Mr. Thompson is inclined to consider Leguat’s natural history of the Dodo as “the only one that was ever penned under such favourable circumstances.  No doubt this first colony, in so small an island, considerably reduced the number of the Dodo; but when they finally disappeared, does not seem to be anywhere recorded.”  The most interesting consideration connected with their disappearance is their being “the only vertebrated animals which we can make certain of having lost since the creation.  If we seek to find out what link in the chain of Nature has been broken by the loss of this species, what others have lost their check, and what others necessarily followed the loss of those animals which alone contributed to their support,” Mr. Thompson thinks “we may conclude that, the first being seen by the Omniscient Creator, at least no injury will be sustained by the rest of the creation; that man, its destroyer, was probably intended to supplant it, as a check; and that the only other animals which its destruction drew with it, were the intestinal worms and pediculi peculiar to the species.”

Buffon, Latham, and Gmelin have three species of Dodo, while we find it difficult to establish the existence of one.  Indeed, it is improbable that the three islands of the Mauritius group possessed each a distinct type of so singular and unique a bird.

* * * * *

MOUNT ARARAT.

Ararat is celebrated as the resting-place of Noah’s ark after the Deluge, and as the spot whence the descendants of Noah peopled the earth.  It rises on the Persian frontier, on a large plain, detached, as it were, from the other mountains of Armenia, which make a long chain.  It consists, properly speaking, of two hills—­the highest of which, where the ark is said to have rested,[18] is, according to Parrot, 2,700 toises, or 17,718 feet above the level of the ocean.[19] The summit is covered with perpetual snow; the lower parts are composed of a deep, moving sand; and one side presents a vast chasm tinged with smoke, from which flames have been known to issue.

[18] The precise spot is controverted, as will be seen in an
extract from the ingenious work on Scriptural
Antiquities, quoted in vol. xix. of the Mirror, p. 382;
where are notices of the mountain by Morier and Sir
Robert Ker Porter.  The latter describes Ararat as
divided, by a chasm of about seven miles wide, into two
distinct peaks, and is of opinion that the ark finally
rested in this chasm.

[19] Edin.  New Phil.  Journ.  By Professor Jameson.  No. 23, p.
156.—­Note to a paper by Humboldt, on the Mountain Chains
and Volcanoes of Central Asia.  Ararat is referred to in
Genesis, viii. 4.  Its distance and bearing from
Jerusalem, 650, N.E.b.N.; Lat.  North, 39.40.  Long.  East,
43.50.  Country, Erivan; Province, Mahou.—­From the
General Index to the Biblical Family Cabinet Atlas.