JEREMIAH XII. 5.

On the N.E. of Rarotonga, in a district called Pupapa, is a sequestered fountain, around which hovers a famous legend.

An ancient woman, named Peû, dwelt alone in a hut close to this fountain. She delighted in the constant employment of beating out native cloth* with wooden mallets. An enclosure of snowwhite pebbles surrounded her dwelling, to which a narrow path, shaded on either side by graceful tit trees, led the way. Hard by was a flourishing plantation of kape,‡ as a stand-by in seasons of scarcity.

On one occasion Ono the handsome,§ with his younger brothers, went to this fountain to bathe. Just as one of his brothers was preparing to plunge, Ono in pity warned the old woman in the following song:

It will be a flood of such violence
That nothing may withstand."

To which Peû calmly responded :—

"Peû fears not the flood,

She will not be swept away.
Peû too is mighty.

Did not famed warriors from Iva
Come to this fountain to bathe?

Yet Peû remained unharmed."

Ono inquired, when the warriors from Iva came here to bathe, did the waters retain their usual level?"Yes," replied Peû, with perfect indifference, still beating out her cloth. At this the bather plunged down into the fountain, and the waters instantly rose to the edges of the snow-white pebbles surrounding the dwelling of Peû, and carried away the ti trees and the plantation of kope. Ono now inquired of the unmoved Peû, who still plied her mallet, "Is there nothing alarming to you in the present height of the waters?" "Nothing whatever," replied the fated woman.

After a pause, Ono again begged Peû to save herself by flight, chanting as before;

Peû too is mighty.

Did not famed warriors from Ira Come to this fountain to bathe?

Yet Peû remained unharmed."

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"Peû fears not the flood.

She will not be swept away.

Peû too is mighty.

Did not famed warriors from Iva
Come to this fountain to bathe?
Yet Peû remained unharmed."

Adding these stinging words:

Is it in thy power to harm Peû?

At this Ono drew himself up in all his offended might and plunged into the waters, which at once rose tumultuously and swept away Peû with her implements and dwelling into the ocean-she swimming and still defiantly beating out her cloth with her mallet.

Such, said Teaoa, is the fable handed down from ancient times. Is it not a vivid picture of the fate of obstinate sinners, who, although warned by the voice of the gospel again and again, turn a deaf ear, and eventually are swept away by the flood of God's anger? Their ruling passion goes with them to the end.

How often have I heard this favourite illustration [much abbreviated] from the lips of native preachers! However drowsy they may have felt in church with the thermometor at 90°, they instantly wake up. Sometimes the unconverted are addressed thus; "Alas! for Peû and her friends." I have seen a most effective scenic representation of this legend at their May festi

vities.

TRUE FAITH.

Whilst true faith is like the "heart" of ironwood,* (almost) imperishable, mere attachment to the forms of Christian worship is the outer white covering of this "heart," which speedily rots away.

"COULD NOT FOR THE PRESS."-Luke xix. 3.

Vaka said: "I too want to see Jesus, but cannot for the press. You ask me, who are they? I tell you frankly, they are my sins innumerable, crowding about me day and night. Perhaps if I climb up the tree of faith and prayer, I may, like Zaccheus, see Him yet, and get a blessing.

* Casuarina equisetifolia.

"WEEPING FOR THE LAND OF HIS BIRTH."

*

When Papehia first landed on Rarotonga, he was conducted into the interior, and food courteously spread before him. He shut his eyes, and in a low tone asked a blessing. The heathen crowding around said to one another, "Poor fellow, he is weeping for the land of his birth, and the friends he has left behind." Savages have no idea of closing the eyes in prayer, as the worship of their gods is invariably conducted with the eyes wide open.

The following are extracts from Native Prayers.

with timber and tall ferns-is appropriately named "The Mist," as a dense mist hangs over it every morning. In allusion to this, a young man prayed: "As a thick mist covers the crest of yon mountain until the trade-wind wakes and drives it clean away, so may our many sins be swept utterly away by the grace of Christ."

At a Saturday afternoon's prayer-meeting:

"To-morrow may new heads be laid on the altar of Jesus." This common petition is in allusion to the ancient practice of presenting the heads of all slain in battle to Tangaroa, the tutelar deity of Rarotonga. The native mind cannot see the incongruity of this allusion.

WHEN the Rev. Dr. Andrew Bonar of Glasgow

was in America two years ago, an old Covenanter banner came to light, under circumstances thus narrated in a Chicago paper.

"While Dr. Bonar was in this city, he was much delighted to find here a time-worn banner of the Scottish Covenanters, more than two hundred years old. He had some time ago clipped from a newspaper a brief notice to the effect that such a relic of the olden time was in this city, and he determined that when he came he would search it out. He mentioned the circumstance to Jas. B. Waller, Esq., at whose residence, in Lake View, he was entertained as a guest while here. Mr. Waller, took the matter in hand, and found the banner in possession of the family of the late Judge Manierre, and they kindly permitted him to take it out to his residence, for Dr. Bonar's inspection. In the presence of a large company of Christian friends, who had assembled at an evening meeting at his house, Mr. Waller, at Dr. Bonar's request, exhibited it to the company and recited its history.

The teacher landed by the late Rev. J. Williams who chiefly led these islanders to Christianity.

+ March 30th, 1883. For exemption from cyclones. Literally, the Barringtonia speciosa, one of the grandest trees in the tropics, under the shadow of which the traveller would rest or the affairs of the tribe be discussed.

"It had been borne in the famous battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679, by the followers of Reid, Laird of Kilbryde, whose title is on the banner, and from whom, through the Hamiltons, the Manierre family are descended. It is about

six feet by three and a half, originally of pale yellow silk, now much faded. It bears across the centre, in large letters, perfectly distinct still, the inscription, For God, the King, and the Covenant, and under this, the picture of a large open Bible with a reference to a text in the prophet Jeremiah, xxxi. 31.

"This battle-worn flag had been in possession of the laird for many generations in Scotland, and was at last brought to this country by one of them in 1840. Once since then it was loaned and carried to Rockford, Ill., for some public celebration, and being exposed to the wind in a procession was somewhat tattered. It passed safely through the great Chicago fire of 1871, being in one of the only two trunks that were saved when the Manierre mansion was burned. It certainly is a relic of the past, fraught with many historic memories, and is not a little damaged from having travelled so far from home, and encountered so many perils."

Dr. Bonar, who kindly forwards the newspaper account of this Chicago incident, remarks that there are a good many banners in different

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collections in Scotland, for example in that of the Antiquarian Society in Edinburgh."

Relics of the troublous days of persecution are now rarely to be met with in Scotland. Her museums boast of a few such, in the shape of helmets, and weapons which did good service on the battlefields of the Pentland and Drumclog. And at some of the more solitary moorland farms, there may yet be seen a rusty blade, now converted into a hay chopper, or a faded banner, carefully preserved by the inmates in remembrance of the part taken by their "forbears" in the national struggle for religious freedom. At rare intervals these lonely homesteads have been visited by the zealous antiquary, or those whose sympathies were with the adherents of the Covenant, eager to inspect those memorable mementos of the most eventful period of our Scottish history-"whose echo rings through Scotland till this hour."

One of this latter class, Miss Ellen E. Guthrie, at the beginning of her "Tale of Bothwell Bridge," thus relates her experiences when in quest of Covenanting relics:

"While staying at in the parish of WI learnt that a standard borne by the Covenanters at Bothwell Bridge was still to be seen at the farm of Westercroft. Being desirous to see this interesting relic I set off one fine morning in the hope of obtaining a glimpse of the time-honoured

banner.

"The standard, when produced, proved to be an old piece of white linen covered with stains as dark as those of Rizzio's blood exhibited in Holyrood, the surface of which displayed unmistakable bullet-holes, and bearing the following inscription in large red letters:

"For the parish of Shotts. For reformation of Church and State, According to the word of God, and Our Covenants.'

"Above was the thistle of Scotland surmounted by a crown and an open Bible.

"In regard to this standard, the owner observed that it was nothing to look at, being made of such humble materials, but that the silk ones borne by the wealthy farmers and lairds were splendid indeed. For instance, there was Mr. G. of Green Hill, the standard he had was of the finest yellow silk, with the motto, Christ's Crown and Covenant,' engraved in letters of gold; 'aye, but it was bonnie to see,' continued my informant, and I mind weel when the great meetings in connection with the Reform Bill were held throughout the country, that there was one at B, and the people wished to get all the banners that could be procured, as there was to be a grand procession. Well, as I knew of Mr. G having this one, away I went to Green Hill, to see if he would let me have it. Mr. G- received me very kindly, and said that the banner was sadly torn and destroyed, bnt if I could manage to get it repaired, I was welcome to it. Accordingly I brought away the standard, and my wife having got it patched up a little, I took it to B- -; and oh! had you but seen the people's faces as I laid before them the

"Tales of the Covenanters." By Ellen E. Guthrie. (Hamilton, Adams and Co.)

venerable standard-there was not a dry eye in the whole assembly. Men and women mourned and wept while gazing on the banner stained with the blood of their forefathers who nobly fought and died for the cause of the Covenant.'

And who, pray, bore this standard now in your possession at Bothwell Bridge?' A young man of the name of Talfourd, who lived up at the Muirhead yonder. My mother was one of that family, and they had many a thing that belonged to the Covenanters-amongst other articles, the musical instruments they made use of when going to battle. My mother kept them till they fell to pieces with age; and the last time I saw the drum it was filled with rowans which the children had gathered; while the bugles that sounded the retreat of Bothwell were devoted to purposes equally peaceful and innocent.'"

The Thristles (Thistle) Banner " is now the property of Mr. Brown, Royal British Hotel, Dundee. As its title implies, it was a national standard, and was borne by the Covenanters, when with a gallant army they marched into England, August 28, 1640, and took possession of Newcastle. It is beautifully wrought upon silk, and bears date 1640. Some lines in uncouth metre are inscribed upon it, expressing the feelings dominant in those times :

"Since Christ's become our King, Syon's trueth our foundation,

Worldlings did ever cross our peace and reformation.
Envy the infernal chief uncessantly torments
Eve's true promised seed by restles instruments.
Let Christians not grow ffeared of Satan's roaring story,
For this our wrestling day will bravely end in glory.
Even this our tempral yoke, it shall yield and bring
home

A crown of righteousness to those that overcome."

And much to the same effect: in all about fifty lines.

Then on the border surrounding it:

"Hold fast the trueth, care not for mortal men,

Expecting the endless crown most comfortable. If Christians hope were but in this lyfe, then

Wee, of all men, were the most miserable."

The Fenwick flag which waved at Bothwell, Kilsyth, and Drumclog, is still preserved at Lochgoin in Ayrshire. It is said that the late Edward Irving, who was in some way related to the family of Howie, beheld this relic of a pious but persecuted people with an interest almost amounting to devotion.

One of those preserved in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, Edinburgh, was used at Bothwell Bridge, and carried by a corps of Burgher Seceders, associated as a regiment of volunteers who were posted at the college when the Highland army entered Edinburgh in 1745. Another, still in existence, was carried by the Covenanters of the district of East Monkland, and was borne at Bothwell Bridge in 1679.

W. R. Johnson, Esq., R.S.A, has in his possession a flag said to have been carried by Stewart of Garscube at the battle of Worcester, and afterwards used at the battle of Bothwell Bridge. Ith is in good condition, and although now faded to a

weak green and dull orange colour seems originally to have been pink and blue.

The banner which belonged to the Covenanters of the district of Avondale has also survived the ravages of time.

Captain Nisbet, of Hardhill, commanded the London troops at Bothwell, and carried his flag safe out of the ill-fated engagement. On the rumoured approach of Claverhouse to Drumclog, Nisbet was sent for to Hardhill, and arrived in time to head the successful charge of the Covenanters across the morass. On his way to Drumclog, when passing through Darval, he induced John Morton the smith to accompany him to the field of battle, where his brawny arm would find sufficient occupation. John followed Nisbet to the charge. A royal dragoon who was on the ground entangled in the trappings of his wounded horse, begged quarter from John whose arm was uplifted to cut him down. The dragoon's life was spared, and he was led by the smith as his prisoner to the camp of the Covenanters. But the life that was spared on the field of battle was demanded by those who saw in the royal party not merely cruel persecutors but idolatrous Amalekites, who they were bound in duty to execute. The smith declared that sooner than give up his prisoner he would forfeit his own life. The dragoon thus defended by the powerful smith was spared, but the smith was banished from the army as a disobedient soldier. The dragoon's sword is preserved at Darvel, as

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relic. This Cochrane, after wandering about from place to place, settled at Coldstream; his son again bequeathed the banner to his youngest daughter Mary, who married Mr. Raeburn of Dunbar, in whose family it now remains.

Along with the banner there was a chest of arms which had been used in Covenanting times; these, however, have been gradually given away to friends, with the exception of two swords.

"If during the engagements," continues Mr. Drummond," Claverhouse's troops were a little sharp in their practice, who can now be astonished at it, when constantly before their eyes were wafted this or perhaps many such similar banners, warning them that if vanquished no mercy was to be shown them. While on the other hand we must not forget that confiscations and imprisonments with punishments, and tortures of the boots and thummikens' kind, were a sore provocation to extreme measures, and, to say the least of it, their application but a bad school in which to acquire habits of charity and Christian forbearance."

MARVELS OF ADAPTATION IN NATURE.

II. THE WHALE'S FISHING net.

at Bothwell Bridge.

The Bluidy Banner of Drumclog in the possession of the family of Raeburn at Dunbar is thus described by the late J. Drummond, Esq., R.S.A., etc. "It is of blue silk, here and there a little faded; but having been treasured as a valuable heirloom is in very fair preservation, and is inscribed in Hebrew characters (gilded) "Jehovah-Nissi," the Lord is my banner. For some cause or other the cloth has given way where many of these letters are painted, and what remains is so tender that it will scarcely bear touching. The next line is painted in white. "For Christ and His Truths," and then came the words from which it has received the name Bluidy Banner-"No quarter to ye active enemies of the Covenant." These seem to have been first painted in a light colour, and afterwards repainted in a dull, faded-looking red, in fact quite a bloody colour. It is four feet five and a half inches+three feet five and a half inches. Its history, as given by its proprietor, is as follows. It belonged to Henry Hall of Haughhead, a zealous Covenanter, and one of the leaders at Drumclog and Bothwell Bridge, from the latter of which engagements he escaped and fled to Holland, but shortly returned. While hiding near Queensferry an attempt was made to seize him by the governor of Blackness Castle. Hall being mortally wounded in the struggle died on his way to Edinburgh as a prisoner. Hall's son, while on his death-bed, gave the banner to a zealous Covenanting friend of the name of Cochrane. His own son having turned Conformist clergyman was considered unwortly to be a custodier of such a precious

elephant's teeth a marvellous adaptation of mouth-organs to the special needs of a large herbivorous animal. The elephant's tooth, it was said, with its complex and admirable arrangement of tissues, forming a perfect grinding surface, exists in and for the elephant alone. There are other creatures in which the position and structure of the teeth are varied quite as remarkably for other and equally special purposes. The curious flat teeth which pave the roof of the mouth in some of the sharks, rays, and other predacious fishes, and help them to crush the hard-shelled lobsters and other crustaceans on which they feed, would alone afford a wonderful picture of a highly specialised form of dental structure. Still more curious, however, than these so-called palatal teeth is the apparatus with which, in the absence of true teeth, the Greenland whale is endowed, and by which it is enabled to secure the prey it takes into its mouth. If in speaking of the elephant we could say that the gigantic tri-tissued grinding teeth exist in and for the elephant alone, with equal emphasis can it be said that the apparatus known as "whalebone," or baleen, exists in and for the whale alone.

The word whale, it hardly needs to be said, occurs more than once in the English translation of the Bible. In Genesis i. we are told that "God created great whales." In St. Matthew's Gospel the Greek original for a sea-monster is also rendered by the word whale. It has often been alleged that the translators were in error in using this word as an equivalent for that in the original text, which simply denoted some kind of sea-monster. It is, however, now seen