the rock, charged with calcareous matter; and the same matter has in some parts extended itself from the sides over the upper surface of the earthly deposite at the bottom, like a crust of ice over a muddy pool. These calcareous concretions, when they depend from the roof, are called Stalactites, and when they lie on the bottom, Stalagmites. The stratum of loam or mud is thickly interspersed with teeth and jawbones, and other bones of animals, in a state of great comminution, all mixed together, and some of them sticking through the Stalagmitic crust, like twigs through the ice of a pond. These bones lie thickest at the bottom of the muddy deposite; they are generally well preserved, and in no degree mineralised. The animals to which they belong are the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, hyæna, tiger, bear, wolf, fox, weasel, ox, deer, rabit, water-rat, mouse, and some birds-all except, perhaps, the wolf and fox, thought to be of extinct species, but nearly allied in character to those now existing. In the neighbourhood of this cave was found another (at Kirby Moorside) with a similar deposite of mud, six feet thick, at the bottom, but without a single fossil bone. There are many caves in other parts of England and in Germany which present similar phenomena; but without attending to these in the meantime, we shall state the inferences deducible from the facts ascertained with regard to the Kirkdale cave, strengthened and confirmed as they are by a multitude of analogous facts.

1st. That cave, which is far above modern floods, had its natural entrance shut till 1821, and as the organic remains belong to extinct species, they must have been deposited there under an order of things different from the present. 2. The fossil bones could not be those of animals which lodged in the cave, because it is too small to admit the oxen, horses, elephants, rhinoceroses to which a part of them belong. 3. Neither could they be washed in by a flood, because scarcely one rolled stone or pebble is to be found mixed with them; and though they are in a state of extreme comminution, such as it would require long agitation to produce, they are not water worn or deprived of their angles. 4. They must, therefore, have consisted of the bones of animals which lived and died in the neighbourhood, and which were carried into the cave by some other animals that inhabited it. 5. From the circumstance that only the teeth and hardest parts of the bones remain, the tenant of the cave must have been an animal that devoured bones. Now, the existing hyæna has this quality. Bones are its favourite food, and it rejects only the teeth and such hard bones and portions of bones as are found remaining here. When we add, that the fossil relics of the hyæna are not only found in the cave, but are in such abundance as to indicate the existence of 200 or 300 individuals of various ages, and that the dung of this animal, and of no other, is found among the loam, the proof is almost irresistible that this was an Antidiluvian hyæna's den, inhabited by a succession of these animals for many centuries. When we combine with the phenomena of the cave, what was previously known with regard to the multitude of fossil remains, some of them entire skeletons, belonging to the elephant, rhinoceros, bear, &c. found under the alluvial soil, over all England, France, Germany, Russia, and Siberia, it is equally incontestable that

the remains of these animals. found in Kirkdale cave, were not brought by the ocean from tropical climates, but belonged to individuals which had lived and died in the neighbourhood, as the same species then inhabited England generally, and all the north of Europe and Asia. The weaker creatures, such as the fox, deer, weasel, rabbit, we may suppose were seized and carried in alive; the large ruminant animals, whose bones are very numerous, were probably killed and dragged in piecemeal; and as for the stronger quadrupeds, such as the elephant, tiger, rhinoceros, the voracious tenant of the cave would content himself with carrying off portions of their carcases when they died a natural death.

Mr. BUCKLAND, was so zealous as to make a visit to the celebrated caves in the Hartz Forest and Franconia, whose organic remains have attracted so much attention. The interior of these ancient repositories harmonised remarkably with the caves in England. And a comparison of the whole led Mr. BUCKLAND to detect a striking coincidence in an important point, which had been little or not at all attended to before. He observed in all the caves, without acception, one, and only one, horizontal bed of loam or mud in the bottom, sometimes with, sometimes without pebbles, serving as a matrix to the fossil bones where there were any, varying from one or two to twenty or thirty feet in thickness, and and in almost all cases covered partly or wholly with that crust of Stalagmite which is every day increasing under our eyes. The level surface of this deposite shows clearly that it has been formed by water. As it covers not merely the cavities of the bottom, but every ledge of flat surface on which it could lie, however elevated, the water must have filled the whole cavity; and as there never is a second bed of loam above the Stalagmitic incrustations, it is plain that the waters had never visited the caves a second time-that in short there had most certainly been one great flood, and only one. We cannot enter much into details, but we think Professor BUCKLAND has made out this important conclusion in a manner extremely satisfactory.

Let us now for the sake of simplicity take the Kirkdale cave, and consider particularly the matter that covers its bottom. Let us figure a low narrow chamber of an indefinite length in the limestone rock, and four or five feet wide. The rocky bottom of this cavity, where laid bare, is found in some places worn smooth, as if with the feet of beasts. At other parts it is covered with a Stalagmitic crust, proceeding from the sides, but only in small quantity, and containing no animal remains. Above this is found some other calcareous incrustations, enclosing teeth and fragments of bone. Above this again lies a stratum or deposite of mud, a foot thick, enveloping a multitude of teeth and small bones. And this is covered by a newer crust of Stalagmite, resting on the surface of the mud, sometimes forming a floor from side to side, and which crust is daily increasing by new infiltrations. Nearly the same arrangement of parts is common to all the caves; and it clearly refers to four chronological periods. 1. A period when the cave was uninhabited, but dry as at present, and when calcareous incrustations spread themselves over its bottom. The small quantity of this primitive Stalagmite shows that the

period was short. 2. A period when the cave was inhabited by a succession of hyænas whose bones and the bones of their prey were thickly strewed over the bottom, and a small part of them enveloped in the stony concretions, still continuing to form. The period as well as the former was evidently antidiluvian. The quantity of the animal remains, and especially the number of hyænas which must have inhabited the cave, show that the succession of these tenants must have run through a long period. It is worthy of remark, too, that the undermost bones, which had lain longest exposed, are most decayed; and it is curious, that while the under sides of some of these (as found in situ) retain their original roughness, the upper sides are smoothed as if from the paws or sides of an animal passing over, or reposing on them. 3. A period when a great inundation took place; and the waters, charged with the detritus of the land, deposited a sediment of mud upon the bones, which enclosed them like a matrix, the lowest part being most loaded with the animal remains, as might be expected. 4. A period since the waters retired, and during which the upper crust of Stalagmite has been, and still continues to be formed. From the quantity of this calcareous matter, we infer that the period since the retiring of the waters is longer than the 1st or 2d periods. And as a second deluge, had one occurred, would assuredly have deposited a second stratum of mud above the upper Stalagmitic floor, the total absence of such a deposite seems to show conclusively that no more that one deluge has occurred since the caves were formed. At a future era, from careful observations on the existing rate of increase of these concretions, and from other data, we shall perhaps be able to fix with considerable certainty the length of each period, and to determine a multitude of other problems of a most interesting kind. Neither man, nor any creature analogous to man, has yet been found in these antidiluvian repositories. But when the lights of science have penetrated Chaldea and Assyria, the primeval seats of the human race, we shall perhaps find the ipsa corpora of the first race of mankind, embalmed in the bitumen of Mesopotamia, or the calcareous deposits of Mount Ararat. We shall then know the stature and form-and some future CUVIER will even tell us the habits, characters, and whole animal economy-of those men who lived a thousand years, and begat sons and daughters.

We have not space or time to follow our author into his other curious inquiries. He inclines to the opinion that the climate of the antidiluvian world was different from that under which we live. But he holds, upon good grounds, that the sea and land occupied generally the same positions as at present. He has rendered the proofs of a universal deluge more distinct and satisfactory; he has furnished us with some new data for calculating the duration of relative eras, marked out by great physical changes; and he has decisively set aside the opinion to which CUVIER seems to have inclined, that the earth has been subjected to the action of a great inundation more than once since the consolidation of the newest rocky strata. We cannot conclude, however, without adding, that the book is well written, and considering the style in which it is got up, and the number of plates remarkably cheap.

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

A RESIDENCE IN CHILI.*

CHILI, after accomplishing a revolution as early as 1810, became, in the progress of the wars of South America, a sort of battle ground, which was warmly contested on the one hand by the patriots, from Buenos Ayres, and on the other by the royalists from Lima. In the end the sanguinary battles of Chacabuco and Maypee, in which the armies of these distant regions met, led to the entire occupation of Chili by the patriots, and the Royalists have been called upon to defend the last remaining territory of the king of Spain in the wide extent of South America, the territory of Lima itself. In the strife for ascendency the importance of Chili has been strongly manifested. Its fine climate, its fertile soil, its rich resources made it not less an object of consequence than its local position, by which it became a point whence the conqueror might assail the vanquished with advantage.

Chili is bounded on the north by the desert of Atacama and Peru, on the west by the Pacific ocean, on the south by the river Biobio and Avanco, and on the east by the states of the basin of La Plata at the eastern foot of the Andes. The capital of Chili is Santiago, sometimes called Chili only, its Indian name. The country, since it became an independent republic, has been governed by a supreme Director, and a senate composed of five persons. The population is estimated at two hundred and fifty, or three hundred thousand souls.

The writer of this journal arrived at Chili in the American ship Canton, in August 1817, soon after the sanguinary battle of Chacabuca, in which San Martin and O'Higgins, with an army from Buenos Ayres, had entirely destroyed the royal forces under Sambruno. The wreck of the defeated royalists fled to Talcahuano, a sea port on the Pacific, where they fortified themselves, and succeeded in repelling the assault of the patriots, until a re-enforcement arrived from Lima. During the whole of this siege and assault of Talcahuano and afterwards until the battle of Maypee the writer, it appears, was detained by the royalists, the vessel in which he arrived having been seized and the cargo taken possession of by them. After the battle of Maypee he resided with the patriots. His long stay in the country, the various journeys he made, as well as the deeply interesting incidents then occurring, all conspired to render a narrative, if tolerably executed, attractive: and we have perused the journal with much interest and satisfaction. We shall refer our readers to the book itself for the details it furnishes of the vicissitudes of the war, and of the perils of the writer; and select some of his notices of the remarkable particulars in the character of this country and its inhabitants.

* Journal of a residence in Chili. By a young American, detained in that country, during the revolutionary scenes of 1817-18-19. Boston. Wells and Lilly. 1823. Pp. 237.

"In Chili, they know but three seasons, Summer, Winter, and Spring; which last commences the middle of August. There is not one in hundreds that knows that the seasons are computed differently in any quarter of the globe. There is but little variation in their years one with another, and their crops can always be calcu lated upon with certainty. They never suffer from drought and their spring rains are never so abundant as to drown the seeds in the earth. Their evergreens are of course beautiful at all seasons and wild flowers of every variety spring up in August in all directions. The soil is almost uniformly of a reddish brown colour, free from stones, rich, and never requires manuring. Wheat in some places in the province has produced one hundred and thirty fold. This and wine are their staple commodities, and but little attention is given to any thing else. Peaches, apples, and quinces are found in all directions mixed with forest trees and shrubs and are no doubt indigenous. The wine is sent to market in the skins of different animals upon mules, and is preserved in large earthen jars some of which will contain two or three pipes. The price of pure wine in the country is about twenty cents a gallon. Skins here sup ply the place of almost all the improvements in husbandry of older countries. In the country almost all the articles of domestic use are composed of skins, which serve them without curing for a great part of their clothing, for shoes, ropes, twine, thread, bags, barrels, bottles, &c."

One of the most curious subjects of observation is the different degree of estimation in which different materials and productions are held in one country and another in proportion to their relative scarcity and abundance. Here to light her fire in the morning the cook will gather a bundle of rods some of which a Bond Street beau would select to grace his person in a morning lounge. To sweep her damp and filthy floor the chambermaid will bind together branches of fresh and fragrant myrtle, which with us would be dispersed to grace a hundred lovely bosoms in a ball room. Without the house you may find a pig's pen of the finest grained mahogany, (or some wood resembling it,) rough enough to be sure, and within the walls of your bed room composed of half burned bricks and mud."

"One of their favourite amusements is story telling, and in this they display strength of memory and ease of elocution that have often astonished me. Whenever half a dozen friends meet in an evening or a family are seated after supper some one among them "takes up the tale," and without the least hesitation or interruption goes on with his story of a full hour and sometimes two, with the same system and rapidity as if he were reading from a book. They are generally stories of captive princesses and enchanted knights, and, as far as I can recollect the Arabian Nights they are taken from them and handed down orally from father to son, among high and low, rich and poor. They have no other libraries than their memories, and these are remarkably retentive. A youth will often be sent from one city to another, charged with specie and a hundred different commissions, without a single memorandum in writing, yet will be sure to execute them all with accuracy and fidelity. You never hear a Chilino say, "I forgot it."

"The mining interest throughout the province seems not only to be suspended, but to be essentially injured, as I am told it is considered here as almost impossible to clear a mine that has been long neglected; as they have no machinery, nor even pumps for that purpose. This forced neglect of the mines is a subject of general lamentation, and is viewed somewhat in the same light as a drought sufficient to produce famine and pestilence would be in other countries. In fact, they glory as much in their mines now, and their affections seem to cling to them as closely, as did those of the Spaniards 300 years ago."

The fact we are now about to copy is a striking one.

"A few nights since, the major-domo or steward of the estancia gave a rustic entertainment or fandango in his rooms adjoining. His friends and neighbours were all collected, and treated with music and dancing, wine and supper; and the whole night passed in mirth and festivity. The occasion of this entertainment was the death of his only child, an infant, whose corpse was all the while exposed in the most conspicuous part of the room. I once witnessed the same ceremony in the house of a very respectable family of Concepcion. I entered the room without having been advised of the reason or nature of the entertainment. The most conspicuous object was a figure highly decorated with flowers, and seated on a shelf over the table, and with a number of lights burning before it, and to which those engaged in the dance would often advert. I took it for granted that this was the image of some patron saint, whose festival the family were celebrating. Judge, then, of the indescribable