fruit, which brought death into the world and all our woe." Flowers of every hue greet the eye, and trees are hung with tropical fruits in tempting profusion. Here hang in clusters the bananas, cocoa-nuts, oranges, pine-apples, plantains, custuds, granadillas, pomegranates, and figs. Here grow, in all their beauty and perfection, the exotics of our northern conservatories. Some of them are daily watered by artificial means, but, with that little attention from man, they have no other nurse but the genial sun, and no other covering than the skies. A few of the gardens have marble fountains, that still mix their waters with the odors around. Nymphs and Venuses, with a few dismembered saints, adorn the flowery walks. One may see a saint without a head, and a Venus without a leg. In a shell-encircled basin stands a figure of old Neptune, with a broken trident in his hand. Those statues may not have been sculptured by a Phidias or a Powers, but they show evidence of a taste and refinement of by-gone times. Oh! it is deplorable to behold Neglect aiding in the triumph of Decay. The marble fountains will soon cease to play, and the sculptured symbols of luxury point to the grave of civilization. Some may think, as the Spaniards would say, "Palabras que se luva el viento."

Can nothing be done for Jamaica, where Nature does so much and man so little? Its streams and surrounding waters abound with fishes of great variety. The hills and the valleys teem with teal, wild ducks, plovers, snipes, pigeons, and flamingoes. Its timbers are of the choicest kinds, and its spices and balsams are celebrated for their superiority. Its past history proves what its deserted plantations are capable of producing. It is one of the most productive islands in the world, and certainly one of the

most beautiful. Notwithstanding all the charming beauty of Jamaica, she is abandoned by England, her natural protector. England broke the chains of slavery which despotism had forged, it is true; but she left her wrapped in darkness and in ignorance. Before the civilized world, she presents the most humiliating spectacle of wretchedness and ruin. Have the long parliamentary efforts of a Wilberforce, and the untiring exertions of a Clarkson, resulted only in this deplorable exhibition of human degradation, and in casting a withering mildew over the social prosperity of this tropical garden of loveliness? Almost irredeemably sunk in the depths of sloth, ignorance, and depravity, she appeals to the philanthropists of the world to have pity upon her fallen condition. She implores of them, with outstretched arms, to educate her benighted population, who take no pride in her beauty, and feel no interest in her welfare. "She looks, and there is none to help; and she wonders that there is none to uphold." The humble efforts of a few sectarian preachers, and a few Sisters of Charity, avail but little. Unless something be speedily done for Jamaica, the great DISPOSER of human events can only foresee her mysterious destiny. As for myself, I shrink from the contemplation of the future.

The First Masonic Funeral

IN SAN FRANCISCO.

N the contemplative hour of retirement, how many thrilling

I then past crowd memory! Some

them are of a pleasing and others of a peculiarly painful character. The year 1849 will ever be a memorable epoch in the history of California. The commercial and gold-seeking adventurers "met on the level" in those days. There were no granite buildings to trade in, nor were there splendid palaces to live in, such as now adorn the surrounding hills of San Francisco. Thousands of people, who had been long accustomed to all the refinement and luxuries of Eastern life, had to doff their fine linen and put on the red shirt of the hardy miner. Pride was unknown for a time. Gentlemen had to stoop from their dignity and awkwardly wash their own clothes. They had to kindle their own fires and do the menial work of a cuisinier. Some reposed at night in a canvas tent, while others closed their eyes in sleep among the sand hills, with no covering but the canopy of heaven"Bespangled with those isles of light,

So wildly, spiritually bright."

Exposure and disease rapidly peopled the kingdom of death. The Ayuntamiento had not yet set apart any ground for burial purposes. The consequence was that many were rudely buried in the suburbs, and were afterwards removed to Yerba Buena

Cemetery, where the remains of eight hundred lie huddled together in one immense, dismal grave. There is not even a common board to mark out the remarkable pit in which sleep so many unfortunate pioneers of Upper California. In those eventful times men were found dead, and no one could tell whence they came. They passed away to their graves unhonored and unknown.

Distant friends and relations were never informed of their fate. Anxious parents in foreign climes still cherish the hope that their sons are yet in the land of the living, and may return to the domestic roof. Vain hope! Their eyes are sealed in death, and the grave has closed over them forever!

The Fraternity of "the mystic tie" had not yet organized there legal information, which craftsmen only know and properly understand. A wonderful instance of Masonic identity occurred in the month of August, 1849. A much respected citizen and Mason was quietly wending his way up Happy Valley, very early in the morning, when he beheld the corpse of a man stretched upon the pebbly beach. All was soft and still. The strangely mingled population of the tented city was wrapped in deep repose. The mists still lingered on the suburban hills, and the morning star shone clear in the sky. The waters of the bay were smooth and calm, and gently laved the feet of the stranger who "slept the sleep that knows no waking." The great Disposer of human events, in His inscrutable providence, seemingly had determined that the tide should bear his lifeless body to the shore, where, discovered by a passing brother, it would assuredly be carried to the grave in becoming solemnity, and deposited therein with all the honors and ceremonial rites of the Ancient Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.

"There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,

Rough-hew them as we may."

Some of the inmates of the neighboring tents were roused from their slumbers and speedily repaired to the spot. The Alcalde was immediately sent for. He promptly attended, and acted as coroner. The body was removed to a tent, where it was carefully scrutinized. No indications of violence were visible. The man

had evidently been drowned. His face was manly and intellectual. His hair was long and curly, and of a dark auburn hue. He was neatly dressed, and had a superior air of respectability. The jacket and pants on his person were blue pilot cloth, and a black silk handkerchief was tied in a sailor's knot around his neck. There was nothing found in his pockets that could possibly lead to his identity. However, in removing the flannel from his bosom, a silver mark of a Mark Master was discovered, upon which were engraved the initials of his name. A little further investigation revealed to the beholders the most outre exhibition of Masonic emblems that were ever drawn by the ingenuity of man on the human skin. There is nothing in the history or traditions of Free Masonry equal to it. Beautifully dotted on his left arm with red and blue ink, which time could not efface, appeared all the emblems of the Entered Apprentice. There was the Holy Bible, the Square and Compass, the twenty-four inch Gauge, and the common Gavel. There were also the Mosaic pavement representing the ground floor of King Solomon's Temple, the indented Tressel which surrounds it, and the Blazing Star in the centre. On his right arm, and artistically executed in the same indelible liquids, were the emblems appertaining to the Fellow Craft degree, viz.: the Plumb, the Square, and the Level.