INTEMPERANCE, loud, demands the place-
He'd long deceiv'd the human race;
None could such right as he maintain,
Disease and Death were in his train.

THEFT next appears to claim the station,
E'er constant in his dark vocation;

He thought the place might well repay
The crime that labour'd night and day.

FRAUD Own'd (though lothe to speak his praise) He gain'd his point by secret ways; His voice in cities had been heard, And oft in senates been preferr'd: Yet much derision had he borne, Treated by honest fools with scorn. His influence on the Western shore Was not so great as heretofore : He own'd each side alike assail'd, Complain'd how sadly he was rail'd: Yet if some honour should requite His labour-things might still go right.

MURDER before the footstool stood,
With tatter'd robe distain'd in blood;
And who, he cry'd, with daring face,
Denies my title to the place?
My watchful eyes mankind survey,
And single out the midnight prey:
Not coward-like I meet the foe,
With footsteps insecure and slow;

Or cause his death by languid strife→→
Boldly this dagger ends his life.

Give back, ye Crimes, your claims resign,
For I'demand the post as mine.

AV'RICE declar'd, for love of gold,

His nation, or himself he sold ;
He taught the sin of pride betimes;
Was foster-father of all crimes :
He pawn'd his life, he stak'd his soul,
And found employment for the whole :
Acknowledg'd that he gain'd his wealth,
By fraud, by murder, and by stealth:
On one so useful in her cause,
VICE well might lavish due applause.

The haggar'd host bow low the head; The Monster rose, and thus she said: Ye ministers of Vice, draw near, For fame no longer persevere; No more your various parts disclose : Men see and hate you all as foes. One yet remains among your crew,— Then rise, SEDUCTION! claim your due. Your baleful presence quickly parts The tie which holds the happiest hearts; You rob what wealth can ne'er repay! Like Judas, with a kiss betray;

Hence come the starving, trembling train, Who prostitute themselves for gain;

Whose languid visages impart

A smile, while anguish gnaws the heart;
Whose steps decoy unwary youth
From honour, honesty, and truth;
Which, follow'd, 'till too late to mend,
In ruin, and the gallows end-

Be thine the post. Besides, who knows
Where all thy consequences close ?—
With thee, SEDUCTION! are ally'd
Horror, Despair, and Suicide.

You wound-but the devoted heart
Feels not alone the poignant smart:
You wound-th' electric pain extends
To fathers, mothers, sisters, friends;
Murder may yet delight in blood,
And deluge round the crimson flood;
But sure his merits rank above,
Who murders in the MASK of love!

MANNERS OF THE ABIPONS AND

SOME OTHER

SAVAGE NATIONS IN THE PROVINCE OF LA PLATA, IN SOUTH AMERICA.

THE Abipons inhabit the province of Buenos Ayres. This warlike tribe consists of about 5000 souls: they inhabit a part of the country called Yapizlaga, between the 28th and 30th deg. of latitude, on the banks of the river La Plata. They breed horses, and train up wild ones. Their arms are lances, about

three or four yards long, and arrows which are sometimes pointed with iron. Their warlike spirit has rendered them formidable to the Spaniards; and the missionaries have had but little success amongst them. The blood of this nation is tolerably pure; and the women are not much browner than the Spanish females. The features of the men are re

gular; and the aquiline nose is very common amongst them. They have a custom of tearing the hair away from the forehead so as to appear bald, which has acquired them the name of Callegas amongst the Spaniards. They also tear out the beard, and mark the forehead and temples with scars by way of ornaments. They are very cleanly, and frequently bathe: they are not anthropophagi, as has been said of some of their neighbours; but they have a voracity which is common with all savage people. They said to the missionaries, you wish us to remain amongst you, you must give us plenty to eat; for we resemble the beasts, which eat at all hours, and are not like you, who eat but little and at certain periods." In fact, the Indians regulate themselves in this respect not by the clock, but by their appetite, which is always increasing.

Polygamy does not appear to be a general. practice among them; but some of the women adopt the barbarous custom of killing their children after having suckled them, in order to bestow all their attention upon their husbands. The common age at which they marry is from twenty to twenty-five years. The girls are bought from their parents at the price of

four horses, and a few clothes made of pieces of cloth of different colours, so that they resemble in some degree a Turkey carpet.

It has been asserted, that they have no idea of a Supreme Being, but that they are much in dread of a certain dæmon, or evil spirit; and that they have amongst them magicians, called Kivet, to whom they attribute the power of appeasing this disturber. But it is probable that this evil spirit is considered by them as the Supreme Being, to whom they only pay a sort of worship when they think him angry. The Abipons generally bury their dead under the shade of a tree; and when a chief or warrior dies, they kill his horses on his grave. Some time afterwards they dig up his remains, and convey them to a more secret and distant place.

Their opinion of another life is evident by the care which they take, on burying their dead, to inter with them provisions, and a bow and arrows, in order that they may procure themselves a subsistence in the other world, and that hunger may not induce them to return to this to torment the living.

The Mocobs and the Tobas, to the north-west of the Abipons, speak nearly the same idiom; but the language of the Guaranians is the most extensive.

The caciques of this people are nothing more than chiefs in case of war, and judges in time of peace : their power is very limited. The little republics, or hordes of Indians, disperse with the same facility as they collect together. Each man being his own master, they separate as soon as they are discontented