trenchment. was frozen almost impenetrably hard; and it was with excessive labour that a sufficient bulwark was presented by daylight, to cover them from the shot of the enemy. BOSTON FROM DORCHESTER HEIGHTS. and town a step which he knew must bring on a THE pretty peninsula of Dorchester Heights, general action, during which he intended to cross which seems to throw its arm protectingly around over to Cambridge with a few chosen men, and force the southern bay of Boston, was settled by a coman entrance into the town. During the two or three pany of pilgrims, who came out to New England preceding nights, he bombarded the town heavily during the administration of Governour Winthrop, and on the night of the fourth of March, a large defrom his camp to divert the attention of the garrison; in Massachusetts. The party consisted of two Puritan clergymen," with many godly families and tachment took possession of Dorchester Heights, people" from Devonshire and Somersetshire, who and immediately commenced throwing up an inembarked in the "Mary John," in the spring of The night was mild, but the ground 1630. The historian states that they had some difficulty in the passage with the master of the vessel, Captain Squibb, who, like a merciless man, put them and their goods ashore on Nantasket Point, notwithstanding his engagement was to bring them The morning broke and a thin haze, which up Charles river." They obtained a boat, however, magnified the size of the works, overspread the and, having laden her with goods, and manned her landscape. The astonishment of General Howe, at with able men, ("not more than ten, well armed, discerning this phantom fortification looming up under Captain Southcot, a brave low-country sol- through the mist, upon heights which had been bare dier,") they followed the river for about ten miles. and desolate at sunset, was without bounds. The po After landing their goods on a steep bank, they sition was so commanding that the town could not be held unless the Americans were dislodged; but this were alarmed by the information that there was encamped near them a body of three hundred savages of the Provincials, next to impossible. seemed, from the advantages of the ground in favour Fortunately they had been joined by an old planter, of the Provincials, next to impossible. The British who knew enough of the Indian tongue and dispo- thousand troops were embarked on the same day to commander undertook it with great spirit, and two sition to persuade the chiefs not to attack the party till morning. At daybreak, some of the savages cross the harbour to the attack. The transports fell made their appearance, but stood awhile at a dis- down to the Castle, a small island just below the tance. At last one of them held out a bass, and the town; but a tremendous storm suspended their oppilgrims sent a man with a biscuit to exchange for erations. The next day a council of war was held, it, and thus a friendly intercourse was established. and it was thought advisable to evacuate the town Not liking the neighbourhood, however, they de- immediately. The provincials went on completing scended the river again, and an exploring party, hav- their fortifications, undisturbed; and in a few days ing discovered some good pasture at Mattapau, (pres-panied by those Americans who adhered to the royal ent Dorchester,) they settled there.. The neighbouring peninsula of Shawmut (now Boston) was destined to be the principal settlement, and Dorchester is at this day a rural suburb of the capital of New England. The fort which crowns its summit (from which this view is taken) is the scene of an important chapter in the history of the Revolution. General Howe embarked with all his forces, accom cause. The embarkation commenced at four in the morning of the 17th of March, and at ten in the forenoon General Washington entered the city at the head of his army. The English fleet sailed for Halifax. They were ten thousand strong, including the marines; and left stores to the value of 30,000l., with several pieces of cannon, mortars, &c., &c. The view of Boston from these heights is very Boston had been occupied for some time by the British army under General Gage, who sailed for commanding. The bay, with its fortified islands, England in October, 1776, leaving General Howe in stretches away to the right, beautiful from its shape command. After the battle of Bunker's Hill, both and from the brightness of its water; the city, clusarmies remained quiet for several months; General tering upon its heights, rises in graceful lines to the Washington occupying both sides of the Charles pinnacled statehouse; and the country to the left river with about fourteen thousand men; and the is all that is lovely in cultivation, sprinkled here and English besieged in their quarters within the town, there with gay and thrifty-looking villages. The amusing themselves with private theatricals in Fan- calenture of speculation is just now at its height in euiel Hall, varied occasionally with feats of horse-America; and Dorchester, like other places, is laid manship from a squadron of cavalry, who had turned out in lots, and busy with the builders of fancy cotthe old South Church into a circus. As the cold tages and hotels. If calculation has not overreached became severe, the North "meetinghouse," an in- itself, the suburbs of Boston will soon sparkle with mense wooden building, was torn down and con- villas on every hillside within the horizon. sumed for fuel, and the soldiers had made a holyday of felling a gigantick liberty-tree for the same purpose. Washington became impatient of this inactive situation; and as soon as the ice in the bay and river became firm enough to allow the passage of troops, he called a council of war, and proposed an attack on Boston. The opinion against the measure was unanimous, and he reluctantly abandoned it. He soon after determined to take possession of Dorchester Heights, which command both harbour MEXICAN RESEARCHES. Willis. A LEARNED native of Mexico is engaged in deciphering the old Mexican characters, and has so far succeeded as to have discovered distinctive signs of verbs and substantives. A report is shortly expected, which will, no doubt, throw much light on subjects of important inquiry-subjects to which we, ourselves, have devoted much attention in order to arrive at conclusions relative to the remote population and history of the American continent. 52 DESCRIPTION OF THE BORAX LAGOONS OF among the ready to pack for exportation. The number of establishments is nine. The whole amount produced varies from 7000 lbs. to 8000 lbs. (of twelve oz.) per THE borax lagoons of Tuscany are entitled to a day. The produce does not appear susceptible of detailed description. They are unique in Europe, much extension, as the whole of the water is turned if not in the world; and their produce has become to account. The atmosphere has, however, some an article of equal importance to Great Britain, as influence on the result. In bright and clear weather, an import, and to Tuscany, as an export. They are whether in winter or summer, the vapours are less spread over a surface of about thirty miles, and ex- dense but the depositions of boracick acid in the lahibit, from the distance, columns of vapour, more or less according to the season of the year and state of goons are greater.-Increased vapours indicate unfavourable change of weather, and the lagoons are the weather, which rise in large volumes infallible barometers to the neighbourhood, even at a recesses of the mountains. As you approach the lagoons, the earth appears to pour out boiling water great distance, serving to regulate the proceedings of the peasantry in their agricultural pursuits. It had as from volcanoes of various sizes, in a variety of been long supposed that boracick acid was not to be soil, but principally of chalk and sand. The heat found in the vapours of the lagoon; and when it is in the immediate adjacency is intolerable, and you seen how small the proportion of acid must originally are drenched by the the which impregnates vapour be, it will not be wondered at that its existence atmosphere with a strong and somewhat sulphurous should have escaped attention. In the lowest of smell. The whole scene is one of terrible violence the lagoons, after five, six, and in some cases a and confusion-the noisy outbreak of the boiling greater number of impregnations, the quantity of element the rugged and agitated surface-the boracick acid given out does not exceed one half per volumes of vapour the impregnated atmosphere- cent.; thus if the produce be estimated at 75000 lbs. the rush of waters among the bleak and solitary mountains. The ground, which burns and shakes per day, the quantity of saturated water daily discharged is 1,500,000 lbs. Tuscan, or 500 tuns of beneath your feet, is covered with beautiful crys- English. talizations of sulphur and other minerals. The charThe lagoons are ordinarily excavated by the mountacter beneath the surface at Mount Cerbole is that aineers of Lombardy, who emigrate into Tuscany of the black marl streaked with chalk, giving it at a during the winter season, when their native Apenshort distance the appearance of variegated marble. nines are covered with snow. They gain about one Formerly the place was regarded by the peasants as Tuscan lira per day. But the works are conducted, the entrance to hell, a superstition derived, no doubt, when in operation, by natives, all married, and who from very ancient times; for the principal lagoons and the neighbouring volcano still bear the name of occupy houses attached to the evaporating pans. They wear a common uniform, and their health is Monte Cerbole, (Mons Cerberi.) The peasantry never pass by the spot without turning their heads generally good. A great improvement in the cultivation, and a great increase in the value of the neighand praying for the protection of the virgin. bouring soil, have naturally followed the introduction borax lagoons have been brought into their present of the manufacture of the boracick acid. A rise of profitable action within a very scattered years; wages has accompanied the new demand for labour; over an immense district, they have become the prop-much land has been brought into cultivation by new erty of an active individual, M. Larderel, to whom directions given to the streams of smaller rivers. Bethey are a source of wealth, more valuable, perhaps, fore the boracick lakes were turned to profitable acand certainly less capricious than any mine of silver that Mexico or Peru possesses. The process of count, their fetid smell, their frightful appearance, manufacture is simple, and is effected by those in- agitating the earth around them by ceaseless explosions of boiling water, and not less the terrours with struments which the neighbourhood itself presents. which superstition invested them, made the lagoons In these spots artificial lagoons are formed by the themselves to be regarded as publick nuisances, and The hot vaintroduction of the mountain streams. gave to the surrounding country a character which alienated all attempts at improvement. Nor were the lagoons without real and positive dangers, for fe w The pour keeps the water continually in boiling ebulition, and after it has received its impregnation during twenty-four hours at the most elevated lagoon, the contents are allowed to descend to the second lagoon, where a second impregnation takes place, and then to the third, and so forth, till it reaches the lowest receptacle, and having thus passed through from six to eight lagoons, it has reached one half per cent. of the boracick acid. It is then transferred to the reservoirs, from whence, after a few hours' rest it is conveyed to the evaporating pans, where the hot vapour concentrates the strength of the acid, by passing under shallow leaden vessels, from the boiling fountains above, which it quits at a heat of eighty degrees of Reaumur, and is discharged at a beat of sixty degrees. There are from ten to twenty pans, in each of which the concentration becomes greater at every descent, till it passes to the crystallizing vessels, from whence it is carried to the dryingrooms, when, after two or three hours, it becomes the loss of life was certain where man or beast had the misfortune to fall into any of those boiling baths. Cases frequently occurred in which cattle perished; and one chymist, of considerable eminence, met a horrible death by being precipitated into one of the lagoons. Legs were not unfrequently lost by a false step into the smaller pit (patizze) where before the foot could be withdrawn, the flesh would be separated from the bone.-Dr. Bowring's Report on the Statisticks of Tuscany, Lucea, &c. A STRANGER having entered the apartment, where the emperour Napoleon was shaving himself, when in a little town in Italy, he said, "I want to see your great emperour-what are you to him?" The emperour replied, "I shave him.” FIFTY YEARS OF OHIO. [Continued from last No.] which their fathers learned in New England. We have known three Western Reserve boys leave home for Connecticut " to get their education," with fifteen dollars among them, and reach New Haven with twelve still in their pockets. But such journeys are no longer necessary, as the people of the Reserve are building colleges for themselves. The section of Ohio which was last settled, was the northwest corner; that portion having been retained by the Indians until 1819. Since it came into the market, it has been rapidly filling up, the land being of an excellent quality, and well watered; and, when the Miami Canal shall be completed to the Maumee, as it will be in a year or two, this will be a very thriving section. Here, also, is a great water power, the Maumee falling from sixty to seventy feet in the eighteen miles above Perrysburgh. Having thus glanced at the different portions of the State whose fiftieth birthday was commemorated last April, we will but ask our readers to bear with us a little longer, while we touch upon some points in which the State at large is concerned. The first form of Territorial government was organized in July, 1788; the governour, and most of the leading men of that day, being Federalists. In September, 1799, the legislature, which the people were at that time, under the Ordinance, entitled to elect, assembled at Cincinnati. This body very naturally possessed some of the democratick temper, then prevalent; and the free use, that the governour made of his veto power, caused some clashing between the representatives and himself. In November, 1802, Congress having passed an act authorizing the formation of a State government, a convention met at Chillicothe to form a constitution. This convention was very thoroughly Jeffersonian; and the result of its meeting was a thorough democratick constitution. Of the excellences and defects of this instrument, we have not time to speak; but they are those of a truly popular form of government. Neither can we say anything, in detail, of the laws that have been passed by the State legislature. They have, in the main, evidenced the good sense and correct principles of the people. The great faults have been, haste in their preparation, continual change, and too much local legislation; all which have resulted from BUT that portion of Ohio, which at this time is most flourishing, all things considered, is the Western Reserve, or Connecticut Reserve. This district was retained by Connecticut when she made her transfer to the United States, in 1786, though against the judgment of many of our wisest statesmen. In 1800, however, the right, of jurisdiction was relinquished by the State to the Union, and patents were issued by the United States to the governour of Connecticut, for the use of those persons who had previously bought from her; by which means all difficulties were quieted. The Reserve included all the land north of the forty-first degree of north latitude and extended west from Pennsylvania one hundred and twenty miles. It is a level and fertile country; and, though much of it was so wet, when covered with forests, that it was thought by many to be of little value, it has become dry as it has been opened to the sun, and presents at this time as fine an extent of arable and meadow land as can be seen anywhere; diversified, in the southern counties, by little lakes of crystal clearness; and, in point of cultivation, fences, and buildings, no district in the West surpasses, if there be any that equals, the Reserve. This is in part owing to the habits of the original settlers, who were principally from Connecticut and Massachusetts; and in part to the fact, that the ground has to be well cleared, ditched, and cultivated, in order that it may be productive. A soil that demands labour that it may be made to yield, and yields a large return when that is given, is the soil that will make its owners most independent; and that boasted fertility of the prairies, which requires little or no pains on the part of the farmer, however much it may suit man's love of ease, is a misfortune, not a blessing. The Reserve is peculiarly fitted for grazing, and is fast becoming a great cheese and butter making region; some of the cheese made there, is not unlike the Stilton cheese of England. Vast numbers of cattle are also raised there for the market. In point of mineral wealth, this district is not wanting, as the great iron deposite crosses it, and the coalbeds reach its southern borders. And in respect to water power too great a love of making laws. it is, at one point, unsurpassed; the Cuyahoga fal- But there are three things which have had, and ling at the new town called Cuyahoga Falls, two hun-will hereafter have, so great an influence upon the dred and forty feet in two miles and a half; and afford-fortunes of Ohio, that we cannot close without a refing from four to twenty thousand cubick feet of wa-erence to their history; we mean steamboats, ter per minute. This point is destined, beyond doubt canals, and common schools. to be of immense importance. The Ohio Canal is The idea of using steam in the navigation of the ! within two miles; and the Pennsylvania and Ohio Ohio and Mississippi occurred to Mr. James RumCanal will pass directly through the town, connect-sey, of Virginia, as early as the year 1782. In ing this point, by complete water commuuication, with 1784, his invention had been made known to WashNew York and New Orleans; and by canal and rail-ington, who mentions it at the close of his letter to road, with Philadelphia. Every acre in its neighbour- Governour Harrison, respecting internal improvehood is capable of cultivation; and coal, lime, and ments, dated October tenth of that year; and speaks freestone are found in the immediate vicinity. of it more fully in a letter to Dr. Williamson, written Of the people of the Reserve we have spoken. upon the fifteenth of the following March. Mr. They are hard-working and sober. Not more than Rumsey also obtained, in 1784, patents from two half the townships, it is said, assess any poor tax. The temperance reform has been more general here than in any other part of Ohio. Thousands have abandoned distilling, notwithstanding its profits; and many farmers will not sell their corn for distillation. The young also, are taught that industry and economy however; one of whom, a year or two since, being in the South The Reserve boys cannot compete with the native Yankees, of Ohio, and wishing to go home, bought him a cow, and trudg ing at her heels with his book, lived on her milk and what he got in exchange for it, and sold her at an advance, when he reached his point of destination. |