forms the staple of English conversation, and so gave himself up to his love of wandering and independence. In this second journey to Ceylon Mr. Baker determined, with singular inconsistency, to become a settler; and, while found ing a farm and station upon the high tablelands of Newera Ellia, to look to the corn lands for his sport. Accordingly, having purchased some 8,000 acres, at 20s. an acre, from the Government, and hired nine farm-servants and a bailiff, and bought farming implements and stock, with a thorough-bred stallion, and a small pack of fox-hounds, he left England, in 1848, for his new settlement. Leaving England himself beforehand to make preparations, his cargo and family in due time arrive; and here commence the blessings of emigration. With elephant-carts for the farming implements, a tame elephant for the baggage and maidservants, and a new carriage for himself and family, after a vast amount of trouble, everything gets fairly off from Colombo. At the foot of the last Pass, fifteen miles from the station, the carriage is obliged to be left behind, to be sent for hereafter. Of course, the result is obvious. Who that has ever emigrated and come home again (the best thing he can do)-will not foretell the catastrophe? The groom sent down for the carriage gets drunk, drives full gallop up the Pass, and, cutting a corner rather too fine, goes over the precipice, horses and all. This was the commencement of a chapter of accidents; and, as it affords no bad view of the first year of a gentleman's emigrant life, we shall be pardoned for following up the series. The next day came intelligence that the thorough-bred "short-horn," too fat to walk, and objecting to be carried, had given up the ghost, after four days' journey of seven-andthirty miles under a Ceylon sun. A day or two afterwards, the tame elephant, sent down to haul up the carriage from its inverted position, was ridden by Mr. Perkes, the English groom, at full trot for fifteen miles, came "to a standstill," and died from the exertion. The emigrant's servants then, as a matter of course, began to fight among themselves, till a month or two's bread and water, in gaol, cured their irritability. At last, after incredible exertions and annoyances, every one gets to work, and the rough plains soon yield to the plough and harrow. Oats, potatoes, and clover were sown, and, in due time, came up; but no sooner had the first sprouted a few inches, than elk and wild hogs made nocturnal suppers of the sprouts; grubs totally devoured the potatoes; and, while some of the live-stock began to sicken for want of fresh pasturage, the Southdown ram eat so much clover that he got hoven and died. His two remaining com

panions, becoming pugnacious on such good living, had a pitched battle, when Leicester killed Cotswold, and was left alone in his glory; while, to wind up the year, an epidemic broke out among the cattle, carrying off twentysix bullocks and five horses in half so many days.

But Mr. Baker, backed up by a good banker's account, faced his disappointments bravely, and worked out ultimate success. The solitary Leicester eschewed too much clover, throve, and propagated a numerous family. Young heifers grew up and waxed strong; crops flourished under strong fences; trials and disappointments all passed away; and the ideal was realized. From all this experience, paid for at a tolerably high price, Mr. Baker has gained a knowledge, unsurpassed by any writer on the country, of the capabilities of the soil of Ceylon for agricultural purposes. We have no space to enter here upon the subject: in a word, the soil is loose and poor, and will grow nothing successfully without intense manuring. For all further information upon corn, cinnamon, and cocoa-nuts, indigo and coffee, rice and pumpkins, we must refer the reader to the book itself. The indolent indifference of our Government has neglected every resource of the country. The vast tanks, which afforded a supply of water for millions in former ages, are left ruined and deserted. The cultivation of rice is discouraged and neglected. Roads are neither constructed nor repaired; and this country, possessing abundant natural resources, once the centre of a dense population, is rapidly becoming, from the gross neglect, the vile mismanagement, and the utter ignorance of its masters, jungle.

one rank, tenantless, pestilential

Ceylon, in scenery, yields to no country in the world. In the noble mountains, vast primeval forests, rocky gorges with magnificent falls, deep valleys watered by mountain streams, impenetrable jungles, luxuriant vegetation, immense variety of lake and river scenery, and a fine climate, it stands pre-eminent as the Paradise of the East; while it abounds, to an incomprehensible extent, with animal and insect life. This productive land abounds in elephants and buffaloes, leopards,chetah, red deer and elk, wild hogs, crocodile, pelicans, peacocks, pheasant and snipe, and every variety of bird, vermin, and insect. The following description of a night in the forest is written with good power :—

It is a lovely hour then to wander forth and wait for wild sounds. All is still except the tiny hum of the mosquitoes. Then the low chuckling note of the night hawk sounds soft and melancholy in the distance; and again all is still save the heavy and impatient stamp of a horse as the mosquitoes irritate him by their bites. Quiet again for a few seconds;

H

when presently the loud alarm of the plover rings over the plain-"did he do it." The bird's harsh cry speaks these words as plainly as a human being. This alarm is a certain warning that some beast is stalking abroad which has disturbed it from its roost, but presently it is again hushed.

The loud hoarse bark of an elk now unexpectedly startles the car; presently it is replied to by another; and once more the plover shrieks, "did he do it," and a peacock, waking on his roost, gives one loud scream and sleeps again.

The heavy and regular splashing of water now marks the measured tread of a single elephant as he roams out into the cooled lake, and you can hear the more gentle falling of water as he spouts a shower over his body. Hark! at the deep guttural sigh of pleasure that travels over the lake like a moan of the wind. What giant lungs to heave such a breath! But hark again!-There was a fine trumpet!-as clear as any bugle note blown by a hundred breaths it rung through the still air. How beautiful! There, the note is answered; not by so fine a tone, but by discordant screams and roars from the opposite side, and the louder splashing tells that the herd is closing up to the old bull. Like distant thunder a deep roar growls across the lake as the old monarch mutters to himself in angry impatience.

Yet there are curious anomalies in this country teeming with insect and animal life. Many of its vast forests are utterly without the breath of life-not the sound of an insect, not the buzz of a mosquito, nor the hum of a bee, is to be heard there. This arises principally from the sandy nature of the top soil, the aridity of which is so great that but little undercover grows; and the trees which flourish in such a soil are principally of a genus affording no support to animal life. But here some of the most valuable woods are to be met with; ebony, with its crisp, jet-black bark, the close-grained, mottled calamander, the tamarind, the satinwood, the suria, the cocoa-nut, the palmyra, and eighty different sorts; while the rich variety of the palm-tree gives grace and elegance to the

scene.

Ceylon abounds in medicinal plants, from the purgative castor-oil to the mild and gentle ipecacuanha, and the powerful narcotic stramonium. But of all vegetable productions the most remarkable is the "riti gaha," or sack-tree, from which the natives peel off the bark like you pull off a stocking, and, stitching it up at one end, convert it to an available sack, so lasting in its nature that it becomes one of the penates of a Cingalese family, and descends from father to son. Thus "giving the sack" is rather a mark of distinction than otherwise among these singular people of black hair and petticoats.

But we are neglecting the principal point of Mr. Baker's wanderings-his hunting adventures. There is a peculiar delight, he says truly, in feeling thoroughly well-strung, and stalking quietly through a fine country on the look-out for anything. With your eye and ear ha

bituated to watchfulness, and your muscular powers to exercise, you are tuned up" to the right pitch. Nothing en route escapes your attention. The slightest rustle in the jungle, the twitching of a deer's ears above the grass, the fresh breakage of a branch on the disturbed surface of a pool, puts you on the qui vive.

One fine morning in May, '53, our sportsman, in such trim, starts with ten couple of dogs, and afterwards soon came across a "fresh elk track:"

Every hound had stolen away; even the greyhounds buried their noses in the broad track of the buck, so fresh was the scent; and I waited quietly for "the find." The greyhounds stood round me with their ears cocked, and glistening eyes, intently listening for the expected sound.

There they are!-all together, such a burst! They must have stolen away mute, and have found on the other side the ridge, for they were now coming down at full speed from the very summit of the mountain.

From the amount of music, I knew they had a good start; but I had no idea that the buck would stand to such a pack at the very commencement of the bunt.

Nevertheless, there was a sudden bay within a few hundred yards of me, and the elk had already turned to fight. I knew that he was an immense fellow from his track, and I at once saw that he would show fine sport.

Just as I was running through the jungle towards the spot, the bay broke, and the buck had evidently gone off straight away, as I heard the pack in full cry rapidly increasing their distance, and going off down the mountain.

After a hard run, the elk doubles back towards a precipitous part of the river :

Running towards the spot, I found the buck's track leading in that direction, and I gave two or three view halloos at the top of my voice, to bring the rest of the pack down upon it. They were close at hand, but the high wind had prevented me from hearing them, and away they came from the jungle, rushing down upon the scent like a flock of birds. I stepped off the track to let them pass as they swept by, and, "For-r-r-a-r-d to him! For-r-r-a-r-d!" was the word the moment they had passed, as I gave them a halloo down the hill. It was a bad look-out for the elk now;

every hound knew that their master was close up, and they went like demons.

*

*

*

After about half a mile passed in this manner, I heard the bay, and I saw the buck far beneath standing upon a level grassy platform, within 300 yards of the river. The whole pack was around him except the greyhounds, who were with me; but not a hound had a chance with him, and he repeatedly charged in among them, and regularly drove them before him, sending any single hound spinning whenever he came within his range. But the pack quickly re-united, and always returned with fresh vigour to the attack. There was a narrow-wooded ravine between me and them, and, with caution and speed combined, I made towards the greyhounds, " Bran" and “Lucifer.” the spot down the precipitous mountain, followed by

I soon arrived on a level with the bay, and, plunging into the ravine, I swung myself down from tree to tree, within a few yards of him. What a splendid fellow he and then climbed up the opposite side. I broke cover looked!-he was about thirteen hands high, and carried the most beautiful head of horns that I had ever seen

upon an elk. His mane was bristled up, his nostril was distended, and, turning from the pack, he surveyed me, as though taking the measure of his new antagonist. Not seeming satisfied, he deliberately turned, and, descending from the level space, he carefully picked his way. Down narrow elk runs along the steep precipices, and at a slow walk, with the whole pack in single file at his heels, he clambered down towards the river. I followed on his track over places which I would not pass in cold blood; and I shortly halted above a cataract of some eighty feet in depth, about 100 paces from the great waterfall of 300 feet.

The noble beast, with indomitable pluck, dashes across the waterfall, with desperate efforts reaches the other side in safety, and picks his way up the mountain-side; but the hounds are close at his heels, and at length bring him to bay :—

It was a magnificent sight in such grand scenery to see the buck at bay when we arrived upon the plat form. He was a dare-devil fellow, and feared neither bounds nor man, every now and then charging through the pack, and coming almost within reach of the Tamby's spear. It was a difficult thing to know how to kill him. I was afraid to go in at him, lest in his struggles he should drag the hounds over the precipice, and I would not cheer the seizers on for the same reason. Indeed, they seemed well aware of the danger, and every now and then retreated to me, as though to induce the elk to make a move to some better ground. However, the buck very soon decided the question. I made up my mind to halloo the hounds on, and to ham-string the elk, to prevent him from hearing the precipice; and, giving a shout, the pack rushed at him. Not a dog could touch him; he was too quick with his horns and fore-feet. He made a dash into the pack, and then regained his position close to the verge of the precipice. He then turned his back to the hounds, looked down over the edge, and, to the astonishment of all, plunged into the abyss below! A dull crash sounded from beneath, and then nothing was heard but the roaring of the waters as before. The hounds looked over the edge, and yelled with a mixture of fear and despair. Their game was gone!

Another day, in this terrible hunting-country, the elk meets, accidentally, with almost a similar death :

:

I was just beginning to despair, when I observed a fine large buck at about half a mile distance cantering easily toward us across an extensive flat of table-land. This surface was a fine sward, on the same level with the point upon which we sat, but separated from us by two small-wooded ravines, with a strip of patina between them. I at once surmised that this was the hunted elk, although as yet no hounds were visible.

On arrival at the first ravine he immediately descended, and shortly after he re-appeared on the small patina between the two ravines, within 300 yards of us. Here the strong gale gave him our scent. It was a beautiful sight to see him halt in an instant, and, drawing up to his full height, snuff the warning breeze and wind the enemy before him.

The hounds go hard at him :

Out crashed the buck upon the patinas near the spot where the pack had entered, and away he went over the grassy hills, at a pace which soon left the hounds

railway pace, but, as the buck was above them and had a start of about 200 yards, in such an up-hill race, both Bran and Lucifer managed to lose sight of him in the undulations.

Now was the time for Hecate's enormous power of loin and thigh to tell, and, never losing a moment's view of her game, she sped up the steep mountain side, and was soon after seen within fifty yards of the buck all alone, but going like a rocket.

Now she has turned him!-that pace could not last up hill, and round the elk doubled, and came flying

down the mountain side.

From the point of the hill upon which we stood we had a splendid view of the course; the bitch gained upon him at every bound, and there was a pitiless dash in her style of going that boded little mercy to her game. What alarmed me, however, was the direction feet was lying exactly in his path; this sunk sheer that the buck was taking. An abrupt precipice of 250

down to a lower series of grass lands.

At the tremendous pace at which they were going I feared lest their own impetus should carry both elk and dog to destruction before they could see the danger.

Down they flew with unabated speed; they neared the precipice, and a few more seconds would bring them to the verge.

The stride of the buck was no match for the bound of the greyhound: the bitch was at his flanks! and he pressed along at flying speed.

He was close to the danger! and it was still unseen! A moment more, and "Hecate " sprang at his ear. Fortunately, she lost her hold as the ear split. This check saved her. I shouted, "He'll be over!" and the next instant he was flying through the air to headlong destruction!

Bounding from a projecting rock upon which he struck, he flew outwards, and, with frightfully increasing momentum, he spun round and round in his descent, until the centrifugal motion drew out his legs and neck as straight as a line. A few seconds of this multiplying velocity, and

crash!

It was all over. The bitch had pulled up on the very brink of the precipice, but it was a narrow escape.

With all this amusement there is one curse, one bête noire, to existence in Ceylon, - insects. Myriads of creeping things surround you on all sides. The mason-fly cements up the sleeves of your coat, or the tubes of your keysa favourite locality-with plastic bolusses, full of mottled-bellied spiders. Eye-flies force themselves up your nostrils and under your eyelids; cockroaches and lizards surreptitiously deprive you of your toenails, and display an unnecessary regard for the sugar. Black ants get under your nether garments, and feed upon the soft and juicy portions of your body. Leeches creep inside your boots and stockings, and are content to settle on your calf; while fleas and mosquitoes drive you mad of a night, and buffalo-ticks and centipedes bury themselves in your flesh, breed upon you piecemeal, and hatch small colonies of young ticks and centipedes in the ulcers thus created. In fact, as Sydney Smith said of tropical life, you eat, drink, and breathe insects. One non

To-i-ck to him, Lucifer! For-r-r-ard to him, Hecate!

Off dashed the three greyhounds from my side at a

another with eleven wings struggles in your beer; while a caterpillar, with several dozen

solvent of all thought, the mental lapis philosophorum, is this gift of M. Comte.

Confined within its proper bounds-to that field of physical research within which its peculiar processes were originally framed, and to which they are legitimately applicable-we accept that co-ordination of the sciences which Comte lays down, as philosophically valuable in itself, based as it is upon the observed facts of the natural world. It is only when we find writers of his school intent on bringing all phenomena whatever to the same physical test, and resolutely ignoring all such facts as prove incommensurate with it, that we are led to question the applicability of such a theory to the mental and moral departments of philosophy, and tremble for the practical workings of a system which allows to the highest spiritual instincts, the noblest aspirations, the dutiful relationships, the religious affections of the soul, no other reality than that of modes of its material organization, or of inward states determined mechanically by changes in their external

environment.

The object of the work at the head of our article is to apply the peculiar methods of the Positive system to the subject of the Mental constitution of man, or the analysis of the phenomena of consciousness. It is the production of a bold and vigorous thinker, and is marked throughout by keenness and subtlety of thought, closeness of reasoning, and singular force and clearness of language. If, at first sight, he appears to have included within his scope many subjects not generally comprised in the range of psychology-such as those of life, matter, motion, &c., more strictly referrable to physiology, biology, and the cognate scienceshe has but adopted here the distinctive classification of that school which recognises no essential line of demarcation between those several ideas, nor admits of any different method of treatment varying with the subject-matter of inquiry. That precise method, or calculus, is dependent, as we have said, on a wholly physical basis; and, accordingly, we are referred, for the laws of our mental organization or psychical states, to the antecedent facts of our bodily life, as ascertained by the researches of the science of physiology. Though we commonly regard mental and bodily life as distinct. it needs only to ascend somewhat above the ordinary point of view to see that they are but sub-divisions of life in general, and that no line of demarcation can be drawn between them otherwise than arbitrarily. (P. 349.)

in which the theory of life should take precedence of that of thought, is not closely maintained by the author throughout. He has, in fact, inverted the order into which the several portions of his work should fall, consistently with the point of view here taken. In the first division, or General Analysis, he treats of the phenomena of the mind, as such, and only indicates in the third, or General Synthesis, that the laws of consciousness, therein investigated and laid down, depend, ultimately, for their logical ground and their mutual coherence, on the previous solution of the problems which physiology propounds, as to the origin and nature of the vital faculties. As he himself apologises, in part, in the course of his prefatory remarks, for this inversion of the several steps of his argument, we will make no excuse for presenting the substance of them to our readers in what seems to us their more natural and consequential order.

Classification, we have seen, not causation, is the function kept in view by thinkers of our author's school; and the scientific order here requisite can only be determined by the degree of simplicity, or, which comes to the same thing, the degree of the generality of the phenomena. We thus obtain an unbroken ascending scale of evolution, from the first elementary laws which belong to the inorganic, to the highest and most complex which govern the organic creation; and the old fundamental distinction between mind and matter disappears or is eliminated. To set this in a clearer light, we borrow a few sentences from Mr. H. Lewes's "Exposition of Comte's Philosophy :"

We find, as the result of our discussion, that positive philosophy is naturally divided into five fundamental sciences, whose succession is determined by a necessary and invariable subordination, based upon the simple but profound comparison of the corresponding pheThese sciences are-Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, and, lastly, Sociology. first relates to phenomena the most general, the most simple, the most abstract, and the most remotely con

nomena.

The

nected with humanity: they act on all the others with. out being acted on by them. The phenomena falling under the last are, on the contrary, the most special, the most complex, the most concrete, and the most directly interesting to man: they depend, more or less, on all the preceding ones, without exercising any influence upon them. Between these two extremes, the degree of speciality, of complication, and of indi. viduality of the phenomena is gradually increasing, as well as their successive dependence.*

Thus, from the first stage of organized creation to the latest, there is no break or interval:

It is certain, that between the automatic actions of the lowest creatures and the highest conscious actions