in getting out of it, owing to the rain that had fallen. The human skeletons are supposed to be those of rebels, who have been pursued from the main road, and taken refuge in the valley without their knowledge of the danger to which they were thus exposing themselves.—(The effects, as here described, are identical with those at the Grotto del Cane, at Naples, and no doubt arise from the same cause. These seem more strange in an open valley; but the mephitic air at the Grotto is so heavy, that you may stand upright without inconvenience, as it rises but a few inches above the surface.) Geographical Society
THE BURGHER GUARDS.
At Hamburgh may be found one of the few remaining shadows of this once formidable force still surviving only amongst the free towns of Germany. Its organization is an exact copy of what it was in the olden time, and reminds us forcibly of the period when every city was of necessity a fort, and every citizen a soldier. The town is divided into regiments, and these again into companies, at the head of each of which there is a commandant. The regiments and companies parcel it out, just as our more modern cities are divided into police districts; and each regime counts as its men the free citizens residing within its locality. Altogether unlike our common militia force, in which by substitution any ballot man may shift personal service upon a deputy,—thisguard consists solely of free citizens, and enrol
