most valuable mines are in the Ural Mountains, which separate Europe and Asia. There are above a hundred founderies here, more than half of which are for iron, and the remainder for copper. The peasants, as is common in Russia, belong to the estate, whether private persons own the land, or the sovereign. Almost a hundred thousand of them work in these mines. They raise nearly one hundred thousand tons' weight of iron annually.

Sweden also has numerous iron districts. The most important of her iron-mines is at Dannemora. These were discovered in 1488. The opening of the mine is of great extent, and in it are twelve pits, in which mining operations are carried on. The descent into them is by means of baskets, or buckets, each attached to a rope which passes over a pulley. A traveller, speaking of this descent, says:

"The inspector of the mines accompanied me; I was accommodated with a chair, but he seated himself on the edge of the bucket, extending his legs, in order to maintain the balance. He had a stick in his hand, with which he occasionally pushed off from the edges of the rock when we were in danger of striking against them. We were above five minutes in making this perilous journey. The distance descended was five hundred feet. I did not dare to look down, so

frightful was the prospect. About half way down, we met a bucket ascending, with three girls in it, who manifested no fears whatever."

The length of these pits, adding them together, is about eight hundred feet; the breadth varies from three to twelve, and the greatest depth six hundred feet. This mine furnishes iron in high repute, as being the finest in the world. The ore is dug in summer, and laid in heaps; in winter it is removed, on sledges, to the forges. The richest ore yields seventy parts in a hundred pure iron; the poorest not half as much.

The operation of smelting is performed here much as in other places. One remarkable particular, recorded by another traveller, is the manner of obtaining the ore out of the rock. It is not dug out, as is commonly the case, but blown out by gunpowder. This operation takes place every day at twelve o'clock, and is a most tremendous business. The explosion reverberates among the hollow windings of the mine like subterraneous thunders. The stones are thrown up, as by a volcano, to a great height in the air; and the concussion shakes the earth all around.

This traveller descended also into the mine by the same sort of dangerous conveyance as the one just mentioned; and he owns that he shuddered, and half repented his curiosity; for in him it was nothing better. He was nine minutes in a state of suspension before he reached the bottom. The view of the mine he describes as awfully grand. Daylight was very faint at these depths; into many parts it could not penetrate; and they were obliged to use flambeaux. Frames of wood were stretched from side to side of the rock in some places; and in these, men were sitting astride at great heights, boring holes for the next blasting. Though the weather was warm at the surface of the earth, yet amid these dark brown caves it was cold. In one of these caverns under the rock was a charcoal fire, around

which were eight miserable looking creatures, eating their meal and warming themselves.

To convert iron into steel, of which cutlery is made, nothing more is necessary than to heat good pure iron in a proper furnace with charcoal, or with any substance capable of furnishing a sufficient quantity of carbon, which is absorbed by the iron in the

process.

The Child and the Brook.

BY NILLA FORRESTER.

"WHERE did you come from? say, pretty brook,
And whither away so fast?"

Asked a thoughtful child of a babbling brook,
As it leaped in gladness past.

"Ah, ha, little girl, my mother-spring
Is upon the mountain-side;

I leaped from her lap like a truant boy,
And down through the hills I glide."

"But what is your hurry? please tarry a while,
Just up in this flowery nook;

Where violets cluster blue as the skies"
"I can't," says the hurrying brook!

"No one will miss you, I'm sure, pretty brook
There is nothing for you to do!"

"Nothing for me? ha, ha, little girl,

There is more for me than you.

"The flowers are drooping, down in the glen,
And long to see me appear;

They hang their heads on their withering stalks,
While I am loitering here.

"And I turn the mill, at the foot of the hill,
Brimfull of frolic and glee;

Then how can I stay? I must hurry away,
For the miller is waiting for me.

"The flocks and the herds, and the beautiful birds,
Bend to my sparkling tide;

And, darting about, the sly little trout
Beneath my waters glide.

"Good by, little girl, I have tarried too long,

To chat with a child like you;

I must run to the sea, full of frolic and glee,—
You see I have something to do."

"Ka Helu," in the Sandwich Islands.

By the kindness of some friends, whose hospitality we have cause long to remember, we are permitted to look over and make some extracts from, what to us is a very novel affair, nothing less than our old familiar Colburn's Arithmetic translated into the most unmeaning gibberish we have ever yet had the fortune to set eyes It is neither Latin nor Greek, but the tongue of the Sandwich Islanders. Wonder how long you boys and girls would be in "getting to the head," if your promotion depended upon answering such questions :

on.

"Ua kuai kekahi kanaka i wahi kaa, he 17 dala, uku aku la hoi ia 9 dala no ka hau hou ana, a kuai hou aku la ia iua kaa la i ua dala he 23, chia na dala i poho?"

There, that's about as plain as "dots and marks!" Here is our good, respectable English for it.

"A man bought a sleigh for seventeen dollars, and gave nine dollars to have it repaired and painted; and then sold it for twentythree dollars; how much did he lose by the bargain?"

We have had, all along, some considerable confidence in our ability to solve mathematical problems, especially in Colburn's, but here, in this edition, to use a common expression, we are "hard up."

How a class of cocoa-nut-fed youngsters must look reciting the Multiplication Table after this fashion, or, as they have it, Ka Papa Hoonui!

Suppose they were to repeat together, in a Yankee school-room, the table of Avoirdupois weight: would n't there be music? You can judge. Here it is:

We have heard, before now, some young folks say, “Oh, dear! I can't understand fractions." See here:

"O ke 6 me na § he ₫ ia no ke aha?" One more easy question

"Maloko o ka ehia?"

“Ua haawiia mai ia Robeta na keneta 9, a kuai aku la ia i 2 hapa 3 o ia mau mea chia na keneta e koe ?"

We are reminded, by the probable position of our young friend, of a stupid fellow, who was asked, "What would 50 lbs. of beef come to, at 7 cents a pound, and half of it fat?"

He said he could do the sum if he only knew what rule it was done by !

If any one of our readers will find the question corresponding to this in Colburn's, and send us the answer, he or she shall have two dimes credited on next year's subscription. The first one has it.

This little book gives us an idea of the magnitude of the obstacles the missionaries have had to contend with. They went to this far