who remained with Noah first to have settled, and which, as might be expected from this circumstance, was more populous and formidable than those countries which were settled subsequently, and which Ninus had previously overcome. Here he met with serious opposition-far more so than he had before realized. After several ineffectual attempts upon the capital, he at length, by means of the contrivance and conduct of Semiramis, wife of Menon, a captain in his army, succeeded in its capture. Charmed with her bravery and skill, he took her from her husband, and made her his queen, offering him his own daughter in her stead. According to others, the husband of Semiramis destroyed himself, from fear or jealousy of Ninus, before the latter married her. By Semiramis, Ninus had a son named Ninyas. Ninus reigned 52 years, and is computed to have died A. M. 2017. On the death of Ninus, Semiramis assumed the reins of government. She removed the seat of empire to Babylon, which now again became the chief of cities, and the capital of the world. This city she strengthened, enlarged, and embellished at a vast expense. It is asserted that in making these improvements, she employed the labours of 2,000,000 men-a number, however, altogether incredible, considering the early period in which she lived, and the paucity of mankind in those days. And yet, when we consider her great resources; when we reflect that nations were subservient to her beck, and that she swayed the sceptre of a large portion of the inhabited earth; we are led at once to the conclusion, that she had a vast multitude employed in the work under consideration. Having completed this magnificent undertaking, and rendered Babylon, at this early period, the "glory of kingdoms," she raised a powerful army, and after making some minor conquests, proceeded to the East, for the purpose of completing what her husband had begun the subjugation of that part of the world. But contrary to her expectations, she found the people in that quarter too powerful for her arms; and after a long and disastrous war, she was compelled to relinquish her enterprise, and to witness the prostration of all her high hopes in the dust. Some authors assert that she was slain on the banks of the Indus; but according to others, she returned in disgrace to Babylon, and resigned her crown to her son Ninyas, after a reign of 42 years; shortly after which she died.* Ninyas her successor was very unlike his parents. He indulged in no ambitious schemes of conquest, but devoted his attention to the welfare of his people, and to the proper regulation of the extensive empire whose destinies he was called to wield. It was on account of this pacific temperament of Ninyas, that some historians have stigmatized him with effeminacy and imbecility. But well had it been for mankind, had there been more of such effeminacy and imbecility, and less of turbulence and ambition, in the management of the political concerns of nations. MYTHOLOGY. THE MUSES. (Concluded.) "Bahusius, a modern poet, has comprised the names of all the muses in a distich; that is, he has made nine Muses stand, which is something strange, but upon eleven feet. Perhaps you will remember their names better, when they are thus joined together in two verses: Calliope, Polymneia, Erato, Clio, atque Thalia, Melpomene, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Urania. "The most remarkable of the names which are common to them all are: Heliconide, or Heliconiades, from the mountain Helicon, in Baotia. Parnassides, from the mountain Parnassus, in Phocis, which has • Diodorus Siculus, lib. ii. two heads, where if any person slept, he presently became a poet. It was anciently called Larnassus, from Larnace, the ark of Deucalion, which rested here, and was named Parnassus after the flood, from an inhabitant of this mountain, so called. Citherides, or Citheriades, from the mountain Citheron, where they dwelt. Aonides, from the country Aonia. Pierides, or Pieriæ, from the mountain Pierus, or Pieria, in Thrace; or from the daughters of Pierius and Annippe, who daring contend with the Muses were changed into pies. Pegasides and Hippocrenides, from the famous fountain Helicon, which by the Greeks is called Hippocrene, and by the Latins, Caballinus, both which words signify the horse's fountain: it was also named Pegasus, the winged horse, which, by striking a stone in this place with his foot, opened the fountain, and the waters became vocal. Aganippides, or Aganippeæ, from the fountain Castalius, at the foot of Parnassus. "Some write, that there were but three in the beginning; because sound, out of which all singing is formed, is naturally three-fold; either made by the voice alone, or by blowing, as in pipes, or by striking, as in eitherns or drums. Or it may be, because there are three tones of the voice or other instruments, the bass, the tenor, and the treble. Or lastly, because all the sciences are distributed into three general parts, philosophy, rhetoric, and mathematics; and each of these parts is subdivided into three other parts; philosophy into logic, ethics, and physics; rhetoric into the demonstrative, deliberative, and judicial kind; mathematics into music, geometry, and arithmetic and hence it came to pass, that they reckoned not only Three Muses, but Nine. "Others give a different reason why they are Nine. When the citizens of Sicyon appointed three skilful artificers to make the statues of the Three Muses, promising to choose those three statues out of the nine which they liked best, they were all so well made that they could not tell which to prefer; so that they bought them all, and placed them in the temples; and Hesiod afterwards assigned to them the names mentioned above. "Some affirm that they were virgins, and others deny it, who reckon up their children. Let no person, however, despise the Muses, unless he design to bring destruction upon himself by the example of Thamyras or Thamyris; who, being conceited of his beauty and skill in singing, presumed to challenge the Muses to sing, upon condition that if he was overcome, they should punish him as they pleased. And after he was overcome, he was deprived at once both of his harp and his eyes." THE GRACES. "The Graces were three beautiful females, daughters of Venus, and often attendant upon her. They were supposed to be beautiful and amiable, and to represent the sweetness, civility, and purity which are proper to delicate, elegant, and accomplished persons. "The names of the Graces were Álgaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne; they are usually represented in a group, naked and adorned with flowers on their heads. The Graces, properly Charities or Virtues, were represented hand in hand, to show that virtues, though different, belong to each other, and they are not found single but united. They were beautiful, to signify that kind affections and good actions are pleasing and winning. They were exhibited unadorned and unclothed, because gentleness of manners and kindness of heart are sufficient without disguise or art to gain good will. Some assert that they were the daughters of Jupiter and Eurynome or Eunomia, the daughter of Oceanus. Others think they were daughters of Eteccles, and Antimachus says they were born of Sol and Ægla. were therefore called Eteoclea. Their three names, as individuals, viz. Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne, signify respectively, the Shining, the Flourishing, the CAPTAIN FRANKLIN'S SECOND JOURNEY. Although Captains Parry and Franklin both left England with their respective expeditions about the same period in the year 1819, yet the former of these gentlemen returned considerably the earlier, and had already been gone nearly eighteen months on a second enterprise, when the other arrived from the first. Scarcely a year had, however, elapsed before Captain Parry returned, in the autumn of 1823, from this second voyage, in which he had vainly endeavoured to penetrate the icy channel named the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. Towards the close of the same year, the Government made known its intention of sending that active navigator to engage in a third attempt; and then Captain Franklin laid before them a plan for another co-operative expedition over land to te shores of the Polar Sea, for the conduct of which he offered his own services. The proposal was accepted, and every arrangement made for carrying it into immediate effect. Dr. Richardson solicited permission again to accompany his friend, which was readily accorded; and the party was completed by the appointment of their old fellow-traveller, Lieutenant Back, with Mr. Kendall, Mr. Drummond as assistant botanist, and four marines. Captain Franklin was directed, by his instructions, to winter at the Great Bear Lake, and thence proceed, in the following spring, down the Mackenzie River, (which was explored by the traveller of that name in 1789.) On reaching its mouth, the expedition was to separate into two parties; the one to trace the coast to the westward, and the other to survey it to the eastward, as far as the Coppermin River. The necessary boats and stores were forwarded in the summer of 1824 to York Factory, and thence despatched by the ordinary river-navigation towards the Great Bear Lake. The officers left England early in 1825, and proceeding by the more circuitous but more convenient route of New York and Canada through Lake Huron, overtook the boats on the Methye River in the summer of the same year. By the 5th of August, the whole party had reached the Great Bear Lake River, which flows from the lake of that name into the Mackenzie River; and on its banks Captain Franklin resolved to take up his winter-quarters. They quickly began to build a habitation and store, which they afterwards named from their respected commander; and while the most skilful were thus engaged, he himse proceeded down the Great Bear Lake and Mackenzie Rivers, in order to take a view of the Polar Sea, and obtain information which would probably serve to guide in some degree his operations the following year. In this excursion he was eminently successful; and he rejoined his companions on the 5th of September. The winter was passed in the usual manner; and with the return of spring the party began to prepare for their expedition. On the 29th of June they quitted Fort Franklin, descended the Mackenzie, and, on the 4th of July, separated into the two branches which were to pursue different directions, following the two channels into which the stream here divided. Captain Franklin conducted the western party, and Dr. Rich- | ardson the eastern. The former had scarcely reached the sea, when they fell in with a large number of Esquimaux, with whom, but for their own forbearance, they would have been involved in a bloody, and per haps fatal encounter. Having extricated themselves from this imminent peril, they continued their course, greatly impeded, however, by the unfavourable state of the atmosphere. The low and swampy land that here extends between the northern termination of the rocky mountains and the sea coast, seems to be productive of a constant fog, frequently so dense as to contract the range of view to within a few yards. Nevertheless, by the 16th of August they had succeeded in reaching the half-way point between Mackenzie River and Icy Cape, (the furthest point to which the north-western coast of America had been traced from Behring's Strait;) but the symptoms of approaching winter here became so unequivocal, that they were compelled to return, though with great reluctance. Unfortunately, Captain Franklin did not know that at this moment the barge of the ship, which had been sent to await his arrival in Behring's Strait, was actually within 160 miles of the spot which he had himself reached; had he known it, "no difficulties, dangers, or discouraging circumstances," to use his own expression, would have prevailed on him to return. Under the existing circumstances he was obliged to do so, and, on the 21st of September, this western expedition reached Fort Franklin, where they found the eastern branch returned before them. The navigation which Dr. Richardson had to perform was almost wholly unobstructed; and between the 4th of July and the 8th of August, he succeeded in accomplishing the coast voyage of 902 miles, between the mouths of the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers. He returned with his party to Fort Franklin on the 1st of September, and, after a lapse of nearly three weeks, was joined by the western branch, as we have before related. In the following year, the two parties set out in company for England, which they reached in the autumn of 1827. This second expedition of Captain Franklin, though destitute of that tragic interest which his first excited, may be regarded as more important in its geographical results. The 6 degrees of longitude, for which the northern shores of America had been explored in the former enterprise, were now extended to a line exceeding 394 degrees in length, and approaching on the one side to within 160 miles of the extreme known north-western point of that continent, and on the other to within 400 miles of the supposed extreme north eastern point. VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN BEECHEY. When the simultaneous expeditions of Captains Parry and Franklin were undertaken in 1824, it appeared to those with whom they originated, to be almost impossible that either of them, even in the event of success, could reach the open sea in Behring's Strait, without being nearly, if not wholly, exhausted of resources and provisions, and it was quite certain that Captain Franklin's party would be entirely destitute of the means of conveyance to Europe. Accordingly, to obviate these anticipated difficulties, His Majesty's Government determined upon sending a ship to that spot, to await the arrival of the two expeditions. The Blossom sloop was selected for this purpose, and the command of her given to Captain F. W. Beechey, who had already distinguished himself in the preceeding northern voyages. Before the de arture of Captain Franklin, he arranged with Captain Beechey the plan of their joint operations. Kotzebue Inlet was agreed upon as the place of rendezvous, where Captain Beechey was to remain during the summer months of 1826 and 1827. The Blossom sailed from England on May 19th, 1825; and passing Behring's Strait, entered Kotzebue Sound early in the morning of the 22nd of September The land was much obscured by a thick fog, which, however, cleared off soon afterwards, and discovered to their astonished view a deep inlet in the northern shore, that had escaped the observation of Captain Kot- | zebue. Captain Beechey named it Hotham Inlet, and sent the barge to examine it, intending to proceed with the ship further into the sound, as far as Chamisso Island, the appointed place of rendezvous. The unfavourable state of the wind prevented him from advancing for nearly two days. During his detention, a party of the natives approached the ship, in their baidars, bringing with them various articles of skin and fish, which they were desirous of changing for other commodities. The baidars are a species of boat, similar in construction to the Esquimaux oomiaks (or woman hoats) of Hudson's Bay. "They consist," says Captain Beechey, "of a frame made from drift wood, covered with the skins of walrusses strained over it, and are capable of being tightened at any time by a lacing on the inside of the gunwale; the frame and benches for the rowers are fastened with thongs, by which the boat is rendered both light and pliable; the skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat, fancies it a frail security; but it is very safe and durable, especially when kept well greased." Each of these boats now contained from ten to thirteen men, who all exhibited the custom, which was afterwards found to be general along this part of the American coast, of wearing ornaments in their under lip. These consisted of pieces of ivory, stone, or glass, formed with a double head, like a sleeve-button, one part of which is thrust through a hole bored in the under lip. The incision is made when about the age of puberty, and is at first about the size of a quill; as they grow older, the natives enlarge the orifice, and increase the size of the ornament accordingly, that it may hold its place. In adults, this orifice is about half an inch in diameter, and will, if required, distend to three quarters of an inch. The people themselves possessed all the characteristic features of the Esquimaux ;-large, fat, round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths. The engraving of them below is from Captain Beechey. They were strictly honest; and in this respect offer rather a contrast to others of their race, whom Captain Beechey subsequently visited. WESTERN ESQUIMAUX OF HOTHAM INLET, IN THEIR BAIDARS. Red and blue beads, buttons, knives, and. hatchets, were in general request, and readily induced them to sell their ordinary commodities; but tawac, as they called our tobacco, was the great object of the men's desires, and an offer of this made them part with even their bows and arrows, which they had refused to barter for the usual articles of exchange. Their habits seemed to be very filthy; but they were hospitable, though after their own fashion. Whenever Captain Beechey visited them, he was received in the most friendly manner; and frequently, to use his own expression, "underwent the full delights of an Esquimaux salutation." A contact of noses, or a smoothing of the visiters' faces with hands, which had been previously licked and applied to their own, was the usual mode of reception; and sometimes, as a most especial mark of regard, a warm embrace and hug supplied the place of this less distinguished favour. The choicest delicacies which their means could afford, were then offered; but the guests, with a squeamishness that excited at once the surprise and ridicule of their less scrupulous hosts, could never be prevailed upon to accept the dainty fare. Bowls of blubber and walrus flesh, dishes of whortleberries mashed up with sorrel and rancid train-oil, were left untouched by our fastidious countrymen; the entrails of a fine seal, and a bowl of coagulated blood, shared a similar fate; and even "the raw flesh of the narwhal, nicely cut inte lumps, with an equal distribution of black and white fat," displayed its tempting charms in vain. One gentleman only, and he to oblige the Captain, ventured to taste one of the motley mixtures, but at the expense of his appetite for the rest of the day. It was not till the morning of the 25th of July, that Captain Beechey reached Chamisso Island, only five days later than had been agreed upon by Captain Franklin and himself. No traces of the latter gentlemen were yet to be seen; and Captain Beechey therefore proceeded, according to the arrangement, to survey the coast further to the northward, towards the Arctic Sea. At the same time, in order that Captain Franklin might not want provisions, in the event of his missing the ship along the coast, and arriving at the island in her absence, a tight barrel of flour was buried in the most unfrequented spot in its vicinity, and directions for finding it were deposited in a bottle, to which attention was directed by writing upon the cliffs with white paint. By the middle of August he reached Icy Cape, where he found the sea quite open, and felt the greatest desire to advance. His instructions were, however, positive, to avoid the chance of being beset with his ship in the ice; and he was obliged therefore to con tent himself with despatching the barge to prosecute to Macao, where he procured sufficient stores to enathe further search, while he returned to Kotzebue Sound. ble him to prosecute the voyage. The ship left Macao The barge proceeding to the north-eastward succeeded on the 30th of April, 1827, and after visiting the great in exploring the line of the coast as far as point Bar- Loo Choo, passed through Behring's Strait, and reachrow, 126 miles beyond Icy Cape; and the crew hav-ed the rendezvous this time by the 5th of August; still ing erected a post for Captain Franklin returned to there was no trace of Franklin, and they accordingly the ship. elileo on to yataq sind stood forward to the northward. The unfavourable Captain Beechey remained within the Blossom at stage of the ice prevented them from proceeding so far Chamisso Island, occupied in surveying the coast and as they had gone the former year; and after the loss harbours of Kotzebue Sound, until the approach of of their barge, and a narrow escape of wreck on the winter rendered it necessary for him to hasten his de- part of the ship, they were compelled, by the early setparture. During his stay, he made several excursions, ting in of the winter, to take a final leave of the Polar and procured many interesting fossil remains. He Sea, and retrace their course to England, which they had also an opportunity of remarking the habits and reached on the 8th of September, 1828, after an absence peculiarities of the natives, or western Esquimaux, as of three years and a half, and a voyage of 73,000 they are called, in contradistinction to their eastern miles. has dore disse of brethren. Their deserted huts were frequently found best sour based at or in many places, and traces of a recent residence were oni od nadr often visible. He particularly notices their burial-paluun doubling inom places, and the mode which they have of disposing of oil bus ghod sa their dead. The corpse is deposited, with the head to un vids dun abl the westward, in a sort of coffin formed of loose planks, and placed upon a platform of drift-wood, which is some-leid name bil od times raised to the height of two feet. A double tents of spars of drift-wood, put together closely, is erected over this as a covering to secure the body from the de-ion and d predations of foxes and wolves: but the rapacity of those animals succeeds before long in breaking through this feeble protection. The body is generally dressed in a frock made of eider-duck skins, and covered with hides of deer or sea-horse. The coffin and planks are sometimes omitted, and the corpse then rests simply on the drift-wood. We give on the opposite column a representation of one of these graves. The Blossom quitted the sound on the 14th of Octo-ol ber, and having repassed Behring's Strait, stood to the southward, and reached the harbour of Francisco, in California, on the eighth of November. Here Captain Beechey had intended to recruit his supplies; but the inadequacy of the means which it afforded compelled him to proceed first to the Sandwich Islands, and thence NATURAL HISTORY. "Mr. Parsons says, that he has observed a very particular quality in this animal; he hearkened with a sort of continual attention to any noise; so that, if he was even sleepy, employed in eating, or in satisfying other urgent wants, he started instantly, raised up his head, and gave attention till the noise had ceased. "It is certain that some Rhinoceroses have but one horn on the nose, and others two. In the two-horned Rhinoceros, one of the horns is smaller than the other, and is situated above it. When the animal is quiescent these horns are loose, but they become fixed when it is irritated. There are single horns of three feet and a half, and perhaps of more than four feet in length. Commonly, these horns are brown, or olive colour; yet some are gray, and even white. They have only a small concavity, in form of a cup, at their basis, by which they are fastened to the skin of the nose; the remaining part of the horn is solid, and very hard. It is with this weapon that the Rhinoceros is said to attack, and sometimes to wound mortally, the largest elephants, whose long legs give to the Rhinoceros, who has them much shorter, an opportunity of striking them with his horn under the belly, where the skin is tender and more penetrable; but when he misses the first blow, the elephant throws him on the ground, and kills him. from that sagacious animal, in his natural faculties, "This Rhinoceros when he was two years old was and his intelligence; having received from Nature not much higher than a young cow who has not yet merely what she grants in common to all animals; de-borne young; but his body was very long, and very prived of all feeling in the skin, having no organ thick. The tongue of this young Rhinoceros was soft, answing the purpose of hands, nor distinct for the like that of a calf; his eyes had no vivacity; they were sense of feeling, he has nothing instead of a trunk like those of a hog in form, and were placed very low; but a moveable upper lip, in which centres all his dex- that is, nearer the opening of the nostrils. terity. He is superior to other animals only in strength, size, and the offensive weapon which he carries upon his nose, and which is peculiar to him. This weapon is a very hard horn, solid throughout, and placed more advantageously than the horns of ruminating animals; these only protect the superior parts of the head and neck, whilst the horn of the Rhinoceros defends all the exterior parts of the snout, and preserves the muzzle, the mouth, and the face from insult; so that the tiger attacks more readily the Elephant, in seizing his trunk, than the Rhinoceros, which he cannot attack in front without running the danger of being killed, for the body and limbs are covered with an impenetrable skin; and this animal fears neither the claws of the tiger nor the lion, nor even the fire and weapons of the huntsman; his skin is a dark leather, of the same colour, but thicker and harder than that of the elephant; he does not feel the sting of flies; he cannot contract his skin; it is only folded by large wrinkles on the neck, the shoulders, and the buttocks, to facilitate the motions of the legs, which are massive, and terminate in large feet, armed with three great claws. The skin of the two-horned Rhinoceros is much more easily penetrable than that of the single-horned. He has the head larger in proportion than the elephant, but the eyes still smaller, which he never opens entirely, and they are so situated "The horn of the Rhinoceros is more valued by the that the animal can see only what is in a direct line Indians than the ivory of the elephant; not so much before him. The upper jaw projects above the lower, on account of the matter, of which they make several and the upper lip has a motion, and may be lengthened works with the chisel, as for its substance, to which six or seven inches; it is terminated by a sharp edge, they attribute diverse virtues and medicinal properties. which enables this animal, with more facility than The white ones, as the most rare, are also those which other quadrupeds, to gather branches and grass, and they value most. Cups made of this horn are used to to divide them into handfuls, as the elephant does with drink out of by many of the Indian princes, under the his trunk. This muscular and flexible lip is a sort of erroneous idea that when any poisonous fluid is put trunk very incomplete, but which is equally calculated into them, the liquor will ferment, and run over the for strength and dexterity. Instead of those long top. ivory teeth which form the tusks of the elephant, the "The Rhinoceros, without being ferocious or carnivRhinoceros has his powerful horn, and two strong in-orous, or even very wild, is nevertheless untameable. cisive teeth in each jaw. These incisive teeth, which He is of the nature of a hog, blunt and grunting, withthe elephant has not, are placed at a great distance out intellect, without sentiment, and without tractablefrom each other in the jaws of the Rhinoceros. He ness. These animals are also, like the hog, very much has, besides these, twenty-four smaller teeth, six on inclined to wallow in the mire; they like damp and each side of each jaw. His ears are always erect; marshy places, and seldom leave the banks of rivers. they are, for the form, like those of a hog, only they They are found in Asia and Africa, in Bengal, Siam, are larger in proportion to his body; they are the only Laos, in the Mogul dominions, in Sumatra, in Java. hairy parts of it. The end of the tail is like that of in Abyssinia, and about the Cape of Good Hope. the elephant, furnished with a tuft of large bristles, But in general, the species is not so numerous, or very hard and very solid. Huge and seemingly un- so universally spread, as that of the elephant. The wieldy as the Rhinoceros is, he has the power of run- female brings forth but one young, and at a great ning with y great swiftness. distance of time. In the first month, the Rhinoceros is not much bigger than a large dog; he has not, when first brought forth, the horn on the nose, although the rudiment of it is seen in the foetus. When he is two years old, this horn is only an inch long; and in his sixth year, it is about ten inches; and as some of these horns have been seen very near four feet long, it seems they grow till his middle age, and perhaps during the whole life of the animal, which must be long, since the Rhinoceros described by Mr. Parsons was not come to half his growth when he was two years old; which makes it probable that this animal lives, like a man, seventy or eighty years. The Rhinoceros which arrived in London in 1739 had been sent from Bengal. Although he was young, (b.ng but two years old,) the expenses of his food and his voyage amounted to near one thousand pounds sterling; he was fed with rice, sugar, and hay. They gave him daily seven pounds of rice, mixed with three pounds of sugar; which they divided into three parts. He had also a great quantity of hay and green grass, to which he gave the preference. His drink was nothing but water, of which he drank a great quantity at once. He was of a quiet disposition, and let his manager touch him on all the parts of his body. He grew unruly when he was struck or was hungry; and in both cases he could not be appeased without giving him something to eat. When he was angry, he leaped forward with impetuosity to a great height, beating furiously the walls with his head; which he did with a prodigious quickness, notwithstanding his heavy appearance. "Without being useful, as the elephant, the Rhinoceros is very hurtful, by the prodigious devastation which he makes in the fields. The skin is the most valuable thing of this animal. His flesh is excellent, according to the taste of Indians and Negroes. Iben says, he has often eaten it with great pleasure Kol |