carcass of a whale, known to have been planted there several years before, on another ocean. As the warp flies, it sometimes throws its coils around the body of a man, and dragging him over in a moment, carries him into the ocean depths, from which he never more emerges. Sometimes it only dislocates or breaks the legs and arms of the unfortunate men who become entangled in the folds.

He was

A captain of a New London ship was caught by two coils of the warp, one around his body, and another around his leg. He had the presence of mind immediately to seize his knife, and after a while succeeded in cutting himself loose. carried, however, to a great depth, and when he returned to the surface, was almost exhausted. The whale, when roused to desperation, makes an onset with his mouth only. Then he crushes a boat to atoms, and the men escape by jumping into the sea. A sperm whale destroyed two boats of a Nantucket ship, and then attacked the ship; but being obliged to turn over nearly on his back to use the under jaw, with which he does execution, he made little impression on the vessel.

The whaler sometimes roams for months without finding his prey; but he is buoyed up by the expectation of finally reaping the profits of a great voyage. To some minds the pursuit of such gigantic game has a tinge of the romantic. There must be a thrilling excitement in the adventurous chase.

"the blood more stirs

To rouse a lion than to start a hare."

Many become passionately attached to the business, notwithstanding its privations, and reluctantly leave it at last. They *have moments of most pleasing anxiety, and meet with some incidents of the most enlivening cast.

On the south-east coast of Africa is Delego Bay, a calm, smooth place, frequented by vessels from various parts of the world. In this bay, a few years since,* a whale was observed

Written in 1834.

almost equally distant from an American and an English ship. From both the boats were lowered, manned, and pushed off in an instant. They sped with the velocity of the wind. The English, at first ahead, perceiving their rivals gaining on them,. bore wide off to keep them out of reach of the whale. When the two boats were nearly abreast, one of the American sailors leaped from his seat, and with extraordinary agility hurled the ponderous harpoon over the English boat. It struck the monster in the vital part; the English boat shrunk back under the warp; *the waves were crimsoned with blood; and the American took possession, while the whole bay echoed and reëchoed with repeated shouts of applause.

XLIV.-GELERT.

SPENCER.

[From a volume of poems published in England, in 1835.

William Robert Spencer

the author died in the preceding year.]

THE spearman heard the bugle sound,
And cheerly smiled the morn,

And many a brach,† and many a hound,
Attend Llewellyn's horn.

And still he blew a louder blast,
And gave a louder cheer;

"Come, Gelert! why art thou the last
Llewellyn's horn to hear?

"O, where does faithful Gelert roam?
The flower of all his race!

So true, so brave—a lamb at home,
A lion in the chase!"

* Warp, the line attached to the harpoon.

A female hound; pronounced brake.

That day Llewellyn little loved

The chase of hart or hare;

And scant and small the booty proved,
For Gelert was not there.

Unpleased, Llewellyn homeward hied,
When, near the portal seat,
His truant Gelert he espied,
Bounding his lord to greet.

But when he gained the castle door,
Aghast the chieftain stood:

The hound was smeared with drops of gore;
His lips and fangs ran blood.

Llewellyn gazed with wild surprise,
Unused such looks to meet;
His favorite checked his joyful guise,
And crouched and licked his feet.

Onward in haste Llewellyn passed,
(And on went Gelert too ;)
And still, where'er his eyes were cast,
Fresh blood drops shocked his view.

O'erturned his infant's bed he found,
The blood-stained cover rent,
And all around the walls and ground
With recent blood besprent.

He called his child no voice replied;
He searched-with terror wild;
Blood! blood! he found on every side,
But nowhere found the child!

"Monster, by thee my child's devoured!" The frantic father cried,

And to the hilt his vengeful sword
He plunged in Gelert's side.

His suppliant, as to earth he fell,
No pity could impart ;
But still his Gelert's dying yell
Passed heavy o'er his heart.

Aroused by Gelert's dying yell,
Some slumberer wakened nigh:
What words the parent's joy can tell
To hear his infant cry!

Concealed beneath a mangled heap
His hurried search had missed,
All glowing from his rosy sleep,
His cherub boy he kissed.

Nor scratch had he, nor harm, nor dread;

But the same couch beneath

Lay a great wolf, all torn and dead

Tremendous still in death.

Ah, what was then Llewellyn's pain!
For now the truth was clear;
The gallant hound the wolf had slain
To save Llewllyn's heir.

Vain, vain was all Llewellyn's woe
"Best of thy kind, adieu!

The frantic deed which laid thee low
This heart shall ever rue."

And now a gallant tomb they raise,
With costly sculpture decked,
And marbles, storied with his praise,
Poor Gelert's bones protect.

Here never could the spearman pass,
Or forester, unmoved;

Here oft the tear-besprinkled grass
Llewellyn's sorrow proved.

And here he hung his horn and spear;
And oft, as evening fell,

In fancy's piercing sounds would hear
Poor Gelert's dying yell.

XLV.-HAPPY FAMILIES OF ANIMALS.

CHAMBERS'S MISCELLANY.

In walking through London, we may occasionally observe a crowd of persons collected round a large cage, containing a variety of animals usually considered as opposite and irreconcilable in their natures such as cats, pigeons, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, owls, canary birds, and other small creatures. The men who exhibit these collections of animals call them Happy Families, from the perfectly good temper and joyous happiness in which they appear to dwell together.

What is it that produces such a harmony among different natures? Kindness The animals, individually, are treated with great kindness by their proprietors, and trained, by the prospect of little rewards, to conduct themselves meekly towards each other. By this mode of treatment, birds may be trained to perform very remarkable feats ; and we shall mention a case in which a boy was enabled to excite in a strong degree the affection of these animals.

Francesco Michelo * was the only son of a carpenter, who resided at Tempio, a town in the Island of Sardinia; he had two sisters younger than himself, and had only attained

* Pronounced Franchesco Meeka'lo.