that they would sooner find death in their own country than to go to seek it in exile. We have now before us a little book in French, styled Les Heimathloses, translated from the German, and published at Berne in 1821, highly colored, it is true, and in the outline somewhat romantic. It shows us the unfortunate creatures wandering by night along the banks of the torrent down which some had already precipitated themselves, while the compassionate inhabitants were busy in saving them from the waters, and watching to prevent the accomplishment of their designs of selfdestruction. The history of the Heimathloses has thus had its critical moments, which even threatened to end in tragedy. This people had become a plague to Switzerland, a plague not absolutely inherent to its republican organization, but was, however, resultant from that, as we have endeavored to show. At last, after various projects, all difficult of execution, the federal power has lately taken the thing in hand, and is busy with regulating their lot; but it has been obliged to recognize this fact, that the commune being the basis of all civil existence in Switzerland, if they did not become identified with some of these communes, they would always form a kind of exception in the social organization of the country. The past century witnessed a somewhat similar case in that of the French refugees at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. A goodly number of them had not the necessary facilities for acquiring a citizenship. By the aid of their own resources and the help of their co-religionists at home and abroad they formed a corporation by degrees, not fixed to any one place, city, or village, but scattered among the families of which it is composed; yet hereditary in the families thus united by the tie of common religion, and having also its own administration and revenues. Some plan of this kind had been proposed for the Heimathloses, but it was not carried out, and a federal law of the 3d of December, 1850, superseded the necessity of all other contrivances by distributing them among the different cantons, in order to incorporate them in the established communes. This incorporation was to be progressive; the Homeless shared in none but the political rights of the citizen, and, if indigent, in the poor rate, but not in the annual distribution of the citizens' revenues, but, in return, his legitimate children, born after his incorporation, fully enjoyed all the communal rights and advantages. The council or federal power determines to which canton the Homeless shall belong, and in making that determination he should be guided according to the historical antecedents of the subject—his residence, indications of origin, etc. Contested cases are decided by the federal tribunal. Such are the principles of this law for the benefit of the Homeless, already in force five years; but its execution is not always easy; there has been more than one case bandied about from canton to canton, by the way of justice, if not by the gens d'armes, as formerly, and time alone will bring the means of their complete assimilation. FOR MOTHER'S SAKE. A FATHER and his little son On wintry waves were sailing; Fast, from their way, the light of day In cloud and gloom was failing, And fiercely round their lonely bark The stormy winds were wailing. They knew that peril hover'd near; They pray'd, "O! Heaven, deliver;" But a wilder blast came howling past, And soon, with sob and shiver, They struggled in the icy grasp Of that dark, rushing river. "Cling fast to me, my darling child," An anguish voice was crying; While, silvery clear, o'er tempest drear; Rose softer tones, replying, "O! mind not me, my father dear; I'm not afraid of dying; O! mind not me, but save yourself, For mother's sake, dear father; Leave me, and hasten to the shore, Or who will comfort mother?" The angel forms that ever wait, Unseen, on men attendant, Flew up, o'erjoy'd, to heaven's bright gate, And there, on page resplendent, High over those of heroes bold, And martyrs famed in story, God bless the child! ay, he did bless And safely bore him to the shore, Through tempest, toil, and trial. Soon, in their bright and tranquil home, Son, sire, and that dear mother For whose sweet sake so much was done, In rapture met each other. AS SKETCHES IN SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. S the aboriginal tribes of Australia disappear before the march of civilization, it may be interesting to chronicle pictorially a few of their peculiarities and characteristics. The taking of the Emu is a favorite sport of the aborigines. The emu is caught in very large nets, twenty yards long and five feet high, which are here made of the roots of the marsh, baked and chewed, and then spun. Several natives will watch the emus as they go to drink at the lagoons, having heard the birds whistling, and set their nets in readiness; they then drive the emus toward the nets, where other natives are lying in ambush; the birds get frightened and entangled, the natives rush upon them, and when in the net seize hold of them and kill them with spears and wirris. They catch the wallaby with nets about fifteen yards long and two feet high. Parties go out and set these nets across the paths which the animals take when they come out of the bush to feed, and women are sent round to the further end of the thicket, where they make a loud noise, and drive the wallaby into the nets. Mrs. Clay, in her very agreeable volume of Australian experiences, gives the following characteristics of the aborigines: "I have heard some intelligent colonists remark, that the low condition of the aborigines may perhaps be traced to the peculiar state of the country they inhabit. There is nothing indigenous like rice or corn-no grain; so that the greater portion of their life and ingenuity is devoted to the capture of the kangaroo and other animals. Instead, therefore, of their mental organs being called into action by a variety of wants, objects, or pursuits, the neces sity for invention or construction has been lessened, and their whole energies concentrated upon the one great object of their existencethe chase. This must degrade man to a mere creature of instinct; and to such a state the aborigines of Australia appear reduced. "As regards the religion of the natives, I believe their principal belief is in an evil spirit, of which they have a great dread, imagining that it walks about of a night; and they therefore avoid, when dark, the vicinity of their burial-grounds. These burial-grounds I have attempted to describe elsewhere. They frequently burn the aged dead; and should a woman die having a young infant, the living child is buried with the mother. The name of the dead is never mentioned; and any one in the same tribe having a similar name is obliged to take another. "The aboriginal method of courtship would not be admired by white ladies. The native, having determined on his future spouse, who is generally selected from another tribe, steals upon her secretly when she is at a little distance from the protectors, and stuns her by striking her with a wooden club or wattie, and then drags her away to his own tribe. This is often the cause of their going to war. 66 Naturally, the natives wear no clothing; but if any article of dress be given them, they are proud to array themselves in it. The manner in which they wrap a blanket around them, fastening it over one shoulder, is very graceful. The women are exceedingly susceptible to gay colors, and accept a bright pocket handkerchief, or a few beads, with as much delight as an English girl would receive a Parisian bonnet. "The greatest passion of the aborigines is revenge; and even if one of them dies a natural death, they fling spears at one of his friends until blood appears; hence their universal hostility to the white man. They can never forget nor forgive the atrocities perpetrated upon them by some of the early settlers, who at one time used to hunt them down like wild beasts, and fire at any they came upon, however inoffensive they might be. "The features of the aborigines are not pleasing, being very coarse. Their lips are thick, with flat noses and low, receding foreheads. They are not, generally speaking, tall or well made, neither are they particularly strong. Their going about in such numbers alone makes them dangerous. "The number of aborigines is not great, and it is steadily decreasing. Several tribes have already wholly disappeared. Many efforts have been made to protect them, and to induce them to adopt settled and industrious habits, but with various success. Schools have been established by the government, but the young people almost invariably, when passing out of childhood, throw off their clothes and return to their native haunts and habits. A few girls become house-servants, but they are easily induced to leave for the woods. Of late there has, however, been a somewhat important change. The impossibility of obtaining a sufficient number of white shepherds and laborers, caused many stockkeepers to offer good money wages to the natives, instead of merely giving them food and clothes, as was before the custom, and to adapt the service to their feelings. The result is said to have been very generally beneficial. They show little inclination, or rather considerable dislike, for manual labor; but they which abideth forever. It was once make very good hut-keepers, are careful and of science and the discoveries of philosogentle as shepherds, and make excellent stock-phy do but confirm the word of our God, keepers; and large numbers are now so employed, as well as in wool-washing, and other work connected with sheep and cattle farming. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will be possible to overcome to any extent their migratory habits, which have hitherto always prevented any permanent settlement. urged, for example, that the account given by Moses of the creation of light on the first day is contradictory of his own assertion that not until the fourth day were the sun and the moon called into exist"In South Australia there seems to be much satisfaction felt at the change in the aborigines. ance. To meet and evade this supposed The Protector of the Aborigines' in that col- difficulty the Zendavesta of Zoroaster, a ony states that upward of two hundred thou- work in the main a piracy from the book sand sheep were in June, 1852, under the sole charge of native shepherds. A training insti- of Genesis, announces that the sun was tution for aborigines has been established at created first and light afterward. Then, Adelaide, chiefly by the exertions of Archdeacon it was maintained that the sun is a great Hale, who resides on the establishment. He globe of fire; that from him are continsays that even his own sanguine expectations ually emitted innumerable fiery particles, did not lead him to anticipate a success so complete and triumphant as that which has and that he is the sole source of light, as attended our efforts, nor so rapid an increase well as heat. It has since been discovin the number of our inmates.' Besides the ered that both light and heat exist indeschool-room, mess-room, etc., there are twenty huts occupied by native married couples. There pendently of the sun; and by means of is also a small farm, the work of which, with powerful telescopes it has been demonherding, cattle-keeping, etc., is done by the in-strated that, so far from the sun being a mates of the institution, who are also taught brick-making, building, and other useful occupations. THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE BIBLE. THE NOAH-THE DELUGE. HE event now presented for our consideration is, without exception, the most memorable that ever occurred upon our earth previous to the advent of Christ. It is the total destruction of the human race, with the exception of one family, consisting of eight persons. We are indebted for our knowledge of it to the sacred historian; but of a catastrophe so appalling and so universal it might, indeed, excite surprise, if not doubt, were there no corroborating circumstances in the aspect of our world and in the testimony of tradition. We shall find, accordingly, that there is a vast amount of what may be called circumstantial evidence, with reference to the reality of this event, and the truth of the account given thereof by the inspired writer. Before entering, therefore, upon the Scriptural narrative let us turn our attention to some undisputed facts which serve to confirm the account of this event given by Moses. And in the first place I observe, as a remarkable instance of the progress of the human mind, that whereas philosophy was once arrayed against revelation, it has of late been found that the one is the handmaid of the other; and that the researches vast body of fire, he is, on the contrary, a globe, in all probability like our own, capable of sustaining animal existence. In exact conformity with the Mosaic record, philosophy now declares, as the result of numerous practical experiments, that light as well as heat has a separate and distinct existence independent of the sun, and that, consequently, the account given by the sacred writer is philosophically correct. So, also, as respects the subject now under consideration. It was once very confidently affirmed that there was not sufficient water to cause such a deluge as that described by Moses. It was then computed that twenty-eight oceans would be necessary for that purpose; but the progress of mathematical and physical knowledge has shown that the different seas and oceans contain at least fortyeight times more water than was then supposed; and by philosophical experiment it has been proved, that the mere raising of the temperature of the whole body of the ocean to a degree no greater than marine animals live in, in the shallow seas between the tropics, would so expand it as more than to produce the height above the mountains stated in the Mosaic account. Again: it was once objected to the inspired writer, that the ark built by Noah was by far too small to contain the vast number of animals said to have been preserved therein, together with food neces sary for their subsistence. Now it may fairly be questioned whether Noah was commanded to bring into the ark all living creatures zoologically and numerically considered, or only those, clean and unclean, which were indigenous to the country in which he dwelt. During the fifteen hundred years previous to the flood the various animals must, of course, have spread themselves over a great part, if not the whole of the antediluvian world. Those which were saved must, therefore, if all were included, have come together from very great distances; but there is no intimation of any such journeyings. And it would seem, I think, quite probable that the animals preserved in the ark were those only which were found in the region where Noah dwelt. This supposition will account also for the remains of animals totally unknown which have been discovered in various places since the date of the Deluge. I remark, further, that, after all the arguments which have been alleged against the probability of a general deluge, philosophy has at length acknowledged that the present surface of the earth must have been submerged under water. Not only, says Kirwan, in every region of Europe, but also of both the old and new continents, immense quantities of marine shells, either dispersed or collected, have been discovered. This and several other facts seem to prove that at least a great part of the present earth was, at some time or other, the bed of an ocean. a flood as that described by Moses. To this may be added, that the very aspect of the earth's surface exhibits marks both of the violent action and rapid subsiding of water. The undulations of hill and dale, valleys with winding and sinuous course, abrupt declivities, rough and ragged defiles, immense plains of barren sands, abound to a greater or less extent in every quarter of the globe, and are on no other hypothesis accounted for so satisfactorily, as by referring their origin to the great event we are now considering. Indeed, the researches of modern science, and more especially the developments of geology, are continually confirming the sentiment of the wise Lord Bacon, that natural philosophy is the surest antidote to superstition, and the food of religious faith. It is perfectly reasonable to expect, I remark further, that of an event so wonderful there would be, in the different nations of the earth, some traditionary accounts. It certainly made a deep impression on the minds of the survivors, who doubtless would relate its history to their children, and thus it would descend from one generation to another, and thus some knowledge of it would be retained even among those who had not the writings of Moses. Were there, indeed, no traditions upon the subject, the truth of the Bible account would not thereby be overthrown; yet, finding them to exist, as they do, among almost all nations, they contribute greatly to strengthen faith in the truth of the inspired record. The limits of this essay will not allow me to go much into detail on this part of my subject, yet I cannot do it justice without alluding to some of the more prominent of the traditions. Other facts seem also to prove with sufficient evidence, that the retirement of the waters from those parts now inhabited was not gradual, but violent. This is evinced by various undisputed phenomena. Stratified mountains are found in all parts of the world; in and between the strata of these mountains various substances of marine origin repose, either petrified or in their natural state. To overspread, says Watson, the plains of the arctic circle with the shells of Indian seas and with the bodies of elephants and rhinoceri, surrounded by masses of submarine vegetation; to accumulate in promiscuous confusion the marine productions of the four quarters of the globe, what conceivable instruments would be efficacious but the In the mythology of ancient Greece we rush of mighty waters? These facts, find in the history of Deucalion, the reabout which there is no dispute, are pre-puted founder of that nation, a very strikcisely what might be expected from such ing allusion to the general deluge as deVOL. XI.-13 Berosus, a Babylonian historian, who lived in the time of Alexander, is quoted by Eusebius as giving a brief account of this memorable event; and although there is much that is evidently fabulous mixed up with his narrative, yet it contains sufficient evidence that it is founded upon the Scriptural account of that occurrence. He speaks of a floating ark, of birds sent out from it, and of its finally resting upon a mountain. |