a party of gentlemen at a billiard table in a well-lighted room, amongst them our host, engaged with all the energy and interest that belong to that beautiful game. Shortly afterwards he entered my room, still flushed, and out of breath with the exercise he had taken; and I could scarcely repress a smile when he apologised for having so long absented himself, and pleaded an extraordinary press of business to which even the rites of hospitality must yield! Tampico is pleasantly situated on the river of the same name, within view of the sea, and within sound of the roaring of the breakers on the bar at the mouth of the river. Near it is a lake, which is the chief cause of the fatal distempers which rage there at certain seasons. A person who had resided there for a length of time informed me, that a few years previous, during the dry season, the bed of the lake was left without water, when the exhalations from the mud and putrifying fish had so pestilential an effect on the atmosphere, as to tarnish the colour of silver money carried in the pocket. Those who remained there and lived through that season, professed themselves proof against malaria or miasma.

In the course of our walks round the town we observed many pleasant looking dwellings, with small gardens, in which the plan. tana or banana flourished with its rich clusters of fruit. The respectable establishments of the resident foreigners have quite an imposing appearance beside the small flat-roofed Mexican houses, with their low doors and unglazed windows; and these last are splendid abodes compared to the wretched huts of the poor, who form the most numerous part of the population. They are a slothful race, content to live in wretchedness rather than make any effort to better their condition. A scourge at that time appeared amongst them, to which their squalid, comfortless state rendered them peculiarly a prey. The very day of our arrival the cholera seized its first victim, a beautiful young Mexican, whose untimely fate created some excitement, and put a stop to a grand ball that was to have taken place that night, and for which the poor lady had furnished herself with a wreath of flowers. Her husband, who was passionately fond of her, adopted a singular mode of proving his affection. When she was first seized with the fatal disorder, so great was his grief and consternation, that he fled to the house of a friend a few miles off in the country, from which he did not return till after she was buried! Thus was his poor wife abandoned to her servants, who in their ignorant stupidity aggravated instead of alleviating her sufferings.

When we left New Orleans, her polluted streets, and loathsome, half floating cemeteries were yet reeking from the effects of that

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cruel disorder, which followed us like a grim phantom to a foreign land, and there stalked after us, and round about us, nor departed till it had snatched from our family circle one of its brightest

ornaments.

way

The appearance of this disease threw many difficulties in the of our leaving Tampico, as the country people were deterred by it from coming in with their mules; and it was on the muleteers we had to depend entirely for the conveyance of our baggage into the interior. The most bulky and valuable part of our luggage was in the hold of the vessel, from whence the Captain refused to remove it before we left the shore, in consequence of which it fell into the clutches of some land sharks, from whom we could devise no means of rescuing it, though we made repeated applications through the American Consul. And when, after many weeks' delay, our packages were at last forwarded to us, many valuable articles were "found missing." Silver forks and spoons had been appropriated, and two large pier glasses, &c. And our books !---alas! they had been ransacked, mutilated, and reduced to odd volumes; but there was no redress to be had, "no remedy but tears." They even broke open my writing-desk, and purloined several quires of fine gilt-edged letter paper. The common post they left for me, and I employed it in writing memorandums, which, "revised and corrected," will be submitted with due humility to the inspection of comfortable individuals," who sit at home at ease," and know nothing of travelling, its dangers, difficulties, and delights,-except from the pens of those whose crude attempts at description they are called upon to criticise.

When I speak of travelling, I do not allude to the swift transition of our busy citizens from one crowded city to another in the everready steamboats, stages, or railroad cars; by means of which they may ascend and descend rivers, cross bays, and traverse leagues, without once gazing on the fair face of nature, or inhaling for more than a passing moment her pure breezes. In place of these rise suffocating vapours from the roaring engine, and the unwholesome atmosphere of stove-heated cabins filled with endless varieties of the "human face divine," (so called by courtesy,) where the sweet sounds of singing birds, and rustling leaves, and the wild choruses of winds and waters, are exchanged for the bustling and squealing of babies and their mammas, or "the din, the hum, the shock of men," till all is drowned in the rude snorting of the im petuous steam. Is this travelling?-yes, certainly-the best possible mode of travelling-the most convenient, the most expeditious. Be it so granted-all its conveniences and incalculable advan. tages, but commend me to a good horse, good servants, a mountain

road, and pleasant companions; and let accommodations take care of themselves, and steam power go to—but I must not say a word in disparagement of steam power in this enlightened land, where thousands of engines noisily proclaim their importance. This is a long digression. Where was I?-travelling-yes, "fighting my battles o'er again" in my memorandum book, which tells of genuine, primitive travelling over roads where wheels have made no tracks, and the Jehu's whip was never heard.

THE ELYSIAN ISLE.

"It arose before them, the most beautiful island in the world-❞

Irving's Columbus

"And to the voyager's eye, this island, clothed in the richest verdure, and bathed by the warm airs of the tropics, seemed to realize the poet's fabled Elysium."

It was a sweet and pleasant isle

As fair as isle could be;

And the wave that kissed its sandy shore
Was the wave of the Indian sea.

It seemed an emerald set by Heaven
On the Ocean's dazzling brow—
And where it glowed long ages past,
It glows as greenly now.

I've wandered oft in its valleys bright,

Through the gloom of its leafy bowers,
And breathed the breath of its spicy gales
And the scent of its countless flowers.

I've seen its bird with the crimson wing
Float under the clear blue sky;
I've heard the notes of its mocking bird
On the evening waters die.

In the starry noon of its brilliant night,
When the world was hushed in sleep-
I dreamed of the shipwrecked gems that lie
On the floor of the soundless deep.

And I gathered the shells that buried were
In the heart of its silver sands,

And tossed them back on the running wave,
To be caught by viewless hands.

Anon.

There are sister-spirits that dwell in the sea,
Of the spirits that dwell in the air;
And they never visit our Northern clime,

Where the coast is bleak and bare:

But around the shores of the Indian isles
They revel and sing alone-

Though I saw them not, I heard by night
Their low, mysterious tone.

Elysian isle! I may never view
Thy birds and roses more,

Nor meet the kiss of thy loving breeze
As it seeks thy jewelled shore.—

Yet thou art treasured in my heart

As in thine own deep sea;

And, in all my dreams of the spirits' home,
Dear isle, I picture thee!

P. B.

A GOOD OLD CUSTOM.

Yes, a good old custom, which the new people of our Babylonian city are every year trying to put down among us; it is for that we ask your aid, dear Ammon; and by giving a place to the following extract from a fashionable novel of some three centuries hence, you may put an end to all such attempts in future, and oblige many

A DAUGHTER OF ST. NICHOLAS.

"The sun shone brightly, as it always ought to shine on the first of January, when young Osceola Fitzjacksonhoff ordered up his airiole, and stepping lightly into it from the skylight of his library, slipped the check of the propeller, and commenced his morning peregrinations. It was new year's day of the year 2000, and the observance of one of the most time-honoured customs of the metropolis seemed to have called all the male population abroad. The air immediately above the city was alive with gay aëripages, and groups of well-dressed alestrians continually flying to and fro; while the wild and not unpleasing notes of the steam flutes with which each pleasure car was supplied, executing some lively strain of our best Colonic composers, gave the highest animation to the scene. Vehicles of every kind appeared to be in requisition. Here might be seen the lumbering but roomy and comfortable cloud-coach, tracking its way with huge air buckets and ponderous

piston to convey a fur-wrapped party of veteran visitors to their destination. There the light single-cylinder-volant with its well imitated wings, might be discovered hovering around a balcony to land its fashionable owner. Now a tawdry aëricle would flaunt up from the unknown regions below Union Place, and now the trim and clean-built vis-air-vis or dashing flaërup, with its brace of mustachoed bloods, would catch the delighted eye as they reined up near some lofty portico. The sky-omnibuses were as usual dressed up with evergreens; and the mirth called out by the stable wit of their racing drivers was echoed by peals of laughter from the door of some floating restaurant, where a covey of winged urchins were regaling themselves. Mirth and good humour, indeed, seemed the order of the day; and our hero felt his spirits rise as he gradually mounted to a sufficient height to take a survey of the scene we have attempted to describe. Bevies of alestrians were continually flying past him, and Fitzjacksonhoff recognized more than one of his friends, who, having no vehicle of his own, was compelled to go on wing. "Smith," he cried, as a young gentleman of that ancient and extensive family flew slowly by him, "Smith, my dear fellow, a happy new year to you--What! alone are you? Pray jump in and take a seat beside me."

"Thank you, thank you-happy new year to you-with plea. sure," answered the other, as, somewhat out of breath, he accepted the offer and seated himself in the airiole. "The truth is," continued Smith," that I've just been longing for an offer of this kindit's impossible to engage an air hack on this day; and as I have nine hundred visits to pay, I'm really tired of trudging along on wing." "Nine hundred, my boy," cried Osceola, "a mere trifle; let me look at your visiting list, and I will drop you just where you please."

IMPROMPTU.

TO A LADY WHO TALKED OF COMMUNING WITH THE STARS WHEN SHE WAS SAD.

Ou, tell not the stars-the gay stars, of thy sadness

If moments there be, when the feeling steals o'er thee--
They may shine like the world o'er thy moments of gladness,
And gild each bright thought with a ray of their glory.
But their beams are too cold, and too far off, for sorrow

To awaken a sigh from their chorus of mirth;
And the soul that in sadness would sympathy borrow
Must look for a lender much nearer the earth.
Then lavish no more on those chilly orbs yonder
The treasures of feeling they cannot return;
Awhile on the planet from which thy thoughts wander,

There is one heart at least will with sympathy burn.

H.*