the Labrador coast. The Red Knives, too, recognise the expression Teyma, used by the Esquimaux when they accost strangers in a friendly manner, as similarly pronounced by Augustus, and those of his race who frequent the mouth of the Copper-mine River.

"The tribe to which Augustus belongs resides generally a little to the northward of Churchill. In the spring, before the ice quits the shores, they kill seal, but during winter they frequent the borders of the large lakes near the coast, where they obtain fish, rein-deer, and musk

oxen.

"There are eighty-four grown men in the tribe, only seven of whom are aged. Six chiefs have each two wives; the rest of the men have only one: so that the number of married people may amount to one hundred and seventy. He could give me no certain data whereby I might estimate the number of children.

"Two great chiefs, or Ackhaiyoot, have complete authority in directing the movements of the party, and in distributing provisions. The Attoogawnœuck, or lesser chiefs, are respected principally as senior men. The tribe seldom suffers from want of food, if the chief moves to the different stations at the proper season. They seem to follow the eastern custom respecting marriage. As soon as the girl is born, the young lad who wishes to have her for a wife goes to her father's tent, and proffers himself. If accepted, a promise is given, which is considered binding, and the girl is delivered to her betrothed husband at the proper age.

"They consider their progenitors to have come from the moon. Augustus has no other idea of a Deity than some confused notions which he has obtained at Churchill." Vol. II. pp. 40, 41.

The description of the snowhouses of the Esquimaux, is too curious to be omitted. Who would have thought that these savages were capable of rearing a dome, an attainment unknown in Egypt or ancient Greece, according to the principles of architectural science?

"The winter habitations of the Esquimaux, who visit Churchill, are built of snow, and judging from one constructed by Augustus to-day, they are very comfortable dwellings. Having selected a spot on the river, where the snow was about two feet deep, and sufficiently compact, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 266.

he commenced by tracing out a circle twelve feet in diameter. The snow in the interior of the circle was next divided with a broad knife, having a long handle, into slabs three feet long, six inches thick, and two feet deep, being the thickness of the layer of snow. These slabs were tenacious enough to admit of being moved about without breaking, or even losing the sharpness of their angles, and they had a slight degree of curvature, corresponding with that of the circle from which they were cut. They were piled upon each other exactly like courses of hewn stone around the circle which was traced out, and care was taken to smooth the beds of the different courses with the knife, and to cut them so as to give the wall a slight inclination inwards, by which contrivance the building acquired the properties of a dome. The dome was closed somewhat suddenly and flatly by cutting the upper slabs in a wedge-form, instead of the more rectangular shape of those below. The roof was about eight feet high, and the last aperture was shut up by a small conical piece. The whole was built from within, and each slab was cut so that it retained its position without requiring support until another was placed beside it, the lightness of the slabs greatly facilitating the operation. When the building was covered in, a little loose snow was thrown over it, to close up every chink, and a low door was cut through the walls with the knife. A bed-place was next formed, and neatly faced up with slabs of snow, which was then covered with a thin layer of pine branches to prevent them from melting by the heat of the body. At each end of the bed a pillar of snow was erected to place a lamp upon; and lastly, a porch was built before the door, and a piece of clear ice was placed in an aperture cut in the wall for a window.

"The purity of the material of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the translucency of its walls, which transmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building, and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple, reared by Phidias; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kinds." Vol. II. pp. 43-45.

The travellers, in this neighbourhood, had an opportunity of observing the singular and successful mode of killing rein-deer which is adopted by the Dog-rib Indians.

R

It appears to be the very perfection of a decoy.

"The hunters go in pairs, the foremost man carrying in one hand the horns and part of the skin of the head of a deer, and in the other a small bundle of twigs, against which he, from time to time, rubs the horns, imitating the gestures peculiar to the animal. His comrade follows tread"ing exactly in his footsteps, and holding the guns of both in a horizontal position, so that the muzzles project under the

arms of him who carries the head. Both hunters have a fillet of white skin round their foreheads, and the foremost has a strip of the same kind round his wrists. They approach the herd by degrees, raising their legs very slowly, but setting them down somewhat suddenly, after the manner of a deer, and always taking care to lift their right or left feet simultaneously. If any of the herd leave off feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phenomenon, it instantly stops, and the head begins to play its part by licking its shoulders, and performing other necessary movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre of the herd without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to single out the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes forward his comrade's gun, the head is dropt, and they both fire nearly at the same instant. The herd scampers off, the hunters trot after them; in a short time the poor animals halt to ascertain the cause of their terror, their foes stop at the same instant, and having loaded as they ran, greet the gazers with a second

fatal discharge. The consternation of the deer increases, they run to and fro in the utmost confusion, and sometimes a great part of the herd is destroyed within the space of a few hundred yards." Vol. II. Pp. 10, 11.

In these high latitudes of North America, our travellers had frequent opportunities of admiring

the fantastic beauties of the Aurora Borealis." They sometimes imagined its appearances to be attended with a rustling noise, like that of autumnal leaves stirred by the wind." But they afterwards

"

found reason to believe that this noise was occasioned by the sudden dislocation of masses of the frozen

snow.

Having now, in imagination,and we would rather do it in imagination than reality,-wintered with the travellers at Fort Enterprize, we must very briefly trace their progress to the mouth of the Copper-mine River, and along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. But for this our readers must indulge us with a month's truce; for, interesting as are these volumes, we are not willing to linger so long over them as to neglect other topics more immediately within the scope of our publication.

(To be continued.)

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication:-The Privileges of the University of Cambridge; by Dyer;-The Life of the late Dr. T. Brown; by the Rev. D. Welsh ;-Travels among the Arabs, east of Syria; by J. Buckingham ;-Christian Instruction; by the Rev. W. Morgan;-A new translation of Josephus.

In the press :-Six Months' Residence in Mexico; by W. Bullock;-Captain Parry's Second Arctic Voyage ;-Critical Researches on Philology and Geography.

Cambridge. Dr. Smith's prizes are ad

judged to Mr. Cowling, of St. John's college; and Mr. Bowstead, of Corpus Christi, the first and second Wranglers. The subjects for the Members' Prizes are, Senior Bachelors-" An recentium ingenii vim insitam veterum Poetarum exemplaria promovent?" Middle Bachelors—“ Quænam potissimum causæ Tragicæ Camœnæ, apud Latinos, effecerint?"

Porson Prize-Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, Act IV. Scene I. beginning with "Of a strange nature is the suit you follow," and ending with "The penalty and forfeit of my bond."

An Annuitant Society has been esta

blished at Plymouth, under the patronage of the Duke of Clarence, and Lord Melville, for the widows and children of naval officers. By a moderate annual sacrifice the members will have the satisfaction of providing a comfortable addition to the government pension for the benefit of their families. We earnestly wish that savings banks for seamen were established and encouraged throughout every part of the king's and merchants' service.

It has been ascertained, that by using a small spirit-lamp under the rubber, and another under the prime conductor, of an electrical machine, their power is greatly increased, and they can be rendered effective in the dampest weather.

Plants, it is said, may be protected from the depredations of insects, by washing them with a solution of bitter aloes, the use of which does not affect the health of the plants.

FRANCE.

A Paris paper says, that among other valuable articles brought from Egypt by M. Caillaud, was a mummy of unusual weight and size. The case in which it was enveloped had a zodiac, like that of Denderah, painted on it, together with a short Greek inscription, nearly effaced. Another mummy opened by M. Caillaud was interesting, from the peculiar mode of embalming. There was neither bitumen nor salt of any kind in the preparation; but a thick coat of saw-dust or bark was placed between the different foldings of the linen, by which the moisture had been effectually absorbed.

RUSSIA.

M. Martinoff is the first author who has attempted to introduce into the Russian language the classical beauties of the ancient Greeks. He is now publishing the Iliad of Homer, with a literal translation; and also the Tragedies of Sophocles, the Hymns of Callimachus, with philological remarks, and the Fables of Esop.

GREECE.

A new gold coinage for Greece has been executed at Paris, under the direction of Denon, the traveller. On one side is the Archangel Michael, with a flaming sword and a dove; the latter the symbol of peace. On the reverse, the lion, the emblem of strength, encircled by a serpent, meant to indicate eternity, and around, the word "Resurrection."

UNITED STATES.

In the United States, the proportion of marriages to the population is calculated as one to thirty; that of births, as one to twenty; and of deaths, as one to forty.

The number of males, to that of females, is rated as twenty-six to twenty-five: the proportion of males under ten years, to that of females of the same age, has been found, at different periods, to be from twenty to nineteen, and from nineteen to eighteen.

An American journal presents the following picture of the progress of Methodism in the United States:-Mr. Embury, a local preacher from Ireland, was the first who landed in America. He began to preach in the city of New York, and formed a society in the year 1766. About the same time, Messrs. Boardman and Pilmore arrived as missionaries. At the present moment, the Society reckons in the United States, twelve annual conferences, twelve hundred and twenty-six travelling preachers, and a total of three hundred and twelve thousand five hundred and forty members; exhibiting, as the last year's increase, the number of fourteen thousand nine hundred and eight.

The following is a statistical view of the colleges of the United States, in 1823:

When incor

porated. 1789 North Carolina.. Chapel Hill ........ 165 1783 Dickinson ...... Carlisle, Pa.................

1691

William and Mary Williamsburgh, Va.

....

80

Western Univers. Pittsburgh, Pa...... 15 1798 Transylvania Lexington, Ky...... 121 1794 Union .......... Shenectady, N. Y... 234 1755 Pennsylvania Un. Philadelphia 1817 Alleghany Meadville, Pa. .....

10

119

40

27

1754 Columbia ....... New-York City..... 140 Washington Chestertown, Md: .. 1785 Franklin ........ Athens, Geo.... 1801 St. Mary's Baltimore, Md. ..... 1791 Vermont Univer. Burlington, Vt. .... 1818 Waterville ...... Waterville, Me. 1769 Dartmouth...... Hanover, N. H. .... 138 1800 Middlebury

Middlebury, V. T... 87 Cambridge, Mass.. 302

1638 Harvard 1812 Hamilton ....... Clinton, Oueida, N Y 107 1795 Bowdoin ........ Brunswick, Me. .... 120

157

1764 Brown University Providence, R. I. .. 1793 Williams.................... Williamstown, Mass. 79, 1700 Yale .......... New Haven, Conn... 371 1738 New-Jersey..... Princeton.......... 148 1801 Jefferson........ Canonsburgh, Pa... 82 1801 South Carolina .. Columbia... 100 1821 Columbian...... District of Columbia 51

The whole number of young men in the United States, who have completed their academical education during the last year, may be estimated at 650. As the number of graduates is usually about one-fifth part of the number of students, the whole number of young men who have been pursuing their studies at these colleges during the year, may be estimated at 3,200, or, on an average, one in every 3,000 of the population. The proportion is different, however, in different parts of the

country. The States west of the Alleghany mountains, which contain more than 2,000,000 inhabitants, do not furnish probably 400 students, or one in 5,000 of their population; while Massachussets alone has 518 students in the New-England colleges or one for 1,000 inhabitants. TARTARY.

The following are the ten chief commandments of the moral code of the Cal

mucs:

"1. Revere God, obey the clergy, and fulfil the holy religion. These three blessed powers will preserve thee in all thy ways. 2. Honour thy father and mother as visible divinities. 3. Comfort the sufferer, assist the poor, despise and judge no one. 4. Shun pride as the destruction of the soul. 5. Kill no animals; for know, that in them dwell the souls of the departed sufferers. 6. Shun adultery, theft, and every crime; not only do no evil, do not even think of it. 7. Shun drunkenness, as the root of wicked things. 8. Swear not, and thus be not subservient to the devil. 9. Repair with thy right hand the sin committed by the left. 10. Endeavour to acquire eternal salvation by virtues practised in this life."

The following is the Calmuc form of prayer :

"I believe and revere the supreme Lama. I believe and revere innumerable Burchans. I bend my knees before the superior priests. I honour and revere the holy law. I pray with confidence to these four beings to be gracious to the six kinds of creatures living in this world; namely,

man, cattle, wild beasts, insects, birds, and fish. I pray that departed mortals may partake of eternal salvation with the saints. I pray that those who do us evil may be visited by a just punishment. I pray for blessing and every abundance in this life as in the life to come." SIBERIA.

Captain Cochrane, after two years' exploration of the north-eastern coast of Siberia, has ascertained that there is no junction between the continents of Asia and America.

INDIA.

The Calcutta journals announce, that the Government has formed a General Committee of Public Instruction, with a view both to extend and improve existing institutions, and also gradually to introduce European arts and sciences; with funds at its disposal for the object. The Government has also appropriated certainpublic revenues throughout the country to the purposes first of local, and afterwards of general, improvement. These funds are to be placed under the control of committees to be appointed at the several towns and cities, with full powers to devote them to works conducive to the health and comfort of the people-such as opening new streets, `making new roads, paving and widening old ones, clearing large unwholesome tanks, filling up stagnant pools, &c.

A savings' bank has been established at the rising settlement of Sincapore. We shall be happy to learn that the example has been followed at Calcutta, and other suitable parts of India.

THEOLOGY.

A new edition of Saurin's Sermons, from the French; with additional Sermons, now first translated, and the whole revised by the Rev. S. Burder, D.D., author of Qriental Customs, &c. 6 vols. Svo. 31. 3s.

Sermons preached in St. John's Church, Glasgow; by T. Chalmers, D.D. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Thoughts, chiefly designed as Preparative or Persuasive to Private Devotion; by J. Sheppard. 12mo. 5s.

The Works of the late Rev. J. Hurrion. 3 vols. 12mo. 13s. 6d.

The Preacher, or Sketches of Original Sermons. 5 vols. 12mo. 11.

Twenty Sermons on the Apostolical Preaching, as exhibited in the Acts of the Apostles, &c. Preached before the University of Cambridge in 1823, at the Hulsean Lecture; by the Rev. J. C. Franks, M.A. 8vo. 125.

An Examination of "Palæoromaica ;" maintaining, in opposition thereto, that the Text of the Elzevir Greek Testament is not a translation from the Latin, &c.; by the Rev. W. G. Broughton. 8vo. 9s.

Observations on Christianity; by W. Mitford. 8vo. 9s.

Thornton, on Prayer. 12mo. 5s.

Private Thoughts on Religion, by the Rev. T. Adam; with an introductory Essay, by the Rev. D. Wilson. 12mo. 3s.

Sacred Dissertations on the Apostles' Creed; by Herman Witsius, D.D., translated from the Latin; with Notes, critical and explanatory, by D. Frazer. 2 vols.

The Book of Psalms in an English Metrical Version, founded on the Basis of the Authorised Bible Translation, and compared with the original Hebrew, with Notes; by the Right Rev. Richard Mant, D.D., Lord Bishop of Down and Connor.

The Protestant Companion, or a Seasonable Preservative against the Errors,

Corruptions, and unfounded Claims of a Superstitious and Idolatrous Church; by the Rev. C. Daubeny, LL.D., Archdeacon of Sarum. 8vo. 9s.

Three Letters to Mr. C. Wellbeloved; occasioned by his Epistolary Attack on Archdeacon Wrangham's Visitation Charge; by the Rev. John Oxlee, Rector of Scawton, and Curate of Stonegrave.

The Incarnation of the Son of God; a Sermon; by W. Okely, M.D. (The profits will be devoted to the benefit of the Moravian sufferers by fire at Sarepta.) Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of the Society of Friends; by J. J. Gurney.

The Evidences of Christianity derived from its Nature and Reception; by the Rev. J. B. Sumner, M.A. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

The Object of Revelation the Present as well as Eternal Happiness of Mankind. The Duty and Expediency of diffusing Learning among all Classes, a Sermon; by the Rev. C. Eyre.

Paraphrase of the Epistles and Gospels throughout the Year; by Mary Ann Run

dall.

MISCELLANEOUS.

An Address on the State of Slavery in the West-India Islands; from the Committee of the Leicester Auxiliary AntiSlavery Society. 8vo. Is.

Memoirs of Ferdinand VII. translated from the original Spanish manuscripts; by M. I. Quin. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Private Correspondence of the Poet Cowper, now first published from the original letters; by J. Johnson, LL.D. 2 vols.

A Praxis on the Latin Prepositions; by S. Butler, D.D., Archdeacon of Derby, and Head Master of Shrewsbury School.

Observations on the Antichristian Tendency of Modern Education, and on the

Legendre's Elements of Geometry, and Trigonometry; edited by D. Brewster, LL.D. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Original Letters in the Times of Henry VI. to Henry VII.; by persons of consideration, with portraits, facsimiles, &c. by the late Sir J. Fenn. 4to. 21. 2s.

Appendix of Natural History, to Captain Parry's first Voyage of Discovery, with plates. 4to. 7s. 6d.

Classical Arrangement of Coralline Polypidems, from the French of Lamouroux. Philosophical Essays; by E. Walker. 8vo. with plates. 10s. 6d.

Koromantyn Slaves, or West-Indian Sketches. 12mo. 5s. 6d.

Batavian Anthology, or Specimens of the Dutch Poets; by J. Bowring and H. S. Van Dyk. foolscap. 8vo.

Statement in regard to the Pauperism of Glasgow, from the Experience of the last Eight Years; by T. Chalmers, D.D.

The Netherlands; with eighteen coloured engravings. 8s.

Sicily and its Islands; by Capt. W. H. Smyth, R.N. 14 plates, 4to. 21. 12s. 6d. Letters from the Caucasus and Georgia, with Maps and Plates. 8vo. 15s.

Researches in the South of Ireland; by T. Crofton Croker. Sixteen engravings. A Tour through the Upper Provinces of Hindostan; by E. D. 8vo. 9s. with a map. Tour through the Netherlands, Holland, &c.; by C. Tennant, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo.

TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY FOR IRELAND.

In our volume for, 1820, page 202, we announced the formation of this Society, on its present enlarged national plan, and stated the grievous necessity which existed for such an institution in the sister kingdom. We have since had occasional opportunities of referring to the proceedings of the Society, which we shall now bring down to a recent period from the last annual Report.

The Committee remark, that " through the various means used for spreading the knowledge of religion, whether by religious education, by the preaching of faithful ministers, by the diffusion of the

sacred Scriptures as a whole, or in every form in which Divine truth has been disseminated, a powerful and increasing impression of its importance has been made upon the minds of all classes, from the highest to the lowest in Ireland."

Notwithstanding the general poverty of the country, the funds of the Society have suffered no diminution. In the former year the sum of 3801. was received as a bequest, and though no bequest has been made to the Society within the past year, this want has been nearly supplied by an increase of donations and subscriptions, which exceed those of the former year by 378. The sale of tracts and books exhibits an increase during the year of 328.