The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 47 pages of information about The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.

And here was one of its victims, a sweet and modest flower, that was transported from its native bed, to sink under the stormy climate, and the rude winds to which her fate exposed her.  Under other circumstance she might have lived to grace society and throw around her the influence of virtue, taste and education.  But she was doomed to fall like the blossom from the tree.

(From the Scrap Table, a volume of pleasant sketches, published at Boston, North America.)

    [2] His present Majesty, William IV.

* * * * *

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.

* * * * *

THE POISONED VALLEY.

At the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, held on the 28th ult., considerable interest was excited by an extract from a letter of Mr. Alexander Loudon, communicated to the Society by John Barrow, Esq.  The letter contains the account of a visit to a small valley in the island of Java, which is particularly remarkable for its power of destroying, in a very short space of time the life of man, or any animal exposed to its atmosphere.  It is distant only three miles from Batur, in Java; and on the 4th of July, Mr. Loudon, with a party of friends, set out on a visit to it.  It is known by the name of Guevo Upas, or Poisoned Valley; and, following a path which had been made for the purpose, the party shortly reached it, with a couple of dogs and some fowls, for the purpose of making experiments.—­On arriving at the mountain the party dismounted, and scrambled up the side of a hill, a distance of a quarter of a mile, with the assistance of the branches of trees and projecting roots.  In consequence of the heavy rain that had fallen in the night, this was rendered more difficult, and occasioned much fatigue.  When a few yards from the valley, a strong nauseous and suffocating smell was experienced, but on approaching the margin the inconvenience was no longer found.  The scene that now presented itself is described as of the most appalling nature.  The valley is about half a mile in circumference, of an oval shape, about 30 or 35 feet in depth.  The bottom of it appeared to be flat, without any vegetation, and a few large stones scattered here and there.—­The attention of the party was immediately attracted to the number of skeletons of human beings, tigers, boars, deer, and all sorts of birds and wild animals, which lay about in profusion.  The ground on which they lay at the bottom of the valley, appeared to be a hard sandy substance, and no vapour was perceived issuing from it, nor any opening through which it might escape, and the sides were covered with vegetation.  It was now proposed to enter it, and each of the party, having lit a cigar, managed to get within twenty feet of the bottom, where a sickening nauseous smell was experienced, without any difficulty in breathing.  A dog was now fastened at the end of a bamboo and

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.