manner, and were let down gently, without any apprehension of danger, about one hundred and sixty yards below the first layer of salt.

3. Quitting our hammocs we passed along a gradual descent, in some parts of which were broad passages or galleries capable of admitting several carriages abreast; in other parts we descended by steps cut in the solid salt, which had the grandeur and commodiousness of the stair case of a palace.

4. Each of us carried a light, and several guides preceded us with lamps, whose light, shining upon the glittering sides of the mine, was extremely beautiful, but did not cast that luminous splendour, which some writers have compared to the lustre of precious stones.

5. The salt dug from this mine is of an iron gray colour; when pounded, it is of a dirty ash colour, like what we call brown salt. Its quality improves in proportion to the depth of the mine. Towards the side, and surface, it is mixed with earthy or stony particles; lower down it is said to be perfectly pure; but probably is not so, for it has less strength than common sea salt.

6. Being almost as hard as stone, this salt is hewed with pick axes and hatchets into large blocks, many of which weigh six or seven hundred pounds. These are raised by a windlas; but smaller pieces are carried up by horses along a winding gallery, which reaches to the surface of the earth.

7. Besides gray salt, the miners sometimes find small cubes of white salt, as transparent as crystal, but not in any considerable quantity. They sometimes also dig up pieces of coal and petrified wood inclosed in this mass of salt.

8. The mine already extends to the depth of seven hundred and fifty feet. It is more than eleven hundred feet in breadth, and nearly a mile in length. This body of solid salt is supposed to branch out in various directions, but its extent is not ascertainable.

9. The greatest curiosity in this mine, is several chapels formed in the bosom of this immense body of salt. One of these is thirty feet long and twenty-five broad; the altar, the crucifix, the ornaments of the church, and the statues of several saints, are carved out of solid salt, and here mass is said on certain days in the year.

10. Many of the excavations or chambers are of an immense size; some are supported by timber; others by vast pillars of salt left standing for this purpose; and some are

left unsupported. One of these I judged to be eighty feet high, and it was so long as to appear in the subterraneous gloom without limits.

11.The vastsize of these chambers, with the spacious passages or galleries, together with the chapels, and a few sheds for horses, which are foddered below, probably gave rise to the accounts of some travellers, that this mine contains villages inhabited by colonies of miners who never see the light. But there is no truth in these accounts. The miners remain below not more than eight hours,and are then relieved by others.

12. This mine is as dry as an apartment above the earth. We observed only one small spring of water running through the salt. There is certain evidence that this mine has been worked more than six hundred years, and how much longer is not known.

13. Formerly the kings of Poland derived from it an annual revenue of more than three millions of florins. But when Poland was dismembered, this mine fell to the emperor, whose commissioners, by raising the price, lost a great part of the market for salt, which could be imported by the Vistula, and sold at a lower price.

14. Such a mass of rock salt is a stupendous phenomenon in the structure of the globe. But similar masses of solid salt are found in every quarter of the earth, either in beds beneath the surface, or in mountains. A mountain of this kind in Spain is five hundred feet high, and several leagues in circuit. The like are found in Asia and Africa.

15. Similar masses of salt are found in America, impregnating numerous springs of water, as at Onandago, in Kentucky, and in Louisiana. And as these beds of salt are usually at a great distance from the sea, they evince the wisdom of the Creator, who seems have intended these inexhaustible magazines of a necessary article, to accommodate those inhabitants of the globe, who cannot be supplied with it by means of navigation.

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XLIII. Market for MOVEABLE HOUSES in RUSSIA. MONG the curiosities of Moscow, is the market for the sale of houses. This is held in a large open space in one of the suburbs, and exhibits a great variety of ready made houses thickly strewed upon the ground.

2. The purchaser who wants a dwelling, repairs to thir

spot, mentions the number of rooms which he requires, examines the different timbers, which are numbered, and bargains for the frame which suits him. The house is sometimes paid for on the spot, and taken away by the purchaser; and sometimes the vender contracts to transport and erect the frame on the spot where it is designed to stand.

3. It may appear incredible, that a dwelling house may be thus bought, removed, raised and inhabited, within the space of a week; but we shall conceive it practicable, by considering that these ready made houses are, in general, merely trunks of trees mortised and tenoned together at the extremities, so that they are easily taken apart and transported from place to place.

4. This summary mode of building is not peculiar to the meaner hovels, but wooden edifices of large dimensions and handsome appearance are occasionally formed in Russia, with incredible expedition. An addition to a palace for the Empress, containing a magnificent suit of apartments, was begun and finished in six weeks. At her majesty's departure the materials were taken apart, and reconstructed into a sort of imperial villa, near Moscow.

XLIV. Description of the GLACIERS in Switzerland. THE Alps, which are the highest mountains in Eu

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rope, rise to twelve and fifteen thousand feet above the level of the ocean. The highest peaks are therefore in the region of perpetual frost, where the rays of the sun never dissolve the ice and snow, even in the midst of summer. The most elevated summits are for ever clothed with a body of snow, or a mixture of snow, hail and ice. ́

2. On the vast tops of less elevated mountains, are extensive valleys or hot which are filled with compact snow and ice, which are called glaciers or fields of ice. Some of these rest on the declivities, being formed by masses of snow precipitated from the steeper cliffs above, and sliding down till their progress is interrupted by rocks. In some instances these snow-slips are precipitated so suddenly, as to overwhelm the cottages below, and bury men and cattle in promiscuous ruin.

3. In other cases, these fields of ice rests on valleys, or on level earth, forming vast plains of solid ice, from one hundred to five hundred feet in depth, and many miles in length, and breadth. Over these the traveller may pass in safety. But

on the declivities, the ice is thrown into steep precipices, or parted by fissures, which form chasms of a hideous depth, and render a passage difficult and extremely dangerous. The unwary traveller, who slides into one of these, is lost beyond recovery.

4. The borders of the glacier of Montanvert are mostly skirted with trees; towards its base, a vast arch' of ice rises to near a hundred feet; under which rushes the river Arveren with considerable force. From the appearance of the firs near this glacier, it is evident that this body of ice sometimes increases, pushing forward and prostrating the trees; then is diminished in a course of time, and young trees spring up on the ground from which it has retired.

5. The ice and snow, which are in the lower regions of the mountains, are subject to be dissolved by the heat of summer, and in some cases, are seen fields of corn growing within a few yards of a glacier. These masses of ice, all resting on earth which is of its natural temperature, and warmer than frost, are perpetually, though slowly dissolving, and thus furnish perennial springs and streams. the Alps spring four of the largest rivers in Europe, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, and the Po, which roll their waters to the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Euxine.

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XLV. Stupendous BRIDGE of OSIERS, in PERU.

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THEN the Spaniards first landed in Peru, they found the people considerably advanced in the arts of civilized life. Yet the use of iron was not known; but instead of it the natives used tools made of copper; and instead of nails, cords were used to bind timbers together. In this state of their knowledge, the celebrated Inca, or prince, who introduced many improvements and much order among the Peruvians, invented and executed a bridge of Osiers over the river Apurimac, which is two hundred paces, or about six hundred feet wide.

2. In constructing this bridge, a twist of three pliant twigs of Osier was first formed, to which was added a twist of nine twigs, and three of these was twisted into one rope of a length sufficient to stretch across the river. By means of a float or by swimming, some persons crossed the river, carrying a line, to which was fastened the great rope, and

by which they hauled the end of it to the other side of the river, where it was made fast to a rock.

3. To secure the ends of this immense band, it was fastened at one end to a huge rock in its natural state. At the other end, the Peruvians were under the necessity of hewing a column out of a solid rock. These rocks were perforated, and the rope let into the holes, and made fast to beams on the other side. The better to secure these abutments, a thick wall of stone was raised against them.

4. Three of these osier ropes formed the foundation of the bridge, and two others were used, one on each side, as a railing or wall. The floor of this bridge, which was six feet wide, was formed of boards laid across the principal ropes with battens or cleats to prevent horses from slipping. This bridge of astonishing art and workmanship, was so useful, as to be kept in repair by a tax on the neighbouring provinces, and continued for a long period of time, until after the conquest of Peru by the Spaniads.

XLVI. Story of SERRANO, who was cast on a desert Island. 1. N the voyage of a Spanish fleet to America, a ship

foundered in the gulf of Mexico, and one of the men, named Serrano, saved his life by swimming to an island which still bears his name. This island is a barren sand, without water, wood, plants, or stones. On this dismal spot he was compelled to find subsistence, or submit to perish by hunger.

2. Serrano's ingenuity soon found the means of sustaining life. On the shore he found cockles, shrimps, and other sea animals, which at first he eat raw, for he had no fire. He then caught turtles by turning them on their backs; and cutting their flesh into slices, he dried it in the heat of the sun; using the blood for drink, until he could procure fresh water, which he did by saving the falling rain in the shells of sea animals.

3. His next object was to obtain fire, and was a business of immense difficulty, for want of iron or flint. There was not a stone on the island, but by diving in various places, he at length found two large pebbles, which he brought to an edge by rubbing. He then scraped some threads of his shirt into lint, and with the stones he struck fire, which he enkindled with dry sea weed and some fragments of ships which had been driven ashore. The fire he preserved by carefully shel