To the east of Japan is the great empire of China, which contains three hundred and forty millions of people--just twenty times as many as all the inhabitants of the United States! I shall have some curious tales to tell of these various countries, in the course of the sable-hunter’s story. A TRAVELLER, who stopped one night at a hotel in Pennsylvania, rose from his bed to examine the sky, and thrust his head by mistake through the glass window of a closet. “Landlord,” cried the astonished man, “this is very singular weather--the night is as dark as Egypt, and smells very strong of old cheese!” [Illustration] Walled Cities. In ancient times, it was the custom to surround cities with very high walls of stone. This was rendered necessary, by the habit that then prevailed among nations, of making war upon each other. We, who live so peaceably, can hardly conceive of the state of things that existed in former ages. It is only by reading history, that we become informed of what appears to have been the fact, that in all countries, until within a late period, war has been the great game of nations. As the people of ancient cities were constantly exposed to the attack of enemies, the only way to obtain security was to encircle themselves with high and strong walls. Sometimes these were of vast height and thickness. We are told that Thebes, a city of Egypt--the mighty ruins of which still astonish the traveller who passes that way--had a hundred gates. It is said that the walls of Babylon were near fifty feet high. Most of the cities of Asia are still encircled with walls, and many of the cities of Europe also. London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, have none: Paris had only a small wall till lately--but the king is now engaged in building one around the city, of great strength. Rome, Vienna, St. Petersburgh, Berlin, and Amsterdam are walled cities. Bells. Bells are made of a mixture of about three parts of copper to one of tin, and sometimes a portion of silver, according to the shape and size the bell is to be. They are cast in moulds of sand--the melted metal being poured into them. The parts of a bell are--its body, or barrel; the clapper, within side; and the links, which suspend it from the top of the bell. The thickness of the edge of the bell is usually one fifteenth of its diameter, and its height twelve times its thickness. The sound of a bell arises from a vibratory motion of its parts, like that of a musical string. The stroke of the clapper drives the parts struck away from the centre, and the metal of the bell being elastic, they not only recover themselves, but even spring back a little nearer to the centre than they were before struck by the clapper. Thus the circumference of the bell undergoes alternate changes of figure, and gives that tremulous motion to the air, in which sound consists.