182 DANCING SERPENTS.-LARGE CANNON.

DANCING SERPENTS.

SEVERAL men came to our door, to exhibit dancing serpents. Some of these reptiles were six or seven feet long. Each was coiled up in a separate basket, out of which they were dragged, and thrown upon the ground; their keepers singing to them certain drawling airs, accompanied by strokes upon a small drum, which regulated the motions of the serpents. These raised themselves to the height of two feet, flattening their breasts, and turning their heads to bite their keepers, which they were allowed to do, occasionally, so as even to draw blood; but they are innoxious, their poisonous fangs having been extracted. We have been told of a gentleman, a fine performer on the violin, who living at Chinsurah, was obliged to lay aside his instrument, as the lively sounds so charmed the serpents in the neighbourhood, that his house could not be kept free from them.

LARGE CANNON.

In a village near Cutwa, we saw what yet appears above ground of an immense brass cannon, seventeen and a half feet long, twenty-one inches in diameter at the muzzle, and enlarging proportionately towards the breech; the calibre is six

inches. On the upper surface are several large rings, and a Persian inscription, of which we have not preserved a copy. This prodigious piece of ordnance was mounted upon a carriage of wood and iron; but a large tree has been springing up, about and underneath it, till it is no longer possible to move the cannon without destroying the plant, whose roots have completely enveloped and upheaved the lower part, and whose growth, in due time, will undoubtedly imbed the whole mass. The Hindoos have deified this inert and impotent engine of destruction, having placed an idol at one extremity, which they worship. They have a tradition that when this cannon is fired, the world will come to an end, and, from present appearances, it is not likely to be fired before then.

THE ANT.

THERE was a great Tartar warrior, named Timour, who lived about the time of Henry the Fourth. This Timour was once obliged to take shelter from his enemies in a ruined building, where he sat alone and dispirited for many hours. While in this forlorn, and, as it seemed to him then, almost hopeless condition, he observed an ant endeavouring to drag a very heavy load up a high wall. Sixty-nine times he counted that the load fell from its mouth to the ground, and the

patient insect went back to fetch it; the seventieth time, the ant succeeded. Timour said to himself, this little creature was not discouraged by so many failures; shall I have less resolution than an ant! This roused him, and, as he afterwards said, gave him courage to bear up against his misfortunes; and during his whole life he never forgot this example of perseverance against difficulties. He conquered all who opposed him, and became a very powerful prince.

SYMPTOMS OF IMPOSTURE.

AMONG the marvellous stories related by Mahomet and his followers, one is, that he was conveyed on a mysterious animal from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from thence ascended the seven heavens, conversed with patriarchs and angels, and approached within two bow shots of the throne of the Almighty; then descended to Jerusalem, and returned to Mecca, all in the tenth part of a night. Another is, that the moon, at Mahomet's command, left the sky, performed seven revolutions round the temple of Mecca, saluted him in the Arabic language, entered at the collar of his shirt, and issued forth through his sleeve. A third is, that he saw angels in heaven, whose heads were so large that it would take a bird a thousand years to fly from one ear to the other !!!

TO A WOUNDED SINGING BIRD.

POOR singer! hath the fowler's gun,

Or the sharp winter, done thee harm?

We'll lay thee gently in the sun,

And breathe on thee, and keep thee warm; Perhaps some human kindness still

May make amends for human ill.

We'll take thee in, and nurse thee well,
And save thee from the winter wild,

Till summer fall on field and fell,

And thou shalt be our feathered child, And tell us all thy pain and wrong When thou again canst speak in song.

Fear not, nor tremble, little bird,—
We'll use thee kindly now,

And sure there's in a friendly word

An accent even thou shouldst know; For kindness which the heart doth teach, Disdaineth all peculiar speech:

'Tis common to the bird and brute,
To fallen man, to angel bright,
And sweeter 't is than lonely lute
Heard in the air at night,—
Divine and universal tongue,
Whether by bird or spirit sung!

But hark! is that a sound we hear

-

Come chirping from its throat,--
Faint-short-but weak, and very clear,
And like a little grateful note?
Another? ha-look where it lies,
It shivers-gasps—is still,—it dies!

'T is dead, 't is dead! and all our care
Is useless. Now, in vain

The mother's woe doth pierce the air,
Calling her nestling bird again!
All's vain :-the singer's heart is cold,
Its eye is dim,-its fortune told!

STUPENDOUS STATUES.

SEMIRAMIS caused the mountain Bagistan, between Babylon and Media, to be cut out into a statue of herself, which was seventeen stadia high —that is, above half a French league; and around it were a hundred other statues, of proportionable size, though less large.

It was proposed to Alexander the Great, to make a statue of him out of mount Athos, which would have been a hundred and fifty miles in circumference, and ten miles in height. The design was to make him hold in his left hand a city, large enough to contain ten thousand inhabitants; and in the other an urn, out of which should flow a river into the sea!