1826.] 
the whole region becomes a luxuriant wood of 
enormous"thistles; which have suddenly shot up to 
a height of tén ‘or eleven fects and are all in full 
bloom. The road»or path is hemmed. in- on both 
sides,,the view is completely. obstructed; not an 
animal isto.be seen, and the stems of the thistles 
are so close to each other, and so strong, that inde- 
pendent of the prickles with which they are armed, 
they form an impenctrable barrier. The sudden 
growth of these plants is quite astonishing; and 
though it would be an umisual misfortune in milita- 
ry history, yet it is really possible that an invading 
army, uhacquainted with this country, might be im- 
prisoned by these thistles, before they had time to 
escape from them. The summer is not over before the 
scene Undergoes another rapid change: the thistles 
suddenly lose their sap and verdure, their heads 
droop, the leaves shrink and fade, the stems be- 
come black and dead, and they remain rattling with 
the breeze one against another, until the violence of 
the pampero or hurricane levels them with the 
ground, when they rapidly decompose and disappear 
the clover rushes up, and the.scene is verdant 
again. gti 
The vast region of grass in the Pampas for 450 
miles is without a weed, and the region of wood is 
equally extraordinary.. The trees are not crowded, 
but in their growth such beautiful order is observed, 
that one can gallop between them in every direction. 
The young trees are rising up, others are flourish- 
ing in full vigour, and it is for some time that one 
looks in vain for those which, in the great system of 
succession, must necessarily somewhere or other be 
sinking towards decay. They are at last discovered, 
but'their fate is not ‘allowed’to disfigure the general 
cheerfulness of the scene; and they are seen en- 
joying what may literally be termed a green old age. 
The extremities of ‘their branches break off 2s they 
die, and when nothing is left but the hollow trunk, it 
is still covered, with twigs and leaves, and at last is 
_ gradually concealed from yiew by the young shoot, 
which, born under the shelter of its. branches, now 
rises rapidly above it, and conceals its decay. 
A few places are met with, which have been burnt 
by accident, and the black desolate spot, covered with 
the charred trunks of trees, resembles a scene in the 
human world of pestilence or war. But the fire 
is scarcely extinct, when the surrounding trees all 
seem to spread their branches towards each other, 
and young shrubs) areseen rising out.of the ground, 
while the sapless trunks are evidently mouldering 
into dust. 
This whole space is thinly populated 
with Indians—all equestrians, as soon as 
they can ¢rawl—who live on the herds that 
low along the plains in countless multi- 
tudes, and now and then on a little horse- 
flesh, and.eke out the luxuries of life by 
plundering a traveller, when they ean find 
ones. Some, are employed by the govern- 
ment, of, Buenos, Ayres to. supply the posts 
with horses;,and-no difficulty have they in 
supplying them, or*in feeding or stabling 
them.” “All runwild, and are caught as 
théy are wanted.” The dexterity of these 
ns in catching them is ‘admirable ; 
ching of seven or éight years old manage 
the matter with ease, and take charge of 
them.from post to post. The Captain is 
enraptured with, the mode of life; gallop- 
ing.allday, and sometimes all night, eating 
nothing*but beef and -drinking nothing but 
water, he felt, he says, as if nothing could 
MM. New Series. —Vor.11. No.1. 
Domestic and Foreign, 545 
killhim ; itis the elysium of his wishes ; 
he Jongs to be among them ; and talks with 
ecstacy of the transports of prancing naked 
on a wild unsaddled racer of the Pampas— 
Absit invidia. -ErpOes | 
Forget Me Not; and The Amulet.—We 
have looked over these two. little volumes 
with much interest—held down to the pe- 
rusal, in a great measure, it must be acknow= 
ledged, by the names—many of them most 
agreeably associated—that head the contri- 
butions of each. "These morceaux of lite=’ 
rature, from well-known hands, do certainly 
secure to themselyés, in preference to. ano- 
nymous pieces, that attentive survey -so 
indispensable to a conscientious verdict ; 
while to the young, for ‘whose’ reading 
principally such works are constructed; 
every moral truth brings a tenfold claim to 
respect, when, in addition to the beauty of 
the composition, it comes so sanctioned. 
Mrs. Hemans, Miss Mitford, Bernard 
Barton, Miss Edgeworth, the Author of 
the ‘ Labours of Idleness,” Mr. No 
—there will be no end of enumeration. 
“The Amulet” professes to have a re= 
ligious and moral object in every single con= 
tribution. We do not, however, per- 
ceive any laxity of tone in ‘‘ Forget Me 
Not ;”’ and certainly, the list of individuals 
who supply the contents of each must be 
felt by every body tobe a sufficient guaran- 
tee of the general tendency of both the 
works. ‘ ; 
From “ Forget Me Not”: we select’a 
beautiful little specimen from Mrs.‘ He= 
mans’ pen :— 
THE CLIFFS OF DOVER. 
Rocks of my country ! let the cloud 
Your crested heights array 5 
And rise ye like a fortress proud 
Above the surge and spray ! 
My spirit greets you as ye stand, 
Breasting the billow’s foam ; 
Oh, thus for ever guard the land 
The severed land of home ! 
I have left sunny skies behind, 
Lighting up classic shrines, 
And music in the southern wind, 
And sunshine on the vines, 
The breathings of the myrtle flowers 
Have floated o'er my way} : 
The pilgrim’s voice at vesper hours & 
Hath soothed me with its lay. 
The isles of Greece, the hills of Spain, 
The purple heavens of Rome— —* 
Yes, all are glorious; yet again 
I bless thee, land of home ! 
For thine the Sabbath peace, my land 5° 
And thine the guarded hearth ; 
And thine the dead, the noble band, 
That make thee holy earth, 
Their voices meet me in thy breeze ; 
Their steps are on thy plains ; 
Their names, by old majestic trees, 
Are whispered round thy fanes : 
Their blood hath mingled with the tide 
, Of thine exulting sea ;— 
_ ON! be it still a joy, a pride, 
To live and die for thee ! 
sca sitar Me 
