the village of Chamaya, on a river which took them to the Maranon; and Humboldt made a map of this great river.

In returning to Peru, they crossed, for the fifth time, the great chain of the Andes, and examined the rich silver mines of Hualguayoc; and from Caxuamarca (celebrated for its ruins), they came to Truxillo, near which the site of an old Peruvian city is marked by pyramids, and under one of these a large quantity of gold coin has been found. Crossing the deserts which run along the coast to the south of Peru, they arrived at Lima, where Mr. Humboldt observed successfully a transit of Mercury.

In the beginning of 1803, they went to the port of Guayaquil, and after a voyage of thirty days reached Acapulco, in New Spain; after which they visited the mines of Guanaxuato, and ascended the volcano of Jorullo, and examined its crater. This volcano, which is more than forty-two leagues from any active volcano, arose suddenly from the plain on the 29th of September 1759. It is 1700 feet high, and surrounded by 1000 little cones from 6 to 9 feet high, which cover eighty square miles, and all throw out flames at the same time. From the fruitful country of Mechoacan, the travellers returned to Mexico, through the plains of Tolucca, where they saw the Cheirostemon, supposed to be the only tree of its sort now existing.

In 1804 they left Mexico, and examined the eastern slope of the Cordilleras, and measured the heights of the two volcanoes of Puebla, and the peak of Orizana. The volcano of Popocatepetl is very active, although it only throws out smoke and ashes: it is the highest mountain in New Spain.

Mr. Humboldt went up to the top of the Cofre, or Coffer, a mountain 1300 feet higher than the peak of Teneriffe. (It is so called from a naked rock on its summit, rising 400 or 500 feet from a forest of pines.) After which, he went with his friend to the port of Vera Cruz, and arrived safely at the Havannah, where they staid for two months, and then sailed for Philadelphia, returning to Europe in August 1804.

THE SUNBEAM.

THOU art no lingerer in monarch's hall;
A joy thou art, and a wealth to all,

A bearer of hope unto land and sea—
Sunbeam! what gift hath the world like thee ?

Thou art walking the billows, and ocean smiles-
Thou hast touched with glory his thousand isles ;
Thou hast lit up the ships, and the feathery foam,
And gladdened the sailor, like words from home.

To the solemn depths of the forest-shades

Thou art streaming on through their green arcades,
And the quivering leaves that have caught thy glow,
Like fire-flies glance to the pools below.

I looked on the mountains-a vapour lay
Folding their heights in its dark array:
Thou brakest forth-and the mist became
A crown and a mantle of living flame.

I looked on the peasant's lowly cot-
Something of sadness had wrapt the spot;
But a gleam of thee on its lattice fell,
And it laughed into beauty at that bright spell.

To the earth's wild places a guest thou art,
Flushing the waste like the rose's heart;
And thou scornest not from thy pomp to shed
A tender smile on the ruin's head.

Thou tak'st through the dim church-aisle thy way,
And its pillars from twilight flash forth to day,
And its high pale tombs, with their trophies old,
Are bathed in a flood as of molten gold.

And thou turnest not from the humblest grave,
Where a flower to the sighing winds may wave;
Thou scatterest its gloom like the dreams of rest,
Thou sleepest in love on its grassy breast.

Sunbeam of summer! Oh! what is like thee?
Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea!
One thing is like thee to mortals given,-

The faith touching all things with hues of heaven.

MRS. HEMANS.

THE Elephant is brave, peaceable, and mild, and, when tamed, the most gentle, obedient, and patient, as well as the wisest and most intelligent of quadrupeds, except when ill-treated, when he is sure to revenge himself on those who have offended him. I can tell you a story to prove this, and which I know to be true, because the gentleman mentioned in it, told it to me himself. When he was a little boy, he went to Exeter 'Change, where animals were formerly exhibited; and there he saw an elephant, whose

keeper asked him to treat the animal to a pot of porter. The porter was brought, and the elephant drank some of it. This little boy, being rather mischievous, as some little boys are, had played the elephant a trick. He had given him a gingerbread nut; but when he put out his trunk for another, the little boy gave him a tap on it, instead of the nut which he had expected. The elephant was angry at this; and when the porter was given to him, he remembered the affront, and kept some of the porter in his trunk. Then he snuffed up all the dirt and dust about the cage, and when the little boy came near him, he spouted all this into his face, much to the amusement of the spectators. I daresay this little boy never played tricks upon elephants again.

But the elephant, though provoked by ill usage, will hardly ever hurt those who have not injured him. I have read of one who killed his cornac or keeper, in revenge for some ill treatment; this poor man's wife being present, in a transport of grief took her two children and threw them at the feet of the angry animal, saying, “Since you have killed my husband, take my life also, and that of my children." The elephant stopped short, grew calm, and, as if he was sorry for what he had done, and moved with pity, took up the eldest of the two children with his trunk, placed him on his neck, adopted him for his keeper, and would let no one else mount him. A mother has been seen to give her baby in charge of one of these animals. It was very amusing to see the wisdom and care of this unwieldy The child used to crawl about between the elephant's legs, and among the branches on which he was

nurse.