half afterwards, to what straits these people were reduced in fulfilling this last duty to their kindred. Ninety-nine out of every hundred Marwarrees who fled for succour to Guzerat died that same year. Long will this grievous affliction be remembered in Ahmedabad; and to this day, should a few wandering locusts appear in any of the fields under cultivation, the ryots may be seen prostrating themselves to the earth in the deepest humility, and imploring the Almighty to banish these evil messengers of death out of their land. On these occasions they set up fearful howls, and beat their bodies frantically; for they look upon these insects as a direct punishment for their sins. I never had an opportunity of seeing locusts in any numbers together, though I have frequently observed one or more of them alight upon ground over which I have been shooting, and have had little difficulty in capturing them. They fly heavily, and make a singular humming noise with their wings, which are kept in constant motion when feeding. The first locusts which I saw, were at Deesa. There were few of them, perhaps a dozen; and from the rapid vibration of their wings, it was some little time before I could satisfy myself as to what they really were. I watched their movements with more than common interest, as they passed from one green shrub to another; for they brought to memory the sufferings of the Egyptians so graphically recorded in the book of Exodus. In the hands of an offended God, the most insignificant insect may be made the instrument of man's destruction! On the coasts of India, locusts, during a scarcity of food, are readily eaten by the poorer classes. They are salted down, and are said to be palatable. In 1819, Ahmedabad and its people were again afflicted and suffered severely from the violent shock of an earthquake which spread desolation and panic over a large extent of western India. The accounts that have been preserved of this second calamity, state, that the shock was felt from Bombay to beyond the tropic of Cancer, but that the centre of it seems to have been in the province of Cutch. The first and greatest shock took place on the 16th of June a few minutes before seven in the evening. The inhabitants of Bhooj fled terrified in all directions, to escape from their falling habitations. A heavy appalling noise, the violent undulating motion of the ground, the crash of buildings, the dismay and terror which appeared in every countenance, produced a sensation fearful beyond description. The last shock continued for two or three minutes, in which short period, we are told that the city of Bhooj was almost levelled with the ground. The walls, from the sandy nature of the stone, were crumbled into dust; nearly all the towers and gateways were demolished; and the houses left standing were SO

The number of persons who lost

shattered as to be uninhabitable. their lives at Bhooj alone, was calculated at nearly two thousand. Ahmedabad suffered severely; though the actual loss of life was not so great as in other towns. "In this city," writes one who was present during the earthquake, "so justly celebrated for its beautiful buildings of stone and other materials, and for the famous shaking minarets which were admired by every stranger, alas! the devastation caused by the commotion of the earth is truly lamentable. The proud spires of the great mosque erected by Sultan Ahmed, which have stood nearly four hundred and fifty years, have tumbled to the ground within a few yards of where they once reared their heads. Another elegant mosque which lies to the left of the Shah Baugh, has shared the same fate. Many of the people were killed though they were already out of doors, which is usually considered a situation of comparative safety." Among the various casualties that occurred here, one in particular is mentioned. A marriage was about to be celebrated in a rich man's family, and the castes had assembled from many distant quarters. The shock took place when they were feasting in the streets, and upwards of five hundred of the party were smothered in the ruins of the fallen houses. This shock is compared to the disagreeable sensations experienced in being tossed in a ship at sea during a swell; and the rocking of the ground is said to have been so great, as to induce a belief for some minutes, that the earth was going to open and swallow all up. Singular to say, this earthquake affected in a remarkable degree the eastern and almost deserted channel of the Indus, which it refilled and deepened. (To be continued.)

THE TIME WHEREIN I LOVED THEE NOT.

BY MRS. ABDY.

"Alas! for the time in which I loved Thee not !"-ST. AUGUSTINE.

LORD, in thy calm and peaceful ways,
Serenely glide my present days,
And hopefully I rest my sight
On future prospects fair and bright:
Yet on the past whene'er I think,
My sadden'd spirit seems to sink ;
Still dwelling on one desert spot-
The time wherein I loved Thee not!

Little I reck'd of Gospel truth,
In the gay season of my youth;
Often the laws of God I heard,
Often I read His holy Word;

But then, like one whose task was o'er,
I hasten'd to the world once more;
And soon the Lord's behests forgot,
Because, alas! I loved Him not !

Oh! in those trifled, mispent years,
I might have dried the mourner's tears;
I might have led the worldling's heart
To know and choose "the better part ;"
I might, in warm and faithful zeal,
Have sought God's wisdom to reveal
Within the low and humble cot;
But then, alas! I loved Him not!

Vainly my weeping eyes I cast
On the dim regions of the past;
No human will, no human power,
Can summon back one wasted hour:
Would I could speak of pious cares,
Missions of mercy; fervent prayers;
But no, those duties I forgot,
Because, oh! Lord, I loved Thee not!

And so, I fain with earnest tongue,
Would warn the thoughtless and the young,
That to God's service they should bring
The blossoms of their dawning spring;
Since, e'en should riper years behold
Their entrance 'mid His favour'd fold,
No tears from memory's page can blot
The time wherein they loved Him not!

BASLE: SWITZERLAND.

BY MRS. BUSHBY.

ASLE, or BASIL, situated on the Rhine, a few miles below the place where that river becomes navigable, stands in an angle on the frontiers of France, Germany, and Switzerland. It is divided into two parts; the great, and the little Bâsle; the former, on the left bank of the Rhine, being the most important as well as the most ancient portion of the town. A single bridge across the Rhine unites these two divisions, and has at one extremity of it, a clock, remarkable, up to the end of the last century, for being always an hour in advance of every other clock in Europe. By this clock the others in Bâsle were regulated; the traditional origin of this odd circumstance is, that a conspiracy very long ago to give up the town to an enemy at midnight, had been defeated by the clock having struck one, instead of twelve.

Bâsle is finely situated on sloping banks overlooking the Rhine; and the view from it is bounded by the hills of the Black Forest on one side, and by the Swiss mountains of the Jura on the other. It is perhaps the largest town in Switzerland, though by no means the most densely populated. Its streets are tolerably clean, and well supplied with fountains, which form a favourite ornament to many Continental towns, and are certainly very refreshing to the eye of the traveller. One of these fountains, situated in the Fish Market, is a fine piece of workmanship in the Gothic style, and is ornamented with statues of the Virgin Mary, St. John, St. Peter, &c. Spahlen Brunnen, in the Spahlen suburb, is crowned by a sculptured group of peasants dancing to the music of a kind of bagpipe; which decoration is copied from a design of Albert Dürer.*

The Canton of Bâsle was not one of the earliest places in Switzerland to join the Swiss confederation, and its chief town still retains many of the characteristics of an imperial free city. The Cathedral,

Albert Dürer, the celebrated painter and engraver, was born at Nuremburg, in 1471. This artist was loaded with favours by the emperor Maximilian I. It was he who brought to perfection the art of wood-engraving; and invented engraving in chiar-oscuro.