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beauty. The houses are mostly constructed of stone, and are all pent-roofed and covered with red tiles; many of them are three stories high, but more generally two, and the upper part is then constructed of wood. The streets are narrow, having a high raised causeway of flat pavement on each side for foot passengers, and a very narrow and deep passage between these for horses, seldom wide enough to admit of two passing each other. The bazars are mostly open, and resemble those of the country generally. They are unusually numerous. however, in proportion to the size of the town, as this is a mart of supply for an extensive tract of country around it. All the articles in demand are found here in abundance, and the manufactures of the town itself consists in coarse pottery, cotton, cloth, some silk twist, several tanneries, and saddlery; for which last article, particularly bridles, martingales, &c. of fancy work, in leather, the workmen of Antaky are celebrated. The population here is thought to exceed 10,000, among which there are counted about 150 Christian families, and 20 Jewish ones. The language of the people is Turkish, the Mahommedans speaking no other, and the Christians only understanding Arabic from their connexion with the country to the southward in their commercial transactions. The Mahommedans have fourteen mosques, six of which are ornamented with tall and slender white minarehs, with round close galleries, and blue pointed tops, surmounted by the crescent, in the purely Turkish taste; six others have lower and thicker minarehs of octangular shafts, with open galleries, and a sort of flat dome or umbrella top in the SyrianArabian style; and two are merely small venerated tombs used as places of prayer. There are two khans, and several fountains, all of them of a very ordinary kind. We noticed one of the last, called Ain-el-Omra, or the fountain of life, between the stones of which were driven in some thousands of nails. Its waters, are indeed, excellent, and, being esteemed as possessing several medicinal virtues, the afflicted who drink of them drive in a nail near the spot, either as a propitiatory offering, or a token of gratitude after recovery, to the supposed genius of the stream.

The Christians have made several unsuccessful cfforts to build a church for themselves here; but, though they are not wanting in wealth, and successive firmans have been obtained from Stamboul for that purpose, yet, the fanaticism of the Turks, and some unfortunate fatality which they think attached to the town itself, has hitherto always obstructed its execution. They resort, therefore, to a cave on the east end of the town, for the performance of their religious duties, in which they are additionally devout, from the apparent persecution under which they live, in this respect at least. The Jews assemble on their sabbath in a small room devoted to their synagogue in the house of their chief, and are there unmolested.-Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes.

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The capital of the kingdom of Denmark and the residence of its monarch, is one of the finest cities in the north of Europe. In elegance and beauty it surpasses even St. Petersburg, for although the proud city of the autocrat can boast of edifices of greater architectural splendor, yet as these are mingled with paltry wooden buildings and unsightly log huts they present the disagreeable picture of meanness contrasted with magnificence and squalid poverty with overgrown wealth. Vol. III. 3

Copenhagen, on the other hand, exhibits a more equable and uniform appearance; its streets are regular and well lighted, its houses spacious and well built; those of the nobility in particular are splendid buildings, generally of hewn stone and in the Italian style of architecture. This beauty is owing in a great measure to a dreadful fire which in 1728 consumed a large portion of the city, destroying five churches and sixty-seven streets. The inhabitants following the example of the people of London, availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded to improve their city, and laid out wider streets and erected new and far more costly edifices in the place of those which had fallen before the devouring element. That part of the city called the New Town was erected by Frederick the fifth and is extremely beautiful. It consists of a splendid octagon containing four uniform and elegant buildings of stone, with four spacious streets leading to it from opposite directions; in the centre is an extensive area in which stands a magnificent equestrian statue of Fredrick the fifth in bronze, said to have cost £80,000. Part of Copenhagen is built upon an Island called Amac, which is separated from the rest of the city by a broad canal. This part of the city is called Christianshafen, from Christian the second, by whom the island was consigned to a Colony from Friesland, at the request of his wife, for the purpose of supplying her with vegetables, eggs, cheese, and butter. The descendants of these colonists still inhabit the island, and as they preserve the dress and habits of their Friesland ancestors, and still enjoy peculiar privileges, they appear quite a distinct race from the native Danes-for all minor offences they are amenable only to their own tribunals, but for capital crimes are subject to the jurisdiction of the King's court of justice at Copenhagen. The whole island is laid out in gardens and vegetables, and still supplies the city with poultry, milk, butter and vegetables, according to the original design.

Copenhagen is not an ancient city; the precise date of its foundation is disputed, but may be placed about the middle of the twelfth century; at this time it consisted of a small fishing village and was presented by

the King to one of his bishops. About the same period a Castle was erected for the. protection of the people against the swarms of pirates who then infested the Baltic; the facilities of the situation for the prosecution of commerce, and the security afforded by the castle when the rest of the country was open to invasion, induced numbers of the Zealanders to collect in this spot, and thus a city was speedily built up. Toward the middle of the fifteenth century it was chosen as the royal residence by Christopher of Bavaria, it subsequently became the capital of the kingdom, and has been rapidly increasing in magnitude and beauty ever since.The great prosperity of the city was owing principally to the busy spirit of commerce, which but a few years since was every where visible in its streets; its harbor was always crowded with the ships of every nation, and the broad canals which intersect its streets resounded with the merry laugh and song of the mariners who brought their merchandize to the very doors of the spacious warehouses which lined its quays. late, however, its commerce has very much declined.

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Copenhagen contains 230 streets, and 13 public squares; 22 churches, 22 hospitals, 30 almshouses, 114 schools, and 3 convents. Among its more splendid buildings we may mention the four palaces of the King, the arsenal which contains the Royal Library of 400,000 volumes, the exchange, the bank, and the university. In 1807, the town was bombarded by the English and an immense number of houses with many splendid edifices were entirely destroyed: upwards of 2000 of the inhabitants lost their lives. The city at present contains about 110,000 inhabitants, of whom nearly 3000 are Jews. Copenhagen is situated in 55° 41' 44" N. lat. and 12°, 35', 6" E. lon. on the Islands of Zealand and of Amac, which are separated by a narrow branch of the Sea.

All travel has its advantages; if the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own; and if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.

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THRESHING IN THE EAST.

To introduce the information furnished by the above sketch, we shall first notice the threshing floor; which is a level, smooth area, enclosed by mud-brick walls, having a proper opening for entrance, and on one side of it the barn or garner, the door of which is seen in the wall. The area enclosed by these walls is either prepared according to the account of Dr. Shaw, or naturally smooth, hard, and bound, so as to be fit for using without that preparation. The figures at the lower corner of the plate, represent the wain, car, cart, drag, or threshing instrument, so called by different translators of the Sacred Scriptures. In the left hand figure it is supposed to be set upright on one of its sides, and appears to consist of a strong square frame, well secured with iron pins to keep it tight and steady: within this are three rollers, whose pins at each end are inserted into the frame, and pass through it; on each of these rollers are circular iron cutters, with sharp edges, the track of which lies between that of the other cutters which compose the instrument; and it is these cutters that are furnished with teeth, which are alluded to in the fortyfirst chapter and fifteenth verse of the prophet Isaiah.

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