is perfectly clear; and that I will pass on at
once. I enter another capacious desert; but
pass from discomfort to torture; from
choking to strangulation. It is in vain I
apply handkerchiefs to my nostrils and
mouth; the subtle poison defies every effort.
Death is in the air: the upas tree was an
olive-branch to this destroying atmosphere;
and, heedless of the unruffled guide, I rush
out by the first opening I can find; knocking
over half-a-dozen young stokers who
impede my progress.

The terrible sense of strangulation is
produced by the chlorine gas yielded by a
mixture of muriatic acid and manganese; and
which gas, being passed through tubes into a
chamber half-filled with finely powdered lime,
combines with it, and makes chloride of lime
or bleaching powder, used most extensively
for whitening many substances. The annual
production of this is fully one hundred and
fifty thousand tons: of which a hundred and
twenty tons are made weekly at this one
establishment.

The raising so lofty a chimney at such a
large outlay was at the time a work of necessity,
in order to convey the spent vapours of
the acid works beyond the reach of human
lungs. Singular to relate, within a month of
its completion a method was discovered by
which these vapours could be rendered
perfectly harmless. Thus the enormous expense
of the huge fabric might have been saved,
had the inventor been but a little earlier in
the field.

The Wizard's hungry furnaces burn so
fiercely, that a shipload of coals is daily
consumed within their devouring jaws; equal
in one year to not less than a hundred
thousand tons. His wondrous products are
wafted to all parts of the habitable globe by
ship, by railroad, by canal. Not a country
but is indebted to him for some gift from out
his precious storehouse. All profit by his
skill; all are indebted to his science for more
or less of good; and yet how few know, or
knowing recognise, the mind which by its
potency works out the marvels of this daily
magic, converting earths, and stones, and
refuse matter to things that scatter riches in
their after course through many lands.

THE CASKET.

WITHIN a casket of corporeal clay
  There lies enshrined a vast unvalued treasure;
Whose sparkling gems flash brightly day by day.
  Dazzling, or soothing, in their various measure.

Some lock the casket jealously, and hide
  Its brilliant wealth within the dark recesses;
That not a truant sparkle thence can glide
   To fall in secret on the world it blesses.

Some cautiously and gently raise the lid.
  Yet stop half-way and fear to open wider;
As though it were Pandora's box, or hid
  The winged steed, with its enchanted rider.

Others, less chary, spread them forth to view,
  By world-wide gratitude and fame rewarded;
None in Time's records have been found to rue
  The use of gifts which timid misers hoarded.

Yet must those gems still in their casket lie,
  And oft imperfect be the light they render;
The lid may be uncovered, but no eye
  Of mortal man may see their fullest splendour.

Let them blaze forth with all the brilliance, now.
  That they can yield within their earthly prison;
With gleaming wealth a darkened world endow.
  To serve its need, till endless day has risen!

A WALLACHIAN SQUIRE.

WE had once the honour to be received at
the country-house of a Wallachian Boyard, or
country gentleman. It was situated some
twenty miles north of Bucharest in the midst
of the mountains; which, though they had not
the grandeur of the Carpathian range, were
still sufficiently picturesque. After we had
traversed the plain and gone for two or three miles
through valleys, the slopes of which were
thickly clothed with trees, we beheld the house
situated at the extremity of a long clearing,
dotted here and there with oaks so as somewhat
to resemble an English park. On the
skirts of the forest to the left was a Zigan
village with huts, not buried in the ground as is
usual on the plain, but scattered here and
there amidst heaps of rubbish and piles of firewood.
The men were employed in constructing
a dam across a stream which flowed
down the centre of the valley, with what object
we forgot to inquire. A number of naked
children came running out as we approached,
walking our tired horses, and laughed or
barked at us like so many curs. We threw
them a zwanziger or two, and went on.

The house was little more, to all outward
appearance, than a large shed or barn;
except that there was a broad portico in front
supported by six lengths of pine trees with
the bark still on. A number of servants,
all evidently of Zigan race, came out in a
turbulent manner to receive us. Some took
our horses, others our cloaks, others our
riding whips; whilst others contented
themselves with uttering certain set compliments
in the name of the master of the house; who,
it appeared, had gone out in the morning on
a bear hunt, and had not yet returned.
Madame Lanszneck, however, was in her
saloon, into which we were ushered. We
were already accustomed at Bucharest to the
mixture of French with Eastern habits; but
we had expected in this outlandish place to
find few traces of European refinement. We
were mistaken. The saloon, it is true, was
surrounded on three sides by the indispensable
divan; but, in the centre, were mahogany
tables covered with music and caricatures
fresh from Paris, and surrounded by chairs as
elegant and uncomfortable as if they had
only just arrived from the Chaussée D'Antin.