The Bangkok Recorder.

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The Automaton Type Setter
And its Lessons.

One of the most curious of the phenomena attending that develope- ment of the human mind known as “conservative” is its apparently in- stinctive repugnance to everything which smacks of innovation while promising improvement. When Stevenson propos- ed constructing a railroad and drawing trains from Birmingham to London by steam-power at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, the whole “conservative” in- terest of England rose up as one man to denounce the mad folly of the ex- perimentalist—the dreamer; even the otherwise progressive intellects of the Edinburgh Review being so carried away by the popular tornado of ridi- cule which his proposition evoked as to exclaim: “What! be carried fifteen miles an hour! Why does not the savant at once propose that each pas- senger shall creep into a cannon and be fired off by gunpowder from point to point at a corresponding rate of speed!”

So, too, when the proposition to light London by gas was first mooted, the matter was brought before the British House of Commons as another diabolical Guy Fawkes attempt on a grand scale, not only to blow up the two Houses of Parliament, but the en- tire capital of the nation as well. Nothing could persuade certain “con- servative” members—-starting with the propositions that gas was inflammable and would explode—-but that the fire communicated to any single burner would instantly run up through all the pipes and mains underlying the city, finally reaching the chief reservoirs of the gas-house, and causing an explo- sion and general conflagration to which the terrors of an ordinary earthquake would be as nothing. It was of no use to try persuading this class of people that the gas required a certain amount of oxygen to develop its explosive, or even its inflammable qualities, and that no flame could penetrate one eighth of an inch within the mouth even of the largest average pipe. They drew their analogies from gunpowder, and to them laying gas-pipes and mains under the city was nothing more nor less than the deliberate construction of explosive mines for the utter blotting out and destruction of the British capital.

Against Stevenson and his locomo- tive stood arrayed all the classes hav- ing, directly or indirectly, any interest in the then mail-coaching and post- horse system of English travel—-all the hotel proprietors along the various roads, and all the farmers supplying forage to maintain the old, lumbering machinery of the existing modes of transportation, being in red-hot op- position. All these were vehement in asserting that utter ruin and beggary to them and theirs must follow, if Stevenson’s “crazy experiment” should prove successful; and it took years of experience to demonstrate that the number of travelers would increase in exact proportion with the increased facilities of travel; that the hotels would be fuller and better paid than ever theretofore, and that more men and horses would be required to attend at the various depots and to work in con- nection with the railroad, than had previously been required for the mail- coaching, post-horse, and express- wagon systems, all together. It was so, also, in relation to the introduction of gas—thousands of really alarmed “conservatives” regarding the exper- iment as one of extreme hazard, if not certain destruction, to life, limb, and property; and yet other thousands of tradesmen, holding an interest; direct or collateral, in the chandlery, oil, and whaling occupations, seeing only in the adoption of this new mode of light- ing cities and houses the complete ruin and loss of all their business in- vestments.

In like manner, and with just as lit- tle reason, we see a flutter to-day a- mongst our practical printers as they contemplate the success and general introduction of the Alden Type-set- ting and Type-distributing Machine, which has just been brought to per- fection, and is now in process of being universally introduced through the newspapers and publishing houses of the country by the exertions and per- severance of Mr. Charles C. Yeaton, on whom seems to have devolved the laborious, but doubtless profitable, honor of carrying forward to popular adoption that invention upon which Timothy Alden prodigally squandered the genius and the labors of his life through twenty toilsome and impover- ished years; and upon which, also, his cousin, Henry W. Alden, expended long years of painful industry, and all the wealth he could accumulate in the hot mines of our Pacific Eldorado. In the success of this truly wonderful and beautiful machine, our printers, we say, will insist upon seeing only the ruin of their craft, and themselves obliged to apply to new vocations; whereas—- rightly considered—-we think they should hail in the completion of the Alden Type-setter a guaranty of easier pleasanter, and more ample employ- ment than they have ever heretofore enjoyed, coupled with an assurance that their rates of remuneration will rise in proportion with the more exal- ted character of their work.

It is true that one of these machines —-requiring only two workers, either male or female—will do daily the work of six or eight practical printers using only their fingers; and that the ma- chines are even now so cheap—and promising to be yet cheaper—as to fall within easy reach of even the hum- blest printing-office. But what is there in all this, save an unerring pro- phecy that the amount of printing done will be quintupled whenever the Alden Factory can turn out enough machines to supply the existing de- mand; and that even this increased amount will soon be doubled or trebled, whenever the increased facilities for producing books, pamphlets, and news- papers shall have produced the inevi- table cheapening and more wide dif- fusion of these articles of prime men- tal necessity? It requires to-day quite a flourishing town or community to support a daily or even weekly paper in a manner profitable to its propriet- ors and to those who work on it; but, with these Alden Type-setters and Type distributers scattered broadcast over the land, there will soon be no town so small, no frontier village so remote, as to be without its daily paper, throbbing intelligence from all quarters of the world into the minds of its subscribers. Indeed, as Col. Halpine has well observed in his pro- gressive Cities, “This machine may be regarded as an inauguration of every man his own printer and pub- lisher; and before many years, we expect they will be as common an institution in first-class houses as steam-heaters, iron safes, a billiard-ta- ble, or refrigerating meat-safe."

So simple is the method of setting up type in this manner, as to be not only intelligible, but readily practica- ble, by any person of ordinary sense on the first time of seeing it. Attached to the machine is a key-board, each key marked with the letter or combin- ation of letters which it controls, so that the operator has only to read the copy before him, and spell the same out with his forefinger by pressing on the proper keys. Of course, the mat- ter thus set up must subsequently be "spaced" and "justified" in another part of the machine-—either by a sec- ond operator, specially caring there- for, or by the first operator suspend- ing further type-setting until this work is accomplished, and the conducting type-canals cleared of their burden. Nothing more simple in appearance and execution has ever been witnessed —no matter, at what cost of complex internal mechanical contrivances and adjustments the result may have been obtained. Any child, able to read and spell correctly, may be made mas- ter of this method of type-setting in a few and easy lessons; and certainly, in this age of scientific toys, no toy more brilliantly interesting or instruc- tive could be placed within reach of any child.

More curious, however, than the type-setting part of its performance is that of type-distributing, in which the machine acts completely as an autom- aton, requiring no human supervision or interference of any kind, other than to be fed from time to time with the columns which are to be distributed, and to be continually supplied with the motive-power requisite to rotation —-a power that may consist either of steam, caloric, water, or the ordinary treadle worked by the operator's foot. Odd, is it not! to see a mere machine of brass and iron comprehending the significance of letters and their charac- ter, spelling out and unspelling words, and carrying each letter off quietly and noiselessly to its appointed place of deposit! These words are in "bre- vier," and to the proper brevier feed- ing canals each letter of each word is quickly and infallibly carried. But now the machine recognizes some words in Latin or in French, (for all languages appear equally familiar to it), and these, as is customary, are set up in "nonpareil" or "agate." No, matter what the character of the type —-"bourgeois" or "minion"—-each letter of each word is relegated to the proper receptacle of its kindred and particular household: and all this with no possibility of any error, and with- out supervision or interference of any kind from any human being. Human thought has planned the machine, and eternized its own existence by mecha- nical provision. Human eyes have grown weary, and some have closed in death, during the process of con- structing this miraculous automaton; but in their foresight of all needs, and the contrivances they suggested and made to meet them, that sight has be- come embodied in the metallic fingers before us, and the human control of intelligence and education is perpetu- ated in a body of mixed metal', hav- ing neither brains nor eyes, and yet able to read, spell, and act correctly, under the mechanically-continued direction of the minds that originally planned its intricate and complex oper- ations.

When Arkwright first invented and introduced the spinning-jenny, the miserably underpaid and miserably suffering handloom weavers, and other operatives in textile fabrics of central England, declared that it must be their ruin; and that, poor as they had been before, this discovery was to dispense with their services altogether, and leave them no alternative but the cold charity of the work-house, or the yet colder embrace of the filthy clay in the Potter's Field. They rose in their ignorance and wrath to destroy the obnoxious invention of Arkwright, and dire and bloody were their threats—- and in some cases, until repressed by military force, bloody and lawless were their acts—-against all employers who sought to put into operation that ma- chine to which England this day grate- fully owes chief part of her commercial prosperity. They could not see—in their ignorance and want of foresight —-that by multiplying the facilities and cheapening the cost of cotton fab- rics, the demand for and production of such articles would be increased, not only in arithmetical, but even in geo- metrical progression ; nor could their imaginations picture—-in lieu of the few hundred miserable hovels in which some few thousands of them miserably worked at rates of compensation just enough to keep body and soul togeth- er—the vast and splendid factories and massive warehousing streets of Man- chester, and its subsidiary towns, em- ploying, at good wages and with every surrounding conducive to health, ed- ucation, and comfort, not less than two millions of the most intelligent and, until our recent war, the most steadily prosperous artificers, male and female, of the British Empire or all Europe. Let this lesson not be lost upon our practical printers—-a class of excellent intelligence, and of great educational advantages from the necessities of their profession. Let them only examine these Alden Type-setting Machines dis- passionately, and reflect upon what must be the inevitable results of their popular diffusion. This done, it can- not be but that they will hail in them a release from the painful and often noxious drudgery of their calling as at present exercised; and foresee the time when, with enough of these machines in existence to give occupation to all, their labors will be more light, more healthful, more pleasant, in greater demand, and at higher rates of com- pensation than even the "Printers' Union" has yet dreamed of asking.

And now, in conclusion, a few words as to Mr. Yeaton, the practical father of this Alden machine in its present shape, and with its present prospects of rapidly superseding all other means for the diffusion of printed thought. He is still very young—-probably not over thirty—-and was born in Ports- mouth, New Hampshire. Descended by the mother's side from Gen. Sul- livan, of the revolutionary war, he has in his veins the ardor of this Milesian stream blended with the cooler, clearer, more calculating and persevering cur- rent of the New England character. This combination in his case—-if not in all cases-—proves a happy one ; and it may well be doubted whether any man less endowed with fire to hope and patience to labor could have car- ried forward this great work to its pre- sent condition of completeness. From his earliest youth the aptitude of his mental and physical powers to me- chanical pursuits attracted attention ; and from the days in which, when but twelve years old, he entered into part- nership with another boy of about equal age on a capital of one "Yankee shilling," and made a profit of $43 in a month by the manufacture of martin houses, snow-shovels, wind-mills, and other kindred toys, down to the pre- sent day, no species of mechanical work in wood, brass, iron, or any other workable material, can be set before him of which he is not, or cannot read- ily make himself, the master. In the India-rubber business, with Horace H. Day, and in the manufacture and sale of sewing-machines, with Grover and Baker, he found himself equally at home, as if by instinct ; and during the past five years of his active and noteworthy life, his investigations, la- bors, and the confidence he commands with our business men, have converted the original discovery of Timothy Al- den from a beautiful but terribly cost- ly and unremunerative experiment, in which no prudent capitalist would em- bark more means, into a great practi- cal and financial success of world-wide acknowledgment—-not merely com- manding all the capital it needs, but with capital pressing to be allowed a share in it—-and promising in its re- sults to mark a new era in the art of printing, only second in importance to that original discovery for which Dr. Faustus is alleged, in German fable, to have periled his soul's redemption.

Precious Stones their
VALUES AND TESTS.

Mr. Emmanuel in his book on Dia- monds estimates values, of course, by the carat, the lapidary's standard, or the hundred and fifty-first part of an ounce Troy, consisting of four grains. The dearest stone is the ruby, which sells at from £14 to £20 for one carat weight to from £400 to £450 for four carats. A really splendid ruby ring with a perfect single stone of two carats will cost 85/. The next dearest is the diamond, the price referring only to “brilliants,” or diamonds thick enough to admit of proper cutting. Such dia- monds, when perfect, cost from £5 10 for ½ carat and £18 for 1 carat to £100 for 2½ carats. A diamond ring, therefore with a single magnificent stone of two carats, ought to be pur- chaseable for 70/., or about 83 per cent of the value of a similar ring in ruby. Though the price per carat of the emerald may vary from 20/. to 40/. it does not rise in proportion with its size. So of the sapphire. A fine per- fect, evenly coloured, spread sapphire, weighing one carat, of a deep rich blue colour by night as well as by day, is worth 20/.; whilst a sapphire equal- ly fine, of 100 carats, would not be worth more than 2,000l. Legacy duty has been paid upon a sapphire supposed to be worth 10,000/. Pearls, of 80 to 100 grains, may be estimated at 7/. to 11/. per grain; those of 50 to 80 grains, at from 4/. to 7/. per grain; and those of 30 to 50 grains, at from 3/. to 5/. per grain; smaller sizes bring from 20 to 60s. per grain. Or- dinary pearls fetch lower prices, a pearl of 1 grain weight being worth half-a- crown. Gas and grease injure pearls. All these values apply only to the best specimens. Nothing that a file will cut is a precious stone; the file should be used on both sides, to avoid the trick, very common in Italy, of fastening a slice of the real article on to a false basis; a stone cannot be genuine of very much less than its proper specific gravity. As to colour hold a stone in clear water about an inch from the surface, and the shades will be at once apparent, and the points at which they glide into each other.

NOTIFICATION

The undersigned H. B. M. Envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo- tentiary has the satisfaction of making known for the information of all sub- jects of Her Majesty, that the negocia- tion in which he has been engaged at Osok in concert with his colleagues the representative of France, the United States of America and Holland have been attended with the following result:

1st.-—The Mikado has given his for- mal sanction to the Treaties concluded by the Tycoon with the foreign powers.

2nd.—-Negotiations for the revision of the Tariff on a basis agreed upon, will at once be proceeded with at Yed- do.

3rd.—-The opening of the port of Hiogo and the city of Osaka, is guar- anteed at the time mentioned in the London Convention of 1862, or an earlier date if circumstances should permit.

H. B. M’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Ja- pan.

Fire Extinguisher.

An invention for the extinction of fires, the property of MM. Courtinez and Monnet, was tried a few days ago in the Rue d'Abbeville. A pile of faggots saturated with tar and petrol- ium was erected in a large courtyard, and then set fire to. When the whole was thoroughly in flames, the inventor ap- proached with a small metal cylinder, and from an issue effected by means of a spring in it, a stream of liquid was projected on the burning pile; in less than two minutes the fire was com- pletely extinguished. The effect was produced by water charged with chem- icals having the property of producing carbonic acid gas. The cylinders may be prepared beforehand, and the li- quid preserves its quality for more than two years. As the apparatus occupies but little space, it may be always kept ready on board ship, or in a corner of a theater or apartment. When requir- ed for use, all that has to be done is to open the top; the liquid then rush- es out with a force sufficient, it is said, to project it to the height of the sec- ond floor of a house.

Bangkok Recorder.

According to our promise in our last issue we will now give a particular account of the late royal festival for the tonsure of Prince Chowya Chu-la- longkorn. And this we do particu- larly for the benefit of our readers who were not present to witness it.

His Majesty the king had very po- litely invited all European and Ameri- can residents together with transient visitors to the extraordinary festival. This he did a week or more before the time, through the six foreign consuls, resident in the city. The purpose of the royal invitation was, that His Ma- jesty the king would be pleased to have all the white faced foreigners wit- ness the ceremonies, and would have provided for them eligible locations for observation and comfortable seats, together with suitable interpreters for any that might need such aid for un- derstanding what they would see.

The first three days of the festival were chiefly occupied in extraordinary religious ceremonies, preparatory to the fourth day on, which the topknot which had been most carefully pre- served thirteen years, was to be removed from its highly revered location and cast away.

It was our privilege to be present only on that great culminating day of the festival; but not quite early enough to witness the procession by which the Prince was escorted to the hall where the ceremony of cutting the hair took place. It was reported to be most imposing and august, as we could readily believe from what we afterwards saw. Neither did we see the act of applying first the regal shears and then the razor to the head of the PRINCE. The same failure, it is be- lieved, all the foreign guests, shared equally with ourselves, and the reason of it was not explained to us. We only know that the Prince, a beautiful lad with his topknot neatly dressed, was escorted into the Pra mahá pra- sat and that he came out of that half hour of seclusion from foreign gaze as bald as an eagle, and to our eye great- ly disfigured by the loss he had sus- tained in the act of tonsure.

The great display of the day was made in the inner court of the old royal palace. Within this area of about half an acre there had been erected for the occasion an artificial mountain called Trei-lat, to re- present as we understand it, one of the Himalaya mountains on which the Brahmin god Indus is supposed to bestow his blessings upon those who revere and seek him. Buddhism, though originally in diametrical oppo- sition to Brahminism, has for many hundreds of years been courting the favors of the latter, at least so far as the kingdom of Siam is concerned, and is now paying great deference to very many of its rites and ceremonies. Indeed by far the greater part of the superstitions now practiced by the Buddhists in Siam are of Brahminical origin. If we mistake not, all the ceremonies connected with that ton- sure festival were of this class.

The artificial mountain in the palace court yard was about 50 feet high, having a circumference probably not less than 300 feet. Its frame work or skeleton was made of teak wood, and so shaped as to describe peaks, vallies, clefts, caves etc. This frame work was all covered with bamboo wattling made to conform quite accurately to all the varieties of form in the mount. And over all this wattling was laid paper having a metallic appearance. Consequently some parts of the mount seemed to be composed chiefly of rusty iron, some of copper, some of brass, some of tin, some of silver, and some of gold.

The largest cavity in the side of the mount appeared to be lined with sil- vered paper. In that place was an artificial pool of clear water full of imitation fish, turtles, prawns, crabs and a crocodile. In it had been placed two large flowers of the Victoria Regia. Adjacent to it was another pond where poppet figures were playing in the water, diving for aquatic animals. On a shelf of the rock at the backside of the cavity, stood the figures of four animals designed as emblems of pros- perity and fruitfulness. They were the lion, the elephant, the ox, and the horse. They stood with their heads extended a little over the brim of the larger pool, prepared to sprinkle pure water from their mouths upon the head of the Chow-fah at the pro- per time.

On the top of the mount there was a very tasty and apparently richly gilded temple with a spire extending from the center of its roof, perhaps 20 feet. On the same plane round about the most sacred place, were several other very neat buildings, re- presenting, as we supposed, the various accompaniments of a Brahmin temple. On the East side of the mount near its top was displayed a circular mirror with a diameter of two feet, on the face of which was pictured the royal coat of arms. And there was connected with it a silvered wheel with radiating arms revolving on its axes. All this was intended to represent the sun. There was also on the west side a similar representation as an emblem of the moon. Two flights of steps led up to the mountain temple—the one on the east, the other on the West side, each having a neat bamboo railing. The one designed for His Majesty to handle, was wound all the way with white muslin, and the steps were carpeted with a neat grass matting. There was a tasty fence which formed a square around the foot of the mount, leaving sufficient space within it and the mount for a procession to circum- ambulate it.

We have been thus particular in describing the mount because it was the central point for almost all the ceremonies of the occasion. In the temple on its top was supposed to dwell Pra In, the god of the Brahmins, and whom many of the Siamese later ly as disposed to denominate the maker of the worlds. And there in that cave or cleft of the rock which we have so minutely pointed out, the Young Prince was sprinkled with the pure water of the sacred mount and with a great variety of specially con- secrated liquids by which both his in- ner and outer man was to be streng- thened for the stern realities of man- hood. Our time and space will not allow of our writing of the hundredth part of what engaged our curiosity on the morning of the 4th inst., and it would be quite preposterous for us to think of picturing the scene so that a long description of it would be read without weariness by our friends a- broad. Even an Eng. Russel in his best moods, we fancy, would almost shrink from the task. We shall venture to touch only on a few more salient points of the scene.

It was about 10 o'clock A.M. when the royal trumpet sounded, giving a certain signal that the hair cutting proper was over, and that the royal sire and son, the lions of the day, were about to return from the royal barber shop in the Prämáhapräsät. Present- ly they made their appearance by the way of a beautiful Sala on the wall opening into the palace court where all the foreigners were in eager waiting. The golden sadan designed for the king was first carried alongside of the sala, and His Majesty walked into it. He wore a small brimmed black hat with a round top decked with precious stones, and a single white plume added much to its gracefulness. He was richly and fully attired, though not in full state. A golden umbrella 18 feet in circumference was held over him. As the king moved off in his sadan borne by eight men, there was another golden sadan brought up to the door of the sala and received Prince Chowfa. He also wore a hat like that of his royal sire with a gray plume, and seemed to be clothed in much the same material as his father. Though the distance from the sala to the place of bathing to which they were then going was not more than 28 rods, a little royal pro- cession was formed for it. Arriving at the place, they both alighted and walk- ed into the cave. The prince was seated on a rock, or what purported to be a rock, in the pool. No part of his apparel was removed from him ex- cepting his hat.

The king, laying off only his cap, addressed himself most actively to ar- ranging all things, so that no part of the blessing craved should be marred by the least disorder. When all was ready the lion, elephant, ox and horse vied with each other in giving the Prince a shower bath from their mouths. This was continued at least ten minutes, when the lad became chill- ed so that his teeth almost chattered. He was then removed to another seat, within the pool where he sat another 10 minutes to be suffused with sundry consecrated waters, poured upon his head from Brahmin shells and goblets, first by the royal sire, then by royal uncles, and then by the two Prime min- isters for the Southern and Northern divisions of the kingdom. We could not avoid feeling some anxiety for the Prince, so severely chilled did he seem to be. He was led into a richly drap- ed cloister 8 or 10 feet from the bath, where he was assisted in changing his wet dress for a dry suit. Meanwhile His Majesty, putting on his hat, and taking his cane in hand, walked up to the top of the mount, and closeted himself for a few minutes in the tem- ple there. In 15 or 20 minutes we saw the Prince being escorted up the mount by the two Prime ministers. Presently the king made his appearance at the door of the temple in his most complete kingly dress wearing a gold crown. He sat in the door four or five minutes as if he expected to be pho- tographed. Mr. Thompson the pho- tographer was present and had taken His Majesty once or twice that day; but by some mistake did not attempt it then.

As for the Prince, it was supposed that Pra In arrayed him in new hab- iliments in his own temple on the mount, and then imparted to him his blessing.

The whole time spent in the mount was probably not less than half an hour. After which the king disap- peared from the scene; but the Prince was escorted down the mount and was carried in great state three times a- round its base within the enclosure, and then once or twice outside of it.

There were two lines of beautiful lads fancifully dressed who surround- ed the mount. All of each line were in communication with each other by means of a purple cord, which each held in his hand. Between these two lines-being 10 feet apart, the roy- al procession passed. We suppose they were to keep invisible devils from injuring the Prince as he circumam- bulated the mount. There were in the procession 8 or 10 distinct com- panies, some being composed of men, some of women and some of boys. Each company was in uniform with itself, and quite different from all the others. They were all arrayed in their richest and gayest costume, and made a very unique and we may say, beauti- ful appearance.

When the procession wheeled, with the view to return by the way it came in the morning, it was joined by sev- eral motley companies of what we may term Old Siam leading two or three spans of fith ponies most fancifully caparisoned.

This was the winding up of the morning services, and it was then about midday.

At 3 O'clock P. M. the evening cer- emonies commenced, and bountiful tables were provided for all Europeans and Americans.

A translation from the
Siamese.

In reply to an article we publish- ed in the Siamese "Recorder" of the 18th ult.

That which you have published about the Bible being the source of great light, producing illustrious wis- dom and knowledge, sounds strangely to the ear. Are they words written in earnest or in sport? Are they for adults or are they designed only for children to hear?

Now whenever a person desires to learn about the physical world, how the heavens and the earth were established or constituted, and believes your words that the Bible is the best of all books, let him go to the Bible and open the book at the beginning—-the first page of the book of Genesis. He will read concerning the creation of the world that God made the world in six days —-that He made the darkness and made the light dividing the one from the other, and called the light day and the darkness night. After this He made the earth and the trees and the grass; and that when He was about to finish the work of creation, He made the sun and moon and stars as things with which to garnish the heavens and serve the earth. Now such being the record of creation, how are we to learn whe- ther the sun, which was made subse- quently to the light and the earth is a great water jar (or perhaps a great orb), or that the earth which was made some days before is but a green bean or the moon that was made simultan- eously with the sun is but a [?]eelood, or that the many ten thousands and the many hundred thousands, and the many millions and the many tens of millions of smaller jars near the close of the work of creation are truly stars in the heavens?

Again when one desires to know the causes of the rainbow, and goes to the Bible and reads about it in the story of the flood, (what does he there learn?) God spake concerning the use of the bow and arrow, dwelling on the theme for two full pages of the book of Genesis. But when we read about the rainbow how are we to learn from the record the truth about what pro- duces it? These remarks are only given as specimens (of the darkness of the Bible) at the beginning of the book.

Again, some persons criticize the Bible by saying, that when God show- ed favor to Noah and his family, and gave him to make an Ark to escape destruction by the flood, if He had then but favored him with the know- ledge of making a steam boat, and the use of a rudder to ships, and the science of calculating the longitude and lati- tude of places, it would have been of great service to him. He could then have sailed his vessel by steam hither and thither, and would have known certainly where he was (on the waste of water) and whether or not the wa- ters had subsided; and would not have been under the necessity of sending out ravens and doves as it is said in the Bible he did. Was he not at that time very ignorant?

There are others who say that per- sons having a firm faith and a pure heart in the religion of Christ, believe that He showed extraordinary favor unto great multitudes, healing paralytics without number, and cured untold numbers of persons that were blind, and many leprous persons, and even some who were dead he raised to life. An account of these miracles is given in the after part of the Bible, in many places. Now they who believe firmly in the religion of Christ are such as devote their persons and their lives to that religion. In the present age some of them are suffering from leprosy, some from hemiplegia, and general palsy. They do not desire to suffer, nor to have their friends suffer and die. They are very sorry for their sick and dying friends. This is very manifest. There is no disputing or denying the fact. It is true they say "the will of the Lord be done." ' As to this we will say nothing. But there are others who have been newly initiated into the faith of Christ, who if their teachers and guides could but show miraculous power in healing leprosy and paralysis and in delivering from death—-only these two or three classes of sorrow and distress, would not the whole world by this time have entered the christian religion? But such power and such results have not been seen. (Had such miraculous power been given) honest men who have not trusted in christian- ity would no longer have doubts as to what you say of the excellency of the Bible.

The words (translated) trusted as above are to be understood in various senses. Even the Kings of Siam have occasion to use the term. Not to speak of the kings of other nations, the kings of Siam themselves from time imme- morial have sought to aid themselves by a certain kind of trust in three systems of religion viz-—the Buddhist, the Brahmin and the Kaak Chow sen, a sect of the Mohamodans. The bees- wax which the Kaak Chow sen, use for their wax candles in worship is almost all a donation from the kings of Siam. Besides this they give them annually much in aid of their sacred feasts. But to the Brahmin religion the kings of Siam give annually many cas- ties of silver. They thus make don- ations to the Kaak Chow sens and Brahmins trusting or believing that such works will in someway revert in blessings upon themselves and their peoples. Hence they never grudge what they thus give abundantly every year.

Again, The kings of Siam praise the Buddhist religion, saying that there is no other religion that excels it. This every king of Siam has done until the present time. Now it must be confessed that this looks as if they had all given their hearts to the priests who are the great lords of the religion in Siam. But the truth is, the priests who are the teachers and leaders of the Buddhist religion are as yet very ignorant, not knowing geography or astronomy, and still persist in holding the notions that the Eclipses are caused by the jealousy of the great Yak who comes to bite and swallow up the sun and moon—that the earth and the heavens are of equal size, and that the sun and moon in size differ but little, and other equally ignorant notions do they hold. Consequently all the former kings of Siam have held to the same views.

Now whether His Majesty the pre- sent king, holds to the the same notions or not it is not known (or it is not divulged.) But we see that he can ac- curately enunciate the eclipses of the sun and moon, and he has said that the Yak—-Rahoo does nothing to the sun or moon; but that the moon is eclipsed by means of the earth coming between the sun and moon at thet time of her full, and that the sun is eclipsed by the moon coming between him and the earth at the time of new moon, and consequently the eclipses are not al- ways alike, sometimes being visible in Northern latitudes and not seen in the Southern.

Now although His Majesty the king can predict eclipses as stated above, he still adheres to the Buddhist religion, and declares that it is better than all others, and hence he is strict in the observance of all the rites and cere- monies of it. He sees clearly that it is because that he thus holds to it, that he has become so much enlightened. Now while we have such an illustrious example of the benefits of Buddhism why mention the name of Queen Victo- ria which you reiterate time without end, thinking that you will constrain men to believe (in the christian religion) be- cause of the influence of such a name? It is the custom of the people of all nations to follow very nearly the same religion that their chief rulers do. This we understand.

Death.

The youngest sister of His Excel- lency the Prime Minister, a maiden lady, aged 47 years, died on the 16th inst. of typhoid fever. She had been sick 32 days, but in the meantime had become decidedly convalescent, when, by the use of some improper food, she suffered the fatal relapse.

Local Items.

His Excellency the Prime Minister has now remaining one own brother and two full sisters. The brother is Phya Montree Sooriwong, who was the chief ambassador to Paris a few years since, aged about 46 years. The two sisters are maiden ladies, aged respectively 47 and 51 years.

The "Steamer Siam" arrived on the 17th inst. being 140 days from Liver- pool, having called at Anger—Singa- pore and other places. She was built by George Forester, Liverpool, by order of His Excellency Chow Phya Kala- hom. Her tonnage is 326, and her horse power 60. She was ordered for Phya Toongsa Pookit governor of Quedah, and is to ply as a merchant- man between Singapore, Quedah, Maulmain, and Rangoon.

The body of His Majesty the late 2nd king of Siam, has been placed in a copper urn, according to custom in a sit- ting posture, so arranged as to have with- drawn daily by a stop-cock the fluid parts of it until it shall become perfectly dry. It will probably remain in this state more than twelve months awaiting due preparations for its cremation.

The causes of the present high pri- ces of Rice now ruling in the city are unquestionably the great amount of shipping now in Port, waiting to load with this article for China, and the fact that the new crop coming to maturity fully a month later in the season than usual, has not yet been prepared for market. Indeed much of the rice in the Province of Ayuthia is still unreaped, waiting for the fields to become sufficiently dry for harvesting. We were informed by one of the high- est in authority, that the rice in that section will now be quickly gathered, and that in the month of February the grain will be in market in the greatest abundance.

We have been credibly informed that His Excellency the Prime Minister has put his powerful hand to the work of, building a Sanatorium at Anghin, and that the work is now well under way, and will be completed probably in the course of the current year. His Excel- lency feels stimulated to press forward in this good work by the hope that a place of resort for European and Amer- ican invalid residents will be of great public utility.

Siamese Slavery.

Mr. Editor-—I am a kind of benefactor of that part of the race which belongs to this kingdom, and as such, my services are frequently called upon. Some times perhaps I transcend my calling, but I trust I may occasionally be allowed the privilege of doing so, with the hope of accomplishing some good. Some port- ion of the race here are occasionally oppressed by their immedi- ate superiors, and if I can in any way alleviate their distresses, without too much interfering in those things which don’t belong to me, I shall consider it my duty to do so. I shall relate a couple of instances in which my services have been called upon, thinking they may give some idea of the customs of this people. One mor- ning an old woman living on my premises came, in apparent dis- tress, saying, that two nieces of her’s were slaves by debt to a cer- tain nobleman of considerable rank, and governor of one of the principal provinces in the kingdom. The debt of both amounted to about one hundred and thirty ticals. One of the women had a husband, but the other had not, and as the master wished to use her for rather dishonorable purposes they had both concluded to get the money, and purchase their freedom. The Siamese custom is that a slave by debt, who wants to free himself must bring the money, and lay it down before the master, and if he refuses to re- ceive it, they must do so three times, and if on the third time he still refuses to receive it, the money can be taken to some judge of the court, and deposited, and the master must then lose half the amount. The old lady said that they had already laid down the money three times, and the master would not receive it. If they took it to the court, the master being a big man they could not hope for justice. She therefore begged that I would take the money, and go and offer it to the master and when he saw that a foreigner had taken it up he would receive it. Supposing the story to be in the main true, I saw nothing amiss in making the effort. The first day I went, the master was not at home, but when I had stated my errand one of his wives came out, and stated that he had not yet returned from the province, but would return on such a day, and told me to come, or send up then, and the money would be received. When the day came, I sent up my teacher, but he was told to come back another day ! He went back another day with the same effect. The third day he went again, but returned as he went. I therefore concluded to go again myself, and according- ly went and took my seat in the reception room as I had done before and announced my arrival. After waiting some time a little Nai (master) came, and asked my business as if he did not know all about it. I told him it did not amount to much, as I only want- ed to pay the money for the freedom of a couple of slaves. He said the master was then eating his breakfast and would be out in a short time. I waited an hour, which I supposed sufficient time for any man to eat. I then began to be a little restless. Short- ly afterwards the women of the establishment came out dressed up, going out on a pleasure ride, and among them the one who had talked rather friendly with me on the previous day, but now she passed me by with apparent contempt. After waiting some considerable time afterwards, I saw there was something up. The servants were squatting around and whispering and laughing among themselves, and occasionally would cast a glance at me. I told a little Nai who seemed to be “under authority” that I was in a great hurry, and his master would confer a great favor by appearing as soon as possible: but he did not dare deliver the mes- sage. Considering it useless to wait any longer, and not wishing to be treated wholly with contempt, I told the Nai in a tone suf- ficiently loud to be heard all over the establishment, that I would take the money to the court of Mom Rajoday; (The International Judge) and when the master called on it he could receive what would be coming to him, after the expenses of the court were deducted. Having made this deliverance, I left, but had gone only a few steps, when the man’s son came running after me, and said his father had a very sore leg and could not be seen that day. I repeated what I had said before and left, with the full intention of doing it; and seeing that it should be justly carried through. But when I came to consult the parties, their hearts failed them, and they said they could not go to law with a big man, and would have to abide their present fate. So the matter was dropped.

I have already occupied considerable space, so I shall reserve the other instance for some other issue.

Discoveries at Pompeii.

The story of Pompeii reads like an Eastern fable—-a city buried in a moment, and unearthed only after a sleep of centuries. A French writer says;

The excavations at Pompeii are going on with an activity stimulated by the important discoveries made at almost every step, and the quantities of gold and silver found, which more than suffice to cover the cost of the works. Near the temple of Juno, of which an account was recently given, has just been brought to light a house, no doubt belonging to some millionaire at the time, for the furniture is of ivory bronze and marble. The couches of the triclinium, or dining room, are especially of extreme richness. The flooring consists of an immense mosaic, well preserved in parts, and of which the centre represents a table laid out for a grand dinner. In the middle, on a large dish, may be seen a splendid peacock, with its tail spread out, and placed back to back with another bird also of elegant plumage. Around them are arranged lobsters, one of which holds a blue egg in its claws, a second an oyster, which appears to be fricasseed as it is open and covered with herbs, a third, a rat farci, and a fourth a small vase filled with fried grasshoppers—Next comes a circle of dishes of fishes, interspersed with others of partridges, hares, and squirrels, which all have their heads placed between their fore feet. Then comes a row of sausages of all forms, supported by one of eggs, oysters and olives, which in its turn is surrounded by a double circle of peaches, cherries, melons, and other fruits and vegetables. The walls of the triclinium are covered with fresco paintings of birds, fruit, flowers, game, and fish of all kinds, the whole inter- spersed with drawings which lend a charm to the whole not easy to describe. On a table of rare wood-carving and inlaid with gold, marble, agate, and lapis lazuli, were found amphora still containing wine, and some goblets of onyx.—Lorain county News.

France.

AN ECCENTRIC MARRIAGE CONTRACT. -—An extraordinary case was brought, a few days back, under the considera- tion of the Paris Court of First Ins- tance, presided over by M. Benoit Champy. A Count and Countess, whose names are not given by the legal journals which report the case, refused their consent to the marriage of their daughter Helen with the man of her heart. She thereupon retired to a convent, from which she addressed to her parents those actes respectueux, which by the French code enable per- sons of full age to marry without the consent of father and mother, which is `prima facie` to be [?]ecessary. There- upon the parents instituted a suit to stop the marriage, on the ground that their daughter was insane, and the principal evidence produced in support of the allegation was that she had signed a contract of marriage in the following form.—-

Art. 1. Loving each other and knowing each other well enough to be certain that one cannot be happy with- out the other, we join ourselves toge- ther to live for ever hereafter as good married people. She will be I and I shall be she, he be I and I shall be he. Art. 2. Charles: I promise Helen to de- vote all my mind, all my strength, and my whole being to the purpose of maintaining her and the children that she may give me honestly and decent- ly. Art. 3 Helen: I promise Char- les to second him in keeping our household from want and difficulty; with that view I shall make economi- cal habits a duty. Art. 4. Charles: I admit that I am sometimes hasty and violent, and I hope to be excused for sudden bursts of anger. Helen: It will perhaps be hard to endure, but the condition is acceded to. Art. 5. Helen: I must also be pardoned something. My temper is a little un- even, and I am greatly disposed to be jealous, Charles: I will not mind cap- rices if they are not too frequent. As to the other fault, am disposed to re- joice at it rather than otherwise for a jealous person is not likely to give cause for jealousy. Art. 6. Charles and Helen. We are persuaded that between lovers disputes and coolness almost always arise from petty causes. On this account we mutually promise never to follow our own desires in things of small importance, but always to give way to each other. Helen: In important matters it will be right that Charles should decide, for he has more knowledge and judgment than I. Char- les: Helen is too modest. I shall ne- ver decide anything without consulting her, and either converting her to my views or adopting hers if I think them best. Art. 7. As a consequence of the last preceding article, each of us shall always be dressed according to the taste of the other. Art. 8. The words "I will", "I expect", "I re- quire", and other similar expressions, are absolutely erased from our diction- ary. Art. 9. Charles will honour his wife that she may be honoured by others. He will always exhibit towards her es- teem and confidence, and will be espe- cially careful never in her presence to allow any advantage over her to any other woman upon any point whatso- ever. Art. 10. We shall ever bear in mind that want of cleanliness and at- tention to personal appearance must necessarily produce repugnance and disgust. Neatness is to the body what amiability is to the soul. It is that which pleases. Art. 11. Helen: The majority of women nurse their own children. I hope Charles will approve of my performing my duties as a mo- ther. Charles: I approve, subject to the doctor's advice. Art. 12. Charles: Helen will take great care not to spoil our children's intellects in their early years. She must not talk or suffer others to talk to them any of that nonsense which gives false ideas and dangerous impressions throughout life. Helen: I will pay great attention to this point. Art. 13. Although our mutual tenderness is a guarantee that we shall never fail in the engagements hereinbefore set forth, each of us will keep a copy of these presents, and in case of the breach of any article shall be entitled to lay it before the other party to remind him or her of cove- nants entered into. Art. 14. Inasmuch as neither will have anything which does not belong to the other, there is no occasion to take any account of the contribution of each to the common stock. Affection and courage, our only fortune, cannot be counted, and each of us will endeavour to bring as much as possible.

The Court held that this eccentric contract afforded no evidence of inna- nity, for which imputation there was, moreover, no pretence. Judgment was accordingly giveli against the pa- rents, and the Mayor was ordered to proceed at once to perform the mar- riage ceremony: