african pose

-=-=african pose=-=-

i'm sorry if i'm mistaken but i think this is what we called african pose..
heheh. .:)

filipina pose

-=-=philippine pose=-=-

korean pose

-=-=-=korean pose=-=-=-

on our last day in 3rd year in Rogationist College. while we were waiting at the guidance room for our bestfrend kristena ditan cause' she was taking her special exam in foreign language.. for us to not to get bored, we decided to take pictures with different poses we invented..hahaha..

kim jitsukawa and maan andres

this is me and my classmate maan..maan is actually the president of our section..she is really responsible..and good looking...i can say also that she is talented!!hehe. . she is very supportive at our section specially when we have competitions to other sections..heheh. . .

stolen picture!!

this picture was actually stolen. .haha.. well..!!! this is taken at metrogate silang!
hehehe... we all have a fun therE!!hahaha..it was really one of my unforgettable outing here in the philippines!! ehehehe...
although were just few... we actually enjoy each other!!hehehe..

Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

This chapter states some theories, principles, facts, and certain studies that will serve as a basis of the research process. Relevant and Fundamental information can be gathered and obtains in this chapter to provide a foundation for the outcome of this research.

A. Research Literature

Abracia pointed that people have invented new materials to take place or improve those found in nature to have more food and much better preparation of that food.

Many household products contain lye, the chemical sodium hydroxide. Lye is a caustic, alkaline chemical, which means it dissolves sticky substances like fat, and has a high degree of reactivity with other materials. Lye, in a flake, granular, or liquid form, is very dangerous and can cause damage to surfaces and people.

Lye is created out of a chemical reaction between soda, known as sodium carbonate, and calcium hydroxide, or lime. In raw form, it's made into solid flakes, chips, or grains. Chemical suppliers provide lye to manufacturers to make a wide variety of products, such as fabric, paper, personal soap, laundry detergent, pool-cleaning supplies, metal polishers, and drain de-cloggers. Since households utilize so many poisonous products, they must take care to keep cleaners out of the reach of children and only use them as directed. For instance, carefully follow the directions to clean a sterling silver gravy boat with lye-based polish, because even the fumes can be dangerous. Never uses products like drain de-clogger or paint stripper without enough air circulation.

Caustic lye products pose other dangers to surfaces. They can dissolve substances to your advantage, like hair clogs in a shower drain, as well as to your detriment, such as the adjacent shower curtain. In fact, lye can damage and corrode paint, metal, cloth, plastic, and especially skin. Lye can be so reactive that, in its solid form, it should be kept away from metals, such as aluminum, and the open air. It's usually non-combustible when dry, but could ignite when mixed with water and cause a fire.

Before the modern manufacture of lye, people were able to make it out of raw materials. For thousands of years, people have used lye for soap making and tanning hides. They burned certain hardwoods at a very high temperature to make white, not gray, ashes. Apple trees, oak, and seaweed kelp make ideal fuels. Then water, mixed with a bit of baking soda, penetrates the ashes and removes the lye they contain. When the ashes are filtered out, the water holds enough lye to dissolve fat left on animal furs, or to mix with other ingredients to make strong body soap.
Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth or pigweed, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are presently recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold. Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia.

Although several species are often considered weeds, people around the world value amaranths as leaf vegetables, cereals and ornamentals.

The word comes from the Greek amarantos (Αμάρανθος or Αμάραντος) the "one that does not wither", or the never-fading (flower).

Amaranthus shows a wide variety of morphological diversity among and even within certain species. Although the family (Amaranthaceae) is distinctive, the genus has few distinguishing characters among the 70 species included.[1] This complicates taxonomy and Amaranthus has generally been considered among systematists as a “difficult” genus.[2]

Formerly, Sauer (1955) classified the genus into 2 sub-genera, differentiating only between monoecious and dioecious species: Acnida (L.) Aellen ex K.R. Robertson and Amaranthus. [2] Although this classification was widely accepted, further infrageneric classification was (and still is) needed to differentiate this widely diverse group.

Currently, Amaranthus includes 3 recognized sub-genera and 70 species, although species numbers are questionable due to hybridization and species concepts.[3] Infrageneric classification focuses on inflorescence, flower characters and whether a species is monoecious/dioecious, as in the Sauer (1955) suggested classification.[1] A modified infrageneric classification of Amaranthus was published by Mosyakin & Robertson (1996) and includes 3 subgenera: Acnida, Amaranthus and Albersia. The taxonomy is further differentiated by sections within each of the sub-genera.[4]

In some cultures it was known as a mythical flower that never fades.
Amaranth, or Amarant (from the Greek amarantos, unwithering), a name chiefly used in poetry, and applied to Amaranth and other plants which, from not soon fading, typified immortality.
Aesop's Fables (6th century BC) compares the Rose to the Amaranth to illustrate the difference in fleeting and everlasting beauty.

A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden,
and the Amaranth said to her neighbour,
"How I envy you your beauty and your sweet scent!
No wonder you are such a universal favourite."
But the Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice,
"Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a time:
my petals soon wither and fall, and then I die.
But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut;
for they are everlasting."
Thus, in John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), iii. 353:
"Immortal amarant, a flower which once
In paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,
And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven
Rolls o'er elysian flowers her amber stream:
With these that never fade the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in Work without Hope (1825), also references the herb, likely referencing Milton's earlier work. (ll 7-10 excerpted):
Yet well I ken the banks where Amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye Amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!

The original spelling is amarant; the more common spelling amaranth seems to have come from a folk etymology assuming that the final syllable derives from the Greek word anthos ("flower"), common in botanical names.

In ancient Greece the amaranth (also called chrusanthemon and elichrusos) was sacred to Ephesian Artemis. It was supposed to have special healing properties, and as a symbol of immortality was used to decorate images of the gods and tombs. In legend, Amarynthus (a form of Amarantus) was a hunter of Artemis and king of Euboea; in a village of Amarynthus, of which he was the eponymous hero, there was a famous temple of Artemis Amarynthia or Amarysia (Strabo x. 448; Pausan. i. 31, p. 5). It was also widely used by the Chinese for its healing chemicals, curing illnesses such as infections, rashes, and migraines. The "Amarantos" is the name a several-century-old popular Greek folk song:

Look at the amaranth:
on tall mountains it grows,
on the very stones and rocks
and places inaccessible.

Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish featured a song titled Amaranth on their 2007 album Dark Passion Play.
The Swedish doom/gothic band Draconian (band) have released a song called The Amaranth, where the plant is used as a symbol for the dark side of Venus.
Orson Scott Card's novel Speaker for the Dead features a plant called amaranth native to the planet Lusitania, where the majority of the story takes place.

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION :: DEFINITION OF TERMS )

F. Definition of Terms

The operational terms that had been used in our study, are the following:

Lye . It is manufactured from calcium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. It is a caustic solution and a type of very strong alkali.

Pigweed/uray plant. s.i. Amaranthus Spinosus. It’s a stout, erect, smooth branched herb, 0.4 to 1 m high.

Aristae. A bristle like part or appendage, such as the awn of grains and grasses or the process near the tip of the antenna of certain flies.

Kulitis plant. s.i. Amaranthus Viridis. An erect, smooth, branched unarmed herb, 30-60 cm high.

Axillary. Refers to the location of a node on a plant stem; more precisely, to the apical angle between a leaf and the stem above it.

Solvation. Commonly called dissolution, is the process of attraction and association of molecules of a solvent with molecules or ions of a solute

Glabrous. It is an adjective used to describe a morphological feature as smooth, glossy, having no hair or bristles or glaucousness.

Petiole. It is the stalk by which a leaf is attached to a stem. Also called leafstalk.
Lanceolate. Lance like of a leaf, about four times as long as it is broad, broadest in the lower half and tapering towards the tip.

Utricle. A small bladder, a membranous bladder-like sac enclosing an ovary or fruit.

Systematists. Iologists who study the evolution, relationships, and classification of living
organisms. The science of systematics is thus the most comprehensive of biological disciplines, including the fields of paleontology, ecology, behavior, anatomy, physiology, and development. The subdiscipline of taxonomy, for naming and classifying specimens, is part of systematics.

Monoecious. Having separate male and female reproductive units (flowers, conifer cones, or functionally equivalent structures) on the same plant; from Greek for "one household".
Dioecious. Having unisexual reproductive units with male and female plants.

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION :: ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY )

E. Organization of the Study

This research paper is divided into 6 chapters namely the Introduction; Review of Related Literature; Methodology; Presentation, Analysis, and Interpretation of Data; and Summary, Conclusion, and Recommendation

In the 1st Chapter, the history how lye came to be was mentioned along, researchers hypothesis, the use of pigweed plant were also mentioned, In the Review of Related Literature in Chapter II, the researchers introduced the theories principles and ideas that then formulate their own hypothesis. Chapter III shows how the researchers are to conduct the experimentation and the completion of the product, exact procedures were given along with the research tool and research method

Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of Data shows the results of the experiment through the observation form. All data collected from the forms returned by the observers were then presented in tabular format making it easier to reach a conclusion based on the given results.
Summary conclusion and recommendation constitutes the 5th and final chapter. Everything that has been done is recounted in a nutshell and the answer whether the hypothesis is rejected or accepted is revealed further improvements and research that can be done is given by the researchers in this chapter also.

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION :: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY )

D. Significance of the Study

Researchers. This will help them improve their creativity in choosing their own ingredients and methods needed in making the study.

Consumers. This will help them to make home made lye so that their expenses would be lessened.

Lye Manufacturer. This study will help the manufacturer to use cheap and common ingredients. It will also enhance the manufacturer to be ingenious in using cheap prize ingredients.

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION :: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM )

C. Statement of the Problem
This study determined the effectivity and practicality of pigweed plant in making a home made lye. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions:
1. What are the qualities of a good pigweed plant, in terms of?


a. Stem
b. Leaves
c. Flowers
d. Fruits utricles



2. Is there difference between lye made out of pigweed plant and commercialize lye, in terms of:



a. color
b. odor
c. effectiveness as food additive

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION :: OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY )

B. Objective of the Study

Generally, the study aims to produce lye from pigweed (Amaranthus Spinosus ). Our specific objectives in conducting this study are:

1. to know what are the other uses of pigweed

2. to enhance our skills to produce new substance.

3. to determine that there would be other substance or material to be used in the absence of commercial sodium hydroxide or lye, a food additive.

investigatory project ( CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION )

Chapter I
Introduction

There are so many materials that we can find in the environment. Man has added many more materials to those that are found in nature. People have invented and produced new material to take the place or improve them.
People want to have a long healthy life; therefore, they need a healthful environment. There is a need for more food and a much better preparation of that food.
Technology has allowed people to invent new materials that will be more effective and economical. Scientists and manufacturers of products have discovered that chemicals can be used to produce materials that are useful in the life of every individual.

A. Background of the Study
Pigweed, scientific name Amaranthus Spinosus or uray is a family of flowering plants in the order of Caryophyllates about 50 to 800 species herbs with a few shrubs native to the Philippines. It has a stout, erect, smooth, branch herb, 0.4 to 1 m high, stems with slender auxiliary spines. The presence of spines differentiates it from kulitis (Amaranthus Viridis) or amaranth. The leaves are glabrous, long-petiole, oblong to oblong ovate, or elliptic-lanciolate, 4 to 10 cm long, obtuse, alternate. The flowers are very numerous, stalk less, green or greening-white, axillary clusters and in elongated terminal axillary spikes sepals 5 or 1-3 ovate to linear, often aristae. Petals are scrawls bracts, bristle pointed and as long as the sepals or longer. Seeds are minute, black, and shining.
Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, specifically, sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes.
In modern day, lye is commercially manufactured using a membrane cell method, which is an improvement from the previous diaphragm cell methods of Castner-Kellner, Gibbs, and Nelson.

investigatory project ( ACKNOWLEDGEMENT )

Acknowledgement

The researchers wish to extend their sincerest appreciation to the following people who helped make this research. They are the people who helped and contributed much for the success of this endeavor.
To God, for his gift of wisdom and understanding to the researchers and for answering their prayers in their times of need.
To their Chemistry teacher, Mr. Jonathan Digma for teaching them the fundamental of research and investigatory writing and for showing a great deal of patience through at times they tend to be naughty.
To their parents and family members, for the unending love and support that they gave to the researchers.
To the observer/respondents, for their integrity and cooperation.
And lastly, to all those who were a part of this work, the researchers would like to extend their deepest thanks.


Raphael Arche Sandino Buscayno
Lei Janine Demillo
Kimberly Jitsukawa
Gerard Marzel Mendoza
Edward Daniel Roberto

investigatory project ( TABLE OF CONTENTS )

Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................. i

Acknowledgement............................................................................................ ii

Table of Contents.............................................................................................. iii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION............................................................ 1
A. Background of the study............................................. 1
B. Objective of the Study................................................. 2
C. Statement of the Problem.......................................... 2
D. Significance of the Study........................................... 3
E. Organization of the Study.......................................... 3
F. Definition of Terms.................................................... 4

CHAPTER II REWIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE................. 6
A. Research Literature.................................................... 6

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY....................................................... 12
A. Research Design.......................................................... 12
B. Data Collection Data.................................................... 12
C. Research Instrument.................................................. 15
D. Statistical Technique...................................................... 15

CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .................................. 16

CHAPTE V SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATION 21
A. Summary of Findings................................................ 21
B. Conclusion....................................................................... 22
C. Recommendation........................................................... 23

BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................. 24
APPENDICES................................................................................................... 25

investigatory project ( CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION)

Chapter IV
Presentation, Interpretation, and Analysis of Data

Problem #1 What are the qualities that pigweed plant must posses in order to make a quality product in terms of its:
a. Stem
b. Leaves
c. Flowers
d. Fruits utricles
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Agree
10
100 %
Disagree
0
0%
TOTAL
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table.1.1 The stem of the pigweed plant is with axillary spines.

Table 1.1 show that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers agree that the stem of pigweed plant is with slender axillary spines.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Agree
10
100%
Disagree
0
0
TOTAL
10
100%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Table 1.2 The leavesof the pigweed plant is glabrous, alternate, oblong to oblong, ovate long-petioled or elliptic-lanceolate,4 to 10 cm long, obtuse, which are the characteristics of a good pigweed.


Table 1.2 shows that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers stated that the leaves of pigweed is glabrous, alternate, oblong to oblong, ovate long-petioled or elliptic-lanceolate,4 to 10 cm long, obtuse, which are the characteristics of a good pigweed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Agree
10
100%
Disagree
0
0
TOTAL
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Table 1.3 The flower is very numerous, stalk less, green or greening-white, about 1 mm long and born in dense.

Table 1.3 show that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers agree that the flower of the pigweed plant used in the experiment is Very numerous, stalk less, green or greening-white, about 1 mm long and born in dense.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Agree
10
100 %
Disagree

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TOTAL
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1.4 The fruit utricle is wrinkled and nearly as long as the sepals

Table 1.4 shows that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers stated that the fruit utricle of pigweed plant used in the experiment is wrinkled and nearly as long as the sepals

Problem # 2 Is there difference between lye made out of uray plant and commercializes lye, in terms of:
a. color
b. odor
c. taste

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercialized Lye
Lye from Pigweed Plant
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Frequency
Percentage
Very light
0
0%
0
0%
Moderately light
0
0%
1
10%
Average
10
100%
8
80%
Moderately dark
0
0%
1
10%
Very dark
0
0%
0
0%
TOTAL
10
100%
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2.1Color of Commercialized Lye & Lye from Pigweed Plant

Table 2.1 shows that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers stated that the color of commercialized lye was average, on the other hand 80 % or 8 out 10 rated the lye from pigweed plant as average ,meanwhile 10 % or 1out of 10 observer said that lye from pigweed was moderately dark and another 10 % or 1 out of 10 observer told that the lye from pigweed was moderately light

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercialized Lye
Lye from Pigweed Plant
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Frequency
Percentage
Pleasant
10
100%
9
90%
Unpleasant
0
0%
1
10%
Odorless
0
0%
0
0%
TOTAL
10
100%
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 2.2 Odor of Commercialized Lye & Lye from Pigweed Plant

Table 2.2 shows that 100 % or 10 out of 10 observers stated that the odor of commercialized lye was pleasant, on the other hand 90 % or 9 out 10 rated the lye from pigweed plant as pleasant ,meanwhile 10 % or 1out of 10 observer said that lye from pigweed was unpleasnt in odor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commercialized Lye
Lye from Pigweed Plant
Rating
Frequency
Percentage
Frequency
Percentage
Effective as Food Additive
9
90%
9
90%
Ineffective as Food Additive
1
10%
1
10%
TOTAL
10
100%
10
100%
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Table 2.3 Effectiveness as Food Additive of Commercialized Lye & Lye from Pigweed Plant

Table 2.3 shows that 90 % or 90 out of 10 observers stated that the commercialized lye is effective as food additive and 10 % or 1 out 10 rated that commercialized lye is ineffective as food additive. Meanwhile 90 % or 90 out of 10 observers stated that the lye from pigweed plant is effective as food additive and 10 % or 1 out 10 rated that lye from pigweed plant is ineffective as food additive.

investigatory project ( PROCEDURE )

C. Procedure

First, the researches gathered pigweed plant. Then, they spread cardboard matting on the ground and the plant samples were placed on them in thin piles so that it can be dried easily. The pigweed or uray plants were dried under the sun or thirty days more until they are ready for burning. They burned the dried plants at a high temperature. The fire should reduce the wood to white ash. After the fire has cooled, they collected the white ash in a sealed container to keep it dry and contaminated. They collected rain water or stream water. This water is less contaminated and is the ideal source for traditional lye making. The proper water is essential to the process. They measure the uray’s ash using measuring cup and a beaker. They followed the method of preparation that the quantity of ash and water must be in equal proportion. They poured a hot water over the ash. They slowly added cool water, until the water dripped from the container. Using the stirring rod, the stirred the ash until it mixed with water. The mixture is called calcium and sodium carbonate. With the use of another container the mixtures was strained using a white clean cloth for three hours. Then they drained out again using oslo/filter paper into a safe container. The filtered brownish water is the sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or lye which will be used as food additive. To assure that the solution last longer, they boiled it again for half an hour. Then they let it cooled ready to put in the bottle. They measured the desired contents of the bottle, using graduated cylinder and beaker.

investigatory project ( RESULTS AND DISCUSSION )

Results and Discussion

A. Findings

The result of the project revealed that pigweed or uray plant can be a source of sodium hydroxide or lye limited only as food additive to be used in preparing some native dishes like suman, kutsinta, rice cakes, etc. it can also be used to ass color to other foods as well as delicious smell which be appetizing to all.
Documentation on findings was pointed out using graph. This was shown in the list of table.

B. Analysis of Data

For better results, one should follow the method of preparation or suggested quantities of ash and water. This was shown in the list of table.

Conclusions

The author, therefore conclude that plants such as weeds can also be useful if they were given importance and value.
Sodium hydroxide or lye from pigweed can be used as food additive especially in preparing some nature dishes like suman, kutsinta, and rice cakes. It is also used in coloring in preparation of some foods.
They also conclude that people can prepare foods without commercial sodium hydroxide or lye but using the available plant in the surroundings which are pure and natural.

Recommendations

The author therefore recommended that plants such as weeds can also be useful if they were given importance and value.
It is further recommended that proper care and management are to be employed and faithfully observed throughout the period of the study to ensure safety since the plant samples were thorny and burning them to produce new materials can cause choking and burns.
Using Sodium Hydroxide or lye from pigweed plant is recommended in preparation of some foods because it is pure and natural.

*Table 2 showed that there were five respondents or persons who actually tasted the finished product, like suman, kutsinta, nad rice cakes. Three native delicacies were actually cooked using the lye from Pigweed or uray plant. Teachers, Administrators were satisfied thus percentage of approval is 95 %, which is equivalent to outstanding, their parents and parish priest decided on their consensus to rate the finished product 90 % which is also equivalent to outstanding. It is already a common knowledge among young and old alike the children do not like very much native foods like suman, kutsinta and rice cakes so in this regard they rated the finished product to 80% but it is also a very satisfactory rating. With these findings, we can justify that lye from pigweed plant can seved its sole purpose as a food additive.

investigatory project ( ABSTRACT)

ABSTRACT

Pigweed plant, scientific name Amarantus Spinosus, commonly known as “uray” a stout, erect, smooth, branched herb, 0.4 to 1 m high, stems with slender axillaries spines. The presence of spines differentiates it from kulitis (Amaranthus viridis). It was gathered at the roadsides where it was pulled out as weeds.
Knowing some changes in the states of matter learned in Chemistry, pigweed was dried under the sun for one month. After it has been dried, it was burned until it became ash or sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) Water was added to the ash to produce calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide precipitation. This process is known as lime soda softening. Straining and filtration followed. Filtered liquid is the Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) or lye, “lihiya in Filipino”.
Lye is a strong caustic alkaline solution of potassium or sodium salts, obtained by leaching wood ashes. Its chemical name is Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH). As a chemical, it has plenty of uses. Its powder destroys waste by its ability to eat organic material. It is used as food additive which enhance the colors and tastes of foods especially in some native delicacies.
The results revealed that pigweed plant can be a source of sodium hydroxide which can be used as food additive available plant in the surroundings. It can really be a source of income if one thinks that lye is easy to prepare and if one wants to save money, of course, if proper procedures are to be followed every time it will be prepared.

survey form sample (for investigatory project)

Rogationist College
High School Department
S. Y. 2007 – 2008


We Lei Demillo, Kim Jitsukawa, Gerard Mendoza, Edward Roberto, Raphael Buscayno, of III-St. Joseph, are currently conducting a research entitled “POTASSIUM OR SODIUM HYDROXIDE (LYE) FROM URAY PLANT (PIGWEED)”. In line with this, we are gathering data through this questionnaire as part of the requirements in chemistry.

Name(optional): ______________________
Yr.§ion : ______________________

(please put check mark on your answer)
Legend: a- agree
b- disagree


1. Do you agree that lye (sodium hydroxide) can be use as food additive to be used in preparing some native dishes like kutsinta?
A B
( ) ( )
2. Do you agree that lye can be used as the add color to other foods? (a) (b)
3. Do you agree that plants such as weeds can also be useful if they wise given importance and value?
(a) (b)
4. Do you agree that added with sodium hydroxide/ lye has a delicious taste which can be appetizing?
(a) (b)
5. Do you agree that uray plant/ pigweed can be a source of sodium potassium hydroxide or lye, “lihiya” in Filipino?
(a) (b)
6. Do you agree that people can prepare foods without commercial sodium hydroxide or lye but using the available plant in the surroundings?
(a) (b)

survey form sample (for investigatory project)

SURVEY FORM
Did the researcher made use of a good quality pigweed in preparing lye?

________Yes
________No


If Yes:

Were the stems of the pigweed plant with axillary spines?
______Yes
______No


Were the leaves of the pigweed plant are glabrous, long-petioled, oblong to oblong ovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, 4 to 10 cm long, obtuse, and alternate?
______Yes
______No


Were the flowers of the pigweed plant very numerous, stalk less, green or greening white, about 1 mm long and born in dense?
______Yes
______No



Were the fruits utricle of the pigweed plant wrinkled andnearly as long as the sepals?
______Yes
______No

What is the color of the product?

______Very light
______Moderately light
______Average
______Moderately dark
______Very dark

What is the odor of the product?
______pleasant
______unpleasant
______odorless

Is the lye from pigweed plant effective as food additive?
______Yes
______No

Teoryang Pampanitikan

Teoryang Pampanitikan
Teoryang Klasismo/Klasisismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay maglahad ng mga pangyayaring payak, ukol sa pagkakaiba ng estado sa buhay ng dalawang nag-iibigan, karaniwan ang daloy ng mga pangyayari, matipid at piling-pili sa paggamit ng mga salita at laging nagtatapos nang may kaayusan.



Teoryang Humanismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita na ang tao ang sentro ng mundo; ay binibigyang-tuon ang kalakasan at mabubuting katangian ng tao gaya ng talino, talento atbp.



Teoryang Imahismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay gumamit ng mga imahen na higit na maghahayag sa mga damdamin, kaisipan, ideya, saloobin at iba pang nais na ibahagi ng may-adka na higit na madaling maunawaan kaysa gumamit lamang ng karaniwang salita. Sa halip na paglalarawan at tuwirang maglalahad ng mga imahen na layong ilantad ang totoong kaisipan ng pahayag sa loob ng panitikan.



Teoryang Realismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita ang mga karanasan at nasaksisan ng may-akda sa kanyang lipunan. Samakatuwid, ang panitikan ay hango sa totoong buhay ngunit hindi tuwirang totoo sapagkat isinaalang-alang ng may-akda ang kasiningan at pagkaefektibo ng kanyang sinulat.





Teoryang Feminismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay magpakilala ng mga kalakasan at kakayahang pambabae at iangat ang pagtingin ng lipunan sa mga kababaihan. Madaling matukoy kung ang isang panitikan ay feminismo sapagkat babae o sagisag babae ang pangunahing tauhan ay ipimayagpag ang mabubuti at magagandang katangian ng tauhan.



Teoryang Arkitaypal

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita ang mga mahahalagang bahagi ng akda sa pamamagitan ng mga simbolo. Ngunit hindi basta-basta masusuri ang mga simbolismo sa akda. Pinakamainam na alamin muna ang kabuuang konsepto at tema ng panitikan sapagkat ang mga simbolismong napapaloob sa akda ay magkaugnay sa isa’t isa. Ang lahat ng simbolismo ay naaayon sa tema at konseptong ipinapakilala ng may-akda sa mga mambabasa.



Teoryang Formalismo/Formalistiko

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay iparating sa mambabasa ang nais niyang ipaabot gamit ang kanyang tuwirang panitikan. Samakatuwid, kung ano ang sinasabi ng may-akda sa kanyang panitikan ang siyang nais niyang ipaabot sa mambabasa – walang labis at walang kulang. Walang simbolismo at hindi humihingi ng higit na malalimang pagsusuri’t pang-unawa.







Teoryang Saykolohikal/Sikolohikal

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipaliwanag sa pamamagitan ng pagpapakita ng mga salig (factor) sa pagbuo ng naturang behavior (pag-uugali, paniniwala, pananaw, pagkatao) sa isang tauhan sa kanyang akda. Ipinakikita sa akda na ang tao ay nagbabago o nagkakaroon ng panibagong behavior dahil may nag-udyok na mabago o mabuo ito.



Teoryang Eksistensyalismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita na may kalayaan ang tao na pumili o magdesisyon para sa kanyang sarili na siyang pinakasentro ng kanyang pananatili sa mundo (human existence).



Teoryang Romantisismo

v Ang layunin ng teoryang ito ay ipamalas ang iba’t ibang paraan ng tao o sumasagisag sa tao sa pag-aalay ng kanyang pag-ibig sa kapwa, bansa at mundong kinalakhan. Ipinakikita rin sa akda na gagawin at gagawin ng isang nilalang ang lahat upang maipaalam lamang ang kanyang pag-ibig sa tao o bayang napupusuan.



Teoryang Markismo/Marxismo

v Ang layunin ng teoryang ito ay ipakita na ang tao o sumasagisag sa tao ay may sariling kakayahan na umangat buhat sa pagdurusang dulot ng pang-ekononiyang kahirapan at suliraning panlipunan at pampulitika. Ang mga paraan ng pag-ahon mula sa kalugmukan sa adka ay nagsisilbing modelo para sa mga mambabasa.



Teoryang Sosyolohikal

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita ang kalagayan at suliraning panlipunan ng lipunang kinabibilangan ng may-akda. Naipakikita rito ang pamaraan ng mga tauhan sa pagsugpo sa suliranin o kalagayan ng lipunan na nagsisilbing gabay sa mga mambabasa sa magpuksa sa mga katulad na suliranin.



Teoryang Moralistiko

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ilahad ang iba’t ibang pamantayang sumusukat sa moralidad ng isang tao – ang pamantayan ng tama at mali. Inilalahad din nito ang mga pilosopiya o proposisyong nagsasaad sa pagkatama o kamalian ng isang kilos o ugali ayon sa pamantayang itinakda ng lipunan. Sa madaling sabi, ang moralidad ay napagkakasunduan ayon na rin sa kaantasan nito.



Teoryang Bayograpikal

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipamalas ang karanasan o kasagsagan sa buhay ng may-akda. Ipinahihiwatig sa mga akdang bayograpikal ang mga bahagi sa buhay ng may-akda na siya niyang pinakamasaya, pinakamahirap, pinakamalungkot at lahat ng mga “pinaka” na inaasahang magsilbing katuwang ng mambabasa sa kanyang karanasan sa mundo.



Teoryang Queer

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay iangat at pagpantayin sa paningin ng lipunan sa mga homosexual. Kung ang mga babae ay may feminismo ang mga homosexual naman ay queer.



Teoryang Historikal

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita ang karanasan ng isang lipi ng tao na siyang masasalamin sa kasaysayan au bahagi ng kanyang pagkahubog. Nais din nitong ipakita na ang kasaysayan ay bahagi ng buhay ng tao at ng mundo.



Teoryang Kultural

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakilala ang kultura ng may-akda sa mga hindi nakakaalam. Ibinabahagi ng may-akda ang mga kaugalian, paniniwala at tradisyon minana at ipasa sa mga sunod na salinlahi. Ipinakikita rin dito na bawat lipi ay natatangi.



Teoryang Feminismo-Markismo

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ilantad ang iba’t ibang paraan ng kababaihan sa pagtugon sa suliraning kanyang kinakaharap. Isang halimbawa nito ay ang pagkilala sa prostitusyon bilang tuwirang tugon sa suliraning dinaranas sa halip na ito’y kasamaan at suliranin ng lipunan.



Teoryang Dekonstraksyon

v Ang layunin ng panitikan ay ipakita ang iba’t ibang aspekto na bumubuo sa tao at mundo. Pinaniniwalaan kasi ng ilang mga pilosopo at manunulat na walang iisang pananaw ang nag-udyok sa may-akda na sumulat kundi ang pinaghalu-halong pananaw na ang nais iparating ay ang kabuuan ng pagtao at mundo.



Mga Sanggunian



Pagbasa ng Panitikan at Kulturang Popular: piling sanaysay, 1976-1996

Soledad S. Reyes

ADMU Press, Quezon City, Philippines, 1997



Panunuring Pampanitikan (Teorya at Pagsasanay)

Patronicio V. Villafuerte

Mutya Publishing House, Valenzuela City, Philippines, 2000



PLUMA III: Wika at panitikan para sa mataas na paaralan

Ailene G. Basa, Mary Grace C. del Mundo, Nestor S. Lontoc at Alona M. Dayag

Phoenix Publishing House, Inc., Quezon City, Philippines, 2004

Tags: lektyur
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how to solve rubik's cube easily part 2

how to solve rubik's cube easily

"A Descent Into The Maelström" by edgar allan poe

summary:
Three fisherman are at sea, off the coast of Norway. They encounter a hurricane and must fight for their lives while trying to avoid the Maelström, a huge whirlpool that sucks down anything in its path. Can these men survive the hurricane and escape the force of the Maelström?

"A singular change, too, had come over the heavens. Around in every direction it was still as black as pitch, but nearly overhead there burst out, all at once, a circular rift of clear sky — as clear as I ever saw — and of a deep bright blue — and through it there blazed forth the full moon with a lustre that I never before knew her to wear. She lit up every thing about us with the greatest distinctness — but, oh God, what a scene it was to light up !"

story:
The ways of God in Nature, as in Providence, are not as our ways ; nor are the models that we frame any way commensurate to the vastness, profundity, and unsearchableness of His works, which have a depth in them greater than the well of Democritus.
-Joseph Glanville

WE had now reached the summit of the loftiest crag. For some minutes the old man seemed too much exhausted to speak.

"Not long ago," said he at length, "and I could have guided you on this route as well as the youngest of my sons ; but, about three years past, there happened to me an event such as never happened to mortal man -- or at least such as no man ever survived to tell of -- and the six hours of deadly terror which I then endured have broken me up body and soul. You suppose me a very old man -- but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves, so that I tremble at the least exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. Do you know I can scarcely look over this little cliff without getting giddy ?"

The "little cliff," upon whose edge he had so carelessly thrown himself down to rest that the weightier portion of his body hung over it, while he was only kept from falling by the tenure of his elbow on its extreme and slippery edge -- this "little cliff" arose, a sheer unobstructed precipice of black shining rock, some fifteen or sixteen hundred feet from the world of crags beneath us. Nothing would have tempted me to within half a dozen yards of its brink. In truth so deeply was I excited by the perilous position of my companion, that I fell at full length upon the ground, clung to the shrubs around me, and dared not even glance upward at the sky -- while I struggled in vain to divest myself of the idea that the very foundations of the mountain were in danger from the fury of the winds. It was long before I could reason myself into sufficient courage to sit up and look out into the distance.

"You must get over these fancies," said the guide, "for I have brought you here that you might have the best possible view of the scene of that event I mentioned -- and to tell you the whole story with the spot just under your eye."

"We are now," he continued, in that particularizing manner which distinguished him -- "we are now close upon the Norwegian coast -- in the sixty-eighth degree of latitude -- in the great province of Nordland -- and in the dreary district of Lofoden. The mountain upon whose top we sit is Helseggen, the Cloudy. Now raise yourself up a little higher -- hold on to the grass if you feel giddy -- so -- and look out, beyond the belt of vapor beneath us, into the sea."

I looked dizzily, and beheld a wide expanse of ocean, whose waters wore so inky a hue as to bring at once to my mind the Nubian geographer's account of the Mare Tenebrarum. A panorama more deplorably desolate no human imagination can conceive. To the right and left, as far as the eye could reach, there lay outstretched, like ramparts of the world, lines of horridly black and beetling cliff, whose character of gloom was but the more forcibly illustrated by the surf which reared high up against its white and ghastly crest, howling and shrieking forever. Just opposite the promontory upon whose apex we were placed, and at a distance of some five or six miles out at sea, there was visible a small, bleak-looking island ; or, more properly, its position was discernible through the wilderness of surge in which it was enveloped. About two miles nearer the land, arose another of smaller size, hideously craggy and barren, and encompassed at various intervals by a cluster of dark rocks.

The appearance of the ocean, in the space between the more distant island and the shore, had something very unusual about it. Although, at the time, so strong a gale was blowing landward that a brig in the remote offing lay to under a double-reefed trysail, and constantly plunged her whole hull out of sight, still there was here nothing like a regular swell, but only a short, quick, angry cross dashing of water in every direction -- as well in the teeth of the wind as otherwise. Of foam there was little except in the immediate vicinity of the rocks.

"The island in the distance," resumed the old man, "is called by the Norwegians Vurrgh. The one midway is Moskoe. That a mile to the northward is Ambaaren. Yonder are Islesen, Hotholm, Keildhelm, Suarven, and Buckholm. Farther off -- between Moskoe and Vurrgh -- are Otterholm, Flimen, Sandflesen, and Stockholm. These are the true names of the places -- but why it has been thought necessary to name them at all, is more than either you or I can understand. Do you hear anything ? Do you see any change in the water ?"

We had now been about ten minutes upon the top of Helseggen, to which we had ascended from the interior of Lofoden, so that we had caught no glimpse of the sea until it had burst upon us from the summit. As the old man spoke, I became aware of a loud and gradually increasing sound, like the moaning of a vast herd of buffaloes upon an American prairie; and at the same moment I perceived that what seamen term the chopping character of the ocean beneath us, was rapidly changing into a current which set to the eastward. Even while I gazed, this current acquired a monstrous velocity. Each moment added to its speed -- to its headlong impetuosity. In five minutes the whole sea, as far as Vurrgh, was lashed into ungovernable fury ; but it was between Moskoe and the coast that the main uproar held its sway. Here the vast bed of the waters, seamed and scarred into a thousand conflicting channels, burst suddenly into phrensied convulsion -- heaving, boiling, hissing -- gyrating in gigantic and innumerable vortices, and all whirling and plunging on to the eastward with a rapidity which water never elsewhere assumes except in precipitous descents.

In a few minutes more, there came over the scene another radical alteration. The general surface grew somewhat more smooth, and the whirlpools, one by one, disappeared, while prodigious streaks of foam became apparent where none had been seen before. These streaks, at length, spreading out to a great distance, and entering into combination, took unto themselves the gyratory motion of the subsided vortices, and seemed to form the germ of another more vast. Suddenly -- very suddenly -- this assumed a distinct and definite existence, in a circle of more than a mile in diameter. The edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray ; but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel, whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet-black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half roar, such as not even the mighty cataract of Niagara ever lifts up in its agony to Heaven.

The mountain trembled to its very base, and the rock rocked. I threw myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation.

"This," said I at length, to the old man -- "this can be nothing else than the great whirlpool of the Maelström."

"So it is sometimes termed," said he. "We Norwegians call it the Moskoe-ström, from the island of Moskoe in the midway."

The ordinary accounts of this vortex had by no means prepared me for what I saw. That of Jonas Ramus, which is perhaps the most circumstantial of any, cannot impart the faintest conception either of the magnificence, or of the horror of the scene -- or of the wild bewildering sense of the novel which confounds the beholder. I am not sure from what point of view the writer in question surveyed it, nor at what time ; but it could neither have been from the summit of Helseggen, nor during a storm. There are some passages of his description, nevertheless, which may be quoted for their details, although their effect is exceedingly feeble in conveying an impression of the spectacle.

"Between Lofoden and Moskoe," he says, "the depth of the water is between thirty-six and forty fathoms ; but on the other side, toward Ver (Vurrgh) this depth decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which happens even in the calmest weather. When it is flood, the stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe with a boisterous rapidity ; but the roar of its impetuous ebb to the sea is scarce equalled by the loudest and most dreadful cataracts ; the noise being heard several leagues off, and the vortices or pits are of such an extent and depth, that if a ship comes within its attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and carried down to the bottom, and there beat to pieces against the rocks ; and when the water relaxes, the fragments thereof are thrown up again. But these intervals of tranquility are only at the turn of the ebb and flood, and in calm weather, and last but a quarter of an hour, its violence gradually returning. When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile of it. Boats, yachts, and ships have been carried away by not guarding against it before they were within its reach. It likewise happens frequently, that whales come too near the stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings in their fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear once, attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, was caught by the stream and borne down, while he roared terribly, so as to be heard on shore. Large stocks of firs and pine trees, after being absorbed by the current, rise again broken and torn to such a degree as if bristles grew upon them. This plainly shows the bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and reflux of the sea -- it being constantly high and low water every six hours. In the year 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground."

In regard to the depth of the water, I could not see how this could have been ascertained at all in the immediate vicinity of the vortex. The "forty fathoms" must have reference only to portions of the channel close upon the shore either of Moskoe or Lofoden. The depth in the centre of the Moskoe-ström must be immeasurably greater ; and no better proof of this fact is necessary than can be obtained from even the sidelong glance into the abyss of the whirl which may be had from the highest crag of Helseggen. Looking down from this pinnacle upon the howling Phlegethon below, I could not help smiling at the simplicity with which the honest Jonas Ramus records, as a matter difficult of belief, the anecdotes of the whales and the bears; for it appeared to me, in fact, a self-evident thing, that the largest ship of the line in existence, coming within the influence of that deadly attraction, could resist it as little as a feather the hurricane, and must disappear bodily and at once.

The attempts to account for the phenomenon -- some of which, I remember, seemed to me sufficiently plausible in perusal -- now wore a very different and unsatisfactory aspect. The idea generally received is that this, as well as three smaller vortices among the Ferroe islands, "have no other cause than the collision of waves rising and falling, at flux and reflux, against a ridge of rocks and shelves, which confines the water so that it precipitates itself like a cataract ; and thus the higher the flood rises, the deeper must the fall be, and the natural result of all is a whirlpool or vortex, the prodigious suction of which is sufficiently known by lesser experiments." -- These are the words of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Kircher and others imagine that in the centre of the channel of the Maelström is an abyss penetrating the globe, and issuing in some very remote part -- the Gulf of Bothnia being somewhat decidedly named in one instance. This opinion, idle in itself, was the one to which, as I gazed, my imagination most readily assented ; and, mentioning it to the guide, I was rather surprised to hear him say that, although it was the view almost universally entertained of the subject by the Norwegians, it nevertheless was not his own. As to the former notion he confessed his inability to comprehend it ; and here I agreed with him -- for, however conclusive on paper, it becomes altogether unintelligible, and even absurd, amid the thunder of the abyss.

"You have had a good look at the whirl now," said the old man, "and if you will creep round this crag, so as to get in its lee, and deaden the roar of the water, I will tell you a story that will convince you I ought to know something of the Moskoe-ström."

I placed myself as desired, and he proceeded.

"Myself and my two brothers once owned a schooner-rigged smack of about seventy tons burthen, with which we were in the habit of fishing among the islands beyond Moskoe, nearly to Vurrgh. In all violent eddies at sea there is good fishing, at proper opportunities, if one has only the courage to attempt it; but among the whole of the Lofoden coastmen, we three were the only ones who made a regular business of going out to the islands, as I tell you. The usual grounds are a great way lower down to the southward. There fish can be got at all hours, without much risk, and therefore these places are preferred. The choice spots over here among the rocks, however, not only yield the finest variety, but in far greater abundance ; so that we often got in a single day, what the more timid of the craft could not scrape together in a week. In fact, we made it a matter of desperate speculation -- the risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage answering for capital.

"We kept the smack in a cove about five miles higher up the coast than this ; and it was our practice, in fine weather, to take advantage of the fifteen minutes' slack to push across the main channel of the Moskoe-ström, far above the pool, and then drop down upon anchorage somewhere near Otterholm, or Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so violent as elsewhere. Here we used to remain until nearly time for slack-water again, when we weighed and made for home. We never set out upon this expedition without a steady side wind for going and coming -- one that we felt sure would not fail us before our return -- and we seldom made a mis-calculation upon this point. Twice, during six years, we were forced to stay all night at anchor on account of a dead calm, which is a rare thing indeed just about here ; and once we had to remain on the grounds nearly a week, starving to death, owing to a gale which blew up shortly after our arrival, and made the channel too boisterous to be thought of. Upon this occasion we should have been driven out to sea in spite of everything, (for the whirlpools threw us round and round so violently, that, at length, we fouled our anchor and dragged it) if it had not been that we drifted into one of the innumerable cross currents -- here to-day and gone to-morrow -- which drove us under the lee of Flimen, where, by good luck, we brought up.

"I could not tell you the twentieth part of the difficulties we encountered 'on the grounds' -- it is a bad spot to be in, even in good weather -- but we made shift always to run the gauntlet of the Moskoe-ström itself without accident ; although at times my heart has been in my mouth when we happened to be a minute or so behind or before the slack. The wind sometimes was not as strong as we thought it at starting, and then we made rather less way than we could wish, while the current rendered the smack unmanageable. My eldest brother had a son eighteen years old, and I had two stout boys of my own. These would have been of great assistance at such times, in using the sweeps, as well as afterward in fishing -- but, somehow, although we ran the risk ourselves, we had not the heart to let the young ones get into the danger -- for, after all is said and done, it was a horrible danger, and that is the truth.

"It is now within a few days of three years since what I am going to tell you occurred. It was on the tenth day of July, 18__, a day which the people of this part of the world will never forget -- for it was one in which blew the most terrible hurricane that ever came out of the heavens. And yet all the morning, and indeed until late in the afternoon, there was a gentle and steady breeze from the south-west, while the sun shone brightly, so that the oldest seaman among us could not have foreseen what was to follow.

"The three of us -- my two brothers and myself -- had crossed over to the islands about two o'clock P. M., and had soon nearly loaded the smack with fine fish, which, we all remarked, were more plenty that day than we had ever known them. It was just seven, by my watch, when we weighed and started for home, so as to make the worst of the Ström at slack water, which we knew would be at eight.

"We set out with a fresh wind on our starboard quarter, and for some time spanked along at a great rate, never dreaming of danger, for indeed we saw not the slightest reason to apprehend it. All at once we were taken aback by a breeze from over Helseggen. This was most unusual -- something that had never happened to us before -- and I began to feel a little uneasy, without exactly knowing why. We put the boat on the wind, but could make no headway at all for the eddies, and I was upon the point of proposing to return to the anchorage, when, looking astern, we saw the whole horizon covered with a singular copper-colored cloud that rose with the most amazing velocity.

"In the meantime the breeze that had headed us off fell away, and we were dead becalmed, drifting about in every direction. This state of things, however, did not last long enough to give us time to think about it. In less than a minute the storm was upon us -- in less than two the sky was entirely overcast -- and what with this and the driving spray, it became suddenly so dark that we could not see each other in the smack.

"Such a hurricane as then blew it is folly to attempt describing. The oldest seaman in Norway never experienced any thing like it. We had let our sails go by the run before it cleverly took us ; but, at the first puff, both our masts went by the board as if they had been sawed off -- the mainmast taking with it my youngest brother, who had lashed himself to it for safety.

"Our boat was the lightest feather of a thing that ever sat upon water. It had a complete flush deck, with only a small hatch near the bow, and this hatch it had always been our custom to batten down when about to cross the Ström, by way of precaution against the chopping seas. But for this circumstance we should have foundered at once -- for we lay entirely buried for some moments. How my elder brother escaped destruction I cannot say, for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining. For my part, as soon as I had let the foresail run, I threw myself flat on deck, with my feet against the narrow gunwale of the bow, and with my hands grasping a ring-bolt near the foot of the fore-mast. It was mere instinct that prompted me to do this -- which was undoubtedly the very best thing I could have done -- for I was too much flurried to think.

"For some moments we were completely deluged, as I say, and all this time I held my breath, and clung to the bolt. When I could stand it no longer I raised myself upon my knees, still keeping hold with my hands, and thus got my head clear. Presently our little boat gave herself a shake, just as a dog does in coming out of the water, and thus rid herself, in some measure, of the seas. I was now trying to get the better of the stupor that had come over me, and to collect my senses so as to see what was to be done, when I felt somebody grasp my arm. It was my elder brother, and my heart leaped for joy, for I had made sure that he was overboard -- but the next moment all this joy was turned into horror -- for he put his mouth close to my ear, and screamed out the word 'Moskoe-ström'!

"No one ever will know what my feelings were at that moment. I shook from head to foot as if I had had the most violent fit of the ague. I knew what he meant by that one word well enough -- I knew what he wished to make me understand. With the wind that now drove us on, we were bound for the whirl of the Ström, and nothing could save us!

"You perceive that in crossing the Ström channel, we always went a long way up above the whirl, even in the calmest weather, and then had to wait and watch carefully for the slack -- but now we were driving right upon the pool itself, and in such a hurricane as this ! 'To be sure,' I thought, 'we shall get there just about the slack -- there is some little hope in that' -- but in the next moment I cursed myself for being so great a fool as to dream of hope at all. I knew very well that we were doomed, had we been ten times a ninety-gun ship.

"By this time the first fury of the tempest had spent itself, or perhaps we did not feel it so much, as we scudded before it, but at all events the seas, which at first had been kept down by the wind, and lay flat and frothing, now got up into absolute mountains. A singular change, too, had come over the heavens. Around in every direction it was still as black as pitch, but nearly overhead there burst out, all at once, a circular rift of clear sky -- as clear as I ever saw -- and of a deep bright blue -- and through it there blazed forth the full moon with a lustre that I never before knew her to wear. She lit up every thing about us with the greatest distinctness -- but, oh God, what a scene it was to light up!

"I now made one or two attempts to speak to my brother -- but, in some manner which I could not understand, the din had so increased that I could not make him hear a single word, although I screamed at the top of my voice in his ear. Presently he shook his head, looking as pale as death, and held up one of his finger, as if to say 'listen'!

"At first I could not make out what he meant -- but soon a hideous thought flashed upon me. I dragged my watch from its fob. It was not going. I glanced at its face by the moonlight, and then burst into tears as I flung it far away into the ocean. It had run down at seven o'clock! We were behind the time of the slack, and the whirl of the Ström was in full fury!

"When a boat is well built, properly trimmed, and not deep laden, the waves in a strong gale, when she is going large, seem always to slip from beneath her -- which appears very strange to a landsman -- and this is what is called riding, in sea phrase. Well, so far we had ridden the swells very cleverly ; but presently a gigantic sea happened to take us right under the counter, and bore us with it as it rose -- up -- up -- as if into the sky. I would not have believed that any wave could rise so high. And then down we came with a sweep, a slide, and a plunge, that made me feel sick and dizzy, as if I was falling from some lofty mountain-top in a dream. But while we were up I had thrown a quick glance around -- and that one glance was all sufficient. I saw our exact position in an instant. The Moskoe-Ström whirlpool was about a quarter of a mile dead ahead -- but no more like the every-day Moskoe-Ström, than the whirl as you now see it is like a mill-race. If I had not known where we were, and what we had to expect, I should not have recognised the place at all. As it was, I involuntarily closed my eyes in horror. The lids clenched themselves together as if in a spasm.

"It could not have been more than two minutes afterward until we suddenly felt the waves subside, and were enveloped in foam. The boat made a sharp half turn to larboard, and then shot off in its new direction like a thunderbolt. At the same moment the roaring noise of the water was completely drowned in a kind of shrill shriek -- such a sound as you might imagine given out by the waste-pipes of many thousand steam-vessels, letting off their steam all together. We were now in the belt of surf that always surrounds the whirl ; and I thought, of course, that another moment would plunge us into the abyss -- down which we could only see indistinctly on account of the amazing velocity with which we wore borne along. The boat did not seem to sink into the water at all, but to skim like an air-bubble upon the surface of the surge. Her starboard side was next the whirl, and on the larboard arose the world of ocean we had left. It stood like a huge writhing wall between us and the horizon.

"It may appear strange, but now, when we were in the very jaws of the gulf, I felt more composed than when we were only approaching it. Having made up my mind to hope no more, I got rid of a great deal of that terror which unmanned me at first. I suppose it was despair that strung my nerves.

"It may look like boasting -- but what I tell you is truth -- I began to reflect how magnificent a thing it was to die in such a manner, and how foolish it was in me to think of so paltry a consideration as my own individual life, in view of so wonderful a manifestation of God's power. I do believe that I blushed with shame when this idea crossed my mind. After a little while I became possessed with the keenest curiosity about the whirl itself. I positively felt a wish to explore its depths, even at the sacrifice I was going to make ; and my principal grief was that I should never be able to tell my old companions on shore about the mysteries I should see. These, no doubt, were singular fancies to occupy a man's mind in such extremity -- and I have often thought since, that the revolutions of the boat around the pool might have rendered me a little light-headed.

"There was another circumstance which tended to restore my self-possession ; and this was the cessation of the wind, which could not reach us in our present situation -- for, as you saw yourself, the belt of surf is considerably lower than the general bed of the ocean, and this latter now towered above us, a high, black, mountainous ridge. If you have never been at sea in a heavy gale, you can form no idea of the confusion of mind occasioned by the wind and spray together. They blind, deafen, and strangle you, and take away all power of action or reflection. But we were now, in a great measure, rid of these annoyances -- just us death-condemned felons in prison are allowed petty indulgences, forbidden them while their doom is yet uncertain.

"How often we made the circuit of the belt it is impossible to say. We careered round and round for perhaps an hour, flying rather than floating, getting gradually more and more into the middle of the surge, and then nearer and nearer to its horrible inner edge. All this time I had never let go of the ring-bolt. My brother was at the stern, holding on to a small empty water-cask which had been securely lashed under the coop of the counter, and was the only thing on deck that had not been swept overboard when the gale first took us. As we approached the brink of the pit he let go his hold upon this, and made for the ring, from which, in the agony of his terror, he endeavored to force my hands, as it was not large enough to afford us both a secure grasp. I never felt deeper grief than when I saw him attempt this act -- although I knew he was a madman when he did it -- a raving maniac through sheer fright. I did not care, however, to contest the point with him. I knew it could make no difference whether either of us held on at all ; so I let him have the bolt, and went astern to the cask. This there was no great difficulty in doing ; for the smack flew round steadily enough, and upon an even keel -- only swaying to and fro, with the immense sweeps and swelters of the whirl. Scarcely had I secured myself in my new position, when we gave a wild lurch to starboard, and rushed headlong into the abyss. I muttered a hurried prayer to God, and thought all was over.

"As I felt the sickening sweep of the descent, I had instinctively tightened my hold upon the barrel, and closed my eyes. For some seconds I dared not open them -- while I expected instant destruction, and wondered that I was not already in my death-struggles with the water. But moment after moment elapsed. I still lived. The sense of falling had ceased ; and the motion of the vessel seemed much as it had been before, while in the belt of foam, with the exception that she now lay more along. I took courage, and looked once again upon the scene.

"Never shall I forget the sensations of awe, horror, and admiration with which I gazed about me. The boat appeared to be hanging, as if by magic, midway down, upon the interior surface of a funnel vast in circumference, prodigious in depth, and whose perfectly smooth sides might have been mistaken for ebony, but for the bewildering rapidity with which they spun around, and for the gleaming and ghastly radiance they shot forth, as the rays of the full moon, from that circular rift amid the clouds which I have already described, streamed in a flood of golden glory along the black walls, and far away down into the inmost recesses of the abyss.

"At first I was too much confused to observe anything accurately. The general burst of terrific grandeur was all that I beheld. When I recovered myself a little, however, my gaze fell instinctively downward. In this direction I was able to obtain an unobstructed view, from the manner in which the smack hung on the inclined surface of the pool. She was quite upon an even keel -- that is to say, her deck lay in a plane parallel with that of the water -- but this latter sloped at an angle of more than forty-five degrees, so that we seemed to be lying upon our beam-ends. I could not help observing, nevertheless, that I had scarcely more difficulty in maintaining my hold and footing in this situation, than if we had been upon a dead level ; and this, I suppose, was owing to the speed at which we revolved.

"The rays of the moon seemed to search the very bottom of the profound gulf ; but still I could make out nothing distinctly, on account of a thick mist in which everything there was enveloped, and over which there hung a magnificent rainbow, like that narrow and tottering bridge which Mussulmen say is the only pathway between Time and Eternity. This mist, or spray, was no doubt occasioned by the clashing of the great walls of the funnel, as they all met together at the bottom -- but the yell that went up to the Heavens from out of that mist, I dare not attempt to describe.

"Our first slide into the abyss itself, from the belt of foam above, had carried us a great distance down the slope ; but our farther descent was by no means proportionate. Round and round we swept -- not with any uniform movement -- but in dizzying swings and jerks, that sent us sometimes only a few hundred yards -- sometimes nearly the complete circuit of the whirl. Our progress downward, at each revolution, was slow, but very perceptible.

"Looking about me upon the wide waste of liquid ebony on which we were thus borne, I perceived that our boat was not the only object in the embrace of the whirl. Both above and below us were visible fragments of vessels, large masses of building timber and trunks of trees, with many smaller articles, such as pieces of house furniture, broken boxes, barrels and staves. I have already described the unnatural curiosity which had taken the place of my original terrors. It appeared to grow upon me as I drew nearer and nearer to my dreadful doom. I now began to watch, with a strange interest, the numerous things that floated in our company. I must have been delirious -- for I even sought amusement in speculating upon the relative velocities of their several descents toward the foam below. 'This fir tree,' I found myself at one time saying, 'will certainly be the next thing that takes the awful plunge and disappears,' -- and then I was disappointed to find that the wreck of a Dutch merchant ship overtook it and went down before. At length, after making several guesses of this nature, and being deceived in all -- this fact -- the fact of my invariable miscalculation -- set me upon a train of reflection that made my limbs again tremble, and my heart beat heavily once more.

"It was not a new terror that thus affected me, but the dawn of a more exciting hope. This hope arose partly from memory, and partly from present observation. I called to mind the great variety of buoyant matter that strewed the coast of Lofoden, having been absorbed and then thrown forth by the Moskoe-ström. By far the greater number of the articles were shattered in the most extraordinary way -- so chafed and roughened as to have the appearance of being stuck full of splinters -- but then I distinctly recollected that there were some of them which were not disfigured at all. Now I could not account for this difference except by supposing that the roughened fragments were the only ones which had been completely absorbed -- that the others had entered the whirl at so late a period of the tide, or, for some reason, had descended so slowly after entering, that they did not reach the bottom before the turn of the flood came, or of the ebb, as the case might be. I conceived it possible, in either instance, that they might thus be whirled up again to the level of the ocean, without undergoing the fate of those which had been drawn in more early, or absorbed more rapidly. I made, also, three important observations. The first was, that, as a general rule, the larger the bodies were, the more rapid their descent -- the second, that, between two masses of equal extent, the one spherical, and the other of any other shape, the superiority in speed of descent was with the sphere -- the third, that, between two masses of equal size, the one cylindrical, and the other of any other shape, the cylinder was absorbed the more slowly. Since my escape, I have had several conversations on this subject with an old school-master of the district ; and it was from him that I learned the use of the words 'cylinder' and 'sphere.' He explained to me -- although I have forgotten the explanation -- how what I observed was, in fact, the natural consequence of the forms of the floating fragments -- and showed me how it happened that a cylinder, swimming in a vortex, offered more resistance to its suction, and was drawn in with greater difficulty than an equally bulky body, of any form whatever.*

* See Archimedes, "De Incidentibus in Fluido." -- lib. 2.

"There was one startling circumstance which went a great way in enforcing these observations, and rendering me anxious to turn them to account, and this was that, at every revolution, we passed something like a barrel, or else the yard or the mast of a vessel, while many of these things, which had been on our level when I first opened my eyes upon the wonders of the whirlpool, were now high up above us, and seemed to have moved but little from their original station.

"I no longer hesitated what to do. I resolved to lash myself securely to the water cask upon which I now held, to cut it loose from the counter, and to throw myself with it into the water. I attracted my brother's attention by signs, pointed to the floating barrels that came near us, and did everything in my power to make him understand what I was about to do. I thought at length that he comprehended my design -- but, whether this was the case or not, he shook his head despairingly, and refused to move from his station by the ring-bolt. It was impossible to reach him; the emergency admitted of no delay ; and so, with a bitter struggle, I resigned him to his fate, fastened myself to the cask by means of the lashings which secured it to the counter, and precipitated myself with it into the sea, without another moment's hesitation.

"The result was precisely what I had hoped it might be. As it is myself who now tell you this tale -- as you see that I did escape -- and as you are already in possession of the mode in which this escape was effected, and must therefore anticipate all that I have farther to say -- I will bring my story quickly to conclusion. It might have been an hour, or thereabout, after my quitting the smack, when, having descended to a vast distance beneath me, it made three or four wild gyrations in rapid succession, and, bearing my loved brother with it, plunged headlong, at once and forever, into the chaos of foam below. The barrel to which I was attached sunk very little farther than half the distance between the bottom of the gulf and the spot at which I leaped overboard, before a great change took place in the character of the whirlpool. The slope of the sides of the vast funnel became momently less and less steep. The gyrations of the whirl grew, gradually, less and less violent. By degrees, the froth and the rainbow disappeared, and the bottom of the gulf seemed slowly to uprise. The sky was clear, the winds had gone down, and the full moon was setting radiantly in the west, when I found myself on the surface of the ocean, in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the Moskoe-ström had been. It was the hour of the slack -- but the sea still heaved in mountainous waves from the effects of the hurricane. I was borne violently into the channel of the Ström, and in a few minutes was hurried down the coast into the 'grounds' of the fishermen. A boat picked me up -- exhausted from fatigue -- and (now that the danger was removed) speechless from the memory of its horror. Those who drew me on board were my old mates and daily companions -- but they knew me no more than they would have known a traveller from the spirit-land. My hair which had been raven-black the day before, was as white as you see it now. They say too that the whole expression of my countenance had changed. I told them my story -- they did not believe it. I now tell it to you -- and I can scarcely expect you to put more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden."

"The Cask of Amontillado" by edgar allan poe

summary:
The narrator in this story vows revenge upon a man named Fortunato. He takes advantage of Fortunato's ego and lures him down into the recesses of an underground vault to taste a rare wine, a cask of Amontillado.

"He had a weak point --this Fortunato --although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine."

story:
THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely, settled --but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; --I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.

I said to him --"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts."

"How?" said he. "Amontillado, A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!"

"I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amontillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain."

"Amontillado!"

"I have my doubts."

"Amontillado!"

"And I must satisfy them."

"Amontillado!"

"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me --"

"Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry."

"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.

"Come, let us go."

"Whither?"

"To your vaults."

"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi--"

"I have no engagement; --come."

"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre."

"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado."

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned.

I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.

The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as he strode.

"The pipe," he said.

"It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls."

He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication.

"Nitre?" he asked, at length.

"Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?"

"Ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh! --ugh! ugh! ugh!"

My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.

"It is nothing," he said, at last.

"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi --"

"Enough," he said; "the cough's a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough."

"True --true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unnecessarily --but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps.

Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould.

"Drink," I said, presenting him the wine.

He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me familiarly, while his bells jingled.

"I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us."

"And I to your long life."

He again took my arm, and we proceeded.

"These vaults," he said, "are extensive."

"The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family."

"I forget your arms."

"A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."

"And the motto?"

"Nemo me impune lacessit."

"Good!" he said.

The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.

"The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough --"

"It is nothing," he said; "let us go on. But first, another draught of the Medoc."

I broke and reached him a flagon of De Grave. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards with a gesticulation I did not understand.

I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement --a grotesque one.

"You do not comprehend?" he said.

"Not I," I replied.

"Then you are not of the brotherhood."

"How?"

"You are not of the masons."

"Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes."

"You? Impossible! A mason?"

"A mason," I replied.

"A sign," he said, "a sign."

"It is this," I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel.

"You jest," he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado."

"Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our route in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended, passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foulness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame.

At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious. Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead, in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior crypt were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed merely the interval between two of the colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite.

It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavoured to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us to see.

"Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi --"

"He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant he had reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess.

"Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power."

"The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment.

"True," I replied; "the Amontillado."

As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.

I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in a great measure worn off. The earliest indication I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibrations of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within.

A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall; I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re-echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer grew still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had completed the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said--

"Ha! ha! ha! --he! he! he! --a very good joke, indeed --an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo --he! he! he! --over our wine --he! he! he!"

"The Amontillado!" I said.

"He! he! he! --he! he! he! --yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady Fortunato and the rest? Let us be gone."

"Yes," I said, "let us be gone."

"For the love of God, Montresor!"

"Yes," I said, "for the love of God!"

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud --

"Fortunato!"

No answer. I called again --

"Fortunato!"

No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat!