From the head of the gorge we turned off along the other face of the mountain; holding by the shrubs above, while below there was nothing but the tops of the forest for more than nine hundred feet down the slope.

On rising to the shoulder, a view burst upon us which quite defies my descriptive powers. We stood on a little narrow ledge or neck of land, about twenty yards in length. On the side which we mounted, we looked back into the deep wooded gorge we had passed up; while, on the opposite side of the neck, which was between six and seven feet broad, the precipice went sheer down fifteen hundred feet to the plain. One extremity of the neck was equally precipitous, and the other was bounded by what to me was the most magnificent sight I ever saw. A narrow, knife-like edge of rock, broken here and there by precipitous faces, ran up in a conical form to about three hundred or three hundred and fifty feet above us; and on the very pinnacle old "Peter Botte" frowned in all his glory.

After a short rest we proceeded to work. The ladder had been left by Lloyd and Dawkins last year. It was about twelve feet high, and reached, as you may perceive, about half way up a face of perpendicular rock. The foot, which was spiked, rested on a ledge, with barely three inches on each side. A grapnel line had been also left last year, but was not used. A negro of Lloyd's clambered from the top of the ladder by the cleft in the face of the rock, not trusting his weight to the old and rotten line. He carried a small cord round his middle; and it was fearful to see the cool, steady way in which he climbed, where a single loose stone or false hold must have sent him down into the abyss. However, he fearlessly scrambled away, till at length we heard him halloo from under the neck, "All right." These negroes use their feet exactly like monkeys, grasping with them every projection almost as firmly as with their hands. The line carried up he made fast above, and up it we all four shinned in succession. It was, joking apart, awful work. In several places the ridge ran to an edge, not a foot broad; and I could, as I held on, half sitting, half kneeling, across the ridge, have kicked my right shoe down to the plain on one side, and my left into the bottom of the ravine on the other. The only thing which surprised me was my own steadiness and freedom from all giddiness. I had been nervous in mounting the ravine, in the morning, but gradually I got so excited and determined to succeed, that I could look down that dizzy height without the smallest sensation of swimming in the head. Nevertheless, I held on uncommonly hard, and felt very well satisfied when I was under the neck. And a more extraordinary situation I never was in. The head, which is an enormous mass of rock about thirty-five feet in height, overhangs its base many feet on every side. A ledge of tolerably level rock runs round three sides of the base, about six feet in width, bounded everywhere by the abrupt edge of the precipice, except in

the spot where it is joined by the ridge up which we climbed. In one spot the head, overhanging its base several feet, reaches only perpendicularly over the edge of the precipice; and, most fortunately, it was at the very spot where we mounted. Here it was that we reckoned on getting up. A communication being established with the shoulder by a double line of ropes, we proceeded to get up the necessary material, Lloyd's portable ladder, additional coils of rope, crowbars, &c. But now the question, and a puzzler too, was, how to get the ladder up against the rock. Lloyd had prepared some iron arrows, with thongs, to fire over; and having got up a gun, he made a line fast round his body, which we all held on, and going over the edge of the precipice on the opposite side, he leaned back against the line, and fired over the least projecting part. Had the line broken, he would have fallen eighteen hundred feet. Twice this failed; and then he had recourse to a large stone with a lead-line, which swung diagonally, and seemed to be a feasible plan; several times he made beautiful heaves, but the provoking line would not catch, and away went the stone far down below, till at length Æolus, pleased, I suppose, with his perseverance, gave us a shift of wind for about a minute, and over went the stone, and was eagerly seized on the opposite side. Hurrah, my lads! steady's the word." Three lengths of the ladder were put together on the ledge, a large line was attached to the one which was over the head, and carefully drawn up, and finally, a two-inch rope, to the extremity of which we lashed the top of our ladder, then lowered it gently over the precipice till it hung perpendicularly, and was steadied by two negroes on the ridge below. "All right; now hoist away!" and up went the ladder, till the foot came to the edge of our ledge, where it was lashed in firmly to the rock. We then hauled away on the guy to steady it, and made it fast. The union-jack and a boat-hook were passed up, and Old England's flag waved freely and gallantly on the redoubted Peter Botte.

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I certainly never felt anything like the excitement of that moment; even the negroes down on the shoulder took up our hurrahs, and we could hear far below the faint shout of the astonished inhabitants of the plain. We were determined to do nothing by halves, and accordingly, made preparation for sleeping under the neck, by hauling up blankets, pea-jackets, &c. Meanwhile our dinner was preparing on the shoulder below, and about 4 P. M., we descended our ticklish path to partake of the portable soup, preserved salmon, &c. Our party was now increased by Dawkins and his cousin, a lieutenant of the Talbot, to whom we had written, informing them of our hopes of success, but their heads would not allow them to mount the head or neck. After dinner, as it was getting dark, I screwed up my nerves and climbed to our queer little nest at the top, followed by Tom Keppel and a negro, who carried some dry wood, and made a fire in a cleft under the rocks.

Lloyd and Philpotts soon came up, and we began to arrange ourselves for the night. I had on two pair of trousers, a shooting waistcoat, jacket, and a huge Flushing jacket over that, a thick woollen sailor's cap, and each of us lighted a cigar as we seated ourselves to wait for the appointed hour for our signal of success. It was a glorious sight to look down from that giddy pinnacle over the whole island, lying so calm and beautiful in the moonlight, except where the broad black shadows of the other mountains intercepted the light. Here and there we could see a light twinkling in the plains, or the fire of some sugar-manufactory, but not a sound of any sort reached us, except an occasional shout from the party down on the shoulder (we four being the only ones above.) At length, in the direction of Port Louis, a bright flash was seen, and after a long interval the boom of the evening gun. We then prepared our preärranged signal, and whiz went a rocket from our nest, lighting up for an instant the peaks of the hills below us, and then leaving us in darkness. We next burnt a blue light, and nothing can be conceived more perfectly beautiful than the broad glare against the over-hanging rock. The wild-looking group we made in our uncouth habiliments, and the narrow ledge on which we stood, were all distinctly shown, while many of the tropical birds, frightened at our vagaries, came glancing by in the light, and then swooped away screeching into the gloom below, for the gorge on our left was dark as Erebus.

Henry. I ascended the Catskill Mountains last year, the first high ground I ever visited. I could not help wishing, while gazing upon the vast and beautiful prospect below, that I could visit the highest mountain on the earth.

M. F. That you can never do. No one ever has, and probably never can, reach the highest mountain's summit, by many thousand feet. Various causes will prevent it. Difficulty in breathing alone might probably prevent it. Then, again, as we ascend from the foot of a mountain, the whole natural phenomena change as we go. At first, we pass through a forest. Leaving this, a belt of shrubbery must be passed over. Then all signs of vegetation disappear, except a kind of moss upon the rocks. Soon we reach the region of perpetual snow and ice. Into this we may indeed make some progress, but the snows grow deeper and deeper, the air feels thin, and breathing becomes difficult. Deep chasms in the snow and ice, which have been for ages accumulating, at last shut up our progress, and our journey is at an end.

Mountains have always a greater declivity on one side than the

other, and generally that which is nearest the sea is most steep. The Alps have a much more abrupt descent on the Italian, than on the Swiss side; and the Himalaya mountains are steepest on the southwest. Almost every mountain of considerable elevation will give evidence of the same fact. A series of mountains having the same basis, is called a chain, as the Uralian chain, which separates Europe from Asia, and the Alleghany chain in the United States.

I have said nothing concerning volcanoes, as I mean, before long, to devote a few pages to that interesting and wonderful subject. In the mean time, try and think what causes them. Why does the earth tremble and shake, and particular mountains send forth fire and stones, and lava? Some people assert that these are but the vent-holes to the internal fires forever at work in our earth. What say you? Examine the subject. You can't help being interested.

The Ibex.

THIS pretty animal, of the goat family, resembles, in many respects, the CHAMOIS, in its habits, though its horns are much larger and stronger. It is now rarely met with, having become very shy and wild from the encroachments made upon its race by the Alpine hunters. It is found, however, in the Alps, on the Caucasian Mountains, and in the mountains of Abyssinia in Africa.

Like the chamois, it loves to frequent the most exalted ranges, near the limits of perpetual snow, where it feeds principally upon moss and the leaves upon the low bushes which grow there. It is exceedingly watchful, and difficult of approach, on account of the delicacy of its senses of hearing and smell. It is a small animal, perhaps two and a half feet in height. Its color changes with the seasons, from a reddish brown in summer to a brown gray in winter.

The ibex is hunted for its fle: h and skin, chiefly the latter. When driven to desperation, it will sometimes turn upon its pursuers and butt with its powerful horns, and endeavor to drive its adversary over tremendous precipices.

An ibex was once tamed by a family of Swiss peasants, living far up on the side of Mount Rosa. It would come regularly every morning to receive its food from the hands of its friends, unless a stranger was there. Then it would keep away, altogether out of sight. It is supposed that its sense of smell warned the animal of the presence of an enemy, as nothing could tempt it within sight during the visit of a stranger. The next day, however, if the coast was clear,

it would come as usual, just as though nothing had happened. Efforts were made to cheat the animal, by setting up an effigy with a gun near the house. The sagacious beast, however, took no notice of it, but came fearlessly for several days. At length, a peasant from a neighboring village was dressed up to appear as much like the figure as possible, and put in its place, but Mr. Ibex was not to be fooled, and did not appear. His sense of smell was a match for the cunning of man.

Has one served thee? Tell it to many. Hast thou served many Tell it not.