The Bangkok Recorder.

A Semi-monthly Journal, will be issued from the
printing office of the American Missionary As-
sociation, at the month of the Canal, "Klawng Bang-
kok Yai" about 1st and 15th of every month. It
will contain much Political, Literary, Scientific, Com-
mercial, and Local Intelligence, as shall render it
worthy of the general patronage.

The Recorder will be open to Correspondents
subject to the usual restrictions.

The proprietors will not be responsible for the
sentiments of their correspondents.

No communications will be inserted unless ac-
companied by the name of the Correspondent.

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as a special favor.

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number of insertions.

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Communications and remittances can be sent
to either of the subscribers, or left at the store of
Messrs. Virgin & Co.

BANGKOK APRIL 1ST.

In regard to the weather we are now
about in the Superlative degree. We have
had the hot and hotter, but now it is to be
hoped we have reached the hottest. Were
it not for the strong breese we have daily
from the S. S. W. it would be oppressively
hot. The nights too are not such so to
invite sleep. We connot fully agree with
the Editor of the Bangkok Calender that
the nights during this hot season are not
"particularly uncomfortable to foreiginers"
Of course much depends upon having large
and well ventilated sleeping appointments,
but consummptives are not the only ones
subject to "night sweats" in Siam during
this season of the year. And although one
may have slept soundly through the night
he often rises in the morning wet with
perspiration and feeling as languid as if he
had not closed an eye. We are however
approaching another season to which we
are all looking with more anxiety perhaps
than we have ever done before. In the course
of the next month we may expect some of
those copious refreshing showers which will
add new life and verdure even to this land
of perpetual bloom. In the fields where
the moisture from the river and canals does
not reach, every thing is burned up. The
fields are now appeorely more destitute of
any thing to nourish animal life than those
of more northern latitudes are when just
emerging from beneath a deep covering of
snow. It has been predicted by His Ma-
jesty that we are to have another dry sea-
son, and by others that there are to be three
in succession. Of course such predictions
are nothing either way, but all such things
tend to make us look with more anxiety
to the commencement of the rains, which
if they come in their usual quantity are
to insure good crops, remove the em-
bargo, and restore the usual business activity
We should have had two or three showers
about the middle of February which the
natives consider indispensable to a good
crop of mango, but these, excepting a mere
sprinkling scarcely sufficient to lay the dust,
have failed. We should have had some
smart showers also about the vernal equinox,
but that time is also about past and there
is as yet but little appearance of the showers.
There has however been a little thunder
which cooled the air for the time, and
the atmosphere is becoming a little hazy.
It is useless to speculate in regard to the
future but it would require no vivid imagi-
nation to picture the results of another such
a season as the last upon the business affairs
of most of the Europeans here. Hope
however is the "anchor of the soul" in
temporal as well as spiritual affairs. We shall
therefore look for nothing else than when
the proper time comes to see the refreshing
showers descend and the land again blessed
with abundant crops.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BANGKOK
RECORDER.

Sir—-You may consider it some what
personal, but I am inclined to bring an in-
dictment against the whole fraternity of
Editors and Reporters as public nuisances.
They may be a class of necessary nuisances
which we cannot well dispense with, but
nuisances nevertheless, I insist they often
are which should be abated if not suppressed.
They live by preying on the public, and
are, really dangerous to the peace of individ-
uals, if not the community. They are
continually spersing about in search of
paragraphs or item or jottings, in short
any thing in their line, till their presence
even makes a modest man nervous. If you
find one of the craft observing you closely,
you may be sure he is mentally taking your
measure for a paragraph. Open your lips
to speak in his presence and he is im-
mediately at his jottings. You enter upon
some business speculation for your private
benefit, and which you wish to keep quiet
and you have scarce decided upon your
movements before you find the Editor has
mined out the whole affair, and in leaded
lines blazoned it to the public. A com-
pany of friends sit down cozily to a quiet
dinner at their Hotel, and behold there is
the Editor or Reporter peering out of some
obscure corner, pencil in hand jotting down
the names of the company, the toasts drunk
and the speeches made, and in next issue
flashes the post-prandial wit and wisdom
of the entire party for the benefit of the
public.

A man can scarcely leave his home,
certainly not the town, without being pick-
ed up by an editor and set down among his
items. All this is done, 'tis true in the
most polite and complimentary manner
possible. Each in his turn who is dis-
tinguished by our Editor's notice, is the
most intelligent, the most eloquent, the
most enterprising, the most gentlemanly,
and the most benevolent of men. Doubt-
less the subjects, of these unsolicited, un-
paid and most flattering personal advertise-
ments ought to be most grateful. But
their sense of obligation is lessened by the
thought, that these complimentary notices
are part of the Editors stock in trade, the
very convenient small change with which
he satisfies the demands of his creditor
the public. He seems to take it for grant-
ed, that every man is delighted to find
himself in print. But he should know
there are some persons who have no wish
to be spitted and turned, and basted, and
roasted before the fire of public criticism
though it be on the toasting fork of an
Editor. If one could choose the print in
which he is to appear, or have it chosen for
him by some considerate loving friend, it
might be endurable and sometimes even
grateful. I would not object to find myself
in print of the kind and under the circum-
stances, indicated in the following anecdote,
which a gentleman formerly in the India
civil service tells of his own personal ex-
perience.

"The date of my first being in print," he
says "is so far back that I cannot recall
the circumstances vividly to mind. I have
however dim visions of a brave manly face
looking down smilingly into mine, and of
its owner handing me a small packet, which
I eagerly opened—Oh how great my joy,
how deep my gratification, my youthful
ambition was gratified. I was in print.
Each of these square peices was a repre-
sentation of myself. Never did I estimate
so highly, or appreciate so fully my own
worth, as after for the first time, seeing
myself in print.

After many years of labor, and trial, of
joy and sorrow, years whose vicissitudes
had chastened my youthful ambition, and
greatly modified and matured my ideas, I
once again found myself in print. I felt
loving arms around me and saw the happy
face of my wife, who insisted upon com-
pletely infolding me in print, and I was
soon sitting by the fire in a cozy chamber
wrapped up to the chin in it. It was print
which the good taste of my wife had select-
ed, and her willing hands had arranged for
my comfort. Appreciating my ideas on
print, she pointed to the pattern with which
she had surrounded me, and smiling said
"it will stand the Bhutty, my dear." The
print was indeed of the best material and a
beautiful pattern; the ground clear and def-
inite, the design elegant and pure, the
colours marked and distinct, though simple
and delicate. Greatly admiring its chaste
beauty I responded gratefully to my wife
that I was sure it would stand every Bhutty
in India, and I wished all who desired to be
in print would be equally careful to have
their colours definite, true and enduring."

Now if the Editors who insist upon
thrusting us into print, would give us
colours not showy, indefinite, and fading;
but chaste, pure, clear and lasting - print
that will stand the Bhutty, we shall have
less reason to complain. But there is no
pleasure in finding yourself in a print with
the pattern indefinite, and the colours so
running into each other, that it appears at
the same time to be "running with the hare
and holding with the hounds."

FOR THE BANGKOK RECORDER.

Our object in this and in other articles
that may follow, is to describe the more re-
markable edifices and places in the French
Capital, in association with some of the
great events of which that city has been the
theatre. Paris has unquestionably many
other features of commanding interest—as
its arts, its convents, and its Municipal
arrangements; but these are incessantly
varying in their expression.

Its historical scenes are permanent and
indelible, and are to be traced not in monu-
ments, and inscriptions, but in the multi-
farious narrations of chronicles and me-
moirs—in the obscure records of the middle
ages, and in the pamphlets of yesterday.

The barricades of the League, and the
three days of 1830, are equally within the
range of our subject. But such a mode of
tracing History has of course no pretens-
ions to be systematic. They must only
be viewed as the succession of sketches held
together by the thread of local recollections.
The merit whatever it be of these frag-
ments will consist of their fidelity.

The Tuileries.

The Palaces of European Capitals are
generally the richest of public edifices in
historical associations, and we therefore pro-
pose to direct our reader's attention in this
number to the Tuileries.

This vast structure has indeed no tradi-
tions of ancient feudal tyranny and mag-
nificence. It is of comparatively modern
date, and points to the bold and profligate
Mary de Medici its founder, and leads us
on to the times of Louis XIV when one
absolute man, presiding over the destinies
of millions, had the arrogance to proclaim
"L'etat C'est moi" I am the State.

After a long interval, when is splenders
were eclipsed in the greater glories of Ver-
sailles, it tells a sorrowful tale of a captive
monarch here suffering every indignity, as
the retribution of the detestable pride of his
ancestors. It conducts us onward to the
furious anarchy which succeeded the weak
despotism of that unhappy king, and thence
to the more startling, vigorous, and splendid
tyranny of a military usurper, whose generals
were as machines; to such terrible military
discipline had he reduced the finest human
metal of that celebrated time. And when the
measure of justice was once more full, the
place of the giddy conqueror was again
supplied by the exiled race. But they had
learned nothing and forgotten nothing in
adversity; and were soon again displaced,
and at this moment the flag of a more rig-
orous tyranny than ever waves over its roof.

The Place du Carrousel is an immense
square in front of the Tuileries, which de-
rives its name from one of those pageants,
which in connection with his architecture
and his wars so pampered the vanity of
Louis XIV while his people starved. The
festival which that proud king here gave to
his court in 1662 was called the carrousel.
It cost about £50,000 sterling, and has left
no trace of the admiration which it gained
or ill will which it excited, if we except
the verses of a satiracal poet which are still
remembered. *

The East front of the Palace occupies
the vast extent of 1011 feet. Its five heavy
and incongruous pavilions each in itself an
immense house, are connected by four rang-
es of lower buildings in the same line.
This front constitutes the Tuileries. On the
South is the gallery of the Louvre—on the
North, is a similar gallery, not yet completed
running parallel to the Rue de Rivoli. The
new gallery is a monument of the taste of
Napoleon, and of the dangers which sur-
rounded him in his ascent to Sovereign
power. It is built partly on the site of
forty or fifty old houses that were greatly
damaged by the explosion of the Infernal
Machine which was aimed at the life of the
First Consul.

The Palace is separated from the Place
du Carrousel in its whole extent by a high
railing or "grille" terminated at each side
by a gate, whose piers bear colossal marble
statues. Opposite the central Pavilion is
the triumphal arch which Napoleon erected
in 1809 to the glory of the French army.
It is an imitation of the arch of Septimius
Severus at Rome rich in detail but paltry
in its general effect.

The monuments of Paris are constantly
changing their aspect with the changes of
Politics. The arch of Napoleon has indeed
the figure he placed there of Cuirrassiers
and Grenadiers and Chasseurs and Can-
noniers whose costumes accord but ill with
the classic monument which they surmount.
But the bas-reliets which represent the
victories of Ulm and Austerlitz, have given
place to sculptures of the paltry triumphs
of Duc d’Angoulleme in Spain, and the
bronze horses of St Mark which have been
successively yoked to the car of the con-
queror at Corinth and Rome, Byzantium
and Venice, and Paris—have given place to
four horses in bronze by Bosio after the
models removed, and equal to them in the
beauty of their forms and expression of
their attitudes.

It would be difficult to imagine a more
severe satire than this upon royal and nation-
al self-deception. The Government of
Louis Philippe has restored again the troph-
ies of the honor of the French arms under
Napoleon.

The ground, or at least a part of it, on
which the Palace of the Tuileries now
stands, was in the 14th Century called La
Sablonniere of the sand pits. It was pro-
bably towards the end of this century, or
the beginning of the following, that the
tile works were first established, from which
the Palace derives its present name. In the
beginning of the 16th century Nicolas de
Neuville Baron de Villeur, who was the
secretary of finances, had a house and gar-
den close to these tile works, from which it
was commonly called the Hotel des Tuil-
eries. This property the king, Francis 1st
purchased in 1518 from de Neuville, and
gave it to his mother Louisa of Sayvoy who
complained of the unhealthy situation of
the Palace des Tournelles (now Place
Royal ) where she had hitherto resided.

Louisa therefore was the first royal per-
sonage who lived at the Tuileries, which
she did from this time till the year 1525
when on her second appointment to the
regency.

After the capture of her son at the dis-
tructive battle of Pavia she gave the house
to John Tiercelin, Master of the household
to the Dauphin, and to Julia Dutrot his wife
to be occupied it through their lives.

On the death of these parties the proper-
ty reverted to the Crown in whose posses-
sion it was in 1564, when Charles IX or-,
dered the Palais des Tournelles to be de-
moblished in consequence of his father Henry
II having died there in 1559, after being
wounded in a tournament by the Count de
Montgomery.

Since this event the Palais des Tournelles
had been considered as belonging to the
Queen Mother, Catharine de Medicis, al-
though it remained uninhabited, that Prin-
cess having continued to reside in the
Louvre.

But now when it was about to be des-
troyed, 'twas considered necessary that she
should be provided with another Palais of
her own; and she resolved to build a new
one for herself on the site of the Hotel des
Tuileries. The foundation of the new Pa-
lace was laid in the month of May 1564 and
was intended to be an edifice much more
extended even than the present Palace.
Only a small part of the original plan was
executed by Catharine.

The central pavilion at first consisted
only of two stories and it was surmounted
not as now by a quadrangular roof, but by
a large circular dome.

The garden which was seperated from
the Palace by a street was surrounded by
a wall, having a bastion on the outside of
that portion contiguous to the river. *
The architects whom Catharine de Medicis
employed to construct her new palace, were
Philbert Delorme, and John Bullant, both
educated in Italy, and unrivalled in their
profession in that age. Delorme however
who is understood to have had the great
share in the work, has left it on record that
Catharine herself was in fact the principle
architect, and that all he can claim the
credit of, is the decoration of the edifice.

However this may be, Catharine was so
well pleased with her architect, that even,
though he was not yet an ecclesiastic, she
bestowed upon him two Abbeys, and pro-
cured for him besides, the offices of Coun-
seller and Almoner to the king. On the
completion of the Tuileries, he was also
made governor of that Palace. All which
honors are said to have made him not a
little vain, as well as to have excited the
jealousy of another court favorite of the
day. The celebrated poet Ronsaid who vent-
ed his spite against his rival in a satirical
effusion to which he gave the title of "La
turelle Crossei" the trowel turned Croiser.
On this, Delorme, availing himself of what
he held to be the rights of his office, when
Ronsaid presented himself at the gate of
the palace garden in the train of his Royal
Mistress, refused to allow him to enter.

The poet, and the well endowed, but not
very erudite churchman continued an un-
equal contest of wit on the one side and
violence on the other; till the Queen put a
stop to it, by reprimanding the Governor of
the Palace for shutting the gate upon the
Poet, and informed him that the Tuileries
was an abode dedicated to the Muses.

FOR THE BANGKOK RECORDER.

In a communication from His Majesty
the Supreme King of Siam, in the Recorder
of Feb. 15th, we find the following remark-
able sentence, "Ah! O! many foreigners
who are endeavoring very often to let us be
advised and have great expence for what we
think would be of no use for this country
of poor ignorant people."

The latter part of this sentence contains
a remarkable admission, and if the author
meant it in sincerity, and not in irony, we
think it one of the most favorable admis-
sions for Siam we have any where seen.
We take it for granted therefore that it was
uttered in sincerity.

When a teacher of religion finds a person
who has advanced so far, as to know, and
feel that he is a sinner, and that he can do
nothing to save himself, it is considered a
very favorable circumstance, for then there
is hope of his accepting the only means of
salvation. When a school teacher so finds
a pupil who knows that he is ignorant and
needs education, the teacher is very much
encouraged for then, he feels that he can
fill him with sound and useful knowledge.

But when a pupil comes who thinks he
knows every thing that is worth knowing
already, the first business of the teacher is
to pump all the self-conceit out of him, be
fore he attempts to teach him any thing.

When therefore we hear a monarch ac-
knowledging that his people are "poor and
ignorant" it appears that he is already in a
condition to accept any suggestion which
would tend to the diffusion of general intel-
legence among his people, and place them
on the sure road to wealth and happiness.
This humble acknowledgement therefore, we
take to be one of the most favorable circum-
stances for improvement we have yet no-
ticed, and on the strength of it we shall
venture to make a few simple suggestions.

It has been complained however that
Europeans are too forward in urging the
Siamese and other Oriental nations to adopt
their customs, and this is no doubt to some
extent true. To attempt to introduce
European customs as a whole into Siam, or
any other eastern nation would neither be
wise nor desirable, but it is to be regretted
however that as a general thing it is the
vices, and not the virtues of Europeans that
such nations as Siam are most forward to
imitate.

We would not attempt to change a
single simple, harmless custom, of this peo-
ple, or do any thing which would at all in-
terfere with their distinct nationality. The
tuft of hair upon the top of their heads, we
would leave them to wear to their hearts con-
tent. Even the pa-nung although scarcely
sufficient to modestly protect the body from
exposure we would not change. If accom-
panied by a neat jacket, a suitable cos-
tame for the climate and we would not in-
terfere with it. The betel chewing and its
accompaniments we would gladly see aban-
doned on account of the filthy tendencies.
The Siamese pride themselves in not being
so filthy as the Cambodians, Peganas, or
even the Chinese. But in this respect they
have great room to improve and their most
filthy practice in common with most of the
others is betel chewing. Their clothes,
houses, and in short every thing with which
they come in contact, is daubed with red
saliva. This is a practice however, which
aside from its filthiness is no positive evil,
and its abandonment must be effected by
degrees. But this is rather a digression
from our subject. It is acknowledged by
very high authority that this people are ig-
norant to a great extent, and it requires
but a short sojourn among them to verify
the fact. Now in order that any people
may be prosperous and happy they must
be intelligent. It is the duty therefore of
those in authority, to try to diffuse as far as
possible general intelligence among the
people. Here again the plea of poverty
may be raised, but in this case it cannot be
received. It has been the object of most
sovereigns and kings to try to do something
which would perpetuate their fame. Some
have carried the arms of conquest into the
dominions of others and have thus secured
a kind of immortal fame: but oftentimes
such persons are remembered longer on ac-
count of their acts of cruelty than from any
thing else. Others have attempted to erect
monuments of brick, and stone, which
would hand down their names to posterity.

It must have taken years of toil, and
millions of money to erect those vast py-
ramids of Egypt. They still remain won-
ders, and attract travellers from different
parts of the world but they never were of
any benefit to the country, and it is not
now even known by whom they were
erected, and the religion which they were
intended in part to perpetuate, is lost for-
ever. It is not now known by whom Ong-
cor in Cambodia was built, although the
ruins indicate it to be but little over two
thousand years old.

Passing along a canal not long since in
the rear of the palace of His Majesty the
Supreme King, we saw the ruins of an old
pagoda, which had been commenced by
some one in a former reign, and for some
reason or other abandoned. It was an
attempt at an immense structure, the base
at a rough guess covering an area of at
bout two acres. How long a time it is
since these ruins were built we don’t know,
but to our astonishment, we saw men ac-
tually at work upon them, piling brick
upon brick striving to raise them up a little
nearer to the sky. We could not refrain
from asking ourself the question why this
stupendous undertaking was attempted,
and what benefit it will be to the country?
It will neither be useful nor ornamental.
We then thought that if part of the money
thus uselessly spent was applied to the
erection of a nice observatory and the pur-
chasing of a telescope, to teach his people
the principles of Astronomy how much
more appropriate it would be.

Not that we presume to say that His
Majesty is ignorant of Astronomy, for we
all know that he has made commendable
progress in that branch, and many others
of the useful sciences, but as a general thing
the true principles of Astronomy are un-
known in Siam. To meet the wants of
the country, schools must be established,
and school books, and scientific works
translated into the language of the country.

It is useless to think of giving the youth
of the country any adequate knowledge
of these branches through the medium of
the English language. It is well to try to
give some of the princes and nobles some
knowledge of the English language, and
the employing instruction for that purpose
is commendable, but after a tolerably fair
experiment we find no one, who has not
been out of the country, who has advanced
farther in the English than to be able to
carry on a simple conversation, or transact
a little business.

It may be argued on the other hand that
foreigners seldom master the Siamese,
which is true. Those who are considered
best in the language are frequently found
making ridiculous mistakes. It is at best
with them but an acquired tongue. But
most of those who come here and make it
their special study, acquire it sufficiently
well to translate works from other languages
into it with accuracy. School houses too
are needed, built on the modern style and
well ventilated, not dungeons. If therefore
a monarch wishes to gain an everlasting
renown, he must try to do something for
the people, something to dispel their igno-
rance, something to make them permanent-
ly happy, he would than live in the hearts
of his people, and his name would be hand-
ed down from parent to child until the
most remote generations.

Such monuments would be more endur-
ing than those of brick and mortar. But
more anon.

THE OFFICE PICTURE OF THE GREAT
CYCLONE.

The Government of Bengal has published in the
Gazette of India, a "special narrative" of the great
cyclone of 5th October last, signed by the Hon. A.
Eden, Secretary. Though most of the information
has already appeared, this Narrative gathers all the
facts together, states them with official authority
and accuracy, and so presents a picture far more
appalling than any which has yet been drawn. We
proceed to condense the narrative into a readable
form.

The gale had its origin somewhere about the
Andaman Islands. "Travelling from that point at
first in a westerly direction, and inclining afterwards

UTILITAS
to the north, it first struck the Coast of Bengal about
the Balasore Roads and Hidgelee. Here, during the
night of the 4th, it raged with great violence, and
from this point the centre of the storm appears to
have traveled in a northerly direction with a slight
inclination eastward along the right bank of the
Hooghly, at a pace varying from eight to twenty-
six miles an hour. The full violence of the storm
was felt at Calcutta from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. of the 5th
October, and about seven hours later at Kishnaghur.
The direction of the storm remained the same
throughout the greater portion of its course. It
crossed the Ganges between Rampore Besuleath and
Pubna, sweeping over the whole length of the Bog-
rah District, and only taking a recurvature to the
eastward when it had reached the degrees of 25° north,
after which it became expended in the Garrow Hills."
The gale drove in front of it up the line of the
Hooghly, a Storm Wave from the Bay of Bengal.
As this rose in some cases as high as 80 feet, and
swept "over the strongest embankments, flooding
the crops with salt water, and carrying away entire
villages, it was very much more disastrous in its
effects than the mere violence of the wind." The
city of Calcutta suffered chiefly in its Northern or
native division. A "tolerably accurate" return
shews that in the city and its suburbs 2 Europeans
were killed and 1 wounded, 47 natives were killed
and 15 wounded, 112 masonry houses destroyed and
563 damaged, 40,698 tiled and straw huts were des-
troyed and 4,794 damaged. But the greatest des-
truction was done to the shipping in the River
Hooghly. "There were, on the morning of the 5th,
193 vessels within the limits of the Port. As long
as they had only to contend against the violence of
the wind, or up till about 1 o'clock in the day, they
rode out without much damage, but when to this
was added the wave, the force of which was still not
entirely expended, one vessel after another drove
from her moorings, and as each ship was swept on,
she fouled others in her course, and they carrying
others with them, getting massed in hopeless and
inextricable confusion, were driven in heaps on the
opposite shore. It appears that 145 vessels were
driven on shore, and that ten were sunk in the river.
Of these the Gobindpore, a magnificent new ship of
1,200 tons, capsized and sunk off the Custom House;
the crew were saved by the gallantry of a sailor
name Cleary, who swam off to the wreck with a line,
by means of which all got safe to shore. The ship
Ally had left the Port the previous day and met the
gale a little below Diamond Harbour. She had on
board 835 Coolie Emigrants for the Mauritius, and
went down with all on board save seventy of the crew
and twenty-two of the Emigrants." Of the 195 ships
39 were damaged slightly, 97 severely and 88 totally
lost. Only 23 altogether escaped. By 19th October;
a fortnight after the gale, 101 grounded vessels had
been got off. "The Burmah Mail and Passenger
Steamer Persia foundered off the Sandheads with
the loss of all on board except two of the crew.
The Hospital Ship Bentinck, which was at anchor
near Diamond Harbour, was swept away by the
wave and carried on to the top of the Diamond
Harbour embankment." Six tug steamers were lost.
The P. and O. Co.'s hulk Hindostan was sunk and
the mail steamer Bengal stranded on the bank,
though she has now been floated. "Of the moorings
in Port, there were 210 acts lost and only 60 saved."
Out of Calcutta the districts which suffered most
were those of Midnapore, and the south and west
parts of the county known as the 24 Pergunnahe in
which Calcutta is situated. In the former the police
returns state the loss of life at 20,665, but in the
track from Kedgeree to Kookrahuttee, three fourths
of the whole population cattle and other property
may be said to have perished. "The height of the
storm wave varied very much. On the southern
coast, actually exposed to the sea the storm wave
nowhere attained any extraordinary height and did
not any noticeable extent breach the sea face of the
great Dyke of Hidgelee, which extends from the
Subornorekha to the western bank of the Russool-
pore River. As, however, it struck the western
coast forcing itself up the channel of the Hooghly,
its height became greater and its violence more
destructive." Where the water drained off at once
the crops were not injured. "The loss of cattle in this
district is computed to be not less than 40,000 head.
The number of houses destroyed cannot be estim-
ated; but at Tumlook, (which, though exposed to
the full severity of the gale, was less severely visited
than places down the river by the storm wave,) it
is stated that out of 1,400 houses, only 27 remained
standing. The loss of Government salt and the
damage done to Government buildings" was great.
In the 24-Pergunnahs "the storm wave, commencing
at Sauger Island, swept over the embankments,
destroying huts and villages within a distance of
eight miles from the river, and ceased not in its
work of destruction till it reached Atcheepore. San-
gor Island suffered perhaps more extensively, and
the destruction there was more complete than in any
other portion of the tract visited by the storm wave.
Striking it at once on its western and on its south-
ern face, the wave carried away the embankments,
utterly destroyed all the houses, huts, golahs, and
buildings, and left scarcely any living creature on
the island. The few human beings that escaped
were saved either by climbing up trees or by float-
ing on the roofs of their house, which the wave
swept on to the mainland and carried inland many
miles. At first it was reported that 90 per cent. of
the population had perished, but it is found that out
of a population of nearly 6,000 souls, there is still a
remnant left of 1,488. The cattle destroyed in the
flood were 7,000, and the houses 3,563. The storm
wave at Saugor Island was fifteen feet above the
level of the land, and it appears to have cut a
channel straight across the island dividing it into
two halves."

The police estimate the total loss of life at 12,000,
but the Rev. Mr. Payne of the London Missionary
Society, who distributed relief there, calculates "that
in all villages within one mile of the river, the loss
of life was 80 per cent., and in other villages within
the area over which the destruction of the storm
wave extended, the loss was from 30 to 40 per cent.
The loss in cattle is estimated at 80 per cent. The
distress and suffering to which the survivors were
exposed after the disaster was very great. For se-
veral days it was impossible for them to obtain food;
the local stores had been swept away, and for three
or four days there were no means of sending relief
from Calcutta. In some places they were known to
be eating a kind of grass, and at a few places where
the storm wave had not extended in all its violence,
they broke open and plundered the stores of the rice
merchants who refused to distribute or (it is alleg-i
ed) to sell their grain." At Diamond Harbour the
water rose 14 feet. The District Superintendent of
Police says, "that within six miles of Diamond Har-
bour it is impossible to go fifty yards on the road
without seeing a human body." These are evidently
the corpses of individuals who were overtaken by
the storm and the flood on the road. What the loss
of life must have been in the villages may be ima-
gined. In some villages every house has been swept
away with almost all the inhabitants.” And he
draws this picture. Two days after the storm about
a thousand men began to plunder the Salt golaka of
Mr. Hugh Fraser at Diamond Harbour. They had
had no food for two days and wished the salt to mix
with a kind of grass which they ate eagerly. Some
ten constables who attempted to stop them were
beaten off. The “fearful hardships of the two past
days had almost driven the survivors mad. Even if
a larger party of Police had been there, it is difficult
to know how they could well have used more force
towards men under such circumstances; and though
the unfortunate people can scarcely be blamed, it
is impossible not to sympathise with Mr. Fraser,
who has been a very heavy sufferer.” There was
as great a want of fresh water as of food.

Turning to the country up the Hooghly from
Calcutta, we find that in the Howrah district op-
posite, 1,978 persons are reported as having been
killed or drowned; there were 12,752 cattle killed,
and 816 masonry and 150,158 mud houses destroyed.
The value of the property lost is fixed at £604,983.
All this district up to Hooghly is the kitchen garden
of Bengal and supplies the army with potatoes.
The damage done to the crops, chiefly by salt water,
is "very great." The authorities of Serampore and
Hooghly underestimate the loss of life at 112 and do,
not attempt to value the property destroyed, but an
inspection of the district which is the most populous
in India, and of its large towns, convinces us that
the loss is relatively equal to that in Howrah. At
Burdwan the loss was slight, but all over the rich
Indigo districts of Nuddea, Rajshye, and Bogruh
the damage done by the gale was "very great."

Measures of Relief.

Government, though the local officers, did much.
"As soon as reliable information was obtained by
the Magistrate of the 24—Pergunnahs of the state of
the southern portion of his district, he lost no time
in sending out food for the starving population and
in providing for the burial of the dead and the re-
moval of carcasses. He at once obtained an advance
of Rs. 5,000 from Government and caused supplies
of rice to be hurried down to Diamond Harbour,
Futtehpore, Atcheepore, and Dabeepore;" thus re-
lieving 11,864 persons. Steps were taken for clear-
ing the tanks, and extra police were supplied. The
Lieutenant Governor "directed that measures should
be taken for immediately employing the whole of
the population, which might be in want of work and
food, in repairing the embankments in the 24-Per-
gunnahs, Hidgellee, and Midnapore on ordinary
wages, but without adhering at the commencement
to the strict exaction of work to be done for the
day's wages, and he directed that all people asking
for work should be employed in this manner without
excepting women and children.” The Marine De-
partment despatched 6 steamers with assistance to
the villages on either bank. “The Lieutenant
Governor also directed that the whole of the sea-
coast should be examined, and, as far as possible,
also all the creeks in the Sunderbuns. The relief,
however, which could be given by the Officers of
Government was necessarily inadequate to meet the
wants of such a population as that which was suffer-
ing." Meanwhile a large public meeting was held
in Calcutta and with the assistance of Bombay a
sum of about £30,000 has been raised. The Relief
Fund Committee despatched two steamers with as-
sistance and made grants of money to Missionaries,
Magistrates and English and Native gentlemen for
distribution in the rural districts. The Fund up to
the close of the year had expended £21,864 of which
£11,615 was for stores of food and clothing, £534
for widows and orphans of European officers of
steamers and others, and £2,500 to the Calcutta
Sailors' Home. The result of these measures, and
of time, is that "the country on the east side of the
river has been gradually reviving, and hants are be-
ing held and the people are resuming their occupa-
tion; the distribution of food gratis to able-bodied
men has in consequence been here discontinued; but
the quantity served out at once to women and chil-
dren has been doubled, so that they may take away
enough for two meals at once. To this rule, however,
the Island of Sangor is still an exception, and the
people there must yet continue to be fed by charity
for some time to come. On the western side of the
river also the supplies of food free of cost are being
continued, because no work of any kind has there
been procurable for those in distress.” The water
is beginning to be much less impure than was feared.
The numerous distressed seamen at first found em-
ployment as additional constables, and in the dis-
abled ships. But when the press of work abated it
was resolved to send home such as came under the
provisions of the Merchant Seaman’s Act. Some
30 men were employed by the Rear Admiral at
Bombay.

Future Precautions.

"To guard against a return of the disasters which
occurred to the Shipping during the storm, the ques-
tions submitted for the consideration of Government
have been (1) the construction of Wet Docks for the
accommodation of the Shipping; (2) the completion
of the requirements at Port Canning with a view to
to direct a portion of the Shipping to Mutlah; (3)
the best mode of relaying the moorings so as to ren-
der them more secure. The two first questions are
before the Government of India. To consider the
third proposal a Committee was appointed and "an
urgent request has been sent home already for screw
moorings for the Port in the place of the ordinary
moorings hitherto in use. Henceforth, also, "from
the 30th September until after the full moon of
November, no Ship in the Port shall be allowed to
have top-gallant yards or top-gallant masts aloft, and
they shall in addition strike top-sail yard and top-
masts when required to do so."

More Concerning Pra-T'om chedee
A translation.

Two years before the great flood (which
was terribly destructive of vegetable life in
Siam, thirty-four years ago) the Chief Priest
of Temple Samaw-rei, caused an image of
Buddh to be cast for his own personal
benefit, and about the same time removed a
small portable Pagoda from the Old city,
and had a new layer of silver cast about it,
when it attained the stature of about one
cubit.

The next dry season having arrived, the
Chief Priest paid a visit to the ancient Pago-
da P'ra-pra-t'om-Chedee, for the purpose
of worshipping Buddh, when many other
Buddhist priests accompanied him. On a
certain evening he went up to the sacred
Pagoda, and worshipped in the holy place.
After worship, he is said to have offered
the following prayer in the Bali language,
—I have great reverence for this Pagoda,
and consider it to be the most ancient mon-
ument of Buddah in all Siam, which is
proved to be a fact from the form and style
of it, there being none like it in modern
times, so that the present generation of
men hardly recognize it to be a Pagoda.
And it would appear that the founder of it
did indeed enshrine in it that which makes
it worthy of being a place to be held in
the highest reverence, and that hence he
expended upon it a large amount of property,
making it so large and firm that it has suc-
cessfully resisted the wear and tear of may
ages. And now if there be in truth any
sacred relics of Buddah any where in this
world, I think there must be portions of
them enshrined some where within this sa-
cred structure. And if it be so, I beg that
the angel in charge will be pleased to divide
unto me about two pieces of the same, as
I desire to enshrine one of them in the idol,
and the other in the pagoda which I have
made, that I may have them near me in the
great city to worship, and before which to
present continual offerings, as would be
most worthy. And this I desire because
this P'ra-pra-t'om-Chedee is now far off in
the wilderness and not in a suitable place
for the people generally to resort for wor-
ship. Hence I beg that the guardian angel
will be pleased to distribute unto me of the
sacred relics about two pieces (ong.)

Having offered this prayer, he then sent
one of his personal attendants to take a
precious calipot, borne on a salver and
place it in a niche of the Pagoda on the
east side. In the afternoon of that day, as
the Chief Priest was about to descend from
the place of worship, he sent a servant to
invite the calipot to return, and behold
there had been nothing deposited in it by
the angel.

A month or more after this, (the Chief
Priest having returned to his temple in
Bangkok, the following event transpired at
Temple Ma-ha t'at in this city, where His
Majesty the Supreme King graduated in his
youth.) There was a very precious image of
Buddh in the Temple, one of great antiquity.
On a certain night about eleven o'clock, a
company of priests went in and worshipped
in the holy place. When they had proceeded
about half through, they beheld something
like smoke, of a reddish color, ascending
from the place of the idol, which had a
pleasant fragrance like that of burning in-
cense sticks. The smoke increased until
the idol seemed to be of a red complexion
like that of betel. The priests were all
quite startled at the sight, and rose up to
examine the phenomenon, thinking that it
might be a fire which had caught there.
But they saw nothing but the reddish smoke,
and returned to their devotions, and fin-
ished their rehearsal. At this time the
strange sight gradually disappeared. The
priests then proceeded to investigate more
narrowly the causes of the smoke, expecting
to find that it had arisen from some fire
without. But they found nothing to solve
the mystery.

Early next morning they reported this
phenomenon to the Chief Priest (at Temple
Samaw rei). He arose and went to Tem-
ple Ma-ha t'at to examine into the wonder
that had occurred. In pursuing his inves-
tigations, he found (in the urn employed
for the purpose of preserving the sacred
relics) two more pieces of the sacred relics
than there had been before. Whereupon
he interrogated the priests of the Temple if
they had ever before noticed them. Their
reply was that they had not. He then
inquired of the keeper of the doors of the
place if he knew of any one placing them
there. His reply was that he did not. He
then summoned a meeting of many persons
to witness the two sacred relics. They
were all unanimous in the opinion that they
could not have been put there by human
hands, and that they must have come there
themselves.

The two new relics were different from
any that are seen in modern times, being
each about the size of a mustard seed, of a
whitish complexion like the flowers of the
P'ee-koon. They had each two or three
white dots in a straight line. Prince So-
p’on was the first to discover this peculi-
arity.

These two relics are now enshrined in a
Pagoda of precious stones within the Tem-
ple P're-rata-na Satsa-daram.

[ A legitimate inference from the above
is, that the two relics having both sought
for at P'ra pra t'om Chedee and expected
from thence, were by superhuman power
brought to temple Ma-ha-t'at and given as
above described. Hence the great respect
now paid to that Pagoda.]

AMERICA.

The military news from America since our last is
unimportant. There is nothing very definite as to
Sherman's movements. The Charleston correspon-
dent of the "Richmond Despatch" writes, on Jan-
uary 10, that General Sherman had commenced his
movement on Branchville and Augusta, and that he
had sent out corps on the west bank of the Savan-
nah River, a second to Wilmington, and two to
Beaufort. "If Sherman is once estahislied on the
railroad, either at Branchville or some other point
near Augusta:" the writer says, "the fall of Char-
leston becomes only a question of time; and but a
short time." Other Richmond journals represent
Sherman to have been concentrating his forces at
M'Phersonville, South Carolina, and that on Jan
uary 17, his advance was within two miles of the
Combahee River. The destruction of Forts Caswell
and Campbell, near Wilmington, by the Confederates,
had been officially annouced. It was rumoured
that the Confederates had destroyed their blockade-
runner inside the bar, below the Tallehassee and
Chickamauga, and burnt 50 million dolls. of cotton.
The two latter rumours were not credited. A large
force of gunboats was stationed between Fort Cas-
well and Wilmington. Five large-sized blockade-
runners had been captured in Cape Fear River.
They were not aware of the Federal occupation.
Others were on the way to fall into the same trap.

Admiral Porter reports that the navy occupied Fort
Caswell, Bald Head, Fort Shaw, and the earthworks
on Smith's Island, Smithville. The admiral says:—
"In each fort an Armstrong gun was found with the
broad arrow upon it. The British Government claim-
ing the exclusive right to use these guns, it would
be interesting to know how they came into rebel
forts." The total number of guns captured, includ-
ing those in Fort Fisher, is 153. The admiral also
states that he will move carefully along, and believes
he will be in Wilmington before long. He announ-
ces that the remainder of the rifled guns in the fleet
have burst, and that the reputation of these guns is
ruined. The greater portion of the larger vessels
had returned to Hampton Roads.

Wilmington papers state that the Federal gun-
boats were unable to advance, as the monitors
cannot carry water enough to come up the river.
The Confederates hold Fort Andrews and have field
artillery adequate to destroy the lighter draught
gunboats. Confederate reinforcements were arriving
at Wilmington. General Terry had demanded the
surrender of the city, giving Bragg until the 19th
January to decide. The removal of public property
was progressing, and much confusion prevailed.
The impression was that Wilmington would sur-
render, the people remaining in it. President Davis
is said to have arrived in that city.

The Confederates state that after the occupation
of Pocotaligo the Federals attempted to advance to-
wards Charleston, but were checked at the crossing
of Combahee River, which was amply fortified for a
protracted defence. Heavy reinforcements had
arrived in Charleston, and non-combatants were
leaving. All business was suspended, and govern-
ment property, except arms, was removed. The rear
of the city is reported stocked with torpedoes. A pub-
lic meeting at Columbia opposed the evacuation of
the city. Charleston despatches state that Foster's
troops, 15,000 strong, advanced on Pocotaligo on
January 14, and that the Confederates, after an
obstinate resistance, retreated across the Salkahat-
chie River. It is reported from Hilton Head that
the Federals had captured 2000 prisoners and three
guns on the Upper Broad River. Federal reinforce-
ments were being rapidly concentrated at Savannah,
New Inlet, and on the James River, for early and
simultaneous attacks upon Charleston, Wilmington,
and Richmond.

The gunboats were four miles above Fort Fisher.
The Confederates have breastworks from the ocean
to the river, above the Federal lines, to contest the
advance on the city.

Colonel Lamb is reported to be mortally wounded
There is no millitary news of importance
from Virginia, though deserters report Lee
to be preparing for an offensive movement.

A fleet of three ironclads, five gunboats,
and three boats from Richmond, under the
reported command of Semmes, descended the
James River during the night of the 23rd
of January, with the intention, it is sup-
posed, of surprising the Federal flotilla and
destroying Grant's stores at City Point.
One only of the vessels succeeded in forcing
a passage through the Federal obstruction,
three grounded, one of which (the gunboat
Drury) was abandoned; the others were
ultimately relieved, but, daylight appearing,
the expedition was relinquished, and the
fleet returned to Richmond. It is reported
that on the first appearance of the Confed-
erates the Federal gunboats retreated pre-
cipitately towards Fortress Monroe. Despat-
ches from the latter place state that if the
Confederates ironclad had it not grounded
Grant's iron transport works at City Point
would have been destroyed. Preparations
had been made at City Point in anticipation
of the renewal of the attack. Simultaneously
with the naval attack the Confederates ap-
peared on the Charles City Road, ap-
parently to attack the Federals on the north
bank of the James.

Letters from the Shenandoah represent great
suffering in consequence of Sheridan's
devastation. Grain was not only scarce,
but there were no mills to grind it.
From the South-West it is reported that
Thomas is still at East-Port, Mississippi, and
is reported to be constructing winter quart-
ers. The indications are that he will not
move from his present position. Forrest’s
cavalry was said to be concentrating at
Houston, Mississippi, probably for a raid up-
on Memphis. Hood’s army is reported to
be in excellent spirits, and larger than when
it entered Middle Tennessee. The reports
concerning its demoralised condition were
grossly exaggerated, its total losses, in
Tennessee, being only about 8000 men. It
was rumored that Hood had been superse-
ded by General Richard Taylor, and that
General Joe E. Johnston is to command the
armies of the South-West, second only to
Lee in authority. Beauregard is at Tupel.

Large numbers of troops have left Nash-
ville for New Orleans, it is believed for an
expedition against Mobile, or up the Red
River. An expedition is organizing at
New Orleans for Pacagoula.

It is reported that Price has captured
Fort Smith, Arkansas, with a garrison of
2000 men.
ADMIRAL PORTER'S Official Report of
the taking of Fort Fisher contains the fol-
lowing paragraph:—

These works are tremendous. I was in
Fort Malakoff a few days after its surrender
to the French and British. The combined
Armies of those two nations were months
capturing that stronghold, and it was not
to be compared either in size or strength to
Fort Fisher. The Fort contained 75 guns
and many of them were heavy ones.

CONSUL AT SIAM.

The Senate Jan. 7th in executive session,
confirmed the nomination of James L.
Hood of Illinois; to be U. S. Consul at
Bangkok, Siam.

TELEGRAM.

Wilmington taken—Charleston taken.
Beauregard dead.—Panic in Liverpool, Cot-
ton down to one shilling.

Police Cases,

An Agent to the Court of Ava.

We learn that Captain Sladden of the
Madras Army, has been appointed by the
Governor General of India, British Agent at
the Court of Ava.

Dr. Williams who was insulted and threat-
ened by the Burmese officials, as men-
tioned by a writer in the columns of
contemporary some mouth since, was not a
regular accredited Agent of the British
Government, but only an Agent of Colonel
Phaire the commissioner of British Burmah.
If these insults be repeated in the case of
Captain Sladden, Burmah may soon find
herself in the condition of Bhootan, which
is atoning for its outrages towards a British
Agent by the loss of a large portion, if not
of all of its territory.

Steamer Chow Phya, Left Singapore at
4 P. M. on Thursday March 16th, arrived at
Cape St. James, on Monday 20th, and left
Saigon, on Thursday 23rd, arriving at the
bar on the evening of the 26th, Crossing the
bar at 6.30 A. M. on Monday 27th, and
arriving in Bangkok, at Noon.

Mons. Brum. Mrs. Howetson and family,
and Dr. Squire.

FROM HOME NEWS.
SPAIN

The ministry have obtained a large majority in the
election of the members of the committee appointed
by the Congress to examine the bill for the forced
loan. In consequence of this it is believed that no
change will take place in the ministry.

Accounts from Puerto Rico state that a party hos-
tile to Spain were agitating throughout the country.
Some political agents from the Federal States had
been arrested and expelled by the authorities.

The forced loan proposed by the Minister of
Finance had been sanctioned into a voluntary one.

Intelligence had been received at Madrid from
Lisbon, announcing that Portugal had resolved upon
remaining neutral in the war between Brazil. Par-
aguay, and the Bands Oriental.

THE DUCHIES.

It has been announced in Berlin that the
answer sent by the Prussian government to
the Austrian despatch of Dec. 31 which re-
ferred to the primary establishment of the
Prince of Augustenberg in the Duchies,
leaves matters in the same condition of
suspense. The Prussian government ad-
heres to the demand that before an end is
put to the provisional condition of affairs
in the Duchies, the relations of the new
State to Prussia shall be defined and set-
tled. It is asserted, however, that in the new
despatch, the pretensions made by Prussia
respecting the future of Schleswig-Holstein
and its position in the new State are not
defined, since they are still being discussed
by the Ministers at Berlin. Farther, the
despatch again points to the necessity of
receiving the opinion of the Crown jurists
before any definitive arrangements are come
to respecting the Duchies.

Besides this official despatch, M. von
Bismarck has replied by a confidential note
to the confidential despatch of Count von
Mensdorff of the 31st December, which the
Austrian representative at Berlin read to
Prussian Prime Minister without leaving
a copy. This reply, which is similar to
the official answer, develops in a long argu-
ment the motives which have prevented the
Prussian government from agreeing to Count
von Rechberg’s proposition of recognising
provisionally, while reserving the questions
of succession, Prince Frederic as Duke of
Schleswig-Holstein, and of transmitting to
him the rights acquired by the German
Powers through the treaty of peace.

MEXICO.

Unreliable reports had boon received at
New York, via San Francisco, to the effect
that the Mexican government has ceded the
provinces of Sonora, Chihuahua, Sindola,
Durango, and Lower California to the Em-
peror Napoleon, in return for the aid ren-
dered by his troops in the establishment of
the Mexican empire. Ex-Senator Gwin, of
California, is said to have been appointed
viceroy, with the title of Duke. The Vice-
roy Gwin is to have a sufficient force of
troops to support him in the exercise of his
functions. Emigration to work the mines,
and develop the resources of the provinces
ceded to France, is to be encouraged from
the Confederate States and from Southern
residents in California. The alleged new
State extends from the Gulf of Mexico to
the Pacific.

The French troops were continually gain-
ing new successes in their operations on the
Pacific coast.

AUSTRIA

The Minister of Police has declared that at the end
of February all the Poles detained in Austrian towns
would be released. The prisoners are to receive 25
florins each for their expenses on the journey out of
Austria.

FROM THE FRIEND OF INDIA.

THE condition of the native population
in Bengal is such as to call urgently for the
attention of Government. We are inform-
ed that the villages between Calcutta and
Kedgeree, along the banks of the river, are
in a most deplorable state. The native pa-
pers keep us well informed about the tyran-
ny of English planters, but they are quite
silent with reference to greater cruelty
which is being practised by their own coun-
trymen. A gentleman who went through
a large portion of the suffering districts
lately, distributing relief, states to us that
everywhere the ryots came to him with
touching complaints of the treatment they
had experienced from the zemindars. "We
do not want your money," they said, "but
time to pay our rent, and that the zemin-
dars will not give." Baboos who figure
prominently in public meetings have refused
to help their starving and houseless ryots
in any way, and in the 24-Pergunnahs there
are cases of oppression on the one side, and
distress on the other, so inconceivable that
they would be past belief, only that they
are well accredited. In his worst phase the
planter is a merciful man compared with
some of these zemindars, for the planter is
at least an Englishman, and not a coward
by instinct, and a tyrant by nature, and a
hypocrite by stress of both. "How could
I act like this?" asked one zemindar of our
informant, when the latter questioned him
about his treatment of the ryots; "it would
be against my reputation." Yet the ryots
are driven out to perish in the fields, on
which the crops are still rotting. Mr. Ashley
Ellen, who searches so carefully into every
reported case of oppression in the indigo
districts, might with advantage direct his
enquiries into the 24 Pergunnahs. Our in
formation comes, as we have said, from gen-
tlemen who have been engaged in the dis-
tribution of relief, and it is very easy to as-
certain on what foundation it is based. One
fact is certain—the distress yet remaining
throughout the flooded districts is very
great. The loss of life has been estimated
at no less than 60,000—upwards of 7000
persons having been swept off the island of
Sangor alone. In the Hooghly district there
is also a really awful scene of want and
misery in almost every direction. The Magis-
trate of Serampore happened the other day
to visit the village of Dwarhatta, in the Than-
nah of Hurripal, and found unspeakable
wretchedness and desolation. The epidemic
fever had swept away whole households, or
carried off adults, leaving only children to
wander about the huts. The tanks were
full of rotting vegetation, and the trees lay
where they had fallen. On making known
the case to the Relief Committee, one
thousand rupees were sent, and with this
sum Mr. Ryland has distributed medicines,
and greatly lightened the distress. The
ravages of the fever are appalling, or perhaps
we should rather say they would be appal-
ling in any land but India. The unhappy
people fall sick, and by themselves down to
die without hope of help. If there happen
to be a native doctor near, he refuses to
visit them without a fee; and this world’s
goods they have none, and so they simply
perish. The medical men of Hooghly have
been generous in going about, but the in-
fected district is now very wide, and ex-
traordinary measures would be required to
do all that is called for. The fever is in it-
self a terrible one—even if it does not kill
outright, it leaves its victims shattered so
that they cannot work for months, or in-
capacitates them from future labour alto-
gether. It is impossible to tell the extent
of suffering which is going on in this one
district alone. The missionaries, assisted
by the Relief Committee, have done what
they can to relieve it. But it is the lament-
able truth to state that whole districts are at this
moment being rapidly depopulated.

The Courrier de Saigon some twelve
months ago condemned the policy of any
Government interference with the selling of
opium, and was content to leave to other
nations “the murderous glory of poisoning
populations by this impure source of reve-
nue.” This Courrier, as we stated last
week, is the official paper. The French
have not been consistent. Revenue, even
from opium, they found was not to be des-
pised, and they not long ago established an
opium farm at Saigon which they sold to a
Frenchman for eight thousand dollars a
month. The farmer was suspected of de-
frauding the Government, was tried, thrown
into prison, and has recently died, just as
the reversal of his sentence arrived from
the home Court of Calcutta. The Saigon
authorities have rented the farm to some
Chinese, which seems not a bad imitation, the
the Straits Times remarks, of the "murder-
ous glory" of "other nations."

—The overflow of the Nile this year has
been six feet below that of last, and the
Egyptian Government have, in consequence,
issued an order prohibiting proprietors of
land from sowing more than a fixed pro-
portion of the ground with cotton. The
prohibition of the export of wheat and
flour has been continued, and there has
been further prohibition of the export of
barley. Wheat, barley, and flour, are, the
Levant Herald states, to be admitted duty
free up to the 7th of April 1865.
—We see it stated that a convention
has been concluded between the British
Government and the Porte for the working
of the Anglo-Indian telegraph. A Turk-
ish office will be established at Fao where
the land and sub-marine lines meet. One
wiro from Constantinople will be exclusive-
ly used for Indian messages.

-—We have received a telegram announcing the
loss by fire of the Dundee ship Lochee on her way
to Calcutta for jute. She was burnt off Galle with
a loss of two men. The rest of the crew and five
passengers were landed by the ship Sounhong, some
of them much burnt. The ship belongs to the well-
known firm of Cox Brothers who have the largest
jute-spinning mills in the world. She had a cargo
of wet coals which exploded. The passengers are
fortunately being brought on by the P. and O.
str. Sinla to Calcutta, but they have lost their all.

-—The King of Siam is quite as good a Political
Economist as he is an English scholar. Owing to
scarcity of rain a famine threatens, and the king
publishes a declaration of perfect free trade, to put
the people on their guard against the tricks of the
rice-dealers. "Should any declare that there is an
order from either of their Majesties, the First or the
Second King, limiting the price of rice, to prevent
its being sold at high rates, or to constrain the sell-
er, do not believe him, but seize him, and deliver
him over to the civil authorities." Would that such
chiefs as Holkar and Rewah, who have become
princely "Bunnias," where half as enlightened.

-—The Budhist Priests of Kandy have been engag-
ed in the election of a Dowe Nilleme, or guardian
to the shrine, containing the supposed tooth of
Budha, in the great Kandy temple. The choice has
fallen upon Coody Bando Dunuwille, the brother of
a wellknown Advocate in the local courts. This
selection is conditional on the approval of the Gov-
ernor. What has the Governor of Ceylon to say to
Budha's tooth? We were under the impression
that the authorities there had long ceased to have
the faintest semblance of connection with this partic-
ular form of idolatry.