The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the
printing office of the American Missionary
Association, at the mouth of the Canal,
"Klawng Bangkok Yai" It will contain such
Political, Literary, Scientific, Commercial, and
local intelligence, as shall render it worthy
of the general patronage.

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dents subject to the usual restrictions.

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for the sentiments of his correspondents.

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less accompanied by the name of the Cor-
respondent.

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unless as a special favor.

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TRACTS.

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sent to the subscriber, or left at the store of
Messrs. Virgin & Co.

The Harvest.

("Bringing his sheaves with him."-Psalm 126.6.)

The Montana Delegation.

The President had an interview on the
7th inst, with a delegation of citizens
from Montana, in which he declared:

"Here let me say to you, in order to
disabuse the public mind, as far as it is
possible for an individual to do so, that
my political career is well nigh done—-
the sand of my political glass has well
nigh run out. If I were disposed to re-
fer to myself, I might trace my career
back to the log cabin ; then an alderman
and a mayor in a village ; then through
both branches of the State Legislature ;
then, for ten consecutive years, in the
national House of Representatives ; then
through the gubernatorial chair to the
Senate of the United States ; then Pro-
visional Governor, with a slight particp-
ation in military affairs ; then Vice-Presi-
dent, and now in the position I occupy
before you. And now, in this position,
if I can be instrumental in restoring the
Government of the United States, in
restoring to their true position in the
Union those States whose relations to the
national Government have for a time
been interrupted by one of the most gi-
gantic rebellions that ever occurred in
the world, so that we can proclaim once
more that we are a united people, I shall
feel that the measure of my ambition
has been filled, and filled to overflowing.
And at that point, if there be any who
are envious and jealous of honor and po-
sition, I shall be prepared to make them
as polite a bow as I know how, and thank
them to take the place I have occupied,
for my mission will have been fulfilled.

"In saying this, in the performance of
my duty and in response to the encour-
agement you have given me, I feel that
I am in a condition not to be arrogant,
nor to feel imperious or supercilious. I
feel that I can afford to do right ; and, in
so feeling, God being willing, I intend to
do right ; and, so far as in me lies, I in-
tend to administer this Government upon
the principles that lie at the foundation
of it. I can inform all aspirants who are
trying to form their combinations for the
future—-who want to make one organiz-
ation for one purpose, and another for
another—-that they are not in my way. I
am not a candidate for any position, and
hence, I repeat, I can afford to do right ;
and, being in that condition, I will do
right. I make this announcement for the
purpose of letting all know that my work
is to restore the Government, not to make
combinations with reference to any fu-
ture candidacy for the Presidency of the
United States. I have reached the utmost
round. My race is run, so far as that is
concerned. My object is to perform my
duty, and that I will endeavor to do.

"Let us, then, all join in this great
work of restoration ; and while we are
restoring and repairing the breaches that
have been made, let us also unite in the
work of making new States, and popu-
lating them with a people who are worthy
of the Government which protects them ;
and let those new State Governments be
founded on principles in harmony with
the great machinery devised by our fath-
ers. So for as regards any aid or assis-
tance that can be given here in the pro-
gress and in the consummation of this
great work of building up new States, as
well as in the restoration of all the form-
er States, you will find me a willing and
a cordial helper."–NEW YORK OBSERVE.

France and Mexico.

The Paris correspondent of the LoN-
DON TIMES gives a minute account of the
circumstances under which the Emperor
Napoleon despatched M. Salliard on a
special mission to Mexico. He was hur-
ried to the palace, when the Emperor
said he wanted him to set out without
delay for Mexico, with a message from
him to Maximilian. He was to tell Max-
imilian that he considered that he (Napo-
leon) had fulfilled all the obligations im-
posed on him, and that the time had now
arrived when Maximilian must depend
upon his own resources, without the help
of the French army. M. Salliard asked
for some credentials, but the Emperor
observed that there was no necessity for
any documents; all he had to do was
simply to represent to Maximilian the
conversation he had just had, and that
would suffice. He recommended M. Sal-
liard, moreover, to lose no time in setting
out for Mexico, but to depart by the
first steamer.—NEW YORK OBSERVER.

THE KARENS. A long period had elap-
sed before it was known to foreigners
that any such race of people existed in
Burmah as the Karens. Though living in
large numbers and in considerable village
communities scattered all over the an-
cient empire of Burmah, they never
seemed to attract the attention of Euro-
peans. In the year 1828, During a visit
up the Salween river, the late Rev. Dr.
Judson met some of these people for the
first time. In the year 1830, they were
encountered up the Tavoy river by the
late Rev. Mr. Boardman. Almost with
his dying breath, Mr. Boardman gave over
charge of his faithful Karens to his friend
and successor, the author of the " Reli-
gion, Mythology and Astronomy among
the Karens."

The Rev. Dr. Mason of Toungoo has
labored most assiduously among this in-
teresting race for the last thirty six years.
He is a thorough master of the Karen
language, and the translator of a very
large portion of the Bible into the Sgua
Karen dialect. Dr. Mason appears to be
one of the most industrious of living
Missionaries. The more real hard intel-
lectual work he accomplishes, the more
he finds to do. A Committee of the
British Association for the advancement
of Science addressed Dr. Mason a series
of "Quæries respecting the human race."
Dr. Mason's name is not only very through-
ly known all over the United States of
America, but it is extensively known in
Great Britain and among the learned Sa-
vans of Germany. The London Tract
Society have printed and distributed
hundred of thousands of copies of a work
written many years ago by Dr. Mason
entitled " Ko Tha Byu, or the Karen
Apostle."

In reply to the Committee of the Bri-
tish Association our indefatigable Author
has written two Pamphlets, which are full
of information, concerning the Karens
with whom Dr. Mason is intimately ac-
quainted.

On the subject of the religion of this
tribe, it is stated, that the Karens pray
more and make more offerings than the
Burmese; but their only object in these
observances is to obtain benefits in the
present existence, principally health and
prolonged life, so they cannot be regarded
as religious, while the Burmese make
them to procure benefits in a future state,
and are therefore a religious people, though
by no means so moral as the Karens.

Relative to the traditional belief of this
people, 'the Karens believe in the exis-
tence of one eternal God, the Creator of
heaven and earth, and have traditions of
God and the creation that must have been
derived from the Old Testament Scripture.
The following affords a specimen of these
ideas.'

'Anciently, God commanded, but Satan
appeared bringing destruction.'

'Formerly, God commanded, but Satan
appeared deceiving into death.'

'The woman E—u and the man Tha-
nai pleased not the eye of the dragon.'

'The person of E—u and Thanai pleas-
ed not the mind of the dragon.'

'The dragon looked on them—-the
dragon beguiled the woman and Thanai.'

They were beguiled by means of a
yellow and white kind of fruit. The
dragon is of course the serpent of scripture
and the fruit is the fruit of the forbid-
den tree, which Adam and Eve were
prohibited from using under the penalty
which followed.

These ideas could only have been ob-
tained from the Mosaic account of the
creation and fall of man, as given in the
book of Genesis.

The Sgua and P'ya Karen name of
God is Ywa, but the Bghais use a prefix
and say Ta-ywa, to this name Ta-ywa,
they attach long fabulous legends, which
appear to be of Hindu origin.'

The word Ta-wa-yah is also a Burmese
word and literally signifies eternal. It
is always used as an adjective to qualify
the noun, Pya, as Lord, or God, where
the supreme Ruler of the universe, or the
true God is meant, in contradistinction
from those gods of the Buddhist system,
which were transient and passing.

In the first pamphlet Dr. Mason has
brought together an immense deal of in-
formation on the traditional belief of the
Karens. They are not idolaters though
they tolerate all sorts of absurd legends.
They look with contempt upon images of
their Burmese neighbours and use a coup-
let with reference to them.

Of a future state, the Karen ideas are
very confused indefinite and contradictory
says Dr. Mason. The tradition is a melee
of different systems. The American
Indians and the Karens appear to corres-
pond in their notions of a future world.
Their belief represents the future world
as a counterpart of this one located under
the earth, where the inhabitants are em-
ployed precisely as they are here. When
the sun sets it rises in the Karen Hades,
and when it sets in Hades, it rises on this
world." An illustration is given in proof
of this view of the case.

A beautiful woman died and her hus-
band mourned her loss. He applied to a
prophet, or necromancer to restore his
wife to him. The dead woman was raised
according to the tradition, in the evening,
and she attended to her household work
during the night. She would fall asleep
in the morning and appear dead all day,
and revive in the evening and be a live
all night.

Karens believe this world to be densely
populated with spirits. Each person has
his guardian spirit moving about by his
side by day and by night. Trees, rivers,
mountains and every living moving thing
has its attendant spirit. It is a sort of
defender, as well as a ministering angel.
The heart, the mind and the soul of man
are all embodied in one word.

Some German critics, remarks Dr.
Mason, say that "Psyche in Homer signi-
fies only the breath and the life, never as
in the language of later times, the spirit
or soul, yet it goes to Hades and contin-
ues to live there. 'The Karen word is
La, signifying spirit or life. It existed
before man was born. It remains with
him until death, lives after the death of
the body, and for aught that appears to
the contrary, it is immortal. No moral
qualities are predicated of it. It is neither
good nor bad, but is merely that which
gives life to mortality.'

Dr. Mason's metaphysical mind has en-
abled him to go deeply into the subtleties
of Karen metaphysics. He treats of de-
parted spirit, of ghosts, of witches and
wizards, of the rainbow and of the god-
dess of fortune, a notice of which interes-
ting topics, we must reserve for a future
day.—-RANGOON TIMES.

Never too Old to Learn.

We are told that Socrates, at an extreme
old age, learned to play on musical instru-
ments.

Cato, at eighty-eight years of age, thought
proper to learn the Greek language.

Plutarch, when between seventy and
eighty, commenced the study of Latin.

Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sci-
ences in his youth, but commenced the
study of them when between fifty and six-
ty years of age. After this time he became
a most learned antiquarian and lawyer.

Ludovico, at the great age of one hund-
red and fifteen, wrote the memoirs of his
own time ; a singular exertion noticed by
Voltaire, who was himself one of the most
remarkable instances of the progress of
age in new studies.

Accareo, a great lawyer, being asked
why he began the study of law so late,
replied that indeed he began it late, but
should therefore master it the sooner.

Dryden, in his sixtieth year, commenced
the Iliad, and his most pleasing produc-
tions were written in his old age.

Franklin did not commence his philoso-
phical pursuits until he had reached his
fiftieth year.

Ogilvy, the translator of Homer and
Virgil, was unacquainted with Latin and
Greek till he was past fifty.

Colbert, the famous French Minister, at
sixty years of age returned to his Latin
and law studies.

Boccaecio was thirty-five when he com-
menced his studies in polite literature, yet
he became one of the three great masters
of the Tuscan dialect—Dante and Petrarch
being the other two.

Oddities of Great Men.

The greatest men are often affected by
the most trivial circumstances, which have
no apparent connection with the effects
they produce. An old gentleman, of whom
we knew something, felt secure against the
cramp when he placed his shoes, on going
to bed, so that the right shoe was on the
left of the left shoe, and the toe of the
right next to the heel of the left. If he did
not bring the right shoe round the other
side in that way, he was liable to the
cramp. Dr. Johnson used always in going
up Bolt-court to put one foot upon each
stone of the pavement; if he failed, he felt
certain the day would be unlucky. Buffon,
the celebrated naturalist, never wrote but
in full dress. Dr. Routh, of Oxford, studied
in full-canonicals. A celebrated preacher
of the last century could never make a
sermon with his garters on. A great Ger-
man scholar writes with his braces off.
Reisegg, the German critic, wrote his
commentaries on Sophocles with a pot of
porter by his side. Schybel lectures, at
the age of seventy-two, ex-tempore in
Latin, with his snuff-box constantly in his
hand; without it he could not get on.

Simple Honesty.

Above all things we should cultivate
honesty and simplicity, truth and faith-
fulness, in ourselves and all with whom
we have to do. Falsehood, fraud, and
subterfuge permit at no rate; be jealous
of wit and humor, and all equivocal forms
of representing things. I have sometimes
devoutly wished that I were so stupid as
not to understand a joke, that I were
honest enough to perceive nothing but the
falsehood of what the French call a JEU
D'ESPRIT or playfulness of mind. I tell
you, brethren, be honest in your dealings;
take no advantage even of a child. Be
conscientious in your bargains. Have a
single eye and a single heart. Seek not
to be shrewd. Be not ashamed to be cal-
led simple. And let me tell you a secret,
seeing it is written in the Scriptures, that
your whole body will then be full of light;
and this in every kind; you will actually
see farther, and see clearer than shrewd
and cunning men, and you will be less
liable to be duped than they, provided
you add to this another part of character
which is proper to an honest man—-name-
ly; a resolution to protect honesty, and
to discountenance every kind of fraud.
A cunning man is never a firm man; but
an honest man is; a double-minded man
is always unstable; a man of faith is firm
as a rock. I tell you, there is a sacred
connection between honesty and faith;
honesty is faith applied to worldly things,
and faith is honesty quickened by the
Spirit to the use of heavenly things. In
all that I have said upon this quality, I
have not said enough of it. I have but
given the clue to the proper way of dis-
coursing of it.-—Meanwhile, let me press
it upon you in the words of our old ballad,
"Tis guid to be honest and true,"—-ED-
WARD IRVING.

Facts about New York.

The following statistics in regard to our
great metropolis have been prepared under
the direction of the New York City Mission
and approximate probably nearer the truth
than any that have been previously pub-
lished.

Until we have the official returns of the
State census lately taken, we must rely on
the United States census of 1860, to fur-
nish the number of the people in New
York, which was at that date 813,669.

The rate of increase for some time pre-
vious to the war, was five per cent. per
annum. How much this has been modified
by the extraordinary circumstances of the
period just passed we cannot determine,
and we have no room for speculations.

Of the population of the city in 1860,
429,952 were born in the United States,
and 383,717 were born in foreign countries
of forty-two different nationalities.

The number of marriages in the city in
a year is 8,282.

The number of births in the city during
the year is 6,424.

The number of deaths in the city during
a year is 25,193.

There are 54,335 dwelling-houses in the
city.

There are 155,707 families living in the
city.

There are nearly three families on an
average to every dwelling.

There are 15,000 tenant-houses, contain-
ing 486,000 persons.

The city taxes are $18,000,000 a year.

The money spent in public amusement
is $7,000,000 a year.

For the support of the police $2,000,000
a year is required.

17,000 immigrants per month land at
Castle Garden.

There are 380 churches, chapels, and
Missions of all kinds, with accommoda-
tions for 300,000 persons.

There are 276 Protestant places of wor-
ship, with accommodations for 200,000 per-
sons.

There are 216 regularly organized Pro-
testant churches, with an average member-
ship of 300, which would give a total of
64,800 communicants.

There are 350 Sabbath schools of all de-
nominations, with an attendance of 87,500
pupils.

HOW TO DO PENANCE.—-A very corpu-
lent farmer was ordered, for penance, to go
three times round the churchyard of
Knockabegowna on his bare knees. The
Sunday on which the penance was to be
performed, a considerable crowd collected
to see “fat Halloran take to his marrow-
bones;” and, true to his order, Halloran
appeared at the appointed time, followed
by three stout men, one of whom wheeled
along an enormous wheelbarrow, in which
was a soft pillow. Deliberately unbutton-
ing the knees of his trousers and rolling
them up a little, while he turned down the
tops of his long blue stockings, Halloran
was helped into the wheelbarrow on his
“bare knees,” and amid the vociferous
cheers of the assembled people he was
wheeled the prescribed number of times
round the churchyard; when stepping on
the ground and re-adjusting his nether
garments, he called out, “That’s my good-
by to both priests and Popery;” and, get-
ting into his gig, drove off, leaving his men
to bring home the wheelbarrow at their
leisure.-—THE BIBLE CLASS MAGAZINE.

"A KING DEAD." In the "Penang Ga-
zette" of the 27th January, it mentions
that intelligence had reached that island
of the death of His Majesty, the second
King of Siam, which melancholy event
took place in the Royal Palace at Bangkok
on Sunday morning the 7th January.

His majesty was a younger brother of
the present reigning Sovereign of Siam
and was named Somdetch Phra Pawa-
raindr Mahisvara Mahisvaraisa Rang-
sarga Phra Pia Klow Chao Yu Hua. It
appears he intended to make a visit to
Penang some twelve months ago, but was
prevented by indisposition. His death
resulted from consumption. He was a lit-
tle over fifty seven years of age. He had
thirty one wives, by whom he became the
father of sixty three children, of whom
thirty only survived, the royal parent,
namely fifteen sons and fifteen daughters.

On receipt of the sad news, the Consul
for Siam at Penang, had the Siamese
flag hoisted half mast high, and on the fol-
lowing day the British ensign on the Hill
and Fort together with the flags of the
different Consulates were similarly dis-
played in respect to the memory of the
deceased King.—-RANGOON TIMES.

'RESPECT OF THE DEAD' On Thursday
last, the Flag of the German Consul at this
port, was hoisted half mast high, from
sunrise to sunset as a token of respect for
the memory of the second King of Siam
lately deceased.

Similarly the British Jack was hoisted,
to half mast high on the Master Attend-
ant's flag staff on Friday.

His Majesty the King of Siam will thus
recognize the cordial sympathy felt by the
treaty powers, in these ports, to manifest
their respect for the loss sustained by the
Siamese Government in the death of the
late Royal Brother and second King.—-THE
RANGOON TIMES.

THE CASE STATED.—-PUNCH thus sums
up the ins and outs of the case at Wash-
ington, in an unusually clear statement
for an English writer on our affairs:

"Says Johnson, 'To hold that the states
o' the South

Says Congress, 'Wa'al, guess if they
never were out,

GEN. GRANT, having moved into his new
house in Washington, is liable at any time
to be next-door neighbor to a negro; the
adjoining house being owned by Alfred
Lee, a sagacious and highly respected
black man, a flour dealer, and reported to
be worth $200,000. If the negro should
some day move into his own house, would
not some people be dreadfully shocked?
Gen. Grant, we presume, having led ne-
groes to battle, and, found them loyal
and brave, would still "fight it out on that
line," not caring a button whether his
neighbors were white or black.

Bangkok Recorder.

PRESBYTERIAN MISSION PREMISES

The thought has just struck us that
perhaps we may interest and profit
some of the readers of the *Bangkok*
*Recorder* by giving them a sketch of
our journey to this place, as we can
weave into the discription important
information concerning the creeks,
canals and gulf we had to traverse.

We left our residence in Bangkok,
near the upper Fort at 8 o'clock P.M.
on the 30th ultimo, in the Mission boat
“Sea Bird” belonging to Rev. S. R.
House M. D.,—-taking with us three of
our children. Our crew consisted of
five Siamese and Laos men, and one Laos
woman wife of one of the men, to serve
as a cook. We would have preferred a
lighter and fleeter boat for the inland
course we had determined to take, if
by any means we could shun the dis-
mal gulf, an [?] much of which must always
be crossed in going to Petchaburee.
As there never is any danger in sailing
across that arm in the “Sea Bird”
we had provided ourselves with it,
but failed of finding a man that knew
any thing about sailing a boat. For
various reasons we felt indisposed to
serve as captain ourselves. At too late
an hour we found, also, that our boat,
was not sufficiently ballasted to sail
safely in a squally time. We hence
judged it best to give up all idea of
sailing, as we could not probably sail
much under the best circumstances,
and we therefore lightened the boat by
taking out her mast and sails and leav-
ing them at home.

We waited that evening until we
judged that we were within an hour
and a half of the ebb tide, which would
give us sufficient time to reach Bang-
bawn, where the tide waters of the
Meinam and the T'àcheen rivers meet.
It would be of no service to get there
before the change of the tide, because
we would be obliged to row against
the tide of the T'àcheen flowing up to
that place. The waters of the two
rivers which meet there, flow off to the
westward into a creek common to them
both. It is quite important for travelers
on these creeks and canals to make
nice calculations in regard to the se-
veral tidal junctions which exist on
this route to Petchaburee, if they desire
to be particularly expeditious in ma-
king the tour; for a failure to calculate
well will occasion the loss of from
twelve to thirty hours of time. These
junctions, being always on the highest
part of the route, the flood tides meet
from opposite directions; when finding,
generally, a tributary creek going off
from the main one, they flow in it
harmoniously together, until their force
has been spent far out in the fields and
farm canals, which daily wait for their
united blessing. And when the tide be-
gins to fall, that water flows back to the
junction, and turning, part to the right
and part to the left, runs in opposite
directions seeking each its own river as
water falling on the top of a rounded
boat cover, will seek the two opposite
caves. But there is never any percep-
tible difference in the hight of the land
at these junctions. The vast plains of
Siam through which her four large ri-
vers make each its serpentine way to
the gulf is nearly a uniform level like
the sea in a calm.

Our calculation were pretty well
made on this occasion as regards the
tidal junction at Bangbawn, having
reached the place a little before the ebb
tide commenced. We were, as usual,
hindered a little by a crowd of rafts and
boats near Bangbawn which were wait-
ing for the same ebb tide to help them
to the metropolis. The creek is very
narrow just before you arrive at Bang-
bawn, and is a great source of trouble
and loss to the multitude of business
men and other travelers who are ob-
liged to crowd through that narrow
way. It is passing strange that the
Siamese government, after all the pray-
ers that have been made to it within
the last twelve months from high and
from low, foreigners as well as natives,
cannot yet raise means or spirit enough
to enlarge this small place a little, and
thus very much improve this great
thoroughfare for all the western provin-
ces. To all foreigners traveling this way
we would say, that it is wise to plan
so that you will always pass Bangbawn
at or near the full tide when you may
hope to crowd your way through with
but little hinderance. But if you get
there when the water is rather low,
you may work, and fret, and scold
never so much, and it will all be of no
avail to your speed. You must then
wait the chances which scores of boats
and long rafts of timber may be pleas-
ed and able to give you while the tide
is slowly changing in your favor. This
place is distant 9 or 10 miles from our
residence.

We made but little stop at this junc-
tion, and bid our men push ahead
during the ebb tide for Màhàch'ie on the
T'àcheen river, which is distant from
that place some twenty miles. Being
uncommonly wearied by our efforts all
day in getting ready to start, we soon
retired, hoping the boatmen who had
done but little would row us turough
by a favoring tide in good time to
take the early morning flood tide
to Màháwn. But on awaking early on
the morning of the 31st ult.,—behold,
we had made only 10 or 12 miles
of the twenty, and had now a tide to
stem besides. If our men had been
faithful they would have carried us
through without any extraordinary
rowing. We had before learned by
much experience, that a native crew
without the continual presence and
urging of their employer, can rarely be
trusted to keep the boat agoing in the
dead of night, even with a favoring tide.
But having no particular motive for
making a quick passage, and feeling
powerfully inclined to throw off all care
and drop into a state of utter forget-
fulness, we let the men take their own
way. On having obtained refreshing
sleep, and taken our post again as chief,
we felt it right to insist upon the men
rowing us to Màhàch'ie before break-
fast, and accordingly we reached the
place about 8 o'clock. We stopped at
the landing of a small temple on the
left bank of the canal, and breakfasted.
It was a delightful morning, the sun
being much of the time hidden by fleecy
clouds, and a brisk S. W. wind blow-
ing fresh and bracing over the salt
marsh two miles or more from the sea.
Marshy as it was, it gave us a grand
view of a wide expanse of the heavens,
and of God's pure ministers flying
through the midst thereof, and of the
wings of the wind on which Jehovah
rideth. We sat for a long while under
a charming p'e-tree all of whose leaves,
pure as those of the tree of life in the
garden of Eden, were chanting the
praises of their maker by their rustling
in the breeze. All we saw and heard,
even there, was inspiring to our spirits,
and most sweetly drew out our hearts
unto God.

As the tide had turned down before
breakfast, and as our course lay up the
T'àcheen river three miles to the town
of that name, and thence by a large
creek westward to Màháwn, it would
be hard if not impossible for our men
to row against the strong ebb tide.
We therefore determined to wait quietly
there 6 or 7 hours for it to change in
our favor. Hence we said to our men
go up into the sala and nawn tem to
(sleep to the filling of your eyes) pre-
paratory for the work you will have to
perform in the evening and night time.
It was at this place we discovered that
it would have been better for us to have
started from home a little before that
morning ebb tide than leave as we did
on the last evening, because it would
have brought us just in time to take ad-
vantage of the evening tide for whose
aid we were then waiting

The distance from Bangkok to the
T'àcheen river via the Bangkok-yai;
the Bangloong creek, and the Màhá-
ch'ie canal is probably, not far from
30 miles. From 10 to 15 miles of
this course nearest the Màhàch'ie is
clearly a human made canal, evidenced
by its remarkable straightness and
uniform appearance. It is now from
30 to 50 yards wide, and was made,
if we recollect rightly, in the reign of
His present Majesty's grand father.
Much of the creek with which it con-
nects is exceedingly serpentine.

The course of the whole 30 miles
to Màhàch'ie is for the first half, S. S.
W. and the second half, W. S. W. It
is a dreary way in consequence of the
great monotony of the banks of the
creeks and canal, and the uncul-
tivated prairie land through which
they pass, and the few poverty
stricken houses of the natives that here
and there come into view. It is a
region under the undisputed sway of
musquetoes which can be almost literal-
ly scooped up by hat-fulls. We once
spent a night on the route, when by a
little carelessness we got our musqueto
bars full of them, and we found it ut-
terly impossible to expel the blood
thirsty pirates. Indeed the more effort
we made to do so, the worse it be-
came, as the creatures would pitch upon
us in the act of getting under the bars
so that it was impossible to accomplish
it without a swarm of them adhering to
our persons and getting a berth with us.
We had to abandon the idea of sleeping
that night, and go out upon the roof
of our boat and fight our tormentors till
morning. But the most beautiful
display of fireflies on the trees was a
kind of compensation for our loss of
sleep. We cannot now stop to give a
description of the fortified town of
Māhāch'ie and of the custom office
there. We hope to do this at some
future time.

As the water in the canal in which we
were moored was getting low and the
air close, we moved, a little after noon,
into the T'àcheen river, and anchored
near the usual mooring place for
boats that are waiting for the tide to
favor their going up the river. Here
we remained until 3 P. M., when we
followed the lead of a great company
of boats pushing up the stream. In
half an hour, or little more, we reached
the town of T'àcheen situated on the
right bank of the river and on the up-
per bank of the creek leading west-
ward to Māhāwn. Some of the boats
going before us passed up the river,
but the most of them went the way
we wished to go, viz. into the creek.
We all glided merrily along with a
strong favoring tide. This creek at
its mouth is from 80 to 100 yards
wide, and like all the natural creeks,
as well as rivers of Siam's vast level
plains, is exceedingly serpentine. A
wind squall arose after we had passed
a few miles in the creek, which imped-
ed our progress a good deal. It was
so strong for half an hour that we
were forced to let our boat drive into
the bushes and wait until it slackened.
The distance from T'àcheen to Mā-
hāwn is probably not far from 25
miles, a course mainly W.S.W. The
common saying of the natives is, that
there are 32 bends of the creek
before you come to the straight
canal which connects it with a creek
from the Māākīawng river. This,
also, is, in some states of mind,
a tedious way, but not as much so as
the one to Māhāch'ie. The country
is nearly all uncultivated, and the in-
habitants living on the creek get their
livelihood chiefly by cutting the small
wood abounding there, for Bangkok
market, and by growing the attap
palms on the banks of the creek and
making thatching sheets of their leaves
for sale in the chief towns.

We reached Māhāwn about 9 P. M.
half an hour before the tide began to
ebb. This is another remarkable
place of tidal junction. The tide
waters of the T'àcheen and Māākīawng
meet here, and all travelers by this
route should be well acquainted with
this fact. The two original creeks
failing of meeting each other by a dis-
tance of 5 or 6 miles, a canal was made
(we think in the last reign) for the pur-
pose of uniting them. The place call-
ed Mā'āwn (dog howling) on this
canal is not far from midway of the
canal and midway of the whole course to
P'etchaburee. Here we counted 75 river
boats of various sizes, mostly large, wait-
ing for the ebbing tide to favor
their journey to Bangkok. There were
also several rafts of timber from 100 to
200 yards long and from 12 to 16 wide
waiting to pass the same way. On the
west side of the junction there were
many boats, but a less number than on
the east side, waiting for the tide to aid
them in going the opposite direction
to Māākīawng, which company we
joined. There are only a few inhabi-
tants in the place, but several sub-
stantial and commodious salas for the
comfort of travelers, built by govern-
ment. The distance thence to the
town of Māākīawng is probably about
12 miles, mainly S. W. and thence to
the inner mouth of the river S. S. W.
3 miles.

Having stopped long enough for
our men to take their supper, the tide
began to run down, and we then pass-
ed very pleasantly onward by a glori-
ous moon light, purposing to reach
the mouth of Māākīawng river before
3 o'clock the next morning. We had
from 15 to 20 other boats before and
behind us having the same destination.
And thinking that the most of them,
if not all, were better acquainted with
the way across the gulf than ourselves,
we determined to take them as guides
to show us when we should start for
crossing the gulf, and which of the
two principal courses to take-—that by
Banláám at the mouth of P'etchaburee
river, or that by Bangkaboon at the
mouth of a large creek some 6 or 8
miles nearer Māākīawng than the
former place. The morning watch is
always accounted the best time to
cross that arm of the gulf. But some-
times the wind is too fresh, or the
weather too squally to allow of cross-
ing with ordinary boats that trade be-
tween Bangkok and Petchaburee. But
seeing our guides did not stop at the
usual mooring place for waiting boats,
but went directly on, we hesitated not
to follow suite, though there was a little
westerly wind that might lead some
smaller boats to halt. Some of our
companions, we observed, went on to-
ward Banláam and some turned in
at Bangkaboon. As the wind was
blowing rather fresh, and might oppose
our rowing to the former place, we
preferred to steer for the latter creek
which we reached about 7 A. M. The
distance from the inner mouth of the
Mááklawng to this place may be about
10 miles nearly S.

There is another small creek called
Esán 4 or 5 miles nearer Mááklawng,
into which any boat not larger than the
Sea Bird, may pass at high tide and go
by a small canal into the Bangkaboon
creek less than a mile from its mouth.
But it is a peculiarly desolate passage,
and boats are in much danger of get-
ting aground in a musqueto swamp
where you will, in that event, be
bound to wait 6 hours at least, for the
next tide. But there is here, as in all
other circumstances of trial of patience,
some compensative consideration with
which one may cheer himself. One of
these is found in the monkey tribes
that inhabit the banks of that canal.
An amateur in this branch of the animal
creation may find any amount of sport
with their princes and lords and fami-
lies as they come out to seek presents
in plantains or other fruit tossed to
them from the boat. But you
will find it exceedingly difficult to
noose them, as they observe carefully
where the trap is laid for them, and
they seem to have a wonderful instinct
to keep their feet out of, while tread-
ing all about and on the very verge of
it

Finding the tide ebbing strongly
when we arrived at Bangkaboon, and
our boatmen being fagged out, we
made up our minds to wait quietly
for the tide to turn in the P. M. The
place is a small fishing village with no
temple or sala for the accomodation
of travelers. Consequently our men
were compelled to take a “Hobson's
choice” and sleep as well as a hot sun
would allow them to do under a
kachaang awning on the boat. The
creek at this place is a little less than
100 yards wide and has all the appear-
ance of a fine river.

We weighed our little anchor about
3 P. M. and passed up the Bangka-
boon creek with a favoring tide, deter-
mining to reach our destination at
Petchaburee before midnight. The
distance by the creek and river, with
which it is connected by a short canal,
is not far from 15 miles, but by a direct
course over the sea level plains south-
ward it would not probably, be more
than 9 miles. The Bangkaboon creek,
it seems to us, is the crookedest way
we have ever passed, and yet it is quite
pleasant in a pleasant day or a moon-
light evening to any one who has no
special desire to make a speedy trip.
About midway between Baugkaboon
and the river there is a small isolated
mount between 80 and 100 feet high
called Kow Tákrow. You may at first
see it directly in front of the boat,
and then on the right side,—-now on
the left side and now at the stern—al-
ways apparently very near by—like
the deceitful mirage of the desert, elu-
ding your approach a long time.

The short canal which connects this
creek with Petchaburee river is called
Bang Krok. In consequence of this
canal there is formed another junction
of tidal waters on the Bangkaboon creek
two or three miles from the river.

Coming out into the river about 8
P. M., we found the naturally strong
downward current favorably affected
by the tide still rising, which enabled
us to make good progress where we
had feared we would have the hardest
pushing. But it was only 3 or 4 miles
that we were thus favored. Beyond
that point, no flood tide ever produces
a current upward. And there we found
sand banks and a strong natural cur-
rent to resist, when our men, dropping
their oars, took to their bamboo poles, as
they could do much better execution
with them under those circumstances
than with oars.

It being rather dark, they would,
every now and then, run the boat on
a sand bank, and then have to back
out of it and grope for the channel.
We reached the landing of the Presby-
terian Mission about 11½ P. M. It

being the dead of night, we had deter-
mined not to report ourselves till the
next morning. But Rev. D. Mc Gilvary
was up looking out for us, and came
down and saluted us, begging that we
would go up to his house as he had
made all things ready for our accommo-
dation. But as our children were all
sound asleep, and his own family also,
we declined making any stir that
night; and giving him his mail and a
bag of treasure, sent over from the
Mission treasury in Bangkok, we
bid him good night, being glad to
learn that he and his family and col-
leagues were now again in the enjoyment
of comfortable health.

This heavy array of columns, it will
be seen, describes a very singular route
of about 103 miles. Having sketched
many things concerning Petchaburee,
our readers may expect us to give them
a series of more interesting articles on
that charming place.

Wats.

When a person visits a foreign coun-
try, his first object ought to be, to
obtain as much information as possi-
ble in regard to those things which
give character, and stability to the
nation; such as its religion, its pro-
gress in the arts, and sciences, and its
institutions of learning. The latter
more than anything else give bent to
the minds of the nation, and in all civi-
lized, and enlightened nations, they are
looked upon with peculiar interest, and
are given a most prominent place. In
Siam, religion and education are most
intimately connected. The religious
cloisters are also the institutions which
train the minds of the male portion of
the rising generation. Here they are
not only taught the literature of the
country, but the precepts of the reli-
gion of the country, are also most
studiously instilled into their tender
minds. Of what then do these insti-
tutions of learning consist, and what
are the principal branches taught in
them? As they are the most promi-
nent buildings of the country, occupy-
ing almost every eligible, and beauti-
ful site around the city, and consti-
tute the most imposing architecture,
every stranger wishes to visit them.
But as the architecture, and general
appearance of all is about the same, a
person who has seen one has seen in
substance all. Under the general name
of wat, is included the temple grounds,
temple buildings, priests' houses, in
short, every thing pertaining to the
temple. One of the most imposing of
those wats, and perhaps the most ex-
pensive, is that generally known as
Wat P'o, but in higher language as
Prachètoopon. It is situated on the
left bank of the river, a little below
the palace of His Majesty. The
writer had occasion not long since to,
visit in company with a stranger, this
magnificent wat. Landing at the
Court House of the International Judge,
we passed up a narrow street leading
from the river to one of the cross
streets. We had proceeded but a short
distance when our ears were attracted
by loud explosive sounds, issuing
from a bamboo building near by, and
upon walking up to the door, found it
to be a gambling house, and China-
men were disputing over the game.
A few more steps brought us to the
heavy gate in the old city wall, and
having passed through this, we emerg-
ed into the cross street running pa-
rallel with the river. The scenes up-
on this street, are about the same as
those met with everywhere through-
out the city. Seated cross-legged up-
on some open stands, were some elder-
ly women, and some young ones, too,
selling fruit, vegetables &c., to get an
honest living. Near by were some in
a still more humble position, doling
out sugar cane by the penny's worth,
to the passing boys. Flat upon the
pavement, were a number of boys seat-
ed, and some men too, with boards
upon which were painted, some red
marks. They were also surrounded
by lead pennies, and were throwing
dice from small bowls, thus running
their chances on a small scale for pen-
nies. They also nearly blocked up
the way, so that we were well nigh
obliged to tread on some of them in
order to pass. Passing straight across
the street, we entered at once the
grounds of wat P'o, and found our-
selves immediately in a kind of laby-
rinth, which perfectly defies descrip-
tion. The inclosure itself as a rough
guess contains about ten acres of land.
The grounds are paved with flags of
fine granite. Near the entrance is a
small pool, which has underground
communication with the river, and is
thus supplied every rising tide with
fresh water. It is surrounded with a
brick wall some six feet high, which
is covered with stucco work. In the
centre of the pond, is a small artificial
island, well designed and well execut-
ed. Upon it is also some green shrub-
bery. Around, upon the banks, are
a number of different kinds of animals,
carved out of stone and standing
looking into the water, or apparently
enjoying a sleep. There used to be
two living alligators in it, but the na-
tives say they are both gone. There
are two temples in this wat. One is
an imposing structure of indescribable
architecture, which contains an image
about twice as large as life, and in a
sitting posture. This image is heavily
covered with gold. There are also a
vast number of smaller idols, and oth-
er things too numerous to mention.
The floor of the temple, and also that
of the verandah without, is of gray
marble highly polished. The heavy
teak doors, are also richly, and beauti-
fully inlaid with mother of pearl.

The principle, attraction however
of this wat, is the large reclining idol.
This idol is what an excited Yankee
might call a "whopper." On ap-
proaching the building which contains
this fellow, we found it locked, and
were obliged to send for the keeper.
He however soon gave evidence, that
he had seen foreigners before, and had
drawn some money from them, for he
at once demanded a tical for opening
the door. We assumed an air of dig-
nity, and displayed some authority,
and demanded that he at once open
the door, as it was contrary to Siam-
ese custom, to ask anything for such
services. He immediately complied
with our demand, but upon leaving,
we gave him the coveted tical, which
we had intended to do the while.

When the door and windows were
opened up, we saw the huge fellow re-
clining in all his dignity. In compar-
ison with him, the Colossus of Rhodes,
which anciently constituted one of
the seven wonders of the world,
would be a mere liliputian. He is
reclining on the right side, with his
head resting on the right hand. He
is one hundred and thirty five feet
long, about twenty eight feet around
the belt, and the length of the little
toe on the right foot, is three feet four
inches. The natives also say, that
his bowels are full of large water jars.
The labor of constructing, and gild-
ing this image, must have been im-
mense, and according to the native
mode of operations must have taken
years to accomplish it. There are al-
so a number of salas, or sheds with a
wall at the back, and open in front,
for lounging places for the priests and
others. Upon the back walls, are
paintings representing the good going
into happiness, and the bad to misery.
A number of similar salas placed in,
a kind of semi-circle, are full of idols
in sitting posture half the size of
life. Three small spire-like pagodas,
are said to be the work of three for-
mer kings; and a similar one still un-
finished, is said to be the work of the
present king. The whole design of
the wat, is a kind of labyrinth, and a
person might almost lose his reckon-
ing in it. I once saw a ground flat
of the whole wat, but did not under-
stand it, and have some doubts if the
person who got it up understood it
himself. In some future article, I may
say something of these wats as reli-
gious institutions, and institutions of
learning.

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the "Bangkok Recorder."

Mr. EDITOR,-—I see in your last
number that you again allude to the
great use that a work on International
Law accessible to the Siamese would
be to this people.

Does it never occur to you that two
of the most civilized and enlightened na-
tions viz., Great Britain and the Uni-
ted States differ entirely in opinion as
to the duties encumbent on them with
regard to these Laws, as the corres-
pondence on the Alabama and other
similar claims plainly show.

The fact is, as long as there, is no
Court to decide such disputes it is
folly to talk of the Laws by which
they should be ruled.

Your's trul::y,

Bangkok, 18th June, 1866.

Will our correspondent inform us
what is the cause of this difference of
opinion between the United States and
Great Britain? Is it not that there
is no Law whereby the case of th
Alabama, can be adjudicated? Is not
this the first case of the kind which
has occurred? When this case is final-
ly settled will it not be a precedent
whereby future cases of the same kind,
should any occur, may be settled!

Does our correspondent take the
ground that all International Law
is to be thrown aside as worthless be-
cause of the dispute in the case of the
Alabama? QUEROR.

LOCAL.

Our local readers will doubtless all
be much interested in learning that
P'raPǎlǎt, whom they have long known
as deputy governor of Petchaburee,
and their most gentlemanly friend, has
been promoted to the station occupied
by the late P'raya Montree Sooriwongs
with the title of P'raya Têp. He is to
reside in the mansion built and occu-
pied by his father the late Sómdetch
Ong-Yai. We most heartily welcome
him as a resident of the capital. But
his American friends at Petchaburee
cannot but feel sad at the thought of
having him no more for their near and
obliging neighbor.

We understand that a younger
brother of the same illustrious family
known hitherto by the title K'óón-Sán
is to be promoted to the station vacat-
ed by P'raya Têp.

The governor of K'oràt, we learn,
has at length accepted of his appoint-
ment as Lord Mayor of Bangkok, and
will soon enter upon the discharge of
his duties as such. This noble Lord
has the reputation of being endowed
with much power of accomplishment,
and with good administrative abilities.
If so, and he be just likewise, we shall
expect him to be a great blessing to
Bangkok. The Lord Mayor, it will be
remembered, is one of the most impor-
tant members of the International court.

We learn that an express of several
Burmans arrived from Maulmain on
the 11th inst., and that they were sent
by the attorney of the late Capt. Burn's
estate for the purpose of getting an
authentication of the seal of P'raya
Poot'ara-p'ie the Prime Minister of
Northern Siam. The report is, that
the papers sent to the Court at Maul-
main by this minister concerning the
great My-long-kree case in which the
estate of Captain Burn is concerned,
were discredited because they came
under the seal of an officer of the
Siamese government not known to the
court.

This appears to us to be a strange
proceeding, and to look like a disre-
spect of the Siamese government. How
is it that the genuiness of one of
the two chief seals of the government
should be questioned by the English
court at Maulmain which has for
scores of years been a near neighbor
to the capital of Siam and in constant
business communication with her?

We understand that the Burman
express is to return speedily, with
His Majesty's own signet.

Death.

At Bangkok on the 11th June
at 1 A. M. His Excellency P'râya
Montree Suriwongs, younger and
only full brother of His Excellency
Chow P'rãya Sri-Suriwongs, Prime
Minister of the kingdom of Siam.
His Excellency the deceased was
Prime Minister of military affairs
in northern Siam and President of
the Southern Provinces of northern
Siam, Chief ambassador from the
Court of Siam to the Court of St.
James, and was selected H. S. M's
Representative at the Coronation
of the Cambodian King.

His Excellency was the son of
the late Somdetch. Ong-Yai born
23rd March, 1821.

The body of his Excellency P'hraya
Montree Suriwoongs is lying in state
at the residence of the late Somdetch
Ong-Yai his father, awaiting the time
of its cremation in the month of
September next.

We sincerely mourn the death of
our amiable friend, with whom we
have been intimately acquainted more
than 30 years. When we first knew
him, he was a sprightly lad of only
15 years. As he grew in stature he
grew in knowledge and favor with the
people and government until he attain-
ed to the high honor of second Prime
Minister of Siam.

The Siamese barque "Luna" was
sold to Pra Kit-da-cha for 330 catties.
With her change of owners she has also
changed her name, and is now called
the "Happy."

The French Corvette C. Mange,
departed on the 14th inst. We un-
derstand that the object of her visit
here has been fully obtained, and that
the pass requested of the Siamese
government have been granted. We
may expect much from the French ex-
ploring expedition from Saigon north-
ward as far as Yang-se-kan to Hang-
kow. A thorough work will, we doubt
not, be made of it, and a grand
thorough-fare soon be opened from
those northern territories to Saigon,
which will be a most valuable acquisi-
tion both to geographical and com-
mercial interests.

The American Trading Com-
pany of Borneo.

We learn that advices have been re-
ceived per French mail by the American
Trading Company of Borneo, from the
officer administering the government of
the colony, founded by them in Decem-
ber last on the territories leased from the
Sultan of Borneo, of the most satisfactory
description. The native chiefs from all
parts of the concession on the mainland,
even as far north as Maloodu, and as far
east as Sandakan, had paid visits to the
settlement, voluntarily taken the oath of
allegiance to the Rajah, as administered
by his locum tenens, the Lieut. Governor
of the Colony, and expressed their great
satisfaction at being placed under a Gov-
ernment able and willing to protect pri-
vate property, put down misrule, and the
law of might, put a stop to “ head hunt-
ing ” and generally to encourage civili-
zation, morality and industry, and pro-
mised their faithful support to it. The
success of the experiment of good gov-
ernment at Sarawak encourages them to
hope that Northern Borneo may in full-
ness of time enjoy the same prosperity
that now blesses that very successful Col-
ony. Gold had been discovered in work-
ing quantities at Kimanis, a large amount
of land had been put under cultivation,
valuable timber was being felled, and
quantities of mountain produce were ar-
riving daily to be exchanged at the fac-
tory for the Cottons, Beads, &c. sent
down by the Company. The Chinese
coolies and artizans had behaved admir-
ably, working steadily, and quietly, and
no punishment had been required either
on their part or that of the European
Colonists. Gold and Coal had also been
discovered at Annanam in Sapanga Bay,
(to the Southward of the Companies ter-
ritories) and Senor Cuarteron, a Spanish
priest, well known in the East, both at
Hongkong and Manila, backed by two
Spanish steamers was endeavouring to
get a grant of the coast (some fifty miles)
from the Sultan. In the absence of any
remonstrance of support from the repre-
sentatives of the United States or Great
Britain, the only two countries interested,
the Sultan is represented as yielding to
the pressure brought to bear, though un-
willingly. It is to be regretted that
Spaniards as colonists, sometimes, do not
make pleasant neighbors, and both La-
buan and Ellena will be exposed to the
chance of coming under their political
and religious influence.

But although the results thus far have
been so favorable, and grand as the
scheme may be, it is greatly to be doubt-
ed whether as a mercantile speculation
the enterprise is likely to prove a lucra-
tive one. The extent of territory is so
enormous, the amount of the capital re-
quired to place the matter on a proper
basis so large, and the time that must ne-
cessarily elapse before any returns can be
looked for so uncertain, that we do not
believe it possible for the Company to be
successfully operated, except from a cen-
tre situated either in the United States or
Great Britain, unless the country be
thrown open to the world, and the Com-
pany by making moderate grants of land
to emigrants, so far encourage emigration
that they eventually create a demand for
the magnificent and fertile plains now ly-
ing fallow on the margins of the splendid
rivers flowing from the mountains to the
sea.

That Borneo possesses in itself the
seeds of immense wealth there can be no
doubts, but it will require time, capital,
labor, and above all careful and shrewd
management to induce the germ of vege-
tation to quicken and finally to bloom
into the full developed and ripened plant.
In our opinion it will be for this genera-
tion to plant the “pagoda tree” in Bor-
neo, for the next to shake it.

Though the crown rent to be paid is
but a pepper-corn, though the company
is vested with the fullest powers, both
civil, military, and judicial, and though
the head of the Company for the time
being possesses in his own person power
excelled by no monarch on the face of
the earth, and only equalled by his pro-
totype an Eastern Satrap ; still the bet-
ter and more powerful the weapon the
greater the strength required to wield it.
The world produces not oftener than

* About 8000 square miles.

once in a century a man gifted with the
rare powers of Sir James Brooke, and
probably no nation in the world will ever
support so powerfully and ably one of its
citizens as Great Britain did, when she
placed an English Admiral and an Eng-
lish fleet at his disposal to enable him to
establish his authority in Borneo, and
force the reigning monarch to accede to
the terms he saw fit to impose.

Although we doubt not the manage-
ment of this enterprise will be placed in
very good hands, yet we doubt whether
Hongkong, taking into consideration the
stamp and style of men who now com-
pose its community generally, can pro-
duce the man for the occasion. If it does,
it must be some one who has been kept
in the closest obscurity, and has never
appeared before the public.

The progress of the enterprise will be
watched with much interest by the world
for two reasons; first, as having been ini-
tiated in the little village of Hongkong;
for the three persons to whom the leases
were granted in Borneo, having despatcli-
ed one of their number here, to dispose
of them, and this having been accomplish-
ed (the present Company being the pur-
chasers) the affair may justly be said to
have really commenced here; second, as
being the first attempt of Americans to
colonize, away from their own continent.
The brilliant success of our Trans-Atlan-
tic cousins in colonizing California, trans-
forming it from a wilderness into one of
the powerful states of the world, in the
short space of ten years, a feat unequal-
led in speed and brilliance of execution
in ancient or modern history, leads us to
hope for the happiest results from this
their second attempt; hampered as they
are by the various difficulties which sur-
round them, with which they have as yet
been unaccustomed to deal. If their na-
tural elasticity of disposition, unwearied
industry, and that remarkable persever-
ance and carelessness of obstacles, which
induced the Emperor Christopher to say,
that "if there were a bag of coffee in h—l
there would be a Yankee found to go and
fetch it," will not enable them to sur-
mount these obstacles, it will be useless
for any other nation to attempt it. We
wish them every success, but we must
say it, we doubt it.

Telegraph communication.

It appears there has been some grand
improvement effected of late, in the
working of our Indian telegraphs. The
public will learn with much satisfaction,
that we are only now some three or four
days distant from England, as messages
have lately been received in that time
from London, and intelligence has been
received within a few hours from Cal-
cutta.

Generally there is a marked difference
between the state of the lines in the dry
season and during the rains. When the
rain is pouring down in torrents and the
country is flooded with water in every
direction, it is quite natural to suppose
that human beings cannot move about
with much alacrity.

For the thorough working of the elec-
trical currents along the wires, a dry at-
mosphere is essentially necessary. We
have ourselves seen a venerable Professor
shake his head most significantly in trying
to excite the electrical currents in various
machines, when the condition of the at-
mosphere outside was damp and humid.
You may obtain a slight excitation of
electricity by stroking down the back of
a cat, but if the animal be damp or wet,
it would be very nearly impossible. Eu-
rope possesses an atmosphere, which is
generally favorable to the working of
the electrical currents, as it is mostly dry
and cold, and in India, though there is a
great increase in the temperature, the
dryness of the atmosphere is very nearly
perfect during the dry season, when the
telegraph ought to work to a high pitch
of sensibility and excellence. In the
rains the case is altered, for the weather
is entirely against the efficient working
of all electrical machines.—-RANGOON
TIMES.

Monsieur de Tocqueville's Fourth of July
Speech in Paris.

A number of years ago, says a writer in
the DEMOCRATIC AGE, happening to be
in Paris on the 4th of July, with many
other Americans, we agreed to celebrate
"the day" by a dinner at the Hotel Meu-
rice. There were seventy-two of us in
all. We had but one guest. This was
M. de Tocqueville, who had then rep-
dered himself famous by his great work
upon Democracy in America. During
the festivities in the evening, after the
cloth had been removed, and speechify-
ing had commenced, some gentleman al-
luded EN PASSANT to the fact that he was
born in Connecticut.

"Connect-de-coot," exclaimed Mon-
sieur de Tocqueville, as he suddenly rose
with the enthusiasm of a Frenchman.
"Vy messieurs, I will tell you, vid the
permission of de Presidente of this festi-
val, vou very leetal story, and then I
will give you vou grand sentiment, to
dat little State vou call Connect-de-coot.
Von day ven I was in de gallery of the
House of Representative, I held one map
of the Confederation in my hand. Dere
was von leetle yellow spot dat'dey cal
Connect-de-coot. I found by the Con-
stitution, he was entitled to six of his
boys to represent him on dat floor. But
ven I make de acquaintance personnelle
with de member, I find dat more than
tirty of the Representatif on dat floor
was born in Connect-de-coot. And then
ven I was in the gallery of the House of
the Senat, I find de Constitution permit
Connect-de-coot to send two of his boys
to represent him in dat Legislature. But
once more ven I make de acquaintance
personnelle of the Senator, I find nine of
de Senator was born in Connect-de-coot.
So den, gentlemen, I have made my lee-
tle speech : now I will give you my grand
sentiment :

Connect-de-coot, the leetle yellow spot
dat make de clock-peddler, de school-
master, and de senator. De first give
you time ; the second tell you what you
do with him ; and de sir make your law
and your civilization,—and then as he
was resuming his seat amidst roars of
laughter, he rose again, and with that
peculiar gesticulation which characterizes
all Frenchmen in moments of excitement,
he shook his finger tremulously over the
assembled congress, and exclaimed to
the top of his voice, "Ah ! gentlemen,
dat leetle yellow State you call Connect-
de-coot is one very great miracle to me.

Missionary Statistics.

1. AMERICAN.-—The whole number of
American Foreign Missionary Societies is
sixteen,—having under their care 2,388
agents as missionaries, native preachers,
etc., 54,000 church members, 22,000 pu-
pils, and an annual income of $1,100,000
to sustain their operation.

2. BRITISH.—-In Great Britain there
are twenty missionary societies, employ-
ing 6,216 agents as missionaries, etc. and
having 185,000 church members, 201,000
scholars, and an annual income of $3,-
094,000.

3. CONTINENTAL.-—On the Continent
of Europe there are twelve of these so-
cieties, of which six are in Germany.
They have 811 agents as missionaries,
teachers, etc., 79,000 church members,
12,000 scholars, and an income of $267,-
000.

4. TOTAL.—-The whole number of
British and continental missionaries is
thirty two societies, 7,027 agents or mis-
sionaries teachers, etc., 264,000 church
members, 213,000 pupils in schools, and
an annual income of $3,361,000.

The whole number of Protestant mis-
sionary operations in the world, as thus
carried on by American, British, and
Continental Christians, is 48 societies,
9,418 agents, or missionaries, etc., 518,-
000 church members, 235,000 pupils in
the different schools, and an annual in-
come of $4,481,000.—-PACIFIC.

Evil Company.

The following beautiful allegory is
translated from the German:

"Sophronius, a wise teacher, would
not suffer even his own grown-up sons
and daughters to associate with those
whose conduct was not pure and upright.

'Dear father,' said the gentle Eulalie
to him one day, when he forbade her in
company with her brother to visit the
volatile Lucinda, 'you must think us
very childish if you imagine that we
should be exposed to danger by it.'

The father took a dead coal from the
hearth and reached it to his daughter,
saying:

'It will not burn you my child; take
it.'

Eulalie did so, and behold her delicate
white hand was soiled and blackened,
and, as it chanced, her white dress also.

'We cannot be too careful in handling
coals,' said Eulalie, in vexation.

'Yes truly,' said her father, 'you see
my child, that coals, even if they do not
burn, blacken. So it is with the com-
pany of the vicious.'—Pacific.

WHAT YOU CAN NEVER CATCH—Boys
and girls, what is it that you can never
catch, though you chase after it as on the
wings of the wind?

You can never catch the word that has
once gone out of your lips. Once spoken,
it is out of your reach; do your best, you
can never recall it.

Therefore, take care what you say.
Never speak an unkind word, an impure
word, a lying word, a profane word.

THE PRESIDENT, in his address to the
Kentucky delegation, said: "We shall
take no step backward." The country
would have been better pleased if he had
pledged himself to take no step zig-zag!

Cotton.

The following curious but interesting
calculation respecting cotton, its produc-
tion and use, we extract VERBATIM:—

In 1746 an American merchant in
Liverpool received a consignment from
Charleston of eight bales of cotton. They
were seized at the Custom House, under
an allegation that cotton could not be
grown in the American colonies. In 1860
the cotton crop of the United States
amounted to 2,078,777,600 pounds. In
the East Indies the annual crop is 2,400,-
000,000 pounds. Of the 1,285,000,000
people now in the world, 700,000,000
wear cotton exclusively, and all but 79,-
000,000 use it more or less.

A Libel Law Decision.

A decision which affects the interests of
religious papers, clerks of ecclesiastical
courts, &c., has been made in this city. A
newspaper had published a statement that
certain grave charges had been laid before
the Grand Jury against a citizen. The
publishers were prosecuted for libel.

The Court held that an editor or reporter
is not legally liable to prove the absolute
truth of any charge or accusation which
may be embodied in a fair report of pro-
ceedings before a legal tribunal, and that
it is sufficient justification to show that
the facts reported have transpired as they
were narrated. If the decision were other-
wise, every conductor of a newspaper could
be forced at the will or caprice of a litigant
to become the plaintiff or defendant al-
luded to in any report which might appear
in his journal, the accuracy of which
might be questioned. The ruling thus de-
cides that an editor is a mere publisher of
actual occurrences, and cannot possibly
assume in law the position of a litigant in
cases which he reports, and of the merits
of which he must necessarily be wholly
ignorant.

The same rule will apply to the proceed-
ings of ecclesiastical courts. It has some-
times occurred that when religious papers
have published the fact that a man has
been convicted of a criminal offence and
excommunicated, or deposed from the min-
istry, he has brought an action for damages
against the newspaper so publishing the
facts in the case. We believe that in no
case has such a plaintiff recovered damages.
But the religious press has sometimes been
subjected to great annoyance by such suits,
and to avoid the annoyance we have often
declined such publications. But the de-
cision just rendered is conclusive, that the
statement of fact, without malice, and for
the public good, cannot be regarded as a
libel.—NEW YORK OBSERVER.

Planets Destroyed.

The belief that this world is ultimately
to be destroyed by fire, is supported by
the discovery that such a fate has befal-
len larger planets than ours. French
astronomers assert that no fewer than
fifteen hundred fixed stars have vanished
from the firmament within the last three
hundred years. Tycho Brahe gives an
interesting account of a brilliant star of
the largest size, which, on account of its
singular radiance, had become the special
object of his daily observation for several
months, during which the star gradually
became paler until its final disappearance.
La Place says that one of the vanished
fixed stars of the Northern hemisphere
afforded indubitable evidence of having
been consumed by fire. At first the star
was of a dazzling white, next of a glow-
ing red and yellow lustre, and finally it
became pale and ash-colored. The burn-
ing of the star lasted sixteen months,
when this sunny visitor, to which perhaps
a whole series of planets may have owed
allegiance, finally departed and became
invisible forever.—-N. Y. OBSERVER.

The Shortest Sermon.

Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg’s sermon at the
funeral of the late Robert B. Minturn,
Esq., is the shortest on record, though
several are recorded with as few words.
He read the words of the Prophet Micah:
“He hath shown thee, O man, what is
good : and what doth the Lord require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?” And
then added: “So DID HE.”

One sermon having the same number
of words, but more letters, was one
preached by the Irish Dean Kirwan. He
was pressed while suffering from a severe
cold, to preach a charity sermon in St.
Peter’s church, Dublin, for the benefit of
the orphan children of the parish school.
The church was crowded to suffocation,
and the good Dean, on mounting the pul-
pit, and announcing his text, pointed
with his hand to the children in the aisle,
and simply said: “There they are!” The
collection on the occasion exceeded all
belief.

It was Dean Swift who was to preach
a charity sermon ; and giving out as his
text, “He that hath pity on the poor
lendeth to the Lord,” then added : “If
you like the security, down with the
dust.”—-NEW YORK OBSERVER.

The unchangeable Land.

Things do not change in the East. As
Abraham pitched his tent in Bethel, so
does an Arab sheikh now set up his
camp; as David built his palace on
Mount Zion, so would a Turkish pasha
now arrange his house; in every street
may be seen the hairy children of Esau,
squatting on the ground, devouring a
mess of lentils like that for which the
rough hunter sold his birthright; along
every road plod the sons of Rechab,
whose fathers, one thousand years ago,
bound themselves and theirs to drink no
wine, plant no trees, enter within no
door, and their children have kept the
oath; at every khan young men sit
around the pan of parched corn, dipping
the morsel into the dish; Job's plow is
still used, and the seed is still trodden
into the ground by asses and kine; olives
are shaken from the bough as directed
by Isaiah; and the grafting of trees is
unchanged since the days of Saul. The
Syrian house is still, as formerly, only a
stone tent, as a temple was but a marble
tent. What is seen now in Bethany may
be taken as the exact likeness of the
house of Lazarus, where Mary listened
and Martha toiled, or as the house of
Simon, the leper, where the precious box
of ointment was broken, and whence
Judas set out to betray his Master.—-ALL
THE YEAR ROUND.

Fate of Fast Men.

The vicious die early. They fall like
shadows, or tumble wrecks and ruins
into the grave o'er while quite young,
almost before forty.

"The wicked liveth not half his days."
The world at once raises the truth and
magnifies the reason by describing the di-
abolical life of fast men; that is they live
fast. They spend twelve hours in six;
getting through the whole before the
meridian, and dropping into darkness
while others are in the glory of light.
Their sun goeth down while it is day.
And they might have helped it. Many
a one dies before he need. Young men
of genius, like Burns and Byron, the
whom, when dissipated and profligate,
thirty-seven is so fatal, and your obscure
and meaner wandering stars, who waste
their time in libertine indulgence—-they
cannot live; they must die early. They
put on steam till they blow up the boiler.
They run at such a rate that the fire goes
out for want of fuel. The machinery is
destroyed by rapid speed and reckless
wear. Nothing can save them. Their
physical system cannot stand the strain
they put to it; while the state of their
mind is often such that the soul would
tend[?] the substance of the most robust
body, and cannot go on in the race, or
escape from the incessant hell of its own
thoughts.—-Lo. No. News.

NOTICE.

THE undersigned have been
instructed to Sell by public
auction, for the benefit of whom
it may concern on Monday next
the 18th current at 10 A. M. pre-
cisely.

A lot of Yellow metal sheathing
and nails stripped off the Schooner
"FAIRY" of London.

Two Europe made hawsers.
The Sale will take place on board
of the Schooner "Fairy" now in
the Bangkok Dock Company's
Dock.

Terms:—CASH.VIRGIN & Co.

BANGKOK RECORDER