THE first fervour of faith and of love was so strong among the faithful in the Mother-Church, that not only did they live as one family, but the rich brought their treasures to the apostles to be by them applied to the necessities of the poor. This community of goods, however, did not extend to an entire deprivation of property; it was not imposed as a duty, nor did it extend to other Churches. But when Ananias and Saphira had endeavoured to deceive the apostle, by retaining, with a lie, a part of the price of their land, the punishment inflicted by St. Peter upon them, taught the assembly that the guilty ones had lied not to man, but to God. The faithful were wont to meet in private dwellings to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, and to receive the body of the Lord; ("They continued in the breaking of bread"); but they frequented the temple also, and joined in the daily prayers and sacrifices. Externally they lived as Jews, observing the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, although these had become of no avail, as

the Gospel dispensation had entered into their place. It was yet a time of expectation and transition; the Jewish Church had not lost the authority that had been imparted to it by the Almighty; the synagogue still possessed the chair of Moses, the power of which had been recognized by our Lord. The new-born Church had to acquire form and strength by the accession of multitudes of the Gentiles: when this came to pass, and when the synagogue had filled the measure of its iniquity, by its voluntary and obstinate blindness to the increasing light of heaven, then the destruction of Jerusalem and of its temple marked the time for the entire rejection of the synagogue, and of the consequent and exclusive erection of the Church of Jesus Christ.

THE foreign, or dried currants, are a species of small raisins or grapes, which grow chiefly in the Grecian islands. They were formerly very

abundant in the Isthmus of Corinth, and were thence called Corinths; this term has been corrupted into currants, probably from their resemblance to the English fruit of that name. These little grapes have no stones, and are of a reddish black colour; they are extremely delicious when fresh gathered. The harvest commences in August; and as soon as the grapes are gathered, they are spread to dry on a floor, prepared for the purpose by stamping the earth quite hard. This floor is formed with a gentle rising in the middle, that the rain, in case any should fall, may flow off and not injure the fruit. When sufficiently dry, the currants are cleaned and laid up in magazines, where they are so closely pressed together, that when a supply is needed, it is dug out with an iron instrument. They are packed in large casks for exportation, and trodden down by the natives. MAYO.

NEXT to the elephant the Hippopotamus is the

largest of quadrupeds, being sometimes above

seventeen feet long from the extremity of the snout to the insertion of the tail, about sixteen round the body; and although its legs are so short, that its belly nearly touches the ground, yet it stands not less than seven feet high. The head is large, the muzzle swollen, and surrounded with bristles; the eyes and ears are small, the mouth extremely wide, and the canine teeth, of which there are four, are of enormous size, protruding like tusks, and of texture like ivory; the tail is short; on each foot there are four toes, terminated by small hoofs. The stomach bears some resemblance to that of a ruminating animal, being divided into several sacks. The skin is slack, of a mouse-colour, and almost impenetrable to a musket ball. This huge animal is gregarious, and nocturnal in its land habits, lurking during the day in the swamps, or among the reeds, and during night wandering in search of its food, which consists of roots, succulent grasses, rice, or whatever grain it can find growing. The devastation it commits is immense, not only in the quantity that it devours, but in what it tramples down and destroys. But fortunately these ravages do not extend widely, as the hippopotamus seldom ventures far from the river, to which it immediately betakes itself on the approach of danger, and plunging in head-foremost, walks securely on the bottom, only rising occasionally to the surface to draw breath, and merely showing the upper part of its head above the water. It possesses great strength, and has been known to bite a large piece out of a boat, so as

instantly to sink it, and to raise another, containing six men, so high as to upset it. The animal, however, is harmless if not disturbed, but when enraged, is a dangerous comrade. It is sometimes taken in pitfalls, and its flesh is eaten by the natives of Africa. The female brings forth her young upon land, and seldom more than one at a time. We are still but imperfectly acquainted with the habits of the hippopotamus; but it seems. to have been well known to the Romans. Augustus exhibited one as an emblem of Egypt, in his triumph over Cleopatra.

AIKMAN'S ANIMAL KINGDOM.

WHEN the warm gales of spring have once breathed on the earth, it soon becomes covered, in field and in forest, with its thick garb of green, and soon opening flowers or blossoms are everywhere breathing back again a fragrance to heaven. Among these, the heliotrope is seen always turning its beautiful disc to the sun, and many deli