who was taken alive by the hunters, and brought in triumph to our author. But the little monster was not to be tamed by any treatment, kind or harsh, and, like all the other young ones obtained, he died without any previous sickness, and “without other ascertainable cause than the restless chafing of a spirit which could not suffer captivity nor the presence of man.” At night the female and young gorillas climb the trees, and sleep there for protection against wild beasts; but the male passes the night seated with his back against a tree-trunk, and there is generally a patch on which the hair is worn thin from sitting in this position. LEARN: thought. Co-los'-sal, large, massive; so called Rev-e-rie', a vision, a loose train of from the Colossus, a gigantic statue existing in ancient times in the island of Rhodes. Mor'-bid, diseased. Riv'-et-ed, fastened as though a nail had been driven through the Li-a'-nas, creeping stems or branches. Gre-ga'-ri-ous, living in company, not alone. Au-then'-tic, true, having a genuine authority. SPELL AND WRITE : fab'-u-lous grat'-i-fied de-fi'ance scram'-bled ex-pres ́-sive guard'-i-an fe-ro'-ci-ous ap-par'-ent-ly WRITE FROM DICTATION : They could see the waves like fine wrinkles on the blue surface, flecked here and there with white specks and lines; and broad patches of purple, like islands, which were the shadows of the clouds; and the ships and smaller craft slowly moving across the water. STORY OF THE SHIPWRECK OF THE DIANA. THE Diana frigate, of which I was an officer, was commanded by Admiral Pontaveen. We anchored on the 23rd of December, 1855, in the harbour of Sinoda, in Japan. We had on board a crew of about five hundred. About half-past nine in the morning we were surprised to see the boats afloat which we had sent on shore, and which had been all drawn up on the beach. But immediately our surprise was still greater in seeing wooden houses floating past us! We guessed at once that an earthquake beneath and around us was taking place. Our conjectures were, alas! too true. It proved to be a very fearful earthquake, and continued for seven hours, or until half-past four in the afternoon. During this dreadful time our frigate was swept out of and into the bay by the sea. Anchors were of no use, for land and sea were changing places. We were now on the ground, and the next moment afloat, and again on shore, swinging back and forward, guns breaking loose, killing some, and terrifying all. Our keel was torn off and our rudder lost. At last we were suddenly swept up from the outer bay into an inner harbour. Having reached it, we were seized by the waves as by a whirlpool, and the frigate spun round and round forty-five times in thirty minutes! It was awful, more especially as nothing whatever could be done to save us. No one could guess what the next minute would bring forth. We were of course unable to save a single life of the poor people, except that of an old woman whom we seized as she was sweeping past us on the roof of her wooden house. After the earthquake ceased, we found the ship leaking so much that we landed all her guns as speedily as possible, wrapped a sail round her to try and stop the leak, and then, in our miserably disabled state, endeavoured to navigate her to a harbour not far off, where we could refit. But our misfortunes were not ended. We had no sooner entered the open sea than a violent gale arose, and at night too. All now seemed over with us and our poor ship. We tried to hold her fast, or at least check her way, by dropping two anchors. But early in the morning we descried, about a cable's length to leeward, a wild and rocky coast, up whose steep precipices the sea was dashing its spray. One small nook of white sand among the rocks was at last seen. its A boat was sent on shore with a rope; crew managed to land and to fasten it. By this means we got the rest of the crew on shore, at first, by tying round each man a line which was conveyed to the party on shore, who hauled him to land, half drowned, through the surf. But we improved upon this by anchoring a boat immediately outside the breakers, and thus the drag с through the water was shorter. Thus every man of our five hundred got on shore in safety. Next day the gale ceased, and the frigate, to our surprise, still rode at her anchors. Was it possible yet to save the good ship? It was resolved to make the attempt. We were able to collect very speedily one hundred Japanese junks to tow her into a safe harbour. The junks were all made fast, the ship's anchors raised, and away they rowed, towing her, when suddenly down she went, head foremost, to the bottom, like a stone! Well, we all went on shore again, and I must here say, that from first to last we were most kindly treated by the Japanese. Our numbers may possibly have awed them; but it is but fair to give them all credit for what they did, and did so well. What now was to be done? We resolved at once to build a schooner. Everything had to be extemporised, but so heartily did we work, that from the time we cut down the first tree to build our craft, until she was afloat, was only four months. The admiral, as noble a fellow as ever lived, set sail with as many of the crew as he could stow away for the river Amoor, distant about one thousand three hundred miles. In her voyage the schooner was obliged to pass through the British fleet. So little idea had good John Bull that a Russian admiral was near him, that, on perceiving the approach of the unknown vessel, supposing of course that in those distant seas she was one of their own, he even showed a light, while another ship hailed her to "keep off." The admiral was ready to throw his valuable charts and also his despatches overboard, had he been taken. But he escaped into the Amoor. The next division of the shipwrecked crew chartered an American ship, and escaped the British. The third and last division, of which I was one, tried to escape, but were captured by the British man-of-war, the Baracoota. I remained a prisoner of war for about a year, visiting various ports in India, and I was treated with such courtesy and kindness that, to tell the truth, I would have no objections to be again taken prisoner by a ship of the British navy! At all events I shall never forget my generous friends and the Baracoota. Such was the story of the Russian lieutenant. -Norman Macleod. LEARN: Frig'-ate, a small war-vessel. Lee'-ward, that point towards which Schoon'-er, a small ship with two masts Charts, maps of different parts of the Char'-ter-ed, hired. |