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looking him full in the face, said, "You talk about God Almighty! WHO is this God Almighty? WHо made him? WHERE does he live?" So abrupt and harsh an attack, and in so unexpected a manner, completely non-plussed the young man, and he could make no reply; and, I dare say, was glad of an excuse to leave the room. Meanwhile, his victorious antagonist continued to walk backward and forward in the parlour, as though sensible that, at least, a common Christian was not able to get the better of him.

When we came in, the young man told the circumstance to one of us, and added, "SIR, This is a very oDD MAN, he has been putting such questions to me as I never heard before, and which I could not possibly tell how to answer."

An English reader would perhaps be surprised to hear that the heathen natives of this country, consider our belief in God to be as ridiculous a notion as we look upon their atheistical sentiments to be, and treat it with equal, if not superior levity. It is not long since a young priest, who is now living with us, and who is a native of Candy, was sent for by a native headman of great rank, from the interior, who was on a visit at Colombo, and who knew the youth in his priestly days. One of his first questions to him was, "Well, how do you like your new situation? How do you like to live with these people WHO TALK ABOUT GOD?" So that our heathen Budhist neighbours, by their own confession, are "without God," and hence "without hope in the world."

(To be continued.)

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

MATTHEW XXI. 14. AND MARK XI. 12. ILLUSTRATED.

"THERE has been no little diversity of opinion among Commentators on the subject of the barren Fig-Tree, cursed by our Lord, Matt xxi. 14, related also by Mark, chap. xi. 12; very noticeable terms, which I beg leave slightly to paraphrase.

"Jesus, coming early from Bethany, was hungry: Seeing a Fig-Tree from afar, (at such a distance that he could only dis

cern its spread of leaves,) he went to it, if perhaps, (∞ apa) he might find some figs on it, (for it was not yet the usual season for figs to be fit for gathering on Fig-Trees in general, & yap ny naspo; oxa;) but he found leaves only: and he said, none shall ever find any fruit on thee hereafter."

It is enquired, if this was not the season for figs, with what propriety did our Lord curse this barren Fig-Tree? And our too common inattention to the natural history of the East, has hitherto precluded a just and definite answer to the question. Interpreters have racked their invention, and misapplied their learning: some have rendered the words, "it was not a year for figs." This the Greek will not bear; but, if it would, to what purpose is this rendering? Some have wished to read, "It was the season for figs." But this is violating the text: as the time was March 31, certainly long enough before the general fig season. Dr. Doddridge, and I believe, most writers with him, think this was of the early, the prime, "the most delicate sort of figs ;" and ripe in April; but certainly not so early as this time. Moreover, in this case, what need could there be of the Evangelist's "if perhaps," as the fruit being barely ripe, could not be supposed to have been gathered from the tree? Matthew, who says nothing about its not being the fig season, omits also this, "if perhaps." Besides, do such valuable kinds of trees grow by the road side? Are they not cultivated by proprietors? Our Lord was going from Bethany to Jerusalem.

Let us see how this story will read, after we have perused an Extract from Norden's Travels in Egypt, vol. 1. p. 79.

"I shall remark, that they have in Egypt divers sorts of figs ; but if there is any difference between them, a particular kini! differs still more; I mean that which the Sycamore bears, that they name in Arabic, giomez. It was upon a tree of this sort that Zaccheus got up to see our Saviour pass through Jericho.

"This sycamore is of the height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other trees. It has them on the trunk itself, which shoots out like sprigs, in form of a grape stalk, at the end of which grows the fruit, close to one another, most like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit SEVERAL TIMES in the year, WITHOUT OBSERVING ANY CERTAIN SEASONS; for I have seen some sycamores, that have fruit two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell

of real figs; but is inferior to them in the taste, having a disgust ful sweetness. Its colour is a yellow, inclining to an ochre, shadowed by a flesh colour. In the inside it resembles the common figs, excepting that it has a blackish colouring, with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in Egypt. The (common) people, for the greater part, live on its fruit."

This author asserts, that the tree, called a sycamore, into which Zaccheus climbed to see Jesus, was of this kind, Luke xix. 4.—And it is not improbable, but that which was withered was of the same sort. Both grew by the way side; and it is likely neither of them was private property. Our Lord, therefore, by causing that on which he sought fruit to wither, did not injure any owner: it was not in a garden, nor of the kind usually planted against a wall, for such an one would not have borne the weight of Zaccheus. This tree is called by the general name syken, both by Matthew and Mark; and might well be one of the inferior kind. Matthew adds, (a) a single tree. "This tree is always green," (doubtless with leaves,) "it bears fruit several times in the year;" so that a person viewing it, at almost any time in the year, from a distance, cannot determine whether it has fruit on it, or not; which very well accounts for the "if perhaps" of Mark; and the advancing of Jesus towards it; as supposing it might have fruit on it, while it was not the general season of gathering figs from the kinds usually cultivated. This bore, it seems, a wild, but edible kind of figs; the fare of the poorer people. Ficus fatua. If the reader has an opportunity of consulting Whitby on the Place, he will see how near he was, by the help of Theophrastus, to the right interpretation of this story, which yet, for want of just information in natural history, he has missed.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD DISPLAYED.

VIRTUES OF THE GUACO-PLANT.

From the Colonial Journal, for March, 1817.

It is an observation made by Pliny, (Nat. Hist. lib. 7.) that nature has, in one sense, been more liberal to brutes than to man, by providing the former with natural clothing, and gifting them with sufficient sagacity to know and defend themselves against their enemies; whereas man is destined to seek the same advantages by dint of labour and reflection-that the fact exists, nor can it be proved by any instance more remarkable than the one that forms the subject of this letter.

Among the most valuable and interesting discoveries made, in the tropical regions, in favour of suffering humanity, certainly we may rank that of the preservative and cure for the bites of venomous serpents; a virtue subsisting in the Bejuco del Guaco, a species of bind-weed. This secret is understood to have been long known to some of the Indians in the tropical parts of South America; but, ever mindful of the injustice and cruelty of their conquest, this, as well as the knowledge of many other important facts, preserved by tradition, they have uniformly refused to communicate to their intruders; even the missionaries sent among them, on whom they placed the greatest reliance, and held in profound veneration, were unable to wrest the secret from them. The virtues of the plant in question were, however, recently discovered, almost in an accidental manner, as will be seen by the following details; but as experience of every kind has now manifested that by the possession of this specific, the envenomed bite of the most dangerous reptiles of the earth, so abundant in all the West Indies, is no longer a subject of serious alarm, it becomes of consequence that it should be more generally known.

The Negroes in the province of Chocó, dependant on the kingdom of Santa Fe, were the first who observed a bird, called the Guaco, pursue and fight with serpents; and, on closer examination, they discovered that these were the common food of this animal. Before we proceed any further, it will be proper to premise, that this bird must not be confounded with the one VOL I

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belonging to the species of herons, mentioned by Buffon, in the last volume of the Natural History of Birds, which he calls Guaco or Souaco, the name commonly given to it on the shores of Boulogne. The American Guaco, a denomination probably derived from the Indians, might rather enter into the class of carnivorous birds, under the head of hawks, as Catesby calls the Serpent-hawk, (Expervier Serpent,) from that reptile's being its food and object of destruction: and may deserve the name in the same manner as does the Sparrow-hawk, &c. The Negroes perceived that the Guaco, when wounded in its severe battles, always recurred to a certain plant, and never appeared to receive material injury. When unable to kill its enemy, they also noticed, that it availed itself of the leaves of the same plant to lay him asleep, and he then became an easy prey. Pushing their discoveries and experiments still further, they eventually ascertained that this same plant, to which they afterwards gave the name of Guaco, in reference to the bird which had taught them its virtues, not only, in all cases, cured the poisonous bites of the above insects, but also operated as a preservative against their destructive powers, when taken with a degree of frequency.

Mutis, the celebrated botanist of Santa Fe, previous to the above discovery being properly known, had been astonished at the facility with which the Negroes, inhabiting the neighbourhood and borders of the river Magdalena, caught serpents and carried them about in their hands and bosoms, without any dread or fatal effects; and, ever active in that spirit of research for which he was so much distinguished, the following experiments were made in his presence, and in that of several other botanists.

A Negro was obtained, well versed in the above dangerous trials, who brought with him a venemous serpent, known to the Spaniards by the name of Taya, in consequence of the white spots in has on the back something resembling the letter X. The Negro handled the serpent in every way he was desired, and gave it several blows, without its appearing roused or attempting to bite him. It was at first imagined that the serpent was not of the most venomous kind, or that the Negro had extracted its teeth; but on causing him to open its mouth, the rows of sharp teeth were found in perfect order, and ample assurances were moreover given, that it was of the most deadly species known in the provinces of Santa Fe. No further doubt was en

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