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Bern, and was often spoken of by travellers, as the most offensive feature of the town. The system was perfectly inefficient; the labour was imposed by way of punishment, but it is described as having been "idleness scarcely disguised." The criminals themselves were hardened by habitual exposure in so degrading a situation, and their amendment became consequently hopeless; while the mockery of a punishment to which they were subjected, carried with it nothing to deter others from evil-doing. The inhabitants of Bern profess the Reformed faith, and are about fourteen thousand in number. Like their brethren of the canton in general, they are a good-humoured, civil people, though not always comely to the eye. The peasantry still retain the homely fashion of bidding guten morgen (good morning) to the passing stranger, touching their hats with a natural courteousness wholly devoid of servility. The dragon-fly caps and sulphur hats of the Bernese females are as well known to us by prints, as the sweeping roofs, and "all the delightful sun-repelling projections and picturesque redundancies" of the Bernese cottages. The straw-hat, more especially, belongs to the peasantry, and is gradually superseded on approaching the capital, by the other head-dress mentioned, which is described as a very odd-looking black skull-cap, standing stiffly off the face, like the fly-caps of our great grandmothers, or rather like the two wings of a butterfly.

We thought at first (says Simond) that they were made of wire, but found the materials were black horse-hair,a perfect coat of mail in millinery, passing from one generation to another, never the worse for wear; the hair under it descends in two enormous tresses, from the back of the head down to the heels.

The peculiar costume of the lower class of females may be seen fully displayed in the market, which, though rather monotonous in its air, from the sameness of the dress, and dull from the prevalence of black colours, still presents an original scene, The women are described by the authoress of Slight Reminiscences, &c., as "amazingly rugged and sinewy," even the youngest of them; the old ones are perfect in their way,—

Their black caps, with deep flapping veil-like borders, gray hair hanging down the back in two long tresses, firm Estep, bronzed complexions, and the bold and scrutinizing expression of their time-touched features, recall to mind the charmed women of Walter Scott. They are the Ulla Troils, Magdalen Græmes, and Elspeths of his rich imagination, embodied in all their brawny awfulness.

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The costly finery which is exposed for sale in this market is remarkable, when it is considered that the purchasers are principally country girls; it exhibits a fancy display of beads, foils, and silver filagree. Many of the inhabitants are afflicted with those peculiar excrescences from the throat, which are known by the appellation of goitres.

They live in a delightful country, (says a writer before quoted,) and in an open and elevated situation, not jammed in between mountains, but breathing freely, with a bright 5: sky, and a fine soil, and a rapid river, and abundant means of comfortable existence, and yet a striking proportion of the children look like mandarins, with bald eyes and distended bodies, and many with the boneless-looking faces of the cretin, even when they are not of that awful race of the mental pariahs. If they have not already, one may safely affirm that they will be favoured in time, as their parents probably have been before them; luckily they do sd not appear to consider this enormity as a grievance, but, like the monster-headed members of the court of Comus, Boast themselves more comely than before.

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Bern is the birth-place of the celebrated Albert Haller. Its Academy was converted into an Univer5sity in the year 1834, and with the other establishzaments for education which it possesses, it affords

ample means of instruction to the inhabitants of all classes. The Institution of M. de Fellenberg is situated only a few miles from the city..

• See Saturday Magazine, Vol. V., p. 234.

THE INDIAN RUBBER TREE, (Usquahuilla) II.

In a former volume† we gave an account of the Indian Rubber Tree, from WOODVILLE'S Medical Botany. The following additional particulars, given by a Spanish writer on India, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, are curious. From this account we learn, that the ancient Indian kings in South America had their fools and jesters, as well as the kings and nobles of Europe, and also that Indian of the Atlantic, in making waterproof cloaks. rubber was applied, centuries ago, on the other side of the Atlantic, in making waterproof cloaks. "There is a tree which they (the Indians) call Usthe hot country. It is not a very high tree, the leaves quahuitl; it is held in great estimation, and grows in

are broad, and of an ashy colour.

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"This tree yields a white milky substance, thick and

gummy, and in great abundance. To obtain it they wound the tree with an axe, or a cutlass, and from these wounds the liquor drops. The natives collect it in round vessels of different sizes, called in their language Xicalli, but by us Calabashes. In these they allow it to settle in round balls, of the size most convenient for the purposes to which they are about to apply them. When quite set, they boil them in water, in which state the gum is called Ulli.

"The Indians who have not got Calabashes, smear their bodies over with it, for nature is never without a resource; and when it becomes dry they remove the whole incrustation, which comes off in the form of a very smooth membrane, its thickness depending upon the will of the party collecting. They then make it into balls, and boil them as before.

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Anciently they used to play with these balls, striking them against the ground, and making them rise to a great height. But in the game of the Pelota it was not struck against the ground, but caught upon the hip, or the shoulder.

"From the Ulli an oil is extracted, of great value in various applications. It was formerly much used by the natives, nor have they forgotten its properties now for it is soft and lubricous, and of especial effect in removing any tightness of the chest. The oil is extracted from the Ulli by heat; it starts out in a manner to create admiration, leaving me nought to compare it unto.

"The oil is drunk mixed with cocoa, and, indeed, it softens any other medicine, however hard its quality. It is also found of great service in stopping hæmorrhages, for which it is taken internally.

"The coagulated Ulli is so strong in itself, that a breast-plate made of it no arrow will pass; for being of a nature leathery and membranous, it ejects the point.

"The kings and the nobles were accustomed anciently to make shoes of the Ulli, and to order their fools and jesters, the hump-backed and the dwarfs of the palace, to be shod therewith, in order to make them sport; for the wearers could not step without falling, which, with their awkward actions, gave rise to much jesting and merriment.

"Our people (the Spaniards) used it in waxing their cloaks, which were made of coarse canvass, so as to make them resist water; and, in truth, it is of great effect in resisting water, but not so the sun, for the rays thereof melt it."

[TORQUEDAMA. Monarquia Indiana, Madrid, 1723.]
+ Vol, L., p. 47.
Vol. IX., p. 185.

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lis to etastidedaTHE SPANISH ARMADA. RI ATTEND all wit

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ye who list to hear our noble England's praise, I tell of the thrice-famous deeds she wrought in ancient days, When that great fleet invincible against her bore in vain The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of Spain. It was about the lovely close of a warm Summer day, There came a gallant merchant-ship full sail to Plymouth Bay; Her crew hath seen Castille's black fleet, beyond Aurigny's isle, At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile; At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace; 3d And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in chase. Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the wall; The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty hall; Many a light fishing-bark put out to pry along the coast;

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And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post. With his white hair unbonneted the stout old sheriff comes; :: Behind him march the halberdiers, before him sound the drums; His yeomen, round the market-cross, make clear an ample space, For there behoves him to set up the standard of her Grace. And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance the bells, 5. As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon swells. Look how the lion of the sea lifts up his ancient crown, And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down. So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that famed Picard field, Bohemia's plume, and Genoa's bow, and Cæsar's eagle shield: So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he turned to bay, And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay. Ho! strike the flag-staff deep, sir knight: ho! scatter flowers,

fair maids:

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And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down; The sentinel on Whitehall Gate looked forth into the night, And saw o'erhanging Richmond Hill the streak of blood-red light. Then bugle's note and cannon's roar the death-like silence broke, And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke. DeAt once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires;

At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reeling spires;
From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear;
And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer:
And from the farthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet,
And the broad streams of flags and pikes dashed down each roar-
ing street:

And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din,
As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in:
And eastward straight, from wild Blackheath, the warlike errand
went,

And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant 'squires of Kent. Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth;

$ High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the

north;

And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still,
All night from tower to tower they sprang-they sprang from hill

to hill,

Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dalesTill like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales—

Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane, And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain; Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,

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Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent; Tilf Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile, And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle. MACAULAY. IF Providence has thought fit to write in cyphers, shall he be blamed who endeavours to give a key to its works, because some men cannot distinguish one stroke from another in the cypher!-STILLINGFLEET

THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS, LEGENDS, AND FICTIONS, OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

A WORK of great utility might be compiled upon the origin of popular fictions, and the transformation of similar tales from age to age, and from country to country. The Mythology of one period would then appear to pass into the romance of the next century, and that into the nursery-tale of subsequent ages.-SIR WALTER SCOTT.

I.

ON THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF EUROPE, AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT DIVISION, &c.-NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY TRACED TO THE EASTERN INVADERS. THE SOURCE AND STREAM OF MODERN SUPERSTITIONS, FABLES, ETC.

THE different characters that mark the civilized nations of the globe, may be ascribed to the use, and abuse, of reason; which so variously shapes, and so artificially composes, the manners and opinions of an European or a Chinese. But the operation of instinct is more sure and simple than that of reason: it is much easier to ascertain the appetites of a quadruped, than the speculations of a philosopher; and the savage tribes of mankind, as they approach nearer to the condition of animals, preserve a stronger resemblance to themselves and to each other. The uniform stability of their manners, is the natural consequence of the imperfection of their faculties. Reduced to a similar situation, their wants, their desires, their enjoyments, still continue the same: and the influence of food or climate, which, in a more improved state of society, is suspended, or subdued, by so many moral causes, most powerfully contributes to form, and to maintain, the national character of barbarians.

The Scythians and Tartars were a warlike people, renowned for their invincible courage and rapid conquests; and their arms have spread terror and devas

tation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe. The tribes of Scythia, distinguished by the modern appellation of hordes, assumed the form of a numerous and increasing family, which, in the course of successive generations, has been propagated from the same original stock. The meanest and most ignorant of the Tartars preserve with conscious pride the inestimable treasure of their genealogy; and, whatever distinctions of rank may have been introduced by the unequal distribution of pastoral wealth, they mutually respect themselves and each other, as the descendants of the first founder of the tribe.

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The constant operation of various and permanent causes contributed to unite the vagrant hordes into national communities, under the command of a supreme head. The most successful of the Tartar princes assumed the military command, to which he was entitled by the superiority either of merit or of power. He was raised to the throne by the acclamation of his equals; and the title of Khan expresses, in the language of the north of Asia, the full extent of the regal dignity. The right of hereditary succession was long confined to the blood of the founder of the monarchy; and at this moment all the Khans, who reign from Crimea to the wall of China, are the lineal descendants of Zingis. But, as it is the indispensable duty of a Tartar sovereign to lead his warlike subjects to the field, the claims of an infant are often disregarded; and some royal kinsman, distinguished by his age and valour, is intrusted with the sword and sceptre of his predecessor.

discovered in the constitution of the Scythian or The rudiments of a feudal government may be Tartar nations; but the perpetual conflict of those hostile nations has sometimes terminated in the esta

blishment of a powerful and despotic empire. The victor, enriched by the tribute, and fortified by the arms, of dependent kings, has spread his conquests

over Europe or Asia: the successful shepherds of the | of Sunda and Carpentaria, all evince their connexion

North have submitted to the confinement of arts, of laws, and of cities; and the introduction of luxury, after destroying the freedom of the people, has undermined the foundation of the throne,

It was the sudden irruption of Odin and his warlike Scythians from the Asiatic continent, that overwhelmed, and finally expelled, the Celtic tribes who had inhabited the greater part of Europe from the earliest ages. Flying from their Gothic invaders, they took possession of the western shores of Britain and of Gaul five hundred years before Christ, according to the chronology of Julius Cæsar, in his Commentaries. But the people here mentioned by Cæsar were not the aboriginal inhabitants of Britain, but the Cimbrii, a second race from the same source as the Celta, who had settled here five hundred years anterior to the era assigned by the Romans for its colonization.

That the Celts were the prior inhabitants of Europe admits not of a doubt; the remains of their language may be traced in every country; and the Cumraig of South, and Gaelic of North, Britain, plainly evince their origin.

That there existed a race of people in these islands before the arrival of the Cimbric tribes, is manifest, from the venerable relics of their language, arts, and arms, to be found on every hand.

These inhabitants (says a celebrated Cumraig writer) possessed the whole of South Britain, long before the Cumraig, or Welsh, came into this country and expelled them. As the greater part of the Cumraig names are purely Celtic or Gaelic, they must have been imposed in ages vastly prior to the arrival of the Cimbrii in Britain. The interior parts of Britain (says Caesar) are inhabited by those whom tradition assigns as the original possessors of it; the maritime parts by those who passed over from Belgium, in order to invade it; almost all of whom, on the ceasing of hostilities, took upon them the names of the provinces from whence they sprang, and remained there.

Tacitus, in his brief but concise account, gives further stability to this assertion. "All circumstances considered, (says he,) it appears probable, that the Gauls were the original inhabitants of Britain." Venerable Bede, one of the most respectable of our ancient chroniclers, asserts, that—

These islands were first inhabited only by Britons, from whence the name of Britain, who crossing over from Armorica (Armoricanus tractus,) to Britain, as is reported, took possession of the southern parts, and reigned over the kingdom. By Armorica is meant that part of Gaul which lies directly opposite to Britain, on the other side of the channel. Cæsar, in a different account of the Celtic or Gallic warfare, informs us, that even in his time, Diviaticus, leader of the Gauls, bore sway over these islands called Britain.

Pliny also mentions a people opposite to Britain called the Britanni, from whom the first people of Britain seem to have originated.

The present generation (says an able historian) is fully satisfied with the simple and rational opinion, that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland were gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of Gaul. From the extremities of Kent to the promontories of Caithness, and Ulster, the memory of a Celtic origin is distinctly preserved, in the perpetual resemblance of language, religion,

and manners.

It is a point universally established, that islands have been settled from their contiguous continents. In those islands scattered over the surface of that immense world of waters, the Pacific Ocean, the inhabitants have ever been found to possess a similarity of form and features, as well as of manners, language, rites, and ceremonies, to the parent hordes from whence they sprang. Those innumerable islands which are found lying to the east of the Gulfs

with that great southern continent, and, however distant, the grand discriminating features are universally kept up amid the pathless regions of continental India. On these islands of perpetual storm, we recognise the features of the solitary Kamtschatkan, and the shivering Samoied. The boundless ocean of colonization embraces continents with their contiguous islands in its course, and it flows with a never-ending perpetuity of motion.

The islands of Great Britain lying in an immediate vicinity of the western continent, it is natural to suppose that their original colonies were drawn from the neighbouring shores of Belgium and of Gaul, then inhabited by numberless tribes of Celts and Gauls, who (all) spoke a language similar in its import, though, like all other dialects, varying in its idiom and orthographical construction. The best writers of that period agree with regard to the similarity of their manners, customs, &c., which continued with little variation through the immense lapse of nearly one thousand years. Even their pristine language has remained almost pure and unaltered to these times, in various parts of the kingdom,

From the manners and customs of these people, their mythology, superstitious rites, and exploits, originated nearly the whole of those strange romances generally called "popular fictions." The particular histories of these romances, and their effects, will be traced in the succeeding papers of this series. Although this species of what may be called the literature of the vulgar, is now rapidly becoming extinct, much curious and interesting matter, and many satisfactory explanations, calculated to disabuse weak minds, which may still retain early impressions of superstition and error, will be developed in the inquiry.

How admirably are dogs adapted to their respective spheres! The Greenland dog to wastes of untrodden snow; the shepherd to mountain pastures; the cur, the mastiff, and the bull-dog, as guardians of their master's property; hunting dogs of various descriptions to clear the country from wild and predatory animals; blood-hounds to find out the haunts of robbers, or to recover stolen goods; the St. Bernard variety for the saving of human life.

If the species were suddenly annihilated, how could their services be supplied? how could the shivering natives of frost-bound regions pass over their wastes of snow? thousands who now rest securely on their beds, must rise and watch in darkness and in storms; many a lost traveller would perish; and innumerable evils, which are checked by these faithful warders, would require continual vigilance to circumvent, or courage to ward off.—Domesticated Animals.

THAT which I have found the best recreation both to my mind and body, whensoever either of them stands in need of it, is music, which excrcises at once both my body and soul; especially when I play myself; for then, methinks, the same motion that my hand makes upon the instrument, the instrument makes upon my heart. It calls in my spirits, composes my thoughts, delights my ear, recreates my mind, and so not only fits me for after business, but fills my heart, at the present, with pure and useful thoughts; so that when the music sounds the sweetliest in my ears, truth commonly flows the clearest into my mind. And hence it is that I find my soul is become more harmonious, by being accustomed so much to harmony, and so averse to all manners of discord, that the least jarring sounds, either in notes or words, seem very harsh and unpleasant to me.- -BISHOP BEveridge.

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SPIDERS. II.

No animals fall more universally under observation than the Spiders; we see them everywhere, fabricating their snares, or lying in wait for their prey; in our houses, in the fields, on the trees, shrubs, flowers, grass, and in the earth and if we watch their proceedings, we may sometimes see them, without the aid of wings, ascend into the air, where, carried by their web, as by an air-balloon, they can elevate themselves to a great height. The webs they spin and weave are also equally dispersed; they often fill the air, so as to be troublesome to us, and cover the earth. M. Mendo Trigozo relates, that at Lisbon, on the 6th of November, 1811, the Tagus was covered, for more than half an hour, by these webs, and that innumerable Spiders accompanied them which swam on the surface of the water. I have given an account of the instruments by which they weave them; and shall now say a few words upon those by which their Creator has enabled them to produce the material of which they are formed.

At the extremity of the abdomen, in a roundish depressed space, are four or six jointed, teat-like organs. The exterior pair is the longest, consisting of three joints; but these have no orifices for the transmission of threads: the other four consist each of two joints, with innumerable little orifices, in some species amounting to a thousand, from which the web issues at will, or they are bristled with minute spinnerets, each furnishing a thread. These teats are connected with internal reservoirs, which yield the fluid matter forming the thread, or w... These reservoirs, in some species, consist of four, and in others, of six vessels folded several times, and communicating with other vessels, in which the material that forms their web is first elaborated.

The threads, after they issue from these organs, are united, or kept separate, according to the wills or wants of the animal; and it is stated, that from them certain Spiders can spin three kinds of silk. Their ordinary thread is so fine, that it would require twenty-four united to equal the thickness of that of the silk-worm. These threads, fine as they are, will bear, without breaking, a weight sextuple that of the Spider that spins them. They employ their web, generally, for three different purposes; in the construction of their snares, of their own habitations, and of a cocoon to contain their eggs.

Some species of Spiders are gifted with a particular talent for building: they hollow out dens, bore galleries, elevate vaults, build subterraneous bridges, and construct also entrances to their habitations, and adapt doors to them, which want nothing but bolts, for, without any exaggeration, they work upon a hinge, and are fitted to a frame. The interior of their habitations is no less remarkable for the extreme neatness which reigns there; whatever be the humidity of the soil in which they are constructed, water never penetrates them; the walls are nicely covered with a tapestry of silk, having usually the lustre of satin, and almost always of a dazzling whiteness.

These habitations are found in an argillaceous kind of red earth, in which the Spiders bore tubes about three inches in depth, and ten lines in width. The walls of these tubes are covered first with a kind of coarse mortar, and then with a coat of finer, which is as smooth and regular as if a trowel had been passed over it; but before the adroit work woman lays this, she covers the coarser work with a web, on which she glues her silken tapestry. The door that closes her apartment is still more remarkable in its structure. From its outward appearance, we should think that it was formed of a mass of earth coarsely worked,

and covered internally by a solid web; but divided vertically, it will be seen to be formed of more than thirty alternate layers of earth and web, emboxed in each other like a set of weights for small scales. These layers all terminate in the hinge, and the door will shut of itself. The advantage of this to the Spider is evident, for whether she darts out upon her prey, or retreats from an enemy, she is not delayed by having to shut the door. The principal instruments by which she performs her various operations, are her mandibles and her spinners; but as no one has ever seen her at work upon her habitation, it cannot be known exactly how these organs, and probably her anterior legs, are employed in her building. The insects that frequent the waters require predacious animals to keep them within due limits, as well as those that inhabit the earth; and the Water-Spider is one of the most remarkable upon whom that office is devolved by her Creator. To do this her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still water for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants; in this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even appears to pass the Winter, when she closes the opening. It is most commonly entirely under water, but its inhabitant has filled it with air for her respiration, which enables her to live in it. She conveys the air to it in the following manner:-She usually swims upon her back, when her abdomen is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of quicksilver; with this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all the water. The males construct similar habitations. How these little animals can envelop their abdomen with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, is still one of nature's mysteries that have not been explained. We cannot help, however, admiring and adoring the wisdom, power, and goodness, manifested in this singular provision, enabling an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill her house with it. under the water; and which has instructed her in a secret art, by which she can clothe part of her body with air, as with a garment, which she can put off when it answers her purpose. This is a kind of attraction and repulsion that mocks all our inquiries. [Abridged from KIRBY'S Bridgewater Treatise.]

NOTES ON FOREST TREES. No. VI.

THE LARCH, (Pinus larix.)

THE Larch seems to form a kind of connecting link between the evergreen trees and those in which the leaves are deciduous, resembling the former in general appearance, in the form of its leaves, and its resinous productions, and the latter from losing its foliage in the Autumn, and renewing it in the following Spring. There are three principal species of this tree, the White, the Red, and the Black; the first, our common Larch, a native of Europe and Northern Asia, and the two last of North America. The stem of the Larch is extremely beautiful in form, gradually tapering from the base to the summit; the colour of the leaves is of a much brighter green, and more pleasing to the eye, than that of the evergreen firs. In almost all cases the Larch-forests, in a state of nature, are found nearly unmixed with trees of any other species; this arises from its quick growth, which so far exceeds that of other forest-timber, as

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The timber of the Larch is extremely tough and durable, and so elastic in its nature, as to bend before the most violent gale, and again assume its upright form as soon as the wind has passed. A violent storm which occurred in Scotland, in 1803, literally ploughed avenues in forests of half-grown Pines, while a few Larches that were mixed with them were not injured. 90 gusheshin it

One property possessed by the wood of the Larch, renders it, in a certain manner, superior to that of any other timber; this consists in its timber being equally good throughout its thickness, possessing no sap-wood. In this it is superior even to the oak, which, when timber of the best quality, heart of oak, is required, suffers a loss of at least one-third of its substance by the removal of the sap-wood. Every branch also of the Larch is equal in quality to the main stem itself.qanun po

From its durable nature, the timber of this tree is of great use for many purposes; the picturesque cottages of the Swiss peasantry are formed of its wood, and are remarkable for their durability, and it resists the alternate action of wet and dry weather better than any other. In England, our hop-poles, which are formed of ash and elm, seldom last more than three or four years, but the vine-props of France, formed of Larch, are of so durable a nature, that the proprietors of the vineyards declare, their fathers are unable to state when they were first placed in the ground. Before the employment of canvass, Larch was much used by the older painters; many of

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ground, twice in the year, namely, in May and September; a kind of spout, or gutter, is placed in the hole, and the sap received in a vessel placed below; as soon as it ceases to flow, the holes are plugged up. A good tree will yield from seven to eight pounds of resin a year, for forty or fifty years in succession. A kind of manna is also collected from its leaves in the Spring, called Briançon manna.

A curious anecdote is told of the introduction of this tree into Scotland. The plants arrived at Dunkeld, the seat of the Duke of Athol, to whom they had been presented, along with orange-trees and other Italian exotics, and they were all placed in the hot-house together; the temperature of the place, of course, speedily killed the Larches, and their remains were thrown on the dung-heap; here, their roots being covered by the refuse of the garden, some slight remains of life remaining still in them, they began to vegetate, and being in a more genial atmosphere, the branches shot forth their buds, and, by degrees, the plants became vigorous. Since then, large tracts of land have been planted in Scotland with this tree, and it has been much used in shipbuilding. The first British ship of war built with this wood was a frigate, in 1819-20; it was laid down at Woolwich, and the timber was supplied by the extensive plantations of the Duke of Athol.

The general height of a well-grown Larch is from 90 to 100 feet, although mention is made of specimens produced on the ridges of the Alps, which have exceeded 120 feet. Its mode of propagation is by means of seed, like the rest of the Pine tribe. tasap The boog om op ad anda yil visonspe esat adiant 15gral oft al bay-ampl odobili od gd bot vinomos silt soli fou ob vod

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