another.

Fair

Before three minutes more are passed, all the hurrying clouds seem blown on one side. sky is everywhere above and around, a brilliant sun is shining, and there, there below us, is the upper surface of the clouds, extending far and wide, like a level plain, shutting out lowland and city and sea all from view, and in their place substituting brilliant reflections of solar light, which make the surface of this new mist-country look whiter than snow! Yes, indeed, we are now above the clouds ; and this view that we have attempted to describe is the first example of the heightened, the advanced, the glorified appearance of even Earth's sombre fog-banks to those who are privileged for a time to look on them from the heavenward side.

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"Above the clouds !"-not only no rain, no mist, no dew, but a scorching sun, and an air, both by day and by night, dry to almost an alarming degree. The further we advance, and the higher we ascend, the drier becomes the air; while at the same time the strength of the north-east trade-wind3 is continually decreasing, and at the height of about six or seven thousand feet has completely died

away.

Not that it has ceased elsewhere as well, for the driving clouds below show that it is still in its accustomed violence there. The distant movements of those rollers of white cloud betray that it must yet be raging down there in all its strength, tearing the mist piecemeal, and bowing down the heads of suffering palm-trees, and lashing the sea into foamcrested waves. Heaven grant that no cry of ship

wrecked mariners be borne on the breeze; and, more still, that no evil thoughts be engendering in the cities of men.

It was when our party on the mountain were in the fullest enjoyment of their daily and nightly views of the heavens, that their friends in the towns of Teneriffe near the sea-coast wrote to them most sympathizingly: "Oh! what dreadful weather you must have been suffering! Down here we have had for three weeks the most frightful continuance of storms constant clouds, rain, and howling winds; and if that was the case with us, what must it not have been with you at the greater height!"

Yet at the greater height, at that very time, the air was tranquil and serene, the sky clear, and bad weather entirely confined to that lower depth in the atmosphere, beneath "the grosser clouds."

1 Teneriffe', one of the Canary Islands (belonging to Spain), situated off the north-west coast of Africa. Its most remarkable feature is the Peak of Teneriffe, an extinct volcano, which is upwards of 12,000 feet high. The Canary Islands yield wine, oil, grain, sugar-cane and fruits.

2 Cactus plantations.-The cactus is cultivated partly for the Indian or prickly pear which grows upon some species, but chiefly for the sake of the cochineal insect, which feeds upon this plant, and from which a valuable dye is procured.

Trade-winds, constant winds that

blow in the tropical regions of the great oceans, especially in the Atlantic, where they are most regular. Currents of cold air are always flowing from the poles to the equator, to supply the place of the hot air which rises there from the surface of the globe. If the globe were at rest these would be due north and south winds; but as the globe turns from west to east more quickly than the surrounding air, these lagging currents become a north-east and a south-east wind respectively. They are called trade-winds because of their great advantage to navigators in sailing from east to west.

QUESTIONS.-What place was selected for the astronomical expedition of 1856? Who directed it? At what height was the party close under the cloud? What benefits arise to man from being beneath the clouds? How long was the party in piercing the cloud? What was the state of the sky above it? What was the appearance of the clouds from above? What was the state of the air as they ascended higher? What change did the trade-wind undergo? What showed that it had not ceased elsewhere? What was the state of the weather near the sea-coast? What, above the clouds?

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THE CONDOR OF THE ANDES.

IN those sterile heights1 Nature withholds her fostering influence alike from vegetable and from animal life. The scantiest vegetation can scarcely draw nutriment from the ungenial soil, and animals shun the dreary and shelterless wilds. The condor, or South American vulture, alone finds itself in its native element amidst these mountain deserts. On the inaccessible summits of the Cordillera, and at an elevation of from 10,000 to 15,000 feet, this bird builds its nest, and hatches its young in the months of April and May.

Few animals have attained so wide a celebrity as the condor. This bird was known in Europe at a period when its native land was numbered among those fabulous regions which are regarded as the scenes of imaginary wonders. The most extravagant accounts of the condor were written and read; and general credence was granted to every story which travellers brought from the fairy-land of gold and silver. It was only at the commencement of the present century that Humboldt overthrew the extravagant notions that had previously prevailed respecting the size, strength, and habits of this extraordinary bird.

The full-grown condor measures, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, from four feet ten inches to five feet; and from the tip of one wing to that of the other, from twelve to fourteen feet! This bird feeds chiefly upon carrion; it is only when impelled by hunger that it seizes living animals, and

3

even then only the small and defenceless, such as the young of sheep, vicuñas, and llamas.5

It cannot raise great weights with its feet; which, however, it uses to aid the power of its beak. The principal strength of the condor lies in its neck and in its feet; yet it cannot, when flying, carry a weight exceeding eight or ten pounds. All accounts of sheep and calves being carried off by condors are mere exaggerations.

The bird passes a great part of the day in sleep, and hovers in quest of prey chiefly in the morning and evening. Whilst soaring at a height beyond the reach of human eyes, the sharp-sighted condor discerns its

prey on

the level heights beneath it, and darts down upon it with the swift

ness of lightning.

When a bait is laid, it is curious

to observe the number of condors which assemble in a quarter of an hour in a spot near which not one had been previously visible. These birds possess the senses of sight and smell in a singularly powerful degree.

Some old travellers have affirmed that the plumage of the condor cannot be pierced by a musket ball. This absurdity is scarcely worthy of contradiction; but it is nevertheless true that the bird has a singular tenacity of life, and that it is seldom killed by fire-arms, unless when shot in some vital part.

Its plumage, particularly on the wings, is very strong and thick. The natives, therefore, seldom attempt to shoot the condor. They usually catch it by traps or by the lasso, or kill it by stones flung from slings, or by the bolas.

A curious method of capturing the condor alive is practised in one province. A fresh cow-hide, with some fragments of flesh adhering to it, is spread out on one of the level heights, and an Indian provided with ropes creeps beneath it, whilst some others station themselves in ambush near the spot ready to assist him. Presently a condor, attracted by the smell of the flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide, and then the Indian, who is concealed under it, seizes the bird by the legs, and binds them fast in the skin, as if in a bag. The captured condor flaps its wings, and makes ineffectual attempts to fly, but is speedily secured, and carried in triumph to the nearest village. Live condors are frequently sold in