in its vocabulary, its very idiom is metaphorical, and there is scarcely a sentence composed in it, without some allusion being made to the ob jects of external nature, their pecu liar habits or qualities.

Convinced, therefore, as we are, that an essential good will be effected by any aid given to the wider diffu sion of knowledge on these points, we have taken up Mr. Carpenter's book with considerable pleasure, and we are happy in finding that he has performed his task with much learn ing and judgment. We give the following specimen of his manner of using the materials he has collect ed, taken from the zoological part of the volume :

"THE ONAGER, OR WILD ASS. Who from the forest ass his collar broke, And manumised his shoulders to the yoke? Wild tenant of the waste, I sent him there Among the shrubs to breathe in freedom's air. Swift as an arrow in his speed he flies; Sees from afar the smoky city rise; Scorns the throng'd street, where slavery drags

his load,

The loud-voiced driver, and his urging goad! Where'er the mountain waves its lofty wood, A boundless range, he seeks his verdant food.

SCOTT.

"This animal, which the Hebrews called PARA, and the Greeks ONAGER, is a much handsomer and more dignified animal than the common or domestic ass. Oppian describes it as handsome, large, vigorous, of stately gait, and his coat of a silvery colour; having a black band along the spine of his back; and on his flanks, patches as white as snow.' But it is to Professor Gmelin, who brought a female and a colt from Tartary to St. Petersburgh, that we are chiefly indebted for our know ledge of the onager, or wild ass. The length of the male, which was something larger than the female, the Professor states to have been, from the nape of the neck to the origin of the tail, five feet; his height in front, four feet four inches; behind, four feet seven inches; his head, two feet in length; his ears, one foot; his tail, including the tuft at the end, two feet three inches. He was less docile and more robust than 43 ATHENEUM, VOL. 9, 2d series.

the female; and had a bar or streak crossing at his shoulders, as well as the streak which runs along the back, and which is common to both sexes. On her legs, the female stood higher than the common ass; they were also more slender and elegant in shape. Notwithstanding the state of exhaustion in which she was at this time, the Professor states that she carried her head higher than the ass, her ears well elevated, and showed a vivacity in all her motions. The colour of the hair on the greater part of the body, and the end of the nose, was silvery white; the upper part of the head, the sides of the neck, and the body, were flaxen-coloured. The mane was deep brown; commencing between the ears, and reaching the shoulders. The coat in general, especially in winter, was more silky and softer than that of horses, and resembled that of a camel. The colour of the onager, however, appears to vary, since Sir Robert Ker Porter describes one which he met with during his travels in Persia, the coat of which was of a bright bay colour.

"The onager is an animal adapted for running, and of such swiftness that the best horses cannot equal it. From this quality it is that it derives its Hebrew name; and, as it prefers the most craggy mountains, it runs with ease on the most difficult ground. All the ancient writers who mention the animal notice his fleetness, espe cially Xenophon, who says that he has long legs; is very rapid in running; swift as a whirlwind, having strong and stout hoofs.

"To give the reader a correct idea of this animal in his natural state, which is essential to appreciate the fidelity with which the writer of the book of Job delineates his character, we cannot do better than transcribe Sir R. K. Porter's account of the one to which he gave chase.

"The sun was just rising over the summits of the Eastern mountains, when my greyhound Cooley: suddenly darted off in pursuit of an animal, which, my Persians said, from the glimpse they had of it, was.

to my horse, and, with my attendants, gave chase. After an unrelaxed gallop of full three miles, we came up with the dog, who was then within a short stretch of the creature he pursued; and to my surprise, and at first, vexation, I saw it to be an ass. But, on a moment's reflection, judging from its fleetness it must be a wild one, a species little known in Europe, but which the Persians prize above all other animals, as an object of chase, I determined to approach as near to it as the very swift Arab I was on would carry me. But the single instant of checking my horse to consider, had given our game such a head of us, that, not withstanding all our speed, we could not recover our ground on him. I, however, happened to be considerably before my companions, when, at a certain distance, the animal in its turn made a pause, and allowed me to approach within pistol shot of him. He then darted off again with the quickness of thought; capering, kicking, and sporting in his flight, as if he were not blown in the least, and the chase were his pastime.

"He appeared to me about ten or twelve hands high; the skin smooth, like a deer's, and of a reddish colour; the belly and hinder parts partaking of a silvery grey; his neck was finer than that of a common ass, being longer, and bending like a stag's, and his legs beautifully slender; the head and ears seemed large in proportion to the gracefulness of these forms, and by them I first recognized that the object of my chase was of the ass tribe. The mane was short and black, as was also a tuft which terminated his tail. No line whatever ran along his back, or crossed his shoulders, as are seen on the tame species with us. When my followers of the country came up, they regretted I had not shot the creature when he was so within my aim, telling me his flesh is one of the greatest delicacies in Persia but it would not have been to eat him that I should have been glad

The prodigious swiftness and peculiar manner, with which he fled across the plain, coincided exactly with the description that Xenophon gives of the same animal in Arabia. (Vide Anabasis, b. i.) But, above all, it reminded me of the striking portrait drawn by the author of the book of Job.

"I was informed by the mehmander, who had been in the desert, when making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Ali, that the wild ass of Irak Arabi differs in nothing from the one I had just seen. He bad observed them often, for a short time, in the possession of the Arabs, who told him the creature was perfectly untameable. A few days after this discussion, we saw another of these animals; and pursuing it determinately, had the good fortune, after a hard chase, to kill it and bring it to our quarters. From it I completed my sketch. The Honourable Mountstuart Elphinstone, in his most admirable account of the kingdom of Caubul, mentions this highly picturesque creature under the name of goorkhur; describing it as an inhabitant of the desert between India and Afghanistan, or Caubul. It is called gour by the Persians, and is usually seen in herds, though often single, straying away, as the one I first saw, in the wantonness of liberty.'

"Let this account be compared with the description in Job:

Who hath sent out the wild ass free?

Or who hath loosed the bands of the brayer?
Whose house I have made the wilderness,
And his dwellings the barren lands.

He scorneth the multitude of the city,
And regardeth not the crying of the driver.
The range of the mountain is his pasture,
And he searcheth for every green thing.'

JOB Xxxix.

"From the circumstance of the wild ass delighting in the most barren and arid regions, we gather the propriety of a passage in Isaiah, where the extreme desolation of the land of Israel, which was to be occasioned by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar, is foretold:

TH

HERE are few things so delightful at any age, or in any point of our passage through life, as novelty; and, in the present day, it seems to be sought after with singular avidity.

To the traveller, who has roamed through the loveliest and most celebrated scenes, no tidings can be so welcome and exciting as those of an untrodden and interesting country; however distant, or difficult of access, it matters not: his fancy broods over it with enthusiasm, and he longs to wander there. In the world of literature also, the appearance of genius, of lofty or beautiful sentiment and description, in a spot where we expected only to meet with the weeds and briers, in fine, with the desert of the mind, seldom fails to awake in us kindly and favourable sentiments. On the rude and tempest-beaten shores of the Shetland Isles, a gentleman of high literary name and attainments, and a friend of the writer, happened, during the last summer, to land, with the view of exploring, at leisure, this remote territory. He traversed the whole of the principal isle, Lerwick, and several of the smaller ones, delighted, it could not be said with the softness or beauty of nature, but with its fearful and magnificent features. Not a bush or shrub, much less any thing resembling a tree, was to be seen in the whole territory. Sad, miserable, and moss-covered hills and wastes were eternally present to the eye; on the mountain, the valley, or the slopes, sheltered from the biting winds, not a blade of verdure was visible. Mounted on a sheltie, he passed over the melancholy wastes, till he began almost to love their barrenness and silence. For the inland lochs, that are met with at every league, are deep and clear, and stored with abundance of fine fish; and the voes, or arms of the sea, enter into the

One

land so frequent and so far, that the traveller, in spite of the great width of the island, never finds himself more than two or three miles from the sea. These voes are in general narrow, and bordered on each side by lofty and savage rocks of every form, amidst which are sometimes scattered the fishermen's huts; for the most excellent fish of every kind abound in them. These voes would often have the appearance of noble rivers, or inland lakes, were it not for the almost eterual swell and tumble of the water, coming from the north and western oceans on each side. The shores of the isles excel those of almost every other land in grandeur and wildness. Fitful and Sunborough Heads are already well known to every reader of the "Pirate;" the terrors as well as height of the former have been greatly exagge rated in that beautiful tale. circumstance of this traveller's jour ney in the Shetlands gave him more surprise, as well as pleasure, than any part of their strange and impres sive features of nature; it was the discovery, if it may be so called, of a lady of high poetical feeling and talent, a woman who had not only felt keenly the power and charm of her own impressive scenery, but had had the hardihood, even on "Torneo's sullen shore," to woo, gently and successfully, the muses that are thought to be natives of a warmer land. Miss Campbell is a native of Lerwick, the only place that bears the likeness of a town; her father, who was once the physician there, died some years ago, leaving little heritage to his daughter, save the talents and feelings that heaven had given her. And these have been her sure and almost sole consolation in her own native "world in miniature," (where, however, every passion and pride of the larger one are found,) have cheered her to look

forward to futurity, with a faint hope of fame, if not of riches. Alas! it was faint indeed! We have heard of more than one being, left desolate on some shore in the midst of the seas, where groves and streams were around him, but no human voice; having carved his name on the bark of the trees, in the hope that, should any voyager land when he was no more, his name might thus be preserved from perishing. A similar feeling, probably, urged the Shetland poetess to persevere, amidst neglect, obscurity, and the coldness of those who, in her better days, had smiled on her way. A more discouraging situation can hardly be imagined, to a woman still in the prime of life, of a fine imagination and exquisite sensibility, with not a kindred spirit around her, and shut in, by her own stormy sea, from all intercourse with the world beyond. The productions of Miss Campbell are chiefly in verse, and consist of pieces descriptive of the wild scenery of her own isle, of the often equally wild yet simple manners and sentiments of its natives, varied with striking traits of feeling and passion.

The following lines are from a piece called the " Valley of Ten," (a romantic vale in Koningsburgh.) A youth, who has long quitted his native place for a distant voyage, recals it with passionate regret :

"How dear are the days of the past to my soul; How sweet are the scenes of childhood my and youth!

Roll back, ye blest moments of innocence, roll, When the bosom was glowing with nature and truth;

When my feet fondly roved the bare mountains among,

And green fertile vale spreading fair to the

"And I, my beloved one, would seek thy cold grave,

But honor forbids that a son of the wave

To share it and join thee again in the sky;

Should shrink, like a coward, when battle is nigh!

And battle is near, and to-morrow we go ;
Ye scenes of delight, an eternal adieu !
Soon, soon from this bosom the life-blood shall
flow,

And these dim eyes be closed-but far dis
tant from Teu."

The "Wedding day of Albert, a northern Tale," is one of the most beautiful pieces of this little collection. The festive scene is interrupted by the sudden presence of a girl he had formerly loved: "Albert! they said I was betrayed, Left and abandoned for a wealthier maid;

But, oh, my love! I knew it could not be, And they who told the story knew not thee! They did not know thy soul-thy faith sincere,

And all that made thee to this heart so dear.

They watched my steps; they told me I was

wild,

And would not let me go my love to seek. "But I at length their watchfulness beguiled, And I am here. But, Albert, I am weak And sick at heart; for I had far to roam On the wild beach where wilder surges foam; Eager mid blackening rocks I careless sprung,

And scared the eagles from their callow young. Ah, me! I wander-lady, I have done, And will away," she turned her to depart— "The rose he gave is withered quite and gone, And thou art withered too,-my broken heart."

The following lines from "Inchdarrack" show that the lonely authoress images scenes fairer than her

own:

"The wilderness of shrubs and flowers
That drink the balmy summer showers,
And forest branches bending low,
To catch the breezes as they blow;
These beam alone in fancy's eye,
That views them richly gliding by;
'Mid barren rocks, and vallies drear,
And the stern precipice of fear.
"Sorrow awoke my earliest lay,
And sorrow shrouds its closing day:
Inchdarrack! to thy groves adieu!
These eyes no more thy groves shall view;
Save when, perchance, in midnight dream,
To wander 'neath their shade I seem;
"Or think I climb thy flowery brae,
Or hear the murmur of thy river:
Alas! the vision flits with night away,
The storm-beat isle must be my home for ever."