REV. RICHARD WATSON.-"I am a worm a poor, vile worm, not worthy to lift up its head; but," he added, with brightened features, "this worm is permitted to crawl out of the earth into the garden of its Lord, and there to enjoy the flowers and fruits, if it can, which sparkle in the palace and ivory throne of the New Jerusalem.

'I shall behold his face,

I shall his name adore,

And sing the wonders of his grace

For evermore.

"There is doubt of everything but the great, deep, infinite mercy of God, and that is sure."

TRAVELLING IN HAYTI.

LET the reader have the courtesy to follow us on one of the easiest, but most picturesque journeys he could take within the shores of Hayti-from Jacmel, at which the English mail is generally cast ashore, to Port-au-Prince, the capital city.

The road, it must be admitted, is rude and precipitous, and never traversed by a stranger without a guide. We started with ours one morning at four o'clock. He was a handsome African, with a Spanish caste of countenance, decorated with a well-formed moustachio, and rode upon a horse which carried the luggage, whilst we had another, apparently not fit for much fatigue. Being somewhat annoyed at not getting away three hours earlier, he set off at a hard gallop, and so proceeded for a couple of miles, without ever looking back to see whether we remained in the saddle or not. The moon, which was beginning to descend in the west, cast so strong a flood of her white, ambiguous, magical light across the road, that the illuminated intervals seemed water, and the sharply defined shadows of the trees, veritable logs of wood; in addition to which, the sort of footpath which we traversed was so crooked, that every moment we swung first on one side and then on the opposite, without being at all certain in what the whole would terminate. At last, stopping to wade across the stream, the black threw himself upon his elbow over the back of the horse, and, seeing us still safe, laughed at the success of his experiment, and recounted it to a soldier whom we overtook at that moment.

As we went down into the profound valley-through which the river pursues a course so exceedingly tortuous, that in sixty miles we had to ford it nearly eighty times—it became both dark and cold, There the moonlight touched only the summits of the western hills, and the dew lay plentifully on the broad leaves. A Scottish plaid, which we had taken to soften the saddle by day, and to serve as a covering by night, we were glad to wrap about us, and even then felt scarcely warm.

In less than a couple of hours the moon deserted the sky altogether, and left her empire to Jupiter, Sirius, and Orion; but even their regency was brief, for light, composed of colors more delightfully blended than that which we had just lost, began slowly to diffuse itself over the sky. Although every object soon became illumined, and the eye was sensibly relieved and gratified, all was so gentle and so general that no perceptible shadow was cast from any thing. In marvellously few moments, and without a single leaf being stirred—or rather, while every twig and spire seemed to pause for the blessing— the whole landscape became immersed in the ethereal element. Nothing could exceed the soothing and inspiring influence of the transition. The stream which we were perpetually crossing, instead of coming stealthily and gloomily from unseen recesses, tripped along radiantly. The monotonous hum of the grasshoppers, which had almost stunned our senses, ceased, and in their room the various tribes of moths expanded their many colored velvet banners to the sky, and floated hither and thither, luxuriously, on waves of air. We could have ridden leagues out of our way rather than have impaled one of them, or deprived it of that day of joy! But in what language shall the foliage be depicted? The deep colored evergreens mingled with the light shaded deciduous plants which grew about their roots; the tall palm casts its single canopy of leaves over the green banana that seemed to seek its shelter, and the parasites threw elegance and beauty over almost every branch that had not luxuriance of its own. These creepers did not seem always to injure the healthy trees to which they clung. Most of their supporters looked as verdant as themselves, except, indeed, where they had reached the summit of the tree and flung themselves completely over it, for then they concealed it entirely,

and fell in innumerable folds, like mantles of softest damask, to the ground.

soldier,

Whilst we were contemplating these plants, the negro who had rode some time by the guide, fell back, and, addressing us in good French, expatiated with pride upon their various qualities. He pointed to one tree which yields a valuable medicinal oil,—to another, which supplies a rich vermilion,— to another, which serves the poor for soap,-to the indigo plant, and to the mountain palm, which last, he repeatedly reminded us, was the symbol of liberty in the Haytian arms. This pleasant fellow, however, soon left us, and we galloped over flood and brake as before.

In a short time we crossed the last considerable fording place of the river, and began to ascend. The path was steep, but good, and the sides towards the east so high that the sun's direct rays were for the most part intercepted. When we gained the summit, a spectacle lay before the eye to which no words are equal. The whole of the valley which we had traversed lay beneath, guarded by mountains of the most varied outlines, and intersected by ranges of lesser eminences, covered with the richest vegetation, and all bathed in one floor of resplendent and lustrous sunshine. Cottages, frequently of tasteful construction, inhabited by the cultivators of the coffee shrubberies-which gave a garden-like appearance to the sides of the smaller hills-stood upon various projections, the better to meet the streams of air, and imparted something approaching to animation to the scene, for animation, it may be strange to say, was what we most of all desiderated. There was a singular silence over everything. The guide's Creole-French had made us abandon all attempts at conversation, and we rode on for miles without exchanging a syllable. We had left the murmuring of the river-we had ceased to hear the hum of insects-no birds uttered a note-the atmosphere moved not a leaf:

"No stir of air was there;

Not so much life as in a summer's day

Robs one light seed from off the feathered grass,
But where the dead leaf fell, there did it rest."

Although filled with sentiments of both wonder and admira

tion, we were by no means ungrateful for the covering of a rude cottage after we had descended into another valley, and risen half way up the opposite mountain. It was a wretched enough habitation, although we have seen worse in our Highland glens. We pulled out of our bag the leg of a fowl, and some bread, which the heat had brought to a racy sourness, and, with the help of good water, made a tolerable dinner, although it was then only ten o'clock in the morning. We remained until half-past two, when we resumed our journey, which lay over a country of undiminished beauty, until we came within sight of the Bay and Plain of Léogane. There the scene before us became totally different to the scene behind, and, as if to divide them permanently, a steep hill is thrown directly across the embouchures of the various valleys which there converge upon the shore. Over the pathway which lies along the level and narrow summit of that hill, we rode in single file. All on the right hand was rich, luxuriant, and deeply green; all on the left, comparatively tame, meagre, and bleak. It appeared as if the bard could have had no other spot in his eye, when he described the "verdurous wall” which divided Paradise from the rest of the world, and which "to our general sire gave prospect large."

As we descended we passed over the ruins of a large sugar manufactory. Much land is still devoted to the growth of the cane, and made to yield an abundant supply of syrup, or uncrystalised sugar, which is universally used by the people. It appears on table in bottles, from which you pour it into your tea, or any other matter requiring its aid.

The coffee plantations have an air of great loveliness at almost any period of the year, but especially when the branches are covered with the snow-white blossoms. Coffee is the staple produce of the island, and one of the few articles which has maintained pretty nearly the ancient standard.

Another considerable article of export is mahogany, which grows in the mountainous districts, near the streams of the Bouyaha and the Gayamuco, which pour their tributary waters into the Artibonite. The great shipping port of the timber is Gonaives, a town not far from the capital, on the lake of Léogane. Merchants residing there go at certain periods, accompanied by skilful workmen, and perambulate the woods to select their

trees and conclude their purchase. The men who live in those forests and devote themselves exclusively to woodcutting, it is said, scrupulously confine the use of the hatchet to the last quarter of the moon. An extensive mahogany merchant when he began his career, laughed at the mountaineers for cutting down their trees only at a particular phase of the moon, and ordered some stout timber to be felled when that luminary was at her full. He soon had reason to repent the experiment, for it had not lain long before it began to split of its own accord, and at last to burst asunder with a noise resembling the report of a cannon,-a phenomenon which at least deserves a record.

When we had travelled almost as far as our weary steeds could carry us, we reached a cottage somewhat better than the hut in which we had reposed at noon, where we intended to stay the night. The sable family, when we galloped up, were squatted round a fire in the starlight before their door. They were not much disposed to bestir themselves, but, after a few preliminaries and an hour's cooking, the dame brought us a bowlful of boiled peas and a plateful of overdone eggs, swimming in oil. We dug a yolk or two out of the mass, which made the remnant of our sour bread palatable, and then, with thankful hearts, cast ourselves on a bed, white as the drifted snow, but hard as the native ebony, on which for eight hours we continued blessedly oblivious of all climes, toils, and travels. In the morning we accomplished the last five leagues of our journey, and entered the capital before the sun had acquired. much power.-A Glimpse of Hayti.

Enquiries and Correspondence.

ANSWER TO ENQUIRY.

14. Judicial Murder. (p. 476.)

As Capital Punishments were in many cases awarded by the Jewish Law, there can be no possible pretext for supposing that the prohibition against murder was intended to affect them. Whether under the milder and more merciful dispensation of the gospel, we ought to inflict death for any crime, is quite another question. Our own opinion is decidedly against such a supposition, notwithstanding the assumed command, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood," &c.

ED.