little arms about her parent's neck, and waited for the moment of dying with him. In vain were all threats and entreaties; neither the representations of her danger, nor the commands of her father, could intimidate her. In reply to the latter, she earnestly repeated, "Oh, my father, let me die with you!" What power has virtue over the most ferocious mind. This unexpected accident disconcerted the commander of the massacre-doubtless he was a father too. The voice of admiration and exclamations of pity, which he heard from all sides, touched his heart, and under some specious pretext, the Creole was delivered from the expected punishment and, accompanied by his child, was re-conducted to prison, whence he soon after obtained his release. After that happy escape he was often heard to relate, with feelings of tender emotion, the heroic action of his little girl, when only ten years of age.

SOMETHING ABOUT

THE

CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAYS.

T

HE transport of goods and passengers from one part of the country to another, is an object of such vital importance in a great manufacturing or commercial nation, that the construction of Turnpike ways and Canals has in times past engaged, more or less, the attention of the legislative assembly of all civilized nations. The Turnpike-road is not particularly confined to any level, and therefore can traverse the country in all directions nearly on a level with the adjoining land, but considerable skill is required on the part of the engineer who constructs it. Canals have now engaged the attention of scientific engineers for about 200 years, and have been brought to considerable perfection. They are important on account of their being able to carry heavy goods, at a cheap rate, when time is of little importance; but from the rate of travelling not exceeding 2 or 2 miles an hour, and their route being so very circuitous, they are not at all applicable for carrying pas

sengers. The well-known hydrostatic principle of water always finding its own level, renders it necessary that a canal should be upon as near a level as it possibly can, but where necessary to change a level, it is done by means of a lock, and where a ridge of high land cuts the intended course of the canal, and the ground on each side is nearly on the same level, tunnelling is resorted to. The name of the immortal Brindley is justly

recorded as the first engineer who executed a tunnel in this country. It was on the Duke of Bridgwater's Canal from Horsley to Manchester. A canal however, is not only nearly confined to a level, but it must also be to the lowest level.

otherwise there will be a deficiency of water to float the boats navigating on it.

The introduction of railways for the transport of passengers and goods is a vast advance upon the canal system. Their principal advantage is, that both goods and passengers can be carried, by the assistance of the locomotive engine, with very great rapidity. Like the canal, the railway is confined to

almost a perfect level, but this happens from different causes. -The operating causes as regards railways are the retarding forces to a carriage travelling on a road, the friction of the axles, and the obstacles the wheels have to pass over. The latter is reduced to a mere fraction upon our best railways, and the friction of the axles is, on them, the principal force that has to be overcome.

H

Now it has been ascertained that the force necessary to cause 1 ton weight to travel on a railway is 8 lbs. The same retardation would be occasioned, or the same force would be necessary to cause the same weight to travel up an inclined plane that rose one foot in 280. Supposing the resistance occasioned by friction to be removed, or, in other words, the resistance occasioned by the ascent of a carriage up an inclined plane rising 1 foot in 280, it would just double that with which it would travel on a level; for, according to the laws of mechanics, the force necessary to cause a body to travel up an inclined plane is in proportion as the height of the plane is to its length, and so is the power to the weight. Eight pounds, or 1-280th part of a tou, therefore, being the resistance occasioned by 1 ton on a level, an additional 8 lbs., or 1-280th part of a ton would be occasioned by the ascent of 1 foot in 280. Thus, we see, that the ascent of 1 foot in 280 would double the power necessary; the 1-280th of a mile would be 19 feet, from which we see, that a small inclined plane will materially augment the resistance. These little calculations are necessary for us to understand before we proceed to enter on the construction of a railway.

METHOD OF EXAMINING A COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH IT IS DETERMINED TO FORM A RAILWAY.

When it has been determined to construct a railway between two places, and where it is expected that the trade in each division will be pretty nearly equal, it will be done according to either of the two following plans :

The first, that of variable gradients-consists of a series