17. A benevolence which extends to all around is likened to the vivifying spring having legs; i. e. its diffusive goodness is like the heat of spring upon vegetation.

18. When one makes a present to another to show his respect, he says, '[In giving this] I have the simplicity of the man who presumed to teach his betters to sun themselves.'

19. When one engages another to be his advocate, he [politely] says, 'I wish to put my case upon a strength able to turn heaven.'

In the Sung dynasty, there was a clodpole sunning himself one day; and, being ignorant that the empire contained large palaces with deep apartments, or that people wore silks and furs, he said to his wife, people do not know that the sun is warm to their backs; I will go and report it to the king, and he will certainly give me a large reward.'-'To turn heaven' refers to a talented statesman of the Sung dynasty, who by his wise counsels turned the purposes of the emperor, and saved the country from disaster.

20. The kindness which moves one to save another from death is termed a second creation.

21. The affection which induces one to rescue another from death is called a second heaven.'

22. He whose power easily vanishes (i. e. depends on the whim of the sovereign) is called an ice hill.'

23. The morning stars resemble wise and good men who are neglected and forgotten.

24. The echo of thunder resembles different accounts agreeing. 25. The man who frets himself exceedingly to no use, how does he differ from the man of Ke who feared the sky would fall on him?

This man of Ke was so afraid lest the sky should fall on him, and he be able to find no place to escape to, that he could hardly eat or sleep. One told him that the sky was made of solid ether and would not fall. If so,' he replied,

the heavenly bodies ought not fall down (i. e. set). They are merely the bright spots of ether, and do not injure when they fall.' On hearing this, he was appeased.

26. He who undertakes an affair for which he is not capable, nowise differs from Kwafoo who chased the sun.

27. When Confucius finished the Chun Tsew and Heaou King, the rainbow was changed to pearls.

28. The Hyades desire wind, Sagittarius desires rain; they are like two people whose thoughts and wishes cannot agree.

NAUTICAL COLLECTIONS.

Addenda to the "Old Tar's" Paper on the Destruction of Merchant Ships, in p. 130.

MANY years ago, I recollect that the master of a vessel, I believe a brig, called the Harlequin, was hung at Bristol, for having, in a voyage to Cornwall with a fictitious cargo, scuttled and sunk the vessel, in order to cheat the underwriters;-the carpeuter who was the instru

ment, turned king's evidence,-I believe the vessel was subsequently raised. For the sake of human nature we trust and hope the instances

are rare.

Among the many causes which lead to the loss of vessels, errors in the tables used in navigation may be added. I know an instance of a very fine ship having been wrecked upon the Grand Cayman, from an error in the table of the sun's declination; but until very lately, I was not at all aware of the extent to which these errors have been detected. The following extract will, perhaps, surprise most Nautical readers, and serve to show how devoted to the one absorbing object, the individual ought to be, who undertakes such a work as the Nautical Almanac, or any other containing tables of reference, as also that several heads should be employed in the examination for the purpose of detecting

errors.

Instances of errors detected in tables. In a "multiplication table, (as far as 100 times 1000,) constructed by Dr. Hutton, for the Board of Longitude," forty errors were discovered in one single page, taken at random. In the solar and lunar tables, from whence the computations were formerly made for the Nautical Almanac, more than 500 errors were found by one person. In the "tables requisite to be used with the Nautical Almanac," more than 1000 errors were detected by a single individual. In certain tables, published by the Board of Longitude, a table of errata, containing 1,100 errors was affixed! It was afterwards found necessary to have an errata of the errata! and one instance has been known of an erratum of the errata of the errata !!

The sources of errors are so numerous, that it is difficult to counteract or remedy them all; for instance, some result from falsely computing, and others from falsely transcribing; some from the compositor taking wrong types, and others from a displacement of the types, by the inking-ball used by the printers, and then by the faulty replacement of such types by the pressmen.

To remedy these defects, Mr. Babbage invented his self-calculating machine, which may very well rank as one of the most wonderful productions of human genius known, but it is not yet complete. I cannot refrain from copying the following passage.

"We believe that the machine,* so far as it is yet constructed, is national property, and that Mr. Babbage has neither received, nor desires to receive, any pecuniary benefit from the invention. If this be really the case, it is difficult to conceive a more honourable position than that which the inventor must occupy, in the estimation of all to whom the well-being of society, and its advancement in knowledge, is a desirable object."

Cables.

Z.

Ir may not be unimportant to direct attention to the case of the Pique frigate, at anchor during a hurricane. It would appear in this instance, that, more dependance is to be placed on the hempen cable than that of chain. This may probably, in some measure, arise from

It has been already Twenty years in progress.

+ The Impregnable, 104, parted her chain cable at Plymouth during a late gale.

the slight elastic property of the former; also from the difficulty of insuring perfection in all the links of a metal cable; as, likewise, from heavy strain causing the links to yield, or stretch unequally, by which certain portions are weakened, and yield to the jerks in the actions of heaving and setting of the ship.

If such a quality as elasticity be essential in relieving the great strain which must necessarily exist, when a cable is at its utmost tension from the force of a violent wind on the supported body, would not the Coir cable answer better than any other, supposing it to be of equal strength with that of hemp, upon such an occasion?

It is perhaps questionable whether the cocoa-nut fibre of which the coir cable is made, being short, would bear an equal steady strain, when laid into rope, with one of hemp; but although not intrinsically as strong, would not the property of stretching and contracting, in degree far exceeding hemp, make up for any deficiency in point of strength? To obtain this quality in a greater degree than possessed already, it is worthy of consideration whether the use of india-rubler, in the manufacture of all cable-laid rope, for the use of anchors, would not be beneficial.

For ordinary uses the coir cable is, I believe, objected to on account of its extreme buoyancy, (its lightness is a positive advantage, as it lessens manual labour,) but it is nevertheless extensively used in the East Indies, and has to stand the test of many a furious typhoon.

There is another cable of somewhat similar properties, manufactured from a species of grass, vulgarly called "Bass," (its botanical name, unknown,) much used by the occidental Spaniards.

Have any experiments been tried with the three sorts of cables, in order to determine their respective quality of strength?

Veering of the Wind.

GROUND TACKLE.

THE long-established axiom of seamen respecting the instability of wind which veers against the sun, appears to be deserving of every confidence. I do not recollect an instance to the contrary since my first familiarity with the ocean, and on shore I have met with none in more than two years' close observations daily; but the strongest confirmatory reason for the truth of the fact is that, in the southern hemisphere, the reverse happens; that is, to expect a change of wind to become steady it must veer against the sun.

I have but recently been made acquainted with this curious, and not unimportant fact, regarding the action of the wind; my informant being a naval officer of great experience in both hemispheres. Comparing this with the remarkable example of the gyration of the wind in circular storms which has been pointed out by Colonel Reid, may we not consider that the veering of the wind in ordinary cases is governed by a fixed law of nature? Hence the northern distich :

"When the wind veers against the sun,

Trust it not, for back it will run."

:

Another doggerel was common among the prime old tars of the re

nowned city of "Brigstowe", and I was assured by one of the best and most gallant seamen of that port, that, during near a century, from the observations of his father and himself, it was found correct:

"An east wind of Saturday's moon,

Will not last until Sunday's noon.”

The philosophy of wind, or rather of the winds, is still in its infancy; such a remarkable circumstance, supposing it to be invariable, appears a curious enigma, and is too deep for me to presume to philosophise upon, I therefore leave it to the acute sagacity of the meteorological A CLERK OF THE WEATHer-Office.

savans.

Gyration of the Water-Spout.

YOUR notice, Mr. Editor, of the direction of the rotary motion of the fluid in a water-spout, as seen by Captain Barnett, R.N., at Nassau, New Providence, agrees with the observations of Colonel Reid, made at Bermuda, as stated to the British Association, in September last, at Glasgow, by Sir David Brewster.

The extract from the letter of the talented Governor of the Bermudas is as follows: "Three days ago (i. e. on the 14th of August 1840,) I had a fine opportunity of observing a water-spout under my house, and could, with a spy-glass distinctly observe that, at the surface of the sea, it was revolving like the hands of a watch; and the same observation was made at a telegraph station near government house."

This is the fifth account well authenticated in north latitude: all five revolved in the same way. RECORD.

Geographical Terms.-Entrance to a River.

Ir seems strange that we have no specific hydrographical term in our language expressive of the outer extreme of a river. The common word mouth seems not suited to the general taste, perhaps, more on account of its inelegant sound than from its unfitness as far as its meaning goes. Hence, it has given place to the French embouchure, very generally among writers; but in colloquial language it appears to be considered too long; too great a mouthful, as it were, to please every Englishman, notwithstanding his disposition for the introduction of foreign phrases. Indeed, it cannot be denied, whether it proceeds from their constitutional taciturnity, or other cause, that Englishmen have imbibed a decided partiality for abbreviating words: in the provincial idioms we have abundant examples of this propensity.

The Spaniards have "entrada," independent of the vulgar "boca; but there is a disinclination to borrow from such a source. The ancient British term "aber," which is still used by the Welch, although sounding pretty enough when prefixed to the name of a river, would, perhaps, be considered too abrupt for general use as little would the Saxon "muth" be tolerated.

But, although fancying that, we are a little too fastidious in these matters, I am not an advocate for indiscriminate substitutions; nor have I any desire to follow blindly our trans-atlantic brethren in their aptitude for coining words. But, on such an occasion as this, where the poverty of our language tempts us to risk a literary forgery, to supply our want of mouth, we may help ourselves without leave to a very tempting foreign morceau, without being subjected to a prosecution from the censor of the hydrographical mint office, should there be such an institution.

Near to the imboccatura, or entrance of the noted river Tiber is, or, perhaps, more properly speaking, was, the Port of Ostia. Now, taking this name as a root, let us graft upon the stock, a branch, and, we shall have Ostiary,* the entrance of a river. The word is smooth, and goes off the tongue "glibly," no small recommendation; and its foreign original would, I imagine, be no objection to the naturalization of the derivative here, especially as we have a gap to fill up, and our language is a compound of others.

I beg to submit this to the piquant taste of our talented surveyors, both maritime and civil; and having thus, Mr. Editor, brought the flood of my argument to an end, I shall remain to the termination of life's current,

Your devoted correspondent,

AN ANCIENT MARINER.

[We shall leave this in the hands of our readers, but cannot see why our correspondent should despise, in the first case, the first word which he uses for the same purpose, viz. " entrance."-ED. N.M.]

Newfoundland.

THERE is no geographical im-proper name so familiar to the ears of her Majesty's maritime subjects, "gentle and simple," as this counterfeit compound? Eternally are they saluted with the dulcet sounds of "Newfoundland fish, water fish!" from piscatory dames and demoiselles, as if fate had decreed that the ungrateful act of so naming it should be dinned in our ears until justice be done to the merits of the Anglo-Venetian family.

I am, Mr. Editor, presumptuous enough, and I hope to be forgiven to marvel, at times, whether those sounds ever sweep through the air, around the hydrographical office, like the wail of a departed spirit demanding that justice should be done to the memory of the discoverer. One single record in thy chart I claim,

Nor isle, nor cape, yet bears Cabota's name!

Shall the appeal be in vain?

With a full conviction of the reasonableness of the demand being undeniable, I advocate (though strong alone in zeal) the case of one who worthily led the way for a Drake, a Cook, and a Parry; and who on the score of priority and originality, may rightly be considered as not even second to Columbus himself?

That bold and clever seaman Sebastian Cabot, as I believe it is settled

* Preferable to the Latin term Ostium.