tial to give an elegance of manners, and thereby add to mental excellence. But company without mental improvement cannot give the value and interest to individuals, which is so desirable; it alone cannot render them good companions, good parents, and good citizens. The one is useful to us only in the higher walks of life; the other will be a treasure to us, even if our lot should place us in the earth-built cottage of the forest.

"But oh! where both their charms unite,

How perfect is the view,
With every image of delight,

And graces ever new."

When females have it in their power thus to adorn themselves, and increase their own worth and happiness, how careful should they be to improve each opportunity to the best advantage, and how justly in after life, may they censure themselves if they suffer the golden hours of youth to pass unimproved. No remark can be more true, than that the only way to charm long, is to secure mental improvement. nate the inconsiderate for a day; but like the ephemeral Mere personal beauty may fasciflower, it fades, and leaves none of its former delights; while beauty of mind increases with age, and will be bright in the evening of life, when all transient beauties have passed away.

AUTUMN.

Chill breezes of Autumn, ye come with your sighs
To wail for the beauties destroy'd in your haste,

Ye have passed o'er the earth ye have darkened the skies,
Ye have blighted the rose and the garden's a waste!
Whence come ye, where speed ye;, a desolate tale-
Is heard in your voice, 'tis the Summer's death wail.
Ye have robb'd the tall trees of their beautiful green,

Ye have frightened the swallow away from her nest,
Sallow leaves mark the spot where your pathway has been,
Your voice breathes a dirge to the desolate breast,
Whence come ye, where speed ye, to mar in your flight,
Those scenes, late so lovely, these hues late so bright.
Ye have swept o'er the sod where earth's weary ones sleep,
Ye have dried the warm tear o'er the fresh cover'd grave,
Ye have traversed o'er Ocean's wide fathomless deep,

And added new force to its dark heaving wave,
Whence come ye, where speed ye, with sighings so drear,
Like the hopes of the wretched, your pathway is sear.

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY.
THE MUSK OX.

The Musk Ox.-Bos Moschatus.-[Called Mathek Mong300,
or Ugly Moose, by the Creeks,-Uming Mak, by the Esqui-
maux.]

To civilized man, the extreme northern regions may appear cheerless and uninviting, because they are subjected to the utmost unrelenting influence of wintry skies. Yet we have already seen that they are the favorite resorts of multitudes of animals, varying in size, characters and habits, from the Lemming to the Moose A species remains to be described, which, of these forbidding regions prefers the most barren and desolate parts, and is found in the greatest abundance in the rugged and scarcely accessible districts lying nearest the North Pole. This species, so far from heing condemned to a life of extreme privation and suffering, appears to derive as much enjoyment from existence, as those which feed in more luxuriant pastures, or bask in the genial rays of a summer sun.

In destining the musk ox to inhabit the domains of frost and storm, nature has paid especial attention to its

security against the effects of both; first by covering its body with a coat of long dense hair, and then, by the shortness of is limbs, avoiding the exposure that would result from a greater elevation of the trunk. The projection of the orbits of the eyes, which is very remarkable in this species, is thought by Parry to be intended to carry the eye clear of the large quantity of hair required to preserve the warmth of the head.

Although some few items relative to this animal are to be gathered from the works of the recent explorers of the Northern Regions, it is to Hearne, that we are almost exclusively indebted for the natural history of the musk ox, as we have already been for most of the animals inhabiting the same parts of this continent.-This excellent and accurate observer travelled in the years '69, '70, '71, and '72, and it is only to be regretted that 1.e did not write down all he knew in relation to the northern animals. He appears to have frequently thought that what was so familiarly known to him, would not be of much interest to others, and has thus withheld knowledge that few individuals can have a similar opportunity of gaining. Notwithstanding this, he has anticipated all the recent explorers in every essential particular.

Hearne states that he has seen many herds of musk oxen in the high northern latitudes, during a single day's journey, and some of these herds contained from eighty to a hundred individuals.

Musk oxen are found in the greatest numbers within the arctic circle; considerable herds are occasionally seen near the coast of Hudson's Bay, throughout the distance from Knapp's Bay to Wager Water. They have in a few instances been seen as low down as lat. 60° N. Captain Parry's people killed some individuals on Melville Island, which were remarkably well fed and fat. They are not commonly found at a great distance from the woods, and when they feed on open grounds they prefer the most rocky and precipitous situations. notwithstanding their bulk and apparent unwieldiness, they climb among the rocks with all the ease and agility of the goat, to which they are quite equal in sureness of foot. Their favorite food is grass, but when this is not

Yet,

to be had they readily feed upon moss, the twigs of the willow, or tender shoots of the pine.

The appearance of the musk ox is singular and imposing, owing to the shortness of the limbs, its broad flattened crooked horns and the long dense hair which envelopes the whole of its trunk, and hangs down nearly to the ground. When full grown, the musk ox is ten and a half hands high, according to Parry, and as large as the generality, or at least the middling size of English cattle.

From the shortness of the limbs and the weight of the body, it might be inferred that the musk ox could not run with any speed, but it is stated by Parry, that although they run in a hobbling sort of canter that makes them appear as if every now and then to fall, yet the slowest of these musk oxen can far outstrip a man. When disturbed and hunted, they frequently tore up the ground with their horns, and turned round to look at their pursuers, but never attempted to make an attack.

The musk oxen killed on Melville Island during Parry's visit, were very fat, and their flesh, especially the heart, although highly scented with musk, was considered very good food. When cut up it had all the appearance of beef for the market. Hearne says that the

flesh of the musk ox does not at all resemble that of the bison, (Bos Americanus) but is more like that of the moose, and the fat is of a clear white tinged with light azure. A knife used in cutting up such meat, becomes so strongly scented with this substance, as to require much washing and scouring before it is removed. Musk ox flesh when dried, is considered by Hunters and Indians to be very good. "In most parts of Hudson's Bay it is known by the name of Kew-hagon, but among the Northern Indians is is called Achees." The weight of the musk ox, according to Parry, is about 700lbs. that of the head and hide is 130lbs.

The horns of the musk ox are employed for various purposes by the Indians and Esquimaux, especially for making cups and spoons. From the long hair growing on the neck and chest, the Esquimaux make their musquitoe wigs, to defend their faces from those troublesome insects. The hide of the musk ox makes good soles for

shoes, and is much used by the natives for this purpose.

During the months of August and September the musk oxen extend their migrations to the north Georgian and other islands bordering the northern shores of the continent. By the first of October they have all left the islands and moved towards the south. By Franklin's expedition, they were not seen lower than 66° North.

THE PAPAW-CARICA PAPAYA.

Though the papaw-tree is now found in the East as well as in the West, it is generally understood to be a native of America, and to have been carried to the East about the time of the first intercourse between the two continents. The papaw rises with a hollow stem to

the height of about twenty feet, after which it has a head composed, not of branches, but of leaves and very long foot-stalks. The male and female flowers are on different trees: the female flowers are bell-shaped, large, generally yellow, and followed by a fleshy fruit, about