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Can you inform me whether it is inhabited? If so, you will oblige your admirer, in your Bethel Magazine. JOHN.

Spitzbergen is the most northerly country of Europe, called GREENLAND by Sir Hugh Willoughby, in 1553; but, in 1595, it was again visited by William Barentz and John Cornelius, two Dutch navigators, who called it SPITZBERGEN, or Sharp Mountains, from the many sharp-pointed rocky mountains with which it abounds, rising out of the sea to the height of more than 4000 feet! This region is found to be a group of islands, formerly supposed to be part of the continent. They are situated between latitude 76° 30' and 80° 40' N.; extending nearer to the north pole than any other country hitherto discovered. Though annually visited by vessels engaged in the whale fishery, they do not appear to have been ever permanently inhabited. The seasons of this frozen region are very remarkable, as they seem but one long winter's night for nearly half a year, and then a long, but variable, summer's day. A sensible writer says of this region:-"The single night of this dreadful country begins about the 30th of October; the sun then sets, and never appears till about the 10th of February.

glimmering, indeed, continues some weeks after the setting of the sun; then succeed clouds and thick darkness, broken by the light of the moon, which is as luminous as in England, and during this long night shines with unfading lustre. The cold strengthens with the new year; and the sun is ushered in with an unusual severity of frost. By the middle of March, the cheerful light grows strong, the Arctic foxes leave their holes, and the

sea-fowl resort in great multitudes to their breeding-places. The sun sets no more after the 14th of May; the distinction of day and night is then lost. In the height of summer, the sun has heat enough to melt the tar on the decks of ships; but from August its power declines; it sets fast. After the middle of September, day is hardly distinguishable, and by the end of October, takes a long farewell of this country: the earth becomes frozen, and winter reigns triumphant."

Doubtless, John would not like to live in Spitzbergen but he may help and pray for sailors who go there fishing for whales.

SELF-EXAMINATION.

DID I this morn devoutly pray
For God's assistance through the day?
And did I read his sacred word,

To make my life therewith accord?

Did I for any purpose try

To hide the truth or tell a lie?

Was I obedient, humble, mild,—
Such as becomes a Christian child?

Did I my thoughts with prudence guide,
Checking ill-humour, anger, pride?
Did I my lips from aught refrain
That might my fellow-creatures pain?
Did I with cheerful patience bear
The little ills we all must share?
To all my duties through this day
Did I a due attention pay?
And did I, when the day was o'er,
God's watchful care again implore?

APPEAL TO THE UNCONVERTED

SAILOR.

BY THE REV. C. WIGHTMAN, EXETER.

THOUGHTLESS sailor, unconverted,
Sailing o'er life's dangerous sea!
Christian friends have here concerted
Thus to show their love to thee!
Wilt thou listen

To the Gospel, full and free?
In the Gospel's sailing order,
Mutineers are all condemned
Who rebel against their Owner,
And will not his ship defend,
But betray Him,

And the enemy befriend.

Yet the glorious free-grace Gospel
Calls upon all mutineers
To relinquish Satan's service,

And become Christ's volunteers.

We persuade you,

And would hail your choice with cheers.

Oh! it is a faithful saying,

Worthy of your firmest trust;
Shun all those, your souls betraying;
Jesus came to save the lost!

Oh, believe it!

Make the Saviour's name your boast.

Come, then, mutineer, so guilty,
Deprecate your Captain's wrath;
Come, confess you have been faulty,
Cry, "Deliver me from death!'
He will hear you.

Oh, believe his covenant oath !
Enter, then: obey his summons,
By his grace you'll be preserved
From all dangers, rocks, and quicksands,
And when you your time have served,
Crowned with Jesus

Shall be your free-grace reward!

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GREAT BOA CONSTRICTOR.

MONSTROUS Serpents are found only in the hotter regions of the earth; the steaming morasses, the swampy margins of rivers, the borders of lakes, the tangled underwood that skirts the dark and marshy forest-these are their favourite abodes. There they lurk, half floating in the water, half stretched upon the land, or partly twined around some ragged trunk of a tree, to the bark of which their colours bear a resemblance. Patient to wait, undaunted to attack, and darting on their victim, rapid as an arrow, what can escape them?

L

Many of our readers may be acquainted with the circumstances recorded in history, relative to a huge serpent, against the force of which Regulus, a Roman general, was obliged to employ the most effective military engines then known. This monster is said to have occupied a position on the banks of the River Begrada, between Utica and Carthage, and to have destroyed many of the soldiers, who had gone to the spot for water. Darts were hurled at him, but they slid off his scales; so that the machines for throwing large stones were brought against him, and he was killed by one which struck him on the back. Regulus took the skin of it, measuring a hundred and twenty feet, to Rome.

In the Oriental Annual is the following narrative, accompanied by an engraving from a picture by Mr. Daniell, showing that men and sailors are not altogether free from the attacks of these gigantic serpents.

"A few years before our visit to Calcutta," says the writer, "the captain of a country ship, while passing the Sunderbunds, sent a boat into one of the creeks to obtain some fresh fruits, which are cultivated by the few miserable inhabitants of this inhospitable region. Having reached the shore, the crew moored the boat under a bank, and left one of the party to take care of her. During their absence, the Lascar, who remained in charge of the boat, overcome by heat, lay down under the seats and fell asleep. While he was in this happy state of unconsciousness, an enormous boa constrictor emerged from the jungle, reached the boat, and had already coiled its huge body round the sleeper, and was in the very act of crushing him to death, when his companions

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