66 15 One of the objects of this cruise was to visit, if | repair. Astronomical and magnetic observatories were erected on shore, and a regular system of possible, the focus of greater magnetic intensity as laid down in theory; the spot was reached on the readings taken; hunting-parties were sent out to 18th March, in latitude 60° south, longitude 125° kill wild cattle and birds, and all hands regaled for west; and from the observations then taken, Sir J. a time on fresh beef. They sailed again on SepRoss inclines to the belief that it will be found in tember 4, for Martin's Cove, Hermite Island, to a position not far removed from the south magnetic conduct a series of magnetic experiments. On the pole. After this interesting operation, the vessels 19th Cape Horn was in sight, on which Sir J. bore up for Cape Horn, running more than 150 Ross remarks" The poetical descriptions that miles daily before the strong westerly gales. They former navigators have given of this celebrated and were off the Diego Ramirez rocks, when one of the dreaded promontory occasioned us to feel a degree quartermasters fell from the mainyard into the sea. of disappointment when we first saw it; for "The life-buoy being instantly let go, he swam to although it stands prominently forward, a bold, and got upon it with apparent ease, so that," to almost perpendicular headland, in whose outline it we now considered him safe. requires but little imaginative power to detect the pursue the narrative, Although there was too high a sea running for any resemblance of a 'sleeping lion, facing and braving boat to live, yet Mr. Oakley and Mr. Abernethy, the southern tempests,' yet it is part only of a with their accustomed boldness and humanity, were small island; and its elevation, not exceeding 500 I or 600 feet, conveys to the mind nothing of granin one of the cutters ready to make the attempt. was obliged to order them out of the boat, for the deur. But the day was beautifully fine, so that it sea was at this time breaking over the ship in such is probable we saw this cape of terror and tempests a manner as to make it evident that the cutter would under some disadvantage. We passed it at the have instantly filled, whilst, by making a short tack, distance of about a mile and a half, which was as we could fetch to windward of the buoy, and pick near as we could approach it with prudence, by him any difficulty. We therefore made reason of the dangerous rocks which lie off to the up without all sail on the ship, and stood towards him; but east and west, and whose black points were renjust as we got within 200 yards, the wind headed, dered conspicuous by the white foam of the and obliged us to pass to leeward, so near, how- breakers, amongst which numerous seals were ever, as to assure us of being able to fetch well to sporting. There was some snow on the summit He was seated of the cape, and its sides were clothed with a windward after a short board. firmly on the buoy, with his arm round the pole, brownish-colored vegetation; beyond it, the shores but had not lashed himself to it with the cords pro- of the island consisted of black vertical cliffs." vided for that purpose, probably from being stunned or stupefied by striking against the ship's side as he fell overboard. In a quarter of an hour we again stood towards him, with the buoy broad upon our lee-bow; but, to our inexpressible grief, our unfortunate shipmate had disappeared from it. We dropped down upon it so exactly, that we could take hold of it with a boat-hook; and had he been able to have held on four or five minutes longer than he did, his life would have been saved-but it pleased God to order it otherwise." The gloom produced by this melancholy event was somewhat dissipated on the following day by the sight of a brig, the only vessel except their own which the explorers had seen for four months. Those alone who have passed long weeks on the ocean solitudes can appreciate the pleasurable feeling which even a distant view of the presence While in this latitude, of humanity inspires. several sealed bottles were thrown overboard, to ascertain the set of the current in the vicinity of Cape Horn; one of them was afterwards picked up near Port Philip, Australia, in September, 1845, on which it has been observed "that the motion of the bottle must have been eastward; and, assuming that it had newly reached the strand when discovered, it had passed from the vicinity of Cape Horn to Port Philip, a distance of 9000 miles, in three years and a half. But it could not be supposed that its course was exactly straight; and if we add a thousand miles for détours, it follows that the current which carried it moved at the rate of eight miles per day." Some of the bottles were ballasted with different qualities of sand, so as to ascertain as nearly as possible the effect of current as well as of wind; those which swam deepest it was supposed would be the truest indicators of streams. While lying in Martin's Cove, hundreds of young trees were collected, to be transplanted in Falkland Islands, which were totally devoid of arborescent vegetation. The ships left Berkeley Sound once more on the 17th December for the third voyage to On the 28th, the land discovered the circumpolar latitudes, taking the meridian of 55 degrees west. by D'Urville was seen, and the party became entangled among a group of small low isles, called "We observed the Danger Islets, to the southernmost of which they gave the name of Darwin. here," said Ross, "a very great number of the largest sized black whales, so tame that they allowed the ship sometimes almost to touch them before they would get out of the way-so that any number of ships might procure a cargo of oil in a short time. Thus, within ten days after leaving the Falkland Islands, we had discovered not only new land, but a valuable whale fishery, well worthy the attention of our enterprising merchants, less than 600 miles from one of our own possessions." Several other islands were discovered, on one of which, named Cockburn Island, a landing was effected; it presented the usual volcanic appearance, but was interesting as affording specimens of the most southerly vegetation yet met with beyond the 60th degree of latitude. Nineteen species were found, consisting of mosses, lichens, and algæ-seven of them being peculiar to the island. Among the most remarkable was a magnificent seaweed, which grows in long flat sheets bordered by a fringe. Singular as the fact may appear, sunshine is not congenial to the vegetation of that frozen land; the only soil is a stony bank composed of fallen fragments from the rocks above, in which the plants fix their roots and flourish during moist and cloudy weather; but as soon as the sun appears for a few hours, the scanty moisture is so speedily evaporated that they " become crisp and parched, and crumble into pieces when an attempt is made to remove The vessels anchored in Berkeley Sound, Falk- For some days after this the ships were closely Our knowledge of climatic phenomena is also beset, and exposed to much danger from pressure enlarged; Sandwich Land, in the same latitude as between the ice and the land. The navigation the north of Scotland, is always deeply buried in proved of the most harassing nature; in latitude ice and snow, which the summer fails to melt; 65° 13', where Weddell had seen a clear sea, they Yorkshire and South Georgia are about the same found a dense, impenetrable pack. The antarctic parallels, yet the only vegetation of the latter is a circle was crossed March 1, 1843, and the serious few lichens and mosses; while Iceland, which lies difficulties and delays the party had met with can 10 degrees nearer to the northern pole, has 870 be judged of from this fact; for it was within a day species of plants. Hermite Island is the most southor two of this date that they had crossed it on return- erly land on which trees grow. ing from their two former voyages. On the 3d soundings were taken, and showed no bottom at 4000 fathoms; and two days later, when in latitude 71° 30′ south, longitude 14° 51' west, no further hope remaining of penetrating successfully to the southward, so late in the season, the ships' heads were turned in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, all parties disappointed at the result of the voyage, so fruitless in comparison with the two former. In September, the vessels arrived at Woolwich, after having been in commission four years and five months. The interesting physical facts and results brought to light by this voyage have added materially to the resources of science and philosophy. Among the more noteworthy is the discovery that the ocean which envelops our globe is divided into three thermal basins-two polar, one equatorial. The bottom is occupied by a fluid layer more or less deep, of one uniform temperature, 39.5. On the equator, and in the intertropical regions where the warmth of the sun penetrates sensibly, the temperature of 39.5 is not reached at a less depth than 1200 fathoms below the surface; on the parallel of 45 degrees it is found at half this depth; and at 56° 14' it is the same above and below. Thus in the lastmentioned latitude a circular zone exists of constant and uniform temperature. Sir J. Ross crossed it six times in six different longitudes, and always with the same result-the approach to it was invariably indicated by the thermometer; and he considers it as a sort of neutral girdle between the two basins, and as establishing the fact of the actual mean temperature of the mass of water, unaffected by the interior heat of the earth. South of the line the surface becomes colder, and in latitude 70 degrees, the thermometer must be sunk 750 fathoms to reach the temperature of 39.5. "This circle of mean temperature of the southern ocean,' ," as Sir J. Ross observes, "is a standard point in nature, which, if determined with very great accuracy, would afford to philosophers of future ages the means of ascertaining if the globe we inhabit shall have undergone any change of temperature, and to what amount, during the interval.' From this voyage we learn also that the pressure of the atmosphere, at the level of the sea, is not the same in every part of the globe. Barometrical observations show that this pressure increases gradually from the equator to about the 30th parallel, from which it as gradually sinks up to the pole, and falls below the mean of the equator; generally stated, we may say that, south of Cape Horn, the mercury stands an inch lower than in other regions. This difference of pressure is assigned as a mechanical cause of ocean currents, of which the most powerful issue from the south polar seas; or it may be that the greater quantity of fixed ice, or the greater expanse of water in those parts, admits of a more powerful generation and propagation of streams than in the north; and to this cause we may perhaps refer the presence of icebergs 10 degrees lower in the antarctic than in the arctic regions. 66 There is much similarity between the northern and southern elliptic magnetic curves, as also in their progression or movement of translation." This movement in the antarctic regions is generally from east to west, and at the rate of 50 degrees of longitude in 250 years. In the arctic regions it is from west to east; the phenomenon in either case being discoverable by the shifting of the points of convergence. The same uniformity does not occur in the isothermals, or lines of equal heat; those in the south, owing doubtless to the greater extent of ocean, are more nearly coincident with the parallels of latitude than those in the north; the principal deviation being where the great polar current pours into the Pacific. Complete as Sir J. Ross' voyage was, it did not satisfy the whole demands of magnetic theorists. The sea beyond the 60th parallel, from opposite the Cape of Good Hope to the southern extremity of Australia, had not been visited; and, without this, the curves of magnetism could not be produced on the maps. In compliance with the desires expressed for the filling up of this space, the Pagoda, a merchant vessel, was selected at the Cape, and placed in charge of Lieutenant Moore, who had been out in the Terror, assisted by Lieutenant Clerk. They sailed January 9, 1845, and crossed the antarctic circle on the 8th February, and on the 10th reached their furthest latitude south, 68° 10′. Nothing occurred beyond the ordinary incidents of navigation among ice; the series of magnetic observations was faithfully registered; and on April 1, after being eighty-two days at sea, and a voyage of 7300 miles, the vessel anchored in King George's Sound, Australia. Some phenomena of antarctic storms which had been observed by Sir J. Ross were also observed on board the Pagoda. "Nothing," says the account of the voyage, "in the meteorology of those inclement regions is more remarkable than the accurate coincidence of the depression of the barometer, and the increased force of the wind. The numerous, indeed hourly, observations made on board the Pagoda, were expressed in tabular charts, in which this coincidence was beautifully exemplified. In the succession of gales we had encountered, it obtained so uniformly, that this instrument was confidently relied on as a certain indicator of the coming storm. A sudden, rapid fall preceded the rising of the wind; it was lowest just before the gale reached its utmost height, and rose again as it broke. Those storms, though of extreme violence, never exceeded twelve hours in duration, and invariably blew from the south or east. As they subsided, the column of mercury rose rapidly, and to a higher elevation than before." Such are the results of explorations carried on during a period of four centuries; the knowledge has been slowly gathered, but it will now remain a lasting testimony to the triumphs of intellect. Whether the new whale-fishery established at the Auckland Islands will lead to further discoveries beyond those already achieved, is a question for the future to determine. Human enterprise has learned a remedy, and accordingly, some of the small states, many of the secrets of that region of mighty on whom the weight pressed most heavily, finding contrasts, and will doubtless, when opportunity it vain to hope for relief from the General Diet, offers, pursue the investigation. Meantime, the determined to try and do what they could for themwintry solitudes of the far south will be undisturbed selves. As early as 1826 twelve of the smallest cenby the presence of man; the penguin and the seal tral states of Germany, not containing in all one will still haunt the desolate shores; the shriek of million souls, entered into a union for a general the petrel and scream of the albatross will mingle customs frontier, a common tariff, and an equal diviwith the dash and roar of continual storms and the sion of the net revenue arising from the duties on the crash of wave-beaten ice; the towering volcano will entry or transit of foreign goods, according to the shoot aloft its columns of fire high into the gelid proportion of the inhabitants of each state. This air; the hills of snow and ice will grow and spread; was called the Mittel Verein, or Thuringian Cenfrost and flame will do their work, till, in the won-tral Association, and was the first origin of Customs' drous cycle of terrestrial change, the polar lands Unions in Germany. shall again share in the abundance and beauty which now overspread the sun-gladdened zones. From the Examiner, 15 Feb. CUSTOMS' UNIONS IN GERMANY, It is well known that by the XIXth article of the Act of the Germanic Confederation, as established at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the subject of a union of all Germany under one law of customs and trade, with one system of weights and measures, and one form and standard of currency, was especially marked out for the consideration of the newly-constituted Federative Diet. It is equally well known, that, from the day of its constitution to the day of its extinction on July 12, 1848, the Federal Diet never advanced one step in the proposed route; and it is notorious that at the present time the third Committee of the Dresden Gongress are still at loggerheads on this very question. The success of this experiment was so great in increasing the amount of custom dues, in diminishing the expense of collection, in facilitating trade and intercourse, that it was soon imitated by Bavaria and Wirtemberg, who, in 1828, formed a union, into which parts of other states were admitted, in as far they were enclosed within those kingdoms. The advantages of this system were too obvious to escape the enlightened administrators of Prussia; and that country now proposed to the German Confederation the adoption of a general union, for which the Prussian tariff should serve as a basis. She was met, however, by opposition on every side. The Prussian tariff system was one of moderate protection-far too liberal for Austria, who was still deep in the mire of protection in which she was then determined to remain. The states of the north were flourishing under free trade, and had no desire to sacrifice their commerce to profit Prussian manufacturers; while the states of the south were too jealous of Prussian power to place themselves in more immediate connection with her. Although repulsed, Prussia did not give up her project; and, aided by the fears with which the revolution of 1830 inspired the German princes, and the necessity they felt for seeking protection and shelter under the strong wing of Prussia, many of them were induced, in 1833, to consent to adopt her proposals. Between 1833 and 1836, all the rest of Germany, except Austria and the northern seacoast states and free towns, had found themselves obliged to fall in with the Prussian scheme, and thus was formed that great Customs' Union, known as. the Prussian Zollverein. The inconvenience of the old state of things, in which every petty state had its own commercial laws, its own tariff, its own customs' officers and frontier guards, its peculiar weights and measures, and its own coinage, can hardly be fully appreciated by any but such as may have travelled through Germany some thirty years ago; albeit, even now, sufficient is still left to give some faint notion of what it then was. And if this inconvenience was so severely felt by the traveller, what must it have been to the inhabitants, who in many parts could not move a few miles from their doors without being subject to all the evils of this system? The peasant woman could not take her eggs or poultry to the The Prussian tariff, with some modifications, was next market, without being examined and taxed on taken as the ground-work of that of the new associathe frontier; the burgher could not get his breath tion. This tariff professes to impose duties to the of fresh air, without a custom-house officer detain- amount of from ten to fifteen per cent. on the value ing and searching, if not robbing, him on his road. of the goods imported; but as the duties are levied It was as bad as if every county of England had its according to the weight of the article, of course the separate existence and sovereign privileges. Only real per centage must vary immensely on coarse imagine the rage of the Surrey market gardener and fine articles which come under the same denomwho could not bring his vegetables to London with-ination, but the relative weight and value of which out unpacking and paying for every cabbage and bear no proportion to each other. The real duty lettuce as he passed the river. Or, still worse, levied is said to vary from ten to one hundred per fancy a smart Melton man, as he was cantering to cent. Changes in the tariff can only be made at meet the Duke's hounds on the Grantham side, the great meetings of the union, and the consent stopped as he was quitting the borders of Leicester- of each individual state is required for any alterashire, and forced to submit his pockets to the scrutiny tion. Prussia enjoys only one voice in the Congress of a frontier guard. With what disgust would he in common with the weakest of its members. The watch that same guard's examination of his pocket-union itself cannot be dissolved till the year 1854, pistol, and hear him declare that old Sherry could unless all the States of Germany should agree in not enter Lincolnshire without paying duty. And when at last he threw down a shilling with a d-n to the officer, to have it returned with the remark that shillings and sixpences were of no use thereflorins and groats were the currency of Lincoln ! It is not very surprising that such evils as these should have lent their sufferers wit enough to find VOL. XXIX. 2 CCCLIX. LIVING AGE. common to such measures as would carry out on a large scale the intention expressed in the XIXth article of the Act of the German Confederation." Prussia was not able to carry out this great scheme without considerable pecuniary sacrifice on her own part. The division of the sums collected at the different custom-houses of the union are divided among all the states according to the population of each state. But as some of these populations are much poorer than those of Prussia, and therefore less able to consume articles of foreign produce or duty-paying articles, the proportion which Prussia receives is less than what her consumption would otherwise bring in. This pecuniary loss has been reckoned at 2,000,000 thalers yearly. We suspect, however, that it is much over-rated; for the poorer states, which are nonmanufacturing, fully make up for the surplus revenue they receive by their forced consumption of the dear, because protected, manufactures of Prussia. It was chiefly, however, to the political influence which the union conferred on Prussia that she looked for indemnification for her loss; and she found it beyond her hopes, for, thanks to the Customs' Union, she soon assumed the first place in Germany, and was rapidly excluding Austria from all influence or power. On the advantages of the Zollverein to Germany, were it merely in throwing down the innumerable barriers to intercourse which formerly existed, it is needless to enlarge. Its effect on the trade and commerce of Great Britain has been commonly supposed to have been highly injurious; but we are inclined to doubt the fact, at least to the extent generally believed. It is true that the present Verein tariff is generally higher, and in some respects materially so, than that previously imposed by most of the states who joined the union except Prussia; yet the greater facilities afforded to trade by the removal of the many hindrances which formerly existed, and which are often more destructive to commerce than even a high tariff, have, we think, more than made up for a difference of duty. Although the duty has been raised in the greater number of states, yet it is in the smaller ones that this has occurred to the greatest extent. Of the 25,000,000 souls included in the union, only 5,000,000 now pay a higher duty than they did before they entered the union. Nor do we find that British trade has decreased since the union was formed. In 1831, the annual value of British produce and manufactures exported to Germany was 3,845,7681., which has gone on pretty gradually increasing to 1840, when it reached 5,627,8441. In some articles, particularly woollens, our German trade has more than doubled itself during that time, and has increased in a much greater proportion than it has in any other part of the world. In other articles, on the contrary, it has dwindled to almost nothing. This has occurred chiefly in dyed cottons, to which the drier air of the continent gives a great advantage; and to cheap hosiery goods, in which hitherto so much manual labor has been employed, compared to almost every other branch of manufacture, and in which, therefore, the lower rate of wages on the continent must enable them to undersell us. trade. The hosiers of Saxony have not only beat us in the German markets, but have actually driven us out of those of America, and are now threatening us at home, in spite of the 10 per cent. protective duty which our free-trade hosiers still enjoy. In fact, the stocking-machine has been unimproved from the day of its invention, more than two centuries ago, till nearly the present time; and as little capital is required in its purchase, small skill in its employment, and a great quantity of manual labor, it was but natural that cheapness of labor should produce cheapness of produce. A great revolution, however, is now in progress in this manufacture in the application of steam machinery to it; and we have no doubt that the advantage of great capital, with the cheapness of coal and iron, and our superior mechanical skill, will soon restore us what we have lost in this class of goods. We must leave to another occasion the consideration of the Austrian scheme of a Customs' Union of all Germany, the chances for and against its adoption, and the probable effect of such a union, should it be carried out, on Germany, and on the commerce of that country with Great Britain. INSTINCT IN A BIRD.-Once, when travelling in Tennessee, Wilson was struck with the manner in which the habits of the pennated grouse are adapted to its residence on dry, sandy plains. One of them was kept there in a cage, having been caught alive in a trap. It was observed that the bird never drank, and seemed rather to avoid the water; but a few drops one day falling upon the cage, and trickling down the bars, the bird drank them with great dexterity, and an eagerness that showed she was suffering with would drink under other circumstances, and though thirst. The experiment was then made whether she she lived entirely on dry Indian corn, the cup of water in the cage was for a whole week untasted and untouched; but the moment water was sprinkled on the bars, she drank it eagerly as before. It occurred to him at once, that in the natural haunts of the bird, the only water it could procure was from the drops of rain and dew. From Bentley's Miscellany. LUCY NEAL. "I WAS BORN IN ALABAMA," &C. Lucia prædulcis, si nunc mihi Lucia adesses, That the manufactures of Germany have ad- Vox dabit ima sonum, Lucia cara, Vale. Trin. Coll., Camb. the town? From Bentley's Miscellany. BEARS. Slender. Why do your dogs bark so? be there bears i' Anne. I think there are, sir; I heard them talked of. Slender. I love the sport well; but I shall as soon quarrel at it as any man in England ;-you are afraid if you see the bear loose, are you not? Anne. Ay, indeed, sir. Slender. That's meat and drink to me now! I have seen Sackerson loose twenty times; and have taken him by the chain; but I warrant you the women have so cried and shrieked at it that it passed-but women, indeed, cannot abide 'em; they are very ill-favored, rough things. -Merry Wives of Windsor. Soon after the accession of Elizabeth to the In Bridgeward Without, there was a district called Paris Garden; this, and the celebrated Hockley in the Hole, were in the sixteenth century the great resorts of the amateurs in bear-baiting and other cruel sports, which cast a stain upon the society of that period-a society in a transition state, but recently emerged from barbarism, and with all the tastes of a semi-barbarous people. Sunday was the grand day for these displays, until a frightful occurrence which took place in 1582. A more than usually exciting bait had been announced, and a prodigious concourse of people assembled. When the sport was at its highest, and the air rung with blasphemy, the whole of the THOSE who ramble amidst the beautiful scenery crushing many to death, and wounding many more. scaffolding on which the people stood gave way, of Torquay, who gaze with admiration on the bold This was considered as a judgment of the Aloutlines of the Cheddar Cliffs, or survey the fertile mighty on these Sabbath-breakers, and gave rise fen district of Cambridgeshire, will find it difficult to a general prohibition of profane pastime on the to believe that in former ages these spots were Sabbath. ravaged by bears surpassing in size the grizzly bear of the Rocky Mountains, or the polar bear of the arctic regions; yet the abundant remains found in Kent Hole Torquay, and the Banwell Caves, together with those preserved in the Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge, incontestibly prove that such was the case. Grand, indeed, was the Fauna of the British isles in those early days! Lions the true old British Lions as large again as the biggest African species, lurked in the ancient thickets; elephants, of nearly twice the bulk of the largest individuals that now exist in Africa or Ceylon, roamed here in herds; at least two species of rhinoceros forced their way through the primeval forests; the lakes and rivers were tenanted by hippopotami as bulky, and with as great tusks, as those of Africa. These statements are not the offspring of imagination, but are founded on the countless remains of these creatures which are continually being brought to light, proving, from their numbers and variety of size, that generation after generation had been born, and lived, and died, in Great Britain.* It is matter of history, that the brown bear was plentiful here in the time of the Romans, and was conveyed in considerable numbers to Rome, to make sport in the arena. In Wales they were common beasts of chase; and, in the history of the Gordons, it is stated that one of that clan, so late as 1057, was directed by his sovereign to carry three bears' heads on his banner, as a reward for his valor in killing a fierce bear in Scotland. In 1252, the sheriffs of London were commanded by the king to pay fourpence a day for "our white bear in the Tower of London and his keeper;" and, in the following year, they were directed to provide "unum musellum et unam cathenam ferream"-Anglicè, a muzzle and an iron chain, to hold him when out of the water, and a long and strong rope to hold him when fishing in the Thames. This piscatorial hear must have had a pleasant time of it, as compared to many of his species, for the barbarous amusement of baiting was most popular with our ancestors. The household book of the Earl of Northumberland contains the following characteristic entry :-"Item, my Lorde usith and accustomith to gyfe yearly when hys Lordshipe is att home to his barward, when hee comyth to my Lorde at Cristmas with his Lordshippes beests, for making his Lordschip pastyme the said xij days throne, she gave a splendid banquet to the French These barbarities continued until a comparatively recent period, but are now, it is to be hoped, exploded forever. Instead of ministering to the worst passions of mankind, the animal creation now contribute, in no inconsiderable degree, to the expansion of the mind and the development of the nobler feelings. Zoological collections have taken the place of the Southwark Gardens and other brutal haunts of vice, and we are glad to say, often prove a stronger focus of attraction than the skittle ground and its debasing society. By them, laudable curiosity is awakened, and the impression, especially on the fervent and plastic minds of young people, is deep and lasting. The immense number of persons of the lower orders, who visited the London Gardens during the past season, prove the interest excited. The love of natural history is inherent in the human mind, and now for the first *The number of visitors to the Zoological Gardens, *See "A History of British Fossil Mammals," by our Regent's Park, during the past year, was very nearly great zoologist, Professor Owen. 400,000. |