which it belonged in all their journeys. For some time it lived in the south-west of England, where it passed its existence fastened to a post by a tolerably long chain that allowed it a reasonable freedom of motion. Like other tame eagles, it would persist in killing cats, if they came within reach, although its ordinary food was fowl, rabbits, and other similar articles of diet. On one occasion a sickly, pining chicken, which seemed in a very bad state of health, was given to the eagle. The royal bird, however, refused to eat it; but seemed to be struck with pity at its miserable state, and took it under his protection. He even made it sit under his wing, which he extended as a shield; and once when a man endeavored to take it away, the eagle attacked him fiercely, injuring his leg severely, and drove him fairly off his premises. The eagle is supposed to be a long-lived bird, and is thought to live a hundred years when at liberty and unrestrained in its native haunts. Even in captivity it has been known to attain a good old age, one of these birds, which lived at Vienna, being over one hundred years old when it died. COMPOSITION. (a) The plain below; (b) this larder consists; (c) the eagle and hi mate mutually assist each other ; (d) are generally under cover; (e) near the cover which is to be beaten; (f) a splendid bird in point of size THE GEYSERS. AFTER fifteen hours of weary jogging, we found ourselves in the presence of the steaming geysers. Naturally enough, our first impulse on dismounting was to scamper off at once to the Great Geyser. As it lay at the furthest end of the congeries of hot-springs, in order to reach it we had to run the gauntlet of all the pools of boiling water and scalding quagmires of soft clay that intervened. A smooth, silicious basin, seventy-two feet in diameter and four feet deep, with a hole at the bottom, as in a washing-basin on board a steamer, stood before us brimful of water just upon the simmer; while up into the air, above our heads, rose a great column of vapor. The ground about the brim was composed of layers of incrusted silica, like the outside of an oyster, sloping gently down on all sides from the edge of the basin. It was one o'clock in the morning when we suddenly heard a tremendous noise, and experienced a sensation as if beneath our very feet a quantity of subterranean cannon were going off. The whole earth shook, and the guide, starting to his feet, flew off, full speed, toward the great basin. By the time we reached its brim, however, the noise had ceased, and all we could see was a slight movement in the centre, as if an angel had passed by and troubled the water. As our principal object in coming so far was to sce an eruption of the Great Geyser, it was of course necessary we should wait his pleasure; in fact, our movements entirely depended upon his. For the next two or three days, therefore, like pilgrims round some ancient shrine, we patiently kept watch; but he scarcely deigned to vouchsafe us the slighest manifestation of his latent energies. Two or three times the cannonading we had heard immediately after our arrival recommenced; and once an eruption to the height of ten feet occurred; but so brief was its duration, that by the time we were on the spot, although the tent was not eighty yards distant, all was over. As, after every effort of the fountain, the water in the basin mysteriously ebbs back into the funnel, this performance, though unsatisfactory in itself, gave us an opportunity of approaching the mouth of the pipe, and looking down into its scalded gullet. In an hour afterwards, the basin was brimful as ever. We had been keeping watch for three days over the geyser, in languid expectation of the eruption which was to set us free, when, on the morning of the fourth day, a cry from the guides made us start to our feet, and with one common impulse rush to the basin. The usual subterranean thunder had already commenced; a violent agitation was disturbing the centre of the pool. Suddenly a dome of water lifted itself up to the height of eight or ten feet, then burst and fell; immediately after which, a shining liquid column, or rather a sheaf of columns, wreathed in robes of vapor, sprang into the air, and in a succession of jerking leaps, each higher than the last, flung their silver crests against the sky. For a few minutes the fountain held its own; then, all at once, appeared to lose its ascending energy. The unstable waters faltered, drooped, fell, “like a broken purpose," back upon themselves, and were immediately sucked down into the recesses of their pipe. The spectacle was certainly magnificent; but no description can give any idea of its most striking features. The enormous wealth of water, its vitality, its hidden power; the illimitable breadth of sun-lit vapor, rolling out in exhaustless profusion,-all combined to make one feel the stupendous energy of nature's slightest movement. And yet I do not believe the exhibition was so fine as some that have been seen; from the first burst upwards, to the moment the last jet retreated into the pipe, was no more than a space of seven or eight minutes, and at no moment did the crown of the column reach higher than sixty or seventy feet above the surface of the basin. Now, early travellers talk of 300 feet, which must, of course, be fabulous; but many trustworthy persons, have judged the eruptions at 200 feet; while well-authenticated accounts, when the elevation of the jet has been actually measured, make it to have attained a height of upwards of 100 feet. With regard to the internal machinery by which these water-works are set in motion, I will only say, that the most generally received theory seems to be that which supposes the existence of a chamber in the heated earth, almost, but not quite, filled with water, and communicating with the upper air by means of a pipe, whose lower orifice, instead of being in the roof, is at the side of the cavern, and near the surface of the subterranean pond. The water, kept by the surrounding furnaces at boilingpoint, generates, of course, a continuous supply of steam, for which some vent must be obtained; as it cannot escape by the funnel, the lower mouth of which is under water, it squeezes itself up within the arching roof, until at last, compressed beyond all endurance, it strains against the rock, and pushing down the intervening waters, with its broad, strong back, forces them below the level of the funnel, and dispersing part, and driving part before it, rushes forth in triumph to the upper air. The fountains, therefore, that we see mounting to the sky during an eruption are nothing but the superincumbent mass of waters in the pipe, driven into confusion before the steam at the moment it obtains its liberation. COMPOSITION. Describe the race over the ground dotted with small, boiling wells. Also the appearance of the border of the largest geyser. Show how this resembled the outside of an oyster shell. The effects noticed when the eruption was about to occur. Mention the account in the New Testament to which reference is made. What was done to while away time till next eruption. Mention some games that may have been introduced (in that country). Describe the spectacle same order as the book, but in your own words. RING OUT, WILD BELLS. Alfred Tennyson, born in 1809, present Poet Laureate of England. The remarkable purity of contemporary English poetry, as compared with that of former periods, is largely owing to the influence of his writings, which are singularly chaste and noble. He is unsurpassed in descriptive power and in felicity of expression. In his hands the rugged English tongue becomes an instrument of most delicate harmony, capable of expressing with the utmost nicety the finest shades of thought and sentiment. Like all great bards, he is most truly poet when most truly Catholic. This is notably the case in some of the "Idylls," and in portions of "In Memoriam," which are his greatest poems. It is therefore to be regretted that in one of his later efforts, Queen Mary," he has allowed the shade of bigotry to dim the brightness of his muse. 66 OING out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow; |