country reminds me of one in which I traveled a year or two ago. It is called Ghaw-le-yah, and lies in some extensive valley south of the Mountains of the Moon."

stories.

have singular fashions, I did not prevent him. I noticed that his eyes were not turned to me. He did not look at me, but merely examined me with his hands. " He is blind,' thought I, so I

Each one felt the other's features, and then pressed their foreheads together. This seemed their form of greeting. Their dress was of a fine and soft material, something like our best velvet. They gathered round me, and asked me a few questions, after which the man whom I first ad

people carried sticks, but walked on as if possessed of sight, never jostling or running against one another.

I prepared for one of my uncle's interminable said again, 'Is this Ghaw-le-yah, mur-seegnoor?' using the most respectful form of address. "I'll tell you all about it, if you don't inter- "A crowd of people drew near, and by their rupt me. Five years ago I was returning home looks they all seemed blind. What a set of peofrom India, and when near the island of Mada-ple, I thought, as I viewed their puzzling actions. gascar, we encountered a terrible hurricane. The ship was disabled, and we were blown westward toward the coast of Africa. Nothing could save us. On we went, and were driven with terrific violence upon a rocky coast. Finding that the ship would go to pieces, I took the good old method of fastening myself to an empty water-dressed, invited me to his home. None of these cask, by the help of which I floated ashore. All the rest were lost. I was terribly bruised, but I contrived to find a resting-place where I slept soundly. Upon awaking I found myself surrounded by natives. They treated me kindly, and fed me till I recovered. They belonged to the interior, and after robbing the ship of every thing, they started for their home. We were all mounted on cows, and in this manner we traveled for about three months, in which time we had advanced about a thousand miles. Their country, which was called Hah-mar-ee-kee, was hilly and well watered. The inhabitants were plain and frugal in their manner of life, their towns were regularly built and all seemed prosperous. They told me of a great country lying upon the other side of a large lake, whose waters washed the western borders of Hah-mar-ee-kee. It was called Ghaw-le-yah. As I was entirely unrestrained, I concluded that I would use my liberty` to the best advantage, and go over to this country, where I might have a chance of getting a conveyance to some country in communication | with Europe. I accordingly procured a boat, and crossing over the lake came to the mouth of a river. Up this I sailed for some days, and at last found a settled country. Houses lay along the river side, whose white walls gleamed in the sunlight with incredible brightness. Seeing a small village I approached it and landed.

"I was struck by the peculiar actions of the man whom I first addressed. I saw him standing on the shore-so mustering together as many words of the language as I had contrived to learn from the Hah-mar-ee-kee-ans, I asked him if this country was Ghaw-le-yah. Instead of answering, he took me by the hand and felt me, running his hand over me, and particularly over my face, at which I of course was very much surprised, but recollecting that the Medi-African people must

"The house of my host was a spacious stone edifice, whose exterior surface was coated with white plaster of exceeding smoothness. The walls of the interior were very finely polished. The furniture was elegantly shaped and equally well polished. I saw, at once, that all this was for the purpose of administering pleasure to an exceedingly delicate sense of touch. My host had two wives and several children, one of whom, a daughter, was very beautiful. When visitors came to the house they passed their hands over each other's faces, after which they performed the usual salutatory method of touching foreheads. One sprightly youth who came in during the evening, seemed to like greatly the daughter's salutation.

ble.

"My host's name was Ta-ket-ee-see. He was quite a traveler, having been frequently to the capital, and once even as far as Hah-mar-ee-kee. He wished to know much about my country. I was amused at the deep conviction which he had that I was a barbarian, and therefore much to be pitied. Pitied! The idea of being pitied by a blind man. Apart from this he was remarkably sensiThe people seemed in general exceedingly fond of music, for sweet sounds were continually floating through the air. At evening the village resounded with music of every kind, both vocal and instrumental. Flowers, most distinguished for fragrance, were cultivated every where, and every house, indeed I might say the whole village, was filled with exquisite odors. I saw that these unfortunate people, being deprived of sight, had improved to a wonderful extent their other senses. They did not believe in the existence of a sense of sight, and when I told them that I had it, they politely insinuated that I must be mis

taken. They were certainly astonished when I endeavored to prove its existence by describing everything in the room, but they concluded that it arose from an exceeding delicacy of touch, or rather of another sense, that of knowing the vicinity of a solid object, a sense which all possess, but from never using it we are almost unconscious of its existence. The supposition that I had this sense in such perfection gained me some respect, but it was mingled with pity when they found my smell and hearing so coarse when compared with theirs. This pity was expressed in the most unbounded terms, and they bade me congratulate myself upon my arrival at Ghaw-leyah, the centre of the earth and delight of the universe, (for so they delighted to call their country) adding, that I should go at once to the capital, for there I would behold the perfection of humanity and human works.

"So after a short time I started for the capital along with Ta-ket-ee-see, who insisted upon accompanying me. The city was about a hundred miles away, and we went to it by the river. All whom we met were blind. Words cannot express the commiseration which I felt for them, which was mingled with wonder at their actions so accurately performed for blind people.

disease is hereditary, for the ancestors of the Ghaw-le-yans came from the low lands of the North, beyond the mountains, where all the nations suffer from this blindness. Could they only be convinced of their condition they might be able to cure themselves, but the trouble is, that they absolutely deny the existence of the sense of sight. The Hah-mar-ee-kee-ans, though coming from a blind stock, have had a different fate, for by long and earnest endeavors they have gained the perfect use of this most important faculty.

66

'Many of these Hah-mar-ee-kee-ans came to Ghaw-le yah. I-saw them occasionally in Hparrusse. They could not convince the Ghaw-le-yans of their imperfection. Indeed, from some cause or other, some, in fact a great number of the Hahmar-ee-kee-ans became partially and even totally blind during their visit. Being exceedingly charmed by the delicate senses which the Ghawle-yans possessed, they endeavored to acquire it, and were not only unsuccessful, but they lost sight in the attempt. Some of them returned home, but were helpless creatures for the remainder of their lives. I learned these and many other particulars from Hmull-ingz, a young Hah-maree-kee-an whom I found in Hpar-russe.

"The Ghaw-le-yan philosophers have had many disputes about this sense of sight, and the opinion of the majority is against its existence. Some of those who declared that there was such a sense, and that it was necessary to a people, were at once banished. At one time, however, they might have been successful in their persuasions, had they not taken wrong methods to effect a cure. The banished ones found an asylum in Hah-mar

"The city is very large indeed. It lies on both sides of the river, and the houses, with their smooth, glittering walls, reflect the rays of the sun so brightly, that the dazzled beholder is lost in wonder at so much glory. My admiration was unbounded, but it arose from a different source from that of Ta-ket-ee-see. The strains of music which sounded afar, and the pleasant odors wafted on the breeze, kindled in him an immense enthu-ee-kee, while those who contrived to remain sunk siasm. He did not know where lay the chief glory of the capital. 'Hear!' he cried, listen to the sounds! They tell of the great city of Hpar-russe !'

"It is truly a magnificent city. The houses are large, and very similar to the one before described. The inhabitants generally get along as well as the people of the village of whom I spoke, although frequent uproars arise through their want of sight. A tumult occurred shortly before my arrival, and lasted for several days, during which time the whole city was in a frightful state of confusion. Yet when I came there all trouble was over, and all remembrance of it had departed.

"The blindness of the people does not arise from the nature of the soil. I cannot see how it should, for the land is fertile and well watered. The air also is pure and invigorating. The perusal of their history has caused me to suppose that the

to an obscure grave.

"Ol-pho-gee, who rules the country, exercises a powerful influence in favor of the present unfortunate condition of the people. I hope that I may be mistaken, but I really fear that this influence will endure for some time.

"But as Hmull-ingz said to me-much is to be hoped from the example and influence of Yungphrantz, who admires the Hah-mar-ee-kee-ans, and almost fancies that he sees. Although his actions have frequently been rash, yet he may improve. The example of Hah-mar-ce-kee is before him, and the study of the Hah-mar-ee-kee-an institutions may work out some good result.

"I hope it may be so, and at the same time I fear. I remained more than a year in Hpar-russe, was disgusted with Ol-pho-gee, and somewhat pleased with what I saw of Yung-phrantz. I was displeased with the general conduct of the Hahmar-ee-kee-an visitors. When the Ghaw-le-yang

go to Hah-mar-ee-kee they learn more thoroughly | blest gift of Heaven, live a peaceful life in the the nature of the laws, institutions, and spirit of the country, and find out far more about the glorious sense of sight than ever that country's degenerate children who visit Ghaw-le-yah can teach them.

"There is much in Ghaw-le-yah to admire, for it is an exceedingly polished country, yet I would much rather dispense with all her polish and cultivation, and enjoying my sight, the no-buttered."

Editor's Table.

THE new year! Where is the old year? And where are all the years which have been first new, and then old, since that night on which the Heaventy | host hailed the advent of the Star of Bethlehem!— eighteen hundred and fifty-five!-more than eighteen centuries have since rolled away, and more, it has been estimated, than thirty thousand millions of human beings have lived and died!

month, and each time to endeavor to make ourselves even more interesting to you than we have ever been before-but, for a more particular account of the means by which we hope to accomplish this end, we refer you to our prospectus, which will be found upon the last page.

DECEMBER.

We have received the following letter from a And yet, after all, how very brief a period it has friend, who has been recreating in the Old Doreally been-comprising altogether, less than twenty-minion. three thousand months-less than ninety-seven thousand weeks-less than seven hundred thousand days and scarcely extending through the term of twenty-seven lives of "threescore years and ten !" It seems, indeed, incredible that the history of the world, from the Christian era down should really lie within so limited a space—that such a vast throng should, in this little time, have passed through its scenes, and swept on, with these old years, into eternity!

Time resembles a varied extent of country, diversified with fields and plains, hills and dales, moun. tains and valleys-we wander on, as went the children of Israel through the wilderness-as we fall by the way, our posterity continue the ever onward march—and, viewed through its minute experiences, the toilsome journey seems to be very long-but the old man, who sees the sun set for the last time, from some high eminence to which he has at length attained, finds that the point from which he first set out upon his pilgrimage, even after a journey of "threescore and ten years," lies upon the opposite side of the little valley of his life, almost within his reach! And thus it is, that looking abstractly back upon any point, even to the commencement of these eighteen centuries, the intervening space seems but a span!

But then, we did not sit down to write a series of moral reflections upon the flight of time, and the stortness of human life-it is unquestionably, well to ponder on these things-but we take it for granted | that our readers do all this for themselves

I have been to Virginia, and you shall have a running outline of my trip. I took the steamer at Baltimore: she leaves once each week for Fredericksburgh, touching all along the shores of the Rappahannock. I think the “Virginia”—that's her name-a good vessel. With the exception of being pretty well tossed by the sea, as you approach the ocean, causing more than shadowings of nausea, you have a good time of it until you enter the Rappahannock. Your rose, I will grant, is odorated pretty freely, there being now a guano epidemic among the planters of the Old Dominion. No vessel, I hear, leaves Baltimore for "long shore," at this season, which is not freighted with it. The "Virginia" had hundreds of bags amidships, the trip I made in her; indeed, it seemed to me as if the Chincha Islands had all been tumbled upon her deck. I shall never forget the bouquet; it was inhaled by me with every thing I ate; indeed, after attaining my journey's end, it was a long time before I forgot the rich Islands of Peru.

Let me tell you about the captain of the "Virginia":-He's not a beauty, and he knows it. He makes up in seamanship and pleasant manners what he lacks in good looks. He cares not a pin for the outside; he says the matter of dress is altogether a secondary affair. It was never thought of in the world, until after the fall in Eden. The tailors he thinks ought, especially, to bless our common mother; but for her sin, their trade would not have been. The season, however, always forces upon us a The captain urges that fashion is a tyrant; skins and moralizing mood-and surely the more extended the blankets, if conveniently arranged, would be far bet triumphs of death, the more grateful should we be ter than the hideous coats and pants we are obliged for continued life; and the swifter the flight of time, to wear. The captain's clothes are literally thrown the more reason is there why we should desire to en- upon him, while his hat sits upon his head like a by it. Wherefore, as we meant to do at first, so do bomb-shell projected from a Bomarsund mortar. we now, and most sincerely too, wish our readers, He is a wag, tells the drollest stories, and in the vae and all, A HAPPY NEW YEAR!-a year of health drollest manner; he was once, while captain of a and prosperity-of peace and plenty of spring flow- merchantman, cast away, and nearly lost his life; ers and summer sunshine-autumnal fruits and cheer-floating for nine days, I think, upon a portion of his ful winter firesides—and in proof of our sincerity, in vessel. His companions perished with cold and bunthis declaration, it is our intention to visit you everyger. The captain was miraculously saved, being taken

off by a passing craft. "I never made but one touching speech," said he, "during the whole of my life, and that was when I told my preservers my name, and hoped God would eternally bless them. It brought the salt water to their eyes; every man used the sleeve of his jacket-I tell you." The captain adds, that not withstanding his homeliness, once upon a time a lady fell desperately in love with him at first sight. I asked him who the feminine was; he replied, with a knowing wink, "My good mother; and the time of her infatuation was when I was only half an hour old."

"Did you ever see a mother," said he, "who didn't think her baby a perfect beauty, and fall desperately in love with it, too, at first sight?"

The "Virginia" entered the Rappahannock just before daylight, and we reached Merry Point on a small creek, making out of the river, before sunrise. There we dropped some of our passengers and freight, including quite a "smart lot" of the guano. We also took in oysters and wood, and it was amusing to see how much time the darkies expended in traveling a short distance with their burdens; those burdens frequently embracing a whole stick of pine wood!

The oysters were fine, and despite the epidemic which was said to be raging among them, I enjoyed a dozen or two of them raw, just to prepare myself for breakfast. They were plump and of exquisite saltiness.

At the next stopping-place, Urbanna, we dumped down more passengers and guano, and took in more oysters. That Urbanna is a queer place, lying as it does in a small bay, the entrance to which is not more than fifty to sixty feet wide. When we shot through this aperture, the water which dashed up behind our craft was a good deal clouded with mud. It was evident indeed that the paddles had been tumbling, without ceremony, the bed of the river.

Another stopping-place was Smithfield wharf. The landing is quite far out in the Rappahannock, and comprises an isolated pier. That pier, we will grant, has begun to find its way toward the beach, but it will not reach there for some years yet. Piles are occasionally driven, and there will, unquestionably, before the judgment day, be a good wharf. We landed guano and passengers at this point.

I

The next stopping-place was West-View. Here there was no wharf, and passengers were put ashore in boats. I was one of the party; having reached, at last, the neighborhood of my destination. bade the "Virginia" and her captain an adieu, with some regret. I began to feel quite at home. Truly of steamboat comforts, the "Virginia" has an dance.

In addition to these there were countless varieties of game, gathered from his fields and shores, with other things in abundance to match, including the finest Sherries and Madeiras that ever ripened in garret.

My sojourning place in Virginia, was a county town, in the northern neck. It is made up of a court-house, a jail, two stores, some very neat cottage houses, and a distressingly old tavern. The court-house is upward of a century and a half old. It is one story high and of brick, and contains only two apartments besides the court room. The former is strangely enough arranged; the auditorium, or oi polloi portion being paved with brick. The bar, judges' bench, etc., were but little superior to the other parts of the building. I confess I was somewhat inspired when I entered this worm-eaten relic of primitive times in the Old Dominion. It seemed to me, that in just such places the first fires of the Revolution were kindled. Things were now as they were eighty years ago; and my vivid imagination invested the place with the ringing elcquence of a Patrick Henry, to say nothing of other characteristics of olden times.

one.

The scene on court day was a most curious one. The little village was filled with F. F. V.'s; there were present also a plenty of " Half-Strainers," "Johnny-Gwangers," and "Sand-Takies." You wish me to explain what these words mean; I will do so in a sentence. They are the various classes you find in the Old Dominion, or the grades of her people, before you descend to that of the negroes. Of the last, by the way, there were three to Some had strolled up from the plantations in the neighborhood, complete gentlemen of leisure; others had accompanied their masters as coachmen; while others brought with them cakes, pies, and other refreshments, for those who hung about the court-house. A happier crowd I never saw, nor a more plentiful display of ivory, which ever accompanies the African's cachinnation. Both sexes were to be seen mixing cordially together. Inquiries passed freely as to absent members of families, and these were the usual replies: "quite well"-" been rather poorly"-" gone a visiting"-" confined with a bad cough," etc. One old woman sought me out to thank me for some presents I had brought her from a daughter, emancipated by frer master, and living in Philadelphia.

"Thank you, massa," said she, "the presents were bery pretty. Tell my little girl, her mother thinks of her very often-she must come down and make us a visit-much obliged to her for the gold abun-dollar she sent-hope she will take care of her earnings. She need n't send me any more of them-I have got a good home, a good master, and want for nothing wheder sick or well; while she is obliged to look after herself, since she has been 'mancipated, and will want all the money she earns to sport her among strangers. I speck she finds herself berry lonesome sometimes."

I must here tell you that West-View is very near the beautiful estate of our accomplished friend, Mrs. Its late proprietor, her husband, was brim-full of hospitality, and entertained magnificently. It is asserted, that on one occasion, he had thirty-five different dishes on his table, all of which were furnished by the river flowing in front of his plantation.