or less in front, a wave or swell is maintained at the bow, falling gradually towards the midships, whence to the stern a corresponding depression, or hollow is formed, and a surge or broken and abrupt wave follows the boat, tearing the bank on either side. This effect is obviously produced by the bow of the boat displacing and putting in motion those parts of the opposing fluid, with which it comes in immediate contact, and of course, the broader and fuller the bow is, or the greater its transverse section, the greater the quantity of water thus acted upon. The fluid, so displaced, is driven forward in lines, diverging from the centre, and encountering the resistance of the mass of water in front, as well as the lateral resistance of the banks, from the swell or wave across the canal, correspondent with which, the hollow or trough is also formed from side to side; and, while the hinder part of the boat sinks into this hollow, the forepart is raised, so that the vessel, in this position, is drawn up an inclined plane, or against a current, which presents a resistance proportionate to the power of draught, and which resistance increases in a ratio much greater than any actual increase of such power, but varies according to the changing circumstances of breadth and depth of canal, as well as of size and form of boat; and, it must be obvious, that the rapidity and injurious effect of the succeeding wave is regulated by the quantity so displaced and packed up at the base; and that the current of this surge, as it rushes onwards to restore the level of the water, must be longitudinal, in the same direction of the displacement. The effect produced by one of the Scotch boats when drawn at a slow rate, we have observed to be nearly the same as that we have now described.

But when one of these newly con

structed boats is drawn at the rate of eight miles an hour, the wave at the bow disappears altogether, and instead thereof, a long and gradually elevated wave, or rather swell, varying in length and height according to the breadth of the canal, is formed, and maintained in motion along the bank opposite the midships of the boat, on each side, receding more astern when the speed is further increased; or, when the boat with the same velocity passes into a wider part, and advancing towards the bow when the speed is abated; or, when the boat at the same rate passes into a narrower part. But, not being calculated from its form or motion to produce any visible injury to the banks, unless in places the most contracted in breadth, which, we believe, in all well constructed canals, are lined with stone. An eddy is formed close behind the rudder, and numerous narrow waves flow from astern of the midships, like a lengthened tail, diverging to each bank, along which they pass in quick succession, but so spread and lowered, as to produce in their progress a very slight effect on the banks, even in narrow parts; but making in wide water scarcely any perceptible impression. We understand it has been proved by experiment with a dynamometer, that the actual force employed by the horses in pulling the boat at the greatest speed, is less than at the slower rates, which, indeed, appears evident to a common observer, as the tow rope, or trackline slackens as the speed increases; and we also observed, that when the horses suddenly cease pulling, the boat is brought up and stopped in a very short distance.

The extraordinary results we have attempted to describe, are attributed to the boat's being raised, in a certain degree, out of the water, and to her being drawn more upon the surface, and thus displacing less water when in rapid, than in slow motion. But this theory, we confess, appears contradicted by these facts-1st, That at the highest degree of velocity, the swell in front not merely diminishes, but ceases. 2ndly, That, although we have ascertained by experiment, that the boat when in most rapid motion, is raised in a slight degree, yet, this buoyancy is by no means sufficient to account for the effect produced. As, 3dly, this effect takes place alike with the weight of one hundred, and that of ten passengers on board; alike, when the boat sinks twenty inches, or when she draws but six inches water.

We now,

with much deference, offer the opinion that the effects observable are entirely

owing to the change which the more rapid motion of a peculiarly constructed body produces, in the direction of the displacement of the water.

Much observation has led us to conclude that when the long, narrow, and finely tapered boat we have seen plying on the Ardrossan canal, is drawn forward at the rate of from eight to ten miles an hour, it acts like a wedge, dividing and cleaving asunder the body of water throughout its centre. That the displaced fluid, instead of being pushed forward in longitudinal lines, and formed into an opposing wave across the bow, is acted upon laterally, and thrown from the centre to each bank, in lines, forming nearly right angles with the sides of the boat; that thereby is produced and maintained, on each hand, the lengthened wave or swell, which, as it flows onwards with the boat, continues at its greatest height along the bank, and is depressed in the middle of the canal; that the boat thus moves along a valley or hollow; that to fill up this hollow, the lateral swells constantly fall inwards towards the stern; that the whole of the displaced water being thus disposed of on the sides, occasions the total disappearance of the water in front; that as the lateral swells afford a constant supply for replacing the fluid, a small portion, if any, is required from the stern to restore the natural level, and therefore the surge, which in other cases follows the boat for that purpose, nearly ceases; that the hollow or valley in the centre of the canal being longitudinal, the boat (as we have proved by a plummet) swims nearly parallel to water level, or rather, when under most rapid way, inclines downwards by the bow, in consequence of the sternward recession of the swell, to which we have before alluded; that this latter circumstance is sufficient to account for the draught of the horses being diminished, and the trackline becoming slack at the highest velocities; that when the horses cease pulling, the swell resumes its level across the canal, flows onwards in a full, round wave, and is seen far ahead, finally to subside; that the effect of this wave, as it thus moves forward, in raising the forepart and depressing the stern, may account for the short space in which the boat is brought up or stopped; and, that the considerable dimensions of this wave, afford additional evidence that there is little, if any diminution in the quantity of water removed at the higher rates of velocity; and that the remarkable change produced is attributable solely to the new direction given to the displaced fluid.

No. IX.

It is incumbent upon every lover of his country to understand its history thoroughly and soberly, to be willing and able to see through the intervening mists of error, to disentangle the knots of prejudiced controversy, and not only to hope the best for the stability and happiness, and strength, of his native land, but to found his hope upon knowledge. But all history is in some sense a sea dangerous and difficult to navigate. One may paddle along the shore with almost as little peril as profit, but if we should venture out of sight of land, with no other chart to guide us over the watery way than rocks succeeding rocks, it could not be long before our vessel must be swamped in some unforeseen eddy, stranded on a hidden bank, or dashed to pieces against the iron angle of some unknown promontory. Would we sail freely, boldly, and securely, we must place our foot upon the stern, our hand upon the helm, and our eye fixed steadily upon the compass. That intellectual compass must be principle, fixed religious principle, that never swerves or wavers, but points for ever forward to the magnet pole of truth and rectitude, without change or variation either to the west or to the east. As long as we persist in considering the external face of things only, in referring merely to this fact as the cause of that fact, in confusing ourselves in the old and wide-spread sophism of post hoc, or

VOL. II.

cum hoc, ergo PROPTER hoc, we can never escape from misrepesentation, ignorance, and delusion, on the one side or on the other. The unity of the great drama that is ever acting on the theatre of the world, can alone be found in that great principle which even a heathen poet, the first and greatest fully known to us, had the early strength of gigantic genius to lay down, as the guiding rule, by which fiction may be made to bear the requisite: resemblance to truth, namely, that the will of the Deity shall, in all things, be made to prevail and be fulfilled.*

Whoever will look back with an instructed eye upon the events of even the last few hundred years, will easily perceive and readily acknowledge, that the real substantial happiness and exaltation, or the misery and abasement of every nation, has been justly proportionate to the prevalence or the decay of true religion among the people. When the shrewd and searching Italian (Tacitus) describes the barbarous inhabitants of savage Albion, the divisos orbe Britannos, fighting always among themselves, and sometimes against the common enemy; and when with an exulting sneer over their ineffectual struggles, he tells us that at length these miserable islanders readily fell into the effeminating indulgences of Roman luxury, mistaking for refinement what was really but the proof of

VOL. II.

21