GOOD TEMPER.

O trait of character is more valuable than the

possession of a good temper, Home can never
be made happy without it. It is like flowers spring-
ing up in our pathway, reviving and cheering us.

 

 

NATURAL SCENES.
No. X.—A TORRENT.

TORRENT is, according to
Dr. Johnson, ‘a sudden
\ stream raised by showers.’
Y | We find an instance of this
SS { / in the Bible history, for
=p) () N° the brook Kishon, on one

occasion, was so swelled

pS ae ya, by the violent rains which
Re had fallen, that many of
vg 2j\ the Canaanites who tried

9

  
   

to cross the angry waters

were swept away. Such

strong and rapid streams
may be looked for in all mountainous countries, and
this is especially the case in the tropics, where the
amount of rain that falls in a short time is some-
times arnazing. The average quantity of rain at the
Equator is 96 inches yearly, while in England it is
only 38 inches, though there are mountainous dis-
tricts of England, as for instance, at Kendal, where
it is 56 inches.

But to return to our torrent. Let us borrow of an
English nobleman an interesting account of his peril
from one. He was travelling in Portugal, about half
a century since, and the summer was fearfully hot.
It was, in fact, so sultry, that many of the vines were
destroyed. At length there came a change, and, after
a few days of gathering clouds, the morning of
October 27th dawned with a sky like a great ocean
of ink. The storm burst, without a warning drop,
and all at once our traveller was enveloped in sheets
of water. Being among the hills, he heard, as it
were, the roaring of a hundred torrents which rushed
with great haste into the valley; and his path, which
lay between two rocks, became a kind of master-
stream. He endeavoured to escape by turning his
mule round and retracing his steps, but he found he
could not do this now, so he was obliged to push on
until he luckily found an outlet. But then he had
to wade in a lesser stream, one of many that dashed
and foamed about him, and was crossed by a dozen
others which were coursing in all directions, pre-
senting a wondrous scene of uproar. He shouted to
his comrades, who were behind with loaded mules,
that they might avoid his channel, but they could not
hear him, for his shouts were drowned in the roaring
of the waters, and some of the baggage was carried
off; and had the storm lasted the whole would
have been swept away: but, fortunately, the sky
cleared, and the torrents quickly disappeared.

The author of Solitary Walks through many Lands
also has a story of a torrent, which happened in the
month of May, on the Adige. Near Rovigo there
are one or two islands in the river, which is there

 

 

about two feet in depth. Seeing the water clear and
shallow, and the island green and flowery, with some
big trees also casting a grateful shade, the traveller
waded across, gathered some hyacinths, and nearly
fell asleep. Before long he heard a distant sound
like thunder. It grew louder; then it changed, and
seemed more like the sea. Alarmed, he started up,
and what a sight met his eyes! At the distance of a
few hundred yards he beheld a very mountain of
dark waters rushing toward him with awful rapidity,
and making a most terrible noise. Not a moment
was to be Ga Yo gain the bank was impossible.
He therefore made for the largest tree upon the
island, and with the strength of despair he climbed
up into its arms, just in time to see the island over-
whelmed with a yellow, turbid flood, which carried
on its breast branches and roots, dead animals, and
many other things.

What a situation to be in! The flood kept
rising, and every moment he could see the surface
of the water creeping nearer and nearer to him.
Soon there were but four feet between him and the
waves, and he could climb no higher. He had now
only two hopes: one was, that somebody might see
him and come to his help; the other was, that the
river might rise no higher. But no one appeared,
and the stream continued to rise, and the sun went
angrily down over a dreadful! scene indeed !

Night closed in—what a night! Sometimes the
tree seemed bending, as if its roots were loose; some-
times he thought the island itself was being swept
away. As he feared he might doze and fall into the
whirling water, he bound himself to a thick branch
by: means of a silk handkerchief. His fancies and
thoughts through that long night of terror were like
some fearful nightmare. Now it seemed as if huge
black bodies were floating by; now something seemed
to rise out of the water and tried to drag him down
into its gloomy depths; now he heard screams
mingled with the rushing torrent. Once he dropped
fairly asleep, and woke with such a wild start that
he would have fallen most surely had he not been
tied to the bough. But before morning broke he felt
sure the waters were beginning to subside, the noise
seemed less, he fancied he could see shrubs appearing’
above the water on the island; and when the early
dawn returned he was overjoyed to find he had
not been mistaken. The water kept surely falling,
and before sunrise the greater part of the island was
dry.

As soon as he dare venture from the tree he came
down as well as he could, for his limbs ached with
the cramping position he had been obliged so long to
maintain. Moreover, he was so weak, and the river
so strong, that he did not dare to attempt crossing
from the island to the bank until about three o’clock
in the afternoon. ‘The river was then four feet deep,
and with some struggles and difficulties he gained the
welcome shore at last. He had preserved all through
the night a bunch of hyacinths, which he carefully
dried and preserved, and he says, ‘I often open the
book where lie these withered flowers; and I never
see or smell a hyacinth without feeling as I felt when
I lifted my head, and saw the impetuous torrent
rushing toward me.’ G. 8. 0.