SONG OF THE STARS.

HEN the radiant morn of creation broke, And the world in the smile of God awoke, And the empty realms of darkness and death Were mov'd through their depths by his mighty breath, And orbs of beauty and spheres of flame, From the void abyss by myriads came, In the joy of youth as they darted away, Through the widening wastes of space to play, Their silver voices in chorus rung,

And this was the song the bright ones sung ;

Away, away, through the wide, wide sky,
The fair blue fields that before us lie:
Each sun with the worlds that round us roll,
Each planet pois'd on her turning pole,
With her isles of green, and her clouds of white,
And her waters that lie like fluid light.

For the source of glory uncovers his face,
And the brightness o'erflows unbounded space;
And we drink as we go, the luminous tides
In our ruddy air and our blooming sides;
Lo, yonder the living splendours play!
Away, on our joyous path, away!

Look, look, through our glittering ranks afar,

In the infinite azure, star after star,

How they brighten and bloom as they swiftly pass !
How the verdure runs o'er each rolling mass!

And the path of the gentle winds is seen,

Where the small waves dance, and the young woods lean.

And see where the brighter day-beams pour,
How the rainbows hang in the sunny shower;
And the morn and the eve, with their pomp of hues,
Shift o'er the bright planets and shed their dews;
And 'twixt them both o'er the teeming ground,
With her shadowy cone, the night goes round.

Away, away!-in our blossoming bowers,

In the soft air wrapping these spheres of ours,

In the seas and fountains that shine with morn,
See love is brooding and life is born,

And breathing myriads are breaking from night,
To rejoice, like us, in motion and light.

Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres!
To weave the dance that measures the years.
Glide on in the glory and gladness sent
To the farthest wall of the firmament,
The boundless visible smile of him

To the vale of whose brow our lamps are dim.

TIDES AND CURRENTS.

1. AMONG the most wonderful phenomena of nature may be reckoned the tides of the sea. They were but little understood by the ancients, although Pliny and Macrobius were of opinion that they were influenced by the sun and moon. The former expressly says that the cause of the ebb and flow is in the sun, which attracts the waters of the ocean; and he adds, that the waters rise in proportion to the proximity of the moon to the earth.

2. Among the phenomena of the tides, one of the most singular is the bore, peculiar to several rivers: it is ascribed to the waters which were before expansive, being suddenly pent up, and confined within a narrow space. This bore, or impetuous rush of waters, accompanies the first flowing of the tide in Perret, in Somersetshire, and in the Seine, in France. It is also one of the peculiarities of the Severn, the most rapid river of England.

3. One of the greatest known tides is that of the Bristol Channel, which sometimes flows upwards of forty feet. At the mouth of the river Indus, the water rises thirty feet. The tides are also remarkably high on the coasts of Malay, in the Straits of Sunda, in the Red Sea, at the mouth of the river St. Lawrence, along the coasts of China and Japan, at Panama, and in the gulf of Bengal.

4. The most remarkable tides, however, are those at Batsha, in the kingdom of Tonquin, in 20° 50′ north lati

tude. In that port, the sea ebbs and flows once only in twenty-four hours, while, in all other places, there are two tides within that space. What is still more extraordinary, twice in each month, when the moon is near the equinoctial, there is no tide, the water being for some time quite stagnant.

5. These with other anomalies of the tides there, Sir Isaac Newton, with peculiar sagacity, ascertained to arise from the concurrence of two tides, one from the South Sea, the other from the Indian Ocean. Of each of these two tides, there come successively two every day; two at one time greater, and two at another which are less. The time between the arrival of the two greater, was considered by him as high tide; that between the two less, as ebb. In short, with these simple facts in his possession, that great mathematician solved every appearance, and so established his theory as to silence every opposer.

6. Besides the common and periodical tides, a variety of Local currents are met with in different seas, on different parts of the ocean, and for the greater part at an inconsiderable distance from land.

7. They have been usually ascribed to particular winds; but their origin is not easy to trace, as they have been occasionally found beneath the surface of the water running in a contrary direction to the stratum above, and cannot, therefore, have been owing to winds or monsoons. These particular currents have been ascribed to the immense masses of polaria, which produce a greater degree of cold in the under than in the upper stratum of waters; and it has been suspected, that there is an under current of cold water flowing perpetually from the poles towards the equator, even where the water above flows towards the poles.

8. The great inferiority of temperature, which is frequentby found in deep and superficial soundings of the same space of water, is thus accounted for. The most extraordinary current is that of the gulf of Florida, usually called the GulfStream, which sets along the coast of North America to the northward and eastward, and flows with an uninterrupted rapidity. It is ascribed to the Trade Winds, which, blowing from the eastern quarter into the great Mexican gulf, cause there an accumulation above the common level of the sea.

9. The water, therefore, constantly runs out by the channel where it finds least resistance, that is, through the gulf

of Florida, with such force as to continue a distinct stream to a very great distance. A proof of its having thus originated is, that the water in the gulf-stream has been found to have retained a great portion of the heat it had acquired in the torrid zone.

10. A very singular upper current often prevails to the westward of Scilly, and is highly dangerous to ships which approach the British Channel. Currents of this description, are, however, more frequently met with about the Straits of Gibraltar, and near the West India Islands, the coasts of which are so subject to counter-tides, or extraordinary currents, that it is often dangerous for boats to land.

11. They proceed to the westward, along the coasts of Yucatan and Mexico, and running round into the gulf, return into the great ocean, by the straits of Bahama, along the coasts of Florida, in order to pursue, in the north, the course ordained them by the great Author of nature. In this course the waters run with an extraordinary rapidity, passing between the great and small American islands in the great deeps, by an almost even and imperceptible motion.

12. Against the shores and coasts of these islands, which form an Archipelago, they are, however, very sensible and dangerous, interrupting the navigation, and rendering it scarcely possible to stem them in proceeding to the eastward. Besides these regular currents, there are others, called counter tides which are observable on the sea-coasts and shores.

13. In places where these flow, the sea rises in an extraordinary manner, becoming very furious without any apparent cause, and without being moved by the wind. The waves rise and open very high, breaking on the shore with such violence, that it is impossible for vessels to land. These counter-tides are chiefly ascribed to the pressure of the heavy black clouds which are occasionally seen to hang over an island, or over the sea.

Note. The Red Sea, celebrated in holy writ, extends 1300 miles from north to south, and 200 from east to west. It divides Arabia from Africa, and is separated from the Mediterranean on the north, by the isthmus of Suez; and on the south it communicates with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean lies south of Asia, southeast of Africa, and west of New Holland.-The Pacific

Ocean, or South Sea, separates Asia and America, extend ' ing from Behring's Straits, in 66° north latitude, to the South Pole.

KINGDOM OF ASHANTEE.

1. THE Ashantee territory is situated in Africa, adjoining the Gold Coast, and its capital is not more than 150 miles from the settlement of the English at Cape Coast Castle, and yet, till the year 1817, when a mission was sent to the Ashantees in order to put an end to the horrible cruelties which that nation had committed, and were perpetrating on the Fantees (a small nation on the borders of the Gold Coast) the former people were almost as unknown as if they had been inhabitants of another planet.

2. Mr. Bowditch, whose loss cannot be sufficiently deplored, by those who hoped and expected the civilization of Africa would be greatly accelerated by his persevering inquiries, accompanied this mission, and from his narrative, our information is chiefly derived. The Ashantees present a singular, and we think, a rare union of civilization, with the most barbarous and detestable superstition.

3. We read, with surprise and admiration, of a city said to contain upon their grand festivals, 100,000 inhabitants under regular control by officers appointed to each district, supplied with an excellent and daily market, and kept in a great degree of cleanliness.

4. The inhabitants too are said to excel in the manufacture of different kinds of cloths, of surpassing beauty and fineness; they are good goldsmiths, have capital potteries, and paint expeditiously and not inelegantly; they work finely in iron, and leather, and are excellent carpenters. We are sorry to add the horrid reverse to this picture.

5. The Ashantees appear plunged in the most gross and abject idolatry;-and when we have read the details of their sacrifices of human victims, and the tortures preparatory to them, it is impossible to wonder at any ferocity which they may exercise towards their enemies. At all their festivals or customs, as they are called, some one of which occurs every twenty-one days, not fewer than one hundred victims are immolated with the most barbarous rites.