vours
everything it finds--even knives, female trinkets, and pieces of iron.
The Arab on whose authority these details are given, relates that a
woman had her coral-necklace carried off and swallowed by an ostrich;
and an officer in the African army affirms, that one of them tore off
and ate the buttons of his surtout. The ostrich is, at the same time,
exceedingly dexterous; so that she will tear a date from a man's mouth
without hurting him. The Arabs are distrustful of her, and know where
to lay the blame if, on counting their money, they find two or three
dollars missing.

It is no uncommon thing to see, at some distance from a douar, a
wearied child riding on the back of an ostrich, which carries its
burden directly towards the tent, the young Jehu holding on by the
pinions. But she would not carry too heavy a load--a man, for
instance--but would throw him on the ground with a flap of her wing.

When ostriches are taken to market in Africa, their legs are tied
almost close together with a cord, another cord attached to this one
being held in the hand.

PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

The official statement of the United States' census, published at
Washington in December last, furnishes us with the means of knowing
what our American brethren have been doing in the ten years from 1840
to 1850. In that decennial period, the whole territory had increased
from 2,055,163 to 3,221,595 square miles, exclusive of the great lakes
in the interior, and deeply-indenting bays on the coast. The gross
population in June 1850, numbered 23,246,201; an increase from June
1840 of 6,176,848. Of these, 19,619,366 were whites; 3,198,298 were
slaves; and free blacks, 428,637; the increase having been
respectively, 5,423,371--711,085--42,392. The whole increase was
equivalent to 3-1/2 per cent.; while in Europe, it is not more than
1-1/2 per cent.; and if it continue as at present, the population
will, forty years hence, exceed that of England, France, Spain,
Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland put together. The deaths in the last
of the ten years were 320,194, being 1 to each 72.6, or 10 to each 726
of the inhabitants; this return is, however, supposed to involve an
error, as the mortality is less in proportion than in the most
favoured parts of Europe; whereas the reverse is generally considered
to be the fact. In the same year, 1467 slaves were manumitted, and
1011 escaped. The number of emigrants from foreign countries durin