2. Begin thy day with prayer, and it shall profit thee unto the end. It is the morning dew that enables the field to withstand the parching of summer heat.

3. As was thy beginning, so let thine ending be; a day is a little life; and to both there is a night at hand, when no man can work. Ere thine eye is closed in sleep, let thy lip be closed with prayer.

4. Let the Sabbath be a day of rest for the body, but a day of business for the soul. The day of settling the weekly account between thyself, and the Steward who hath hired thee.

5. Make good resolutions on the Saturday, call God to witness them on the Sunday, and put them in practice for the remainder of the week.

6. Come from the house of God as the spies did from the land of Canaan *, laden with good fruits.

7. The brightest views of the covenant of Divine grace, are often seen through the tears of sorrow; as it is only amidst showers that we behold the bow of heaven.

8. As the showers of spring call forth the plants of summer, and the fruits of autumn, so the tear of affliction awakens the seed of holiness. It is godly sorrow that worketh repentance.

9. The shock of conscience to the heart of a sinner is too often like the falling meteor in a winter's night, seen for a moment, then vanishing away.

10. In censuring thy neighbour, is it certain that thou art not wishing to add a cubit to thine own stature?

11. Faith without practice is like a mine of gold, useless to its possessor, unless melted down into current coin.

* Numb. xiii.

Northern Regions.

365

12. Our days should be like the ascending steps in Jacob's ladder, each a higher point in the path which leads to heaven.

13. To those who are in sorrow, religion comes like the dove returning to the ark, with an olive branch in its mouth, announcing a resting-place from the storm.

14. Faith may support the heart in the day of sorrow; but to be unmoved by affliction would be more than human. It was Jesus alone who could walk unruffled upon a troubled sea.

15. When shall men be of one mind? When shall peace revisit the earth? The garment of Christ is no longer without seam; the world hath defaced it with many rents.

16 There are many moments in which a good man feels that he belongs not to the world. There are some in which the bad man feels and regrets that he belongs not to heaven. Let him grasp at such, for they may be wrought into a key by which the gate of glory may be opened. G. B.

NORTHERN REGIONS.

Most of our readers are aware, that, for many years past, attempts have been made to discover a passage by sea, along the northern coast of North America. Those who look at a map of the world, or a globe, will see that if a passage by sea could be discovered from Davis's Straits, on the east of North America, to the west, thus leading to the Pacific Ocean, the voyage to China and to the East Indies would be much shorter than the present passage round the Cape of Good Hope, at the bottom (or south) of Africa. For the sake of discovering whether any such passage exists, several expeditions have been planned; and,

though nothing has yet been discovered which is likely to be of any important benefit, as to the furtherance of the object in view, the publications of the different voyagers are full of interest, and have brought before the public some very strange and curious matters of information.

In 1818, Capt. Ross, after coasting along the shores of Baffin's Bay, came to the conclusion that there was no reasonable hope of finding a passage westward.

In 1819, a second expedition was sent out under Capt. Parry, with an order to explore the bottom of Lancaster's Sound, and, if possible, to pass through it, to Behring's Straits, which lie to the westward of North America, and which divide it from Asia. This voyage was not successful as to gaining its object; but it added much to our knowledge of those regions, and brought many important discoveries to light. Capt. Parry proceeded westward to a considerable distance, till he found that the ice met him in such prodigious quantities, and the severity of the cold was so great, that he was obliged to winter in a harbour, which, from that circumstance, was called Winter Harbour.

As soon as the season opened, in 1820, Capt. Parry proceeded in his attempts to the westward, but the ice was so formidable, that all attempts to pass through it seemed vain; and as the health of the men began to suffer, and the stock of provisions necessary for another winter seemed likely to fail, he saw the necessity of returning to England, which he reached in November, 1820.

In 1821, another expedition was fitted out;-the Hecla, which had been on the former voyage, was again selected, having been found well suited to the difficulties of those icy seas: she was commanded by Capt. Lyon. Capt. Parry commanded the Fury.— Our space will not allow us to attempt to describe all the hardships and difficulties which the officers and crews of these ships encountered in seas blocked up with ice, sometimes cutting their way through

immense masses of ice, and sometimes making their passage through waters where enormous masses of loose ice were floating. The accompanying sketch of the situation of the two ships, among rocks and masses of ice, will give some notion of the difficulties to which these enterprizing seamen and their ships were exposed; in the course of their voyage, their dangers and discouragements were, in truth, more than could have been endured by men of ordinary perseverance. We may find an opportunity, in some of our future numbers, of going more fully into this subject.

The people who inhabit the shores of these northern seas are called Esquimaux. They are dressed in furs and skins, and live upon fish, and seals, and blubber, and such productions as those climates afford. Whilst a party of them was on board one of the ships, Captain Lyon took the opportunity of making drawings of some of the women, and especially of one who was reckoned the prettiest of the party.-As the old story books say, "See here she is."