TRAVELS IN SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA.

HAVING satisfied their curiosity at Ispahan, our travellers began to find their time hanging rather heavily on their hands, when a royal courier arrived with a despatch from the Persian court to Captain Blisset, informing him that the king was then at Teheran, about four hundred miles north of Ispahan, and had expressed his desire that he should follow thither with the despatches, and also with the soldiers sent to discipline his army, and, as orders had been given on the different stations to provide them with horses, they were soon on the road. The journey was not interesting, and we might, therefore, bring our travellers safely to their destination without remark, but that, on the way, they had an opportunity of observing, for the first time, a flight of locusts. On the second day, they were seated in their tents, about noon, when they heard a very unusual noise, that sounded like the rushing of a great wind at a distance, and, on looking out, observed an im mense cloud, which spread itself over the sky, and, at intervals, shadowed the sun; this they found to be a flight

of locusts; for numbers of these insects soon fell around them, and were immediately picked up by the poor of the country, who roast and eat them; illustrating, as Captain Blisset remarked to William, that passage in Holy Scripture where John the Baptist's food is said to have been locusts and wild honey. Wherever these insects settle, they soon eat up every thing green; but providentially in this instance this swarm was carried off by a strong wind to some more distant region.

On approaching Teheran, Captain Blisset was met by a body of cavalry, commanded by a nobleman of high rank. He was mounted upon a fine horse, and surrounded by a numerous body of running footmen; one bearing his pipe, another his shoes, another his cloak, a fourth his saddle cloth, &c.; the number being proportioned to his rank. The troops, who were well mounted, went through various evolutions, as the procession advanced, dividing into parties, and going through the different movements of a mock engagement.

On their arrival in Teheran, they found the English ambassador to the court of Persia ready to receive them at his own house; where those who know how gratifying it is, in a distant land, to meet a countryman, will readily believe they fixed their abode most willingly. On the following day they proceeded to the palace, and had a private audience of the king. He was seated on an embroidered carpet, in the corner of a small room, raised higher than the floor on which they were, and at some distance. When they perceived him, they immediately bowed with due respect, and continued to approach, until they were stopped at about thirty paces in front of him, where they left their shoes, and walked on the bare stones, Captain Blisset holding up the letter of which he was the bearer: the king then said, "You are welcome, come up," when they mounted a narrow flight of steps, that led at once into the room.

Opposite to him stood his prime minister, and the governor of the city; and, on one side, four pages richly dressed; one bearing his crown, a second his sword, a third his bow and arrows, and a fourth his shield and battle-axe. The king then desired Captain Blisset to sit down; which he did, on the ground; after which ensued a conversation in which his majesty expressed the high esteem he entertained for the British, and also his gratitude for the men whom the governor-general of India had sent to Persia, assuring him that during their stay they should be well treated, and, at their departure, amply rewarded. He asked Captain Blisset many questions concerning his own ambassador's conduct while in England, and appeared highly pleased with the account which our traveller had thus the opportunity of giving of his friend. He immediately ordered him to be called, and when he appeared, said to him, "Well done, well done, Abul Hassan, you have made my face white in a foreign country, and I will make yours white in this; you are one of the noblest of the families in my kingdom, and shall be raised to the highest dignity I can confer." At which words, Abul Hassan knelt down, after the Persian manner, and touched the floor with his forehead. At the conclusion of the audience, Captain Blisset received a present from the king of a most valuable shawl and a diamond ring; and William, the servant, a purse, containing ten golden coins, each valued at about three pounds sterling.- Voyages and Travels, vol. x.

PHILIP HENRY used to say that, as tradesmen take it ill when those who are in their books go to another store, so God takes it ill, if his people, who have received so much from him, and are indebted so much to him, do ap ply unto any creature for relief more than to him.

A DAY IN A TROPICAL FOREST.

THE naturalist, who is here for the first time, does not know whether he shall most admire the forms, hues, or voices of the animals. Except at noon, when all living creatures in the torrid zone seek shade and repose, and when a solemn silence is diffused over the scene, illumined by the dazzling beams of the sun, every hour of the day calls into action another race of animals. The morning is ushered in by the howling of the monkeys, the high and deep notes of the tree-frogs and toads, the monotonous chirp of the grasshoppers and locusts. When the rising sun has dispelled the mists which preceded it, all creatures rejoice in the return of day. The wasps leave their long nests which hang down from the branches; the ants issue from their dwellings, curiously built of clay, with which they cover the trees, and commence their journey on the paths they have made for themselves, as is done also by the termites, which cast up the earth high and far around. The gayest butterflies, rivalling in splendour the colours of the rainbow, especially numerous hesperiæ, flutter from flower to flower, or seek their food on the roads, or, collected in separate companies, on the sunny sandbanks of the cool streams. The blue, shining Menelaus, Nestor, Adonis, Laertes, the bluish-white Idea, and the large Eurylochus, with its ocellated wings, hover like birds between the green bushes in the moist valleys. The Feronia, with rustling wings, flies rapidly from tree to tree; while the owl sits immoveably on the trunk with outspread wings, awaiting the approach of evening. Myriads of the most brilliant beetles buzz in the air, and sparkle like jewels on the fresh green of the leaves, or on the odorous flowers. Meantime, agile lizards, remarkable for their form, size, and brilliant colours; dark-coloured, poisonous, or harmless serpents, which exceed in splendour the ena

mel of the flowers, glide out of the leaves, the hollows of the trees, and holes in the ground, and, creeping up the stems, bask in the sun, and lie in wait for insects and birds. From this moment all is life and activity. Squirrels, and troops of gregarious monkeys, issue inquisitively from the interior of the woods to the plantations, and leap, whistling and chattering, from tree to tree. Gallinaceous jacus, hoccos, and pigeons, leave the branches and wander about on the moist ground of the woods. Other birds, of the most singular forms, and superb plumage, flutter singly, or in companies, through the fragrant bushes. The green, blue, or red parrots assemble on the tops of the trees, or, flying toward the plantations and islands, fill the air with their screams. The toucan, sitting on the extreme branches, rattles with his large hollow bill, and in loud, plaintive notes, calls for rain. The busy orioles creep out of their long, pendent, bag-shaped nests, to visit the orange trees; and their sentinels announce with a loud screaming cry the approach of man. The fly-catchers sitting aloof, watching for insects, dart from the trees and shrubs, and, with rapid flight, catch the hovering Menelaus, or the shining flies, as they buzz.by. Meantime, the amorous thrush, concealed in the thicket, pours forth her joy in a strain of beautiful melody; the chattering manakins, calling from the close bushes, sometimes here, sometimes there, in the full tones of the nightingale, amuse themselves in misleading the hunters; and the woodpecker makes the distant forests resound while he picks the bark from the trees. Above all these strange voices, the metalic tones of the urapanga sound from the tops of the highest trees, resembling the strokes of the hammer on the anvil, which appearing nearer, or more remote, according to the position of the songster, fill the wanderer with astonishment. While thus every living creature by its actions and voice greets the splendour of the day, the delicate humming-birds, rivaling in beauty and