The Bangkok Recorder.

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Karens.

Mythology and Astronomy among the
Karens. In a former number, we alluded
to the traditional views, entertained by
the Karens, of the spirit world and of
guardian spirits, as mentioned by the Rev.
Dr. Mason in his recent publication.

In the opinion of these people, the Di-
vine being, or the God of the whole human
race, resides at the foot of the sun, at the
foot of the moon ; and people who are born
are sent by God, and people who die are
called back by God.

The Karens assert that all men will die
by one, or other, of seven things namely.

They apparently omit from the category,
death by poison, death from fire and fire-
arms, and death from a temporary fit of
insanity.

Physical and moral evils are supposed
to be the work of spirits, as insanity, epi-
lepsy, lechery, wrath, dreams, diseases and
languor. “If our mad La comes we be-
come insane. If our epileptic La comes,
we are seized with epilepsy. If our lecher-
ous La comes, we are lost to shame. If our
wrathful La comes, we are filled with an-
ger and malice and commit murder. If
the shower of dreams comes, we are over-
whelmed with dreams. If the bearer of
sickness comes, we are prostrated by dis-
ease. If languor comes, we feel unable to
do anything.”

Of departed spirits, Dr. Mason writes.
The spirits of the dead resolve themselves
into two great classes. Those who are not
permitted to go to Hades, corresponding
very nearly to the European notions of
ghosts ; and the spirits of the ancestors of
the Karens, who on going to Hades were
awarded, on account of their good deeds,
a place in the heavenly world, where they
exercise a kind of watch care over their
descendants on earth. The offerings and
prayers made to these beings seem to corres-
pond to the Chinese worship of ancestors.

Of ghosts, or the unburied dead, re-
marks Dr. Mason,—-“The Greeks and Ro-
mans believed that those who were de-
prived of funeral rites wandered about and
were not allowed to enter Hades. So it is
no marvel to find this now to be the popu-
lar faith in Europe. But it is not a little
remarkable to find precisely the same rites
prevailing among the Karens.” A ghost
can cough and sneeze and he can pommel
a man, and may be driven away by the
smell of burning sticklac. The sight of a
ghost may be obtained by the possession
of a skull. At night it becomes a ghost
and is fashioned after the figure of a man.
In the day time it is a mere piece of dry
bone. Ghosts can be bred from skull bones
and at night may be made exceedingly mis-
chievous. None but very wicked men and
murderers have any fellowship with ghosts.
When unusual noises are heard at night in
houses, in Church yards, in fields or in
jungles, they are attributed to ghosts. Ma-
ny intelligent people in civilized countries
believe in ghosts, but they have never seen
one.

The idea of seeing such apparitions is
all imaginary and may be ascribed to fear.
A calm self possessed, courageous man
never sees or believes in such fancies. He
will sleep soundly in a wood, in a church-
yard, on the top of a coffin, and surround-
ed by skulls, as many medical students
have been, and they are as free from ghosts
in the night, as they are in the day time.
Whoever sees any apparition by day? None,
but darkness and fear will make nervous
people see almost anything they can fancy,
at night and especially if they happen to
be dyspeptic.

Dogs and monkies have ghosts it is said,
and the wood pecker is a bird of ill omen.
This pretty little bird is considered to be
a harbinger of misfortune. The Karens
pray it to be gone when it is seen.

"The spirits of ancestors," according to
the ideas of those interesting people who
have performed meritorious acts go to a
place of happiness above which seems to
correspond to the Deva heavens of the Bud-
dhists. The existence of God, the original
creator of all things is quite ignored, and
he appears to have no place in it. It has
its rulers and its subjects and one of the
names applied to them is the Burmese de-
signation, of Indra, the king of Deva hea-
vens.

The Karens offer up prayers to the spi-
rits of their ancestors, to help them to
have large crops and good paddy, and to
aid them, in various other ways, to make
their labors light. With these prayers an
offering is made of either a hog or a cock
and a pot of shamshoo. After the cere-
monies are concluded, the offerings are
taken by the people.

Witches and wizards come next in order
observes, Dr. Mason, in Karen Mythology ;
Witches and wizards are not persons, who
have entered into an understanding with
Satan, to be a fellow worker, with him, as
European believers in witchcraft suppose.
The Karens imagine a witch to be either
a man, or a woman, who is possessed of a
demon. The seat of the demon, is the
stomach and it has the power of shrivel-
ling up to the size of a pea, and of lodging
under the finger nail. A witch is said to
have extraordinary powers of locomotion.
It can change the colour of its own skin,
and can even command a dove to go and
fetch fragrant oil from the house of a
grandmother.

The Goddess of the Harvest is in charac-
ter an old woman, who is called grand-
mother, Bio yau, who presides over the
paddy. She seems, says our Author, from
the account given of her first appearance,
to have been originally a serpent, but is
now a widow. Of course this personage is
honored with offerings which are made in
a little house built for her in the midst of
the paddy field. She has two strings to
her bow, with which she binds all intru-
ders. This goddess is supplicated to make
the harvest of each field as a high as a
mountain.

Then they have the Goddess of Fortune,
who is a divine female, who spends all her
time in blessing and cursing. She dwells
on Than-thie, the highest mountain known
in Burmah. Everything takes place accor-
ding to her imprecations. If she curses
the grass it dies, if she blesses the trees
they live. The name given to this lady is
Sa la. When the apes hear her cry, they
take up the sound and repeat it from
mountain to mountain and from tree to
tree.

Concerning thunder and lightning these
people believe, that a thunder bolt is a liv-
ing being. When it utters its voice, it
thunders, when it flaps its wings lightning
is produced in one gorgeous picture of
light.

Regarding the Rainbow, opinion appears
to be divided. Some call it a spirit or a
demon, and others call it a woman, who
died in child birth. When it appears in
the sky it is thirsty and has come to drink.
One of the prettiest objects in nature is
thus supposed to be capable of drinking
water and of devouring human beings.

We have endeavored to give our readers
a very faint outline of quite a number of
interesting topics, treated of in the pam-
phlet before us. There are several other
subjects of equal interest, mentioned in
the work, as maids, dryads and oreades,
brownies, fetiscism, magic, giants, omens,
sooth saying, necromancers, fowls' bones
and Astronomy, under which a notice is
given of Cosmology, the constellations,
comets, planets, shooting stars, meteors
and the division of the year, which we
must reserve for a future occasion.—RAN-
GOON TIMES.

The Cholera-—Its Symptoms
and Remedies.

We displace our usual miscellany on
this page to give room for the best arti-
cle we have yet found on this subject. It
is from the pen of Rev. Dr. Hamlin the
distinguished missionary at Contantiso-
ple. His views and recipes are approv-
ed by the best authorities.

The cholera which has just left us af-

ter committing fearful ravages, is making
its way into Europe, and will probably
cross the Atlantic before another sum-
mer has passed.

Having been providentially compelled
to have a good degree of practical ac-
quaintance with it, and to see it in all its
forms and stages during each of its inva-
sions of Constantinople, I wish to make
to my friends in Maine some suggestions
which may relieve anxiety or be of prac-
tical use.

1st. On the approach of the cholera,
every family should be prepared to treat
it without waiting for a physician. It
does its work so expeditiously, that while
you are waiting for the doctor it is done.

2nd. If you prepare for it, it will not
come. I think there is no disease which
may be avoided with so much certainty
as the cholera. But providential circum-
stances, or the thoughtless indiscretion of
some member of a household may invite
the attack, and the challenge will never
be refused. It will probably be made in
the night, your physician has been called
in another direction, and you must treat
the case yourself or it will be fatal.

3rd. CAUSE OF ATTACK. I have per-
sonally investigated at least a hundred
cases and not less than three fourths
could be traced directly to improper diet,
or to intoxicating drinks, or both united.
Of the remainder, suppressed perspira-
tion would comprise a large number. A
strong, healthy, temperate laboring man
had a severe attack of cholers, and after
the danger had passed I was curious to
ascertain the cause. He had been cau-
tious and prudent in his diet. He used
nothing intoxicating. His residence was
in a good locality. But after some hours
of hard labor and very profuse perspira-
tion, he had lain down to take his cus-
tomary nap right against an open window
through which a very refreshing breeze
was blowing. Another cause is drinking
largely of cold water when hot and thirs-
ty. Great fatigue, great anxiety, fright,
fear, all figure among inciting causes. If
one can avoid all these he is as safe from
the cholera as from being swept away by
a comet.

4th. SYMPTOMS OF AN ATTACK. While
cholera is prevalent in a place almost eve-
ry one experiences more or less distur-
bances of digestion. It is doubtless in
part imaginary. Every one notices the
slightest variation of feeling, and this
gives an importance to mere trifles. There
is often a slight nausea, or transient pains,
or rumbling sounds when no attack fol-
lows. No one is entirely free from these.
But when diarrhea commences, though
painless and slight, it is really the skir-
mishing party of the advancing column.
It will have at first no single characteris-
tic of Asiatic Cholera. But do not be
deceived. It is the cholera nevertheless.
Wait a little, give it time to get hold, say
to yourself “I feel perfectly well, it will
soon pass off,” and in a short time you will
repent of your folly in vain. I have seen
many a one commit suicide in this way.

Sometimes, though rarely, the attack
commences with vomiting. But in what-
ever way it commences it is sure to hold
on. In a very few hours the patient may
sink into the collapse. The hands and
feet become cold and purplish, the coun-
tenance at first nervous anxious, becomes
gloomy and apathetic, although a mental
restlessness and raging thirst torment the
sufferer while the powers of life are ebb-
ing. The intellect remains clear, but
all the social and moral feelings seem
wonderfully to collapse with the physi-
cal powers. The patient knows he is to
die, but cares not a snap about it.

In some cases, though rarely, the diar-
rhea continues for a day or two, and the
foolish person keeps about then suddenly
sinks, sends for a physician, and before
he arrives “dies as the fool dieth.”

1st. FOR STOPPING THE INCIPIENT
DIARRHEA. The mixture which I used
in 1848 with great success, and again in
1855, has during this epidemic been used
by thousands, and although the attacks
have been more sudden and violent, it
has fully established its reputation for
efficiency and perfect safety. It consists
of equal parts by measure of 1. Laud-
anum and Spirits of Camphor. 2. Tinc-
ture of Rhubarb. 30 drops for an adult
on a lump of sugar, will often check the
diarrhoea. But to prevent its return, care
should be taken to continue the medicine
every four hours in diminishing doses 25,
20, 15, 10, 9, when careful diet is all that
will be needed. If the first does not stay
the diarrhea, continue to give in increas-
ing doses 35, 40, 60, at every movement
of the bowels. Large doses will produce
no injury while the diarrhea lasts. When
that is checked then is the time for cau-
tion. I have never seen a case of diar-
rhea, taken in season, which was not
thus controlled, but some cases of ad-
vanced diarrhea, and especially of re-
lapse paid no heed to it whatever. As
soon as this becomes apparent, I have
always resorted to this course. Prepare
a tea-cup of starch boiled as for use in
starching linen, and stir into it a full tea-
spoonful of laudanum for an injection.
Give one third at each movement of the
bowels. In one desperate case abandon-
ed as hopeless by a physician, I could
not stop the diarrhoea until the seventh
injection, which contained nearly a tea-
spoonful of laudanum. The patient re-
covered and is in perfect health. At the
same time I use prepared chalk in 10
grain doses with a few drops of lauda-
num and camphor to each. But what-
ever course is pursued it must be follow-
ed, and the diarrhea controlled or the
patient is lost.

2nd. MUSTARD POULTICES. These
should be applied to the pit of the sto-
mach, and kept on till the surface is well
reddened.

3rd. The patient, however well he
may feel, should rigidly observe perfect
rest. To lie quietly on the back is one
half the battle. In that position the ene-
my flies over you, but the moment you
rise you are hit.

When the attack comes in the form of
diarrhoea, these directions enable every
one to meet it successfully.

4th. But when the attack is more vio-
lent, and there is vomiting, or vomiting
and purging, perhaps also cramps and
colic pains, the following mixture is far
more effective and should always be resor-
ted to. The missionaries Messrs. Long,
Trowbridge and Washburn, have used
it in very many cases and with wonder-
ful success. It consists of equal parts of
Laudanum, Tincture of Capsicum, Tinc-
ture of Ginger and Tincture of Carda-
mom seeds. Dose, 30 to 40 drops, or
half a teaspoonful in a little water, and
to be increased according to the urgency
of the case. In case the first dose should
be ejected, the second, which should stand
ready, should be given immediately af-
ter the spasm of vomiting has ceased.
During this late cholera siege no one of
us failed of controlling the vomiting and
also the purging by, at most, the third
dose. We have, however, invariably
made use of large mustard poultices of
strong pure mustard, applied to the sto-
mach, bowels, calves of the legs, feet etc.,
as the case seemed to require.

COLLAPSE. This is simply a more ad-
vanced stage of the disease. It indicates
the gradual failing of all the powers of
life. It is difficult to say when a case
has become hopeless. At a certain point
the body of the patient begins to emit a
peculiar odor which I call the death odor,
for when that has become decided and
unmistakable, I have never known the pa-
tient to recover. I have repeatedly work-
ed upon such cases for hours with no
permanent result. But the blue color,
the cold extremities, the deeply sunken
eye, the vanishing pulse are no signs that
the case is hopeless. Scores of such ca-
ses in the recent epidemic have recover-
ed. In addition to the second mixture,
brandy (a tablespoonful every half hour,)
bottles of hot water surrounding the pa-
tient, especially the extremities, sinapi-
sms and friction will often in an hour or
two work wonders.

THIRST. In these and in all advanced
cases thirst creates intense suffering. The
sufferer craves water and as sure as he
gratifies the craving the worst symptoms
return, and he falls a victim to the tran-
sient gratification. The only safe way is
to have a faithful friend or attendant who
will not heed his entreaties. The suffer-
ing may be, however, safely alleviated
and rendered endurable. Frequent garg-
ling the throat and washing out the mouth
will bring some relief. A spoonful of
gum arabic water, or of chamomile tea
may frequently be given to wet the
throat. "Lydenham's White Decoction"
may also be given both as a beverage and
nourishment in small quantities frequent-
ly. In a day or two the suffering from
thirst will cease. In a large majority it
has not been intense for more than 24
hours.

DIET. Rice water, arrowroot, Lyden-
ham's White Decoction, crust water,
Chamomile tea, are the best article for a
day or two after the attack is controlled.
Chamomile is very valuable in restoring
the tone of the stomach.

THE TYPHOID FEVER. A typhoid state
for a few days will follow all severe ca-
ses; there is nothing alarming in this. It
has very rarely proved fatal. Patience
and careful nursing will bring it all right.
The greatest danger is from drinking too
freely. When the patient seemed to be
sinking, a little brandy and water or ar-
rowroot and brandy have revived him. In
this terrible visitation of the cholera, we
have considered ourselves perfectly arm-
ed and equipped, with a hand bag con-
taining mixture No. 1, mixture No. 2,
(for vomiting, etc.,) a few pounds of
pounded mustard, a bottle of brandy and
a paper of Gum Arabic.
I lay no claim to originality in recom-
mending this course of treatment. I have
adopted it from suggestions of able and
experienced physicians. Having been the
only doctor of many poor families living
near me, I have tried various remedies
recommended by physicians, but I have
found none to be at all compared with
the above. During the recent cholera I
cannot find that any treatment has been
so successful as this.

CONTAGION. The idea of contagion
should be abandoned. All the missiona-

ries who have been most with the most
malignant cases day after, are fully con-
vinced of the non-contagiousness of the
cholera. The incipient attacks which all
have suffered from are to be attributed
to great fatigue, making the constitutions
liable to an attack.

In another letter I will give you a de-
scription of the cholera as we saw it, and
of some individual cases.—-THE LORIAN
COUNTY NEWS,

Chinese Coal.

A writer in the new number of the
QUARTERLY REVIEW states that, having
examined coal, including lignite, from
nearly every part of the world, he has
seen no steam-coal superior to that from
the neighbourhood of Pekin, where it is
reported that a magnificent coalfield
exists not less than three hundred miles
in extent. This report is founded on a
personal communication from a geologist
who has spent three years in the explor-
ation of that coalfield. Chinese coal in
1862 was tried in some of Her Majesty's
ships under the command of Admiral Sir
James Hope. The day will arrive when
the coal-mines of China will prove a
source of wealth and power, and may
possibly determine who shall exercise
naval predominance in the East. These
mines, in order to their successful devel-
opment, must be worked under the di-
rection of colliery engineers of experience
and skill, and will require the introduc-
tion of steam winding and pumping ma-
chinery. But the Chinese authorities
dread all such foreign innovations, espe-
cially as they must for a considerable
period be under the supervision of des-
pised barbarians. Perhaps they may be
disturbed by a vision of what has befallen
India. If, unhappily, we should again
be involved in war with the Celestials,
and again be victorious, it might be well
to stipulate for a concession of a portion,
at least, of this great coal-field.—-FRIEND
OF INDIA.

Bombay.

-—There is a controversy in Bombay
as to whether the crisis there is owing to
the fall in cotton, or to the loss of capital
due to share speculation. Surely to both.
A collapse of fictitious shares may not be
a loss of capital to the whole community,
though the expenditure on coolies, engi-
neers and establishments reduces the
general fund somewhat. But the trans-
fer of capital from the victims of specul-
ation to its promoters, or from one pro-
moter to another, and the transfer of
much of that capital out of the Island to
ryots who sell cotton at a shilling and
merchants who buy estates at home, is a
very serious loss of capital to a large
number of individuals.—-F. or INDIA.

—-THE CHOLERA CONFERENCE.—-At
Constantinople has come to the conclu-
sion that cholera has never been generat-
ed either in the Hedjaz of Arabia or any
other country but in the Indian penin-
sula, where the disease is constant and
endemic. Its importation into the Holy
Cities is exclusively due to the Indian
pilgrims arriving in sailing ships; in the
steamers, well ventilated and clean, not
an instance of the epidemic had occurred.
The Conference has therefore decided to
recommend a rigorous quarantine upon
all vessels arriving from India at the ports
of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.—
FRIEND OF INDIA.

President and Congress.

The merits of the actual questions be-
tween the President and his Congress are
of less importance than the fact of colli-
sion; but, on the whole, Congress has the
best of it. It is always easy to suggest
reasons for not doing things, and the
President may be right upon points; but
the drift of his action is to annul the de-
cision given on the battle-field, to restore
the South to its old supremacy, and to
abandon the negro. The country is right
in not wishing those things, and Congress
in resisting the President's drift expres-
ses a reasonable national resolve. Of
course, it often expresses it in a foolish
way. Nothing can be in worse taste than
speeches like Mr. Wade's, or resolutions
like Mr. Stevens'; but the general line of
Congress is sound, and that of Mr. John-
son unsound, and it is upon general con-
siderations that nations are sure to act.
Lord Palmerston often said very foolish
things about foreign policy, but his gen-
eral line was to protect English interests,
to succeed in a struggle if the struggle
began, and so the English people under-
stood it; and when in the Crimean war
they wanted a man who would win, they
elected Lord Palmerston to rule them.—-
ECONOMIST.

Negro insurrections have occurred on
several large estates in Cuba, and there is
much alarm there.

Bangkok Recorder.

Evil doings in Siam.

We are continually pained with
both verbal and written reports of evil
doing and political corruption from
many quarters, not only among the
common people, but more so among
officers of government, princes, nobles
and lords, lawyers and judges, and
farmers of the various sources of re-
venue. We have lately revealed in
our Siamese paper some startling
cases of corruption which have met
the eyes of his Majesty, and produced
great quaking among those who are
particularly concerned. We have now
before us another report of a deeper
dye than usual, which would seem to
be but too true. If in the main true,
it involves very seriously the character
of many officials who have clubbed to-
gether to assist each other in defraud-
ing the royal treasury of money that
should be paid into it in lieu of the
personal services of men that had been
assessed to work for the king. The
report declares that this club have
such power that scarcely no one dares
to offer any complaint against it;
that when one ventured to do so he was
quickly seized and imprisoned; that
he then persuaded his wife to carry a
complaint of the matter up to the
king; that a royal command was giv-
en to have it examined; being
tried it was found true, but that no
report of the result had been made to
the king, and that consequently the
person falsely imprisoned is still a pris-
oner.

Being in some doubt of the truth-
fulness of these charges in their ap-
plication to the persons named in the
report, we have refrained from publish-
ing the matter in our Siamese paper.
But we cannot doubt that a horrible
amount of such rascality is continual-
ly being practiced in the city and
country. Reports of such evil doing
come to us so frequently that we are
sometimes tempted to think that "all"
the foundations" of the Siamese gov-
ernment "are out of course," and that
Siam is sinking rapidly into a colapse
of political corruption. And we can
scarcely divest ourselves of the fear
that this will soon be found but too
true. Still it should be taken into ac-
count that our circumstances as edit-
ors are such, that we would of course
hear much more of such evil doing
than before our papers commenced
their career, even were it a patent fact
that the Siamese government is becom-
ing stronger and purer. Before we
opened this new mode for the subjects
of Siam to make known their com-
plaints, they were shut up to one old
royal road which exposed them to the
gaze of all the royal court, and to the
cruel vindictiveness of the parties a-
gainst whom they made complaint.
Very few besides the rich and power-
ful dared to engage in so hazardous
an undertaking. Even the boasted
high way passing directly to the
throne, is thus equally dangerous to
the poorer classes, and hence but here
and there one among the thousands
that feel deeply aggrieved by their op-
pressors can summon the daring to go
to the king with his complaints. But
now since they understand that the
king does not forbid complaints of evil
doings, which have not already been en-
tered in some legal tribunal, to be
published in our papers, they come
and lay them before us, begging that
we will do them the favor to insert
them in the Siamese Recorder. We
feel encouraged to go on with this
work, by continually receiving the
thanks of Siamese officials as well as
of other classes for our free and
truthful exposures of injustice and
oppression.

The king himself is doubtless of-
ten much annoyed by the frequency
of these reports in our papers, and
sometimes inclined for this reason to
restrict his subjects to the old ways of
seeking justice. Yet we have much
evidence that he has too much
good sense, and too much regard for
the oppressed among his subjects to
oppose seriously the new mode. Scarce-
ly a Siamese Recorder is issued but he
finds himself pleased to send officials
to examine into some evil doing which
the paper has disclosed to him. We
learn that our last issue brought out a
command from the throne sending a
deputation over to Bangplassoi to look
into a foul matter implicating the old
governor there. His Majesty cannot
but see that it is usually as much as
one's life is worth to carry a complaint
against oppressors up to the throne.
Such is the terrible power of vindictive-
ness among the Siamese that it is a
thing next to impossible to persuade,
even a hired servant, to report any evil
against his fellow if that evil does not
particularly effect himself; and even
if it do, he will often prefer to suffer
long in silence rather than render him-
self liable to the vengeance which he
has too good reason to fear from the
offender. If he be a Laos, he will
stand in terrible dread of the power of
witchcraft by which he fancies his ene-
my will put the devil in him to work
all manner of horrid diseases in his
own body.

It cannot but be admitted by all
who are familiar wit[?] the manners and
customs of Siam, that Siamese officials
and revenue monopolists are most
powerfully tempted to practice what
Europeans denominate bribery and
corruption. The salaries of all officials
are so miserably small, that they can-
not obtain the half of a decent support
by them. The king knows it is full
as well as they themselves, and allows
them to make up the deficit pretty
much as each one's selfishness may
dictate. In a certain sense they are
necessitated to do so, and there is no
human power that can shut this flood
gate of moral and political evil so long
as the present system of inadequate
salaries is in vogue.

We fervently hope that His Majes-
ty the king will with all possible speed
effect a radical change in this most
vital part of his government, for no
hope can reasonably be cherished for
the future prosperity of Siam, with-
out it.

As regard the farmers of the public
revenues, they seem to be allowed to
squeeze and crush all within the sphere
of their calling so long as there is any
hope of making the business pay the
king well and give a splendid profit to
the farmer. It was only ten days since
when one of the chief monopolists
came to us for the purpose of prevail-
ing on us to give him the name of the
person who published in our last issue
an account of his treatment of the
people dealing in the article of his
farm. He brought all the influence
he could to induce us to comply with
his request. We would not yield one
iota to him, but said that our columns
were open for him to defend himself free-
ly without money and without price.
His reply was, that he had no desire to
do this, as he was not afraid of any con-
demnation from government, because
there was nothing reported of his do-
ings that was not allowed by the cus-
toms of Siam. Why then, said we, do
you wish us to give up the name of
the writer of the article? He evaded
the answer: but we knew well enough
what it should have been. We could
not think of placing the author in the
hands of a man of his power, nor afford
to bring sudden ruin upon our good
work of making public records of all
the abominations that come indubitably
before us. For who would dare to
report evil doing to us if we should
thus reveal their names? To finish
the matter, we said to the farmer that
we ourselves would assume all the
responsibility of making that report.
Whereupon he acknowledged that he
was foiled, and took leave of us.

U. S. Consulate.

The American Consulate in Bang-
kok has from the beginning of her ap-
pearance here, ten years ago, been
wandering up town and down town,
at first on the west side of the river,
and then on the east side, seeking for
some permanent abode, and finding
none. She has changed her location
no less than ten times in as many
years. She was first situated on the
right bank of the river nearly opposite
the royal palace, and dwelt there in a
brick house more than a year. 2nd.
Not liking a city life, she moved
down the river on the same side four
miles in 1857, where she enjoyed the
country, which was then quite in the
woods. 3rd. Having remained there
in a good brick house about the same
number of months, she crossed the riv-
er in January 1857 and occupied a
brick mansion nearly opposite, in a
regular country orchard of mango-
steens, rambootans, pomeloes, guavers,
cocoanuts, betel, &c. 4th. Early in
the year 1860 she pulled up stakes
and rowed up the river two miles, and
took up her abode in a small bamboo
house. 5th. In January 1861, be-
coming tired of her crampt condition,
she moved back to the country man-
sion again in the orchard and remain-
ed there until Feb. 1862. 6th. She
then went up the river a mile and
a half on the same side and took up
lodgings a few months in a bamboo
tavern. 7th. Finding this situation
quite unseemly she moved down the
river again a mile into a five brick
house on the left bank belonging
to Messrs. Pickenpack Thies & Co.
Here she remained until sometime in
the forepart of the year 1864. 8th.
She then left that fine location, and
moved up the river about a mile, and
occupied a small wooden building
which had been erected expressly for
her temporary abode. 9th. From
this place she next went, in Sept.
1865, and tried, for two or three
months, rooms which she hired in an
old uncouth brick building belong-
ing to the Siamese government. 10th.
Her final move was in April last, when
she went back again to the brick
house belonging to Messrs. Picken-
pack Thies & Co., where she now
feels that she has found a settled
home every way worthy of the nation
which she represents.

During these ten years of her wan-
dering and pilgrimage she has had no
less than six different consuls and vice-
consuls to direct her movements and
to employ her power in the name of
the government whose banner she
unfurls. Her instability in regard to
a location has thus far been not very
unlike that of the children of Israel
in the wilderness. We hope the paral-
lel will hold good even to the pos-
session of a Canaan of rest.

Why, it may be asked, has she in
this regard been so unlike the stable
government which sent her hither?
To this it may be replied that the
American Consulate for Siam has, till
quite recently, been designed by her
government more for a pioneer than
for a settler, and more as a probationer
than as a communicant of the full
blessings of a Consulate; and hence
her government, foolishly as we think,
left their pioneer and probationer to
support herself as best she could by
simply the fees that she might lawful-
ly take for the business she might be
called to perform. The consequence
has been, that she could not live with-
out the pecuniary aid of some other
calling; and hence has gone all about
the city to find where she could get
the best livelihood—now connected
with a Prot. missionary—now with a
machinist—now with a merchant—now
with a shipwright—and next with a
ship-chandler. It is some apology
for her government that she did not
by any means contemplate to have
her live such a parasitic life for half
the time she has. But the nation be-
came involved in a tremendous civil
war, which so absorbed her thoughts
and energies as to necessitate the ap-
parent neglect, not only of her repre-
sentatives in Siam, but also of most of
her consuls in this Eastern world. And
now since she has gloriously subdued
the rebellion, and rid herself of the
unutterable burden of slavery, and is
feeling more than one hundred per
cent richer and stronger than she did
before the war, she is determined to
abandon the parasitic plan of a Consu-
late and nourish all her representatives
directly and fully from home, and thus
and in all other desirable ways clothe
them with due honor and power.
This plan necessitates the settling of
the Consulate in some stable and digni-
fied position. Such a position the pre-
sent incumbent J. M. Hood Esqr.
hopes he has found in his present
location.

We took a careful view of the place
on the 4th inst. at that pleasant cele-
bration of our country’s birth-day. It
is situated on the east bank of the
magnificent Meinan about three miles
below the royal palace, and half a mile
below the Prot. Chapel—between the
residences of the Borneo Company
“Limited,” and Messrs. Pickenpack
Thies & Co. We are of the opinion
that it is a very eligible location for a
Consulate, perhaps the best that could
be found here. It is so isolated from
other buildings as to enjoy a good
immunity from fire and is open to all
the air that is ever stirring. The lot on
which the house stands comprises, we
should judge, more than an acre with
a river front of about 150 feet and a
depth inland about of 300 feet. The
front is firmly diked to prevent the
bank from wearing away and presents
a bold and dry landing all its extent. On
this bank 12 or 15 feet from the dike is
a row of banyan trees, forming a delight-
ful shade and screen from the glare of
the river in a clear day. But they
will quickly become quite too thick
for beauty if left undisturbed in their
growth; and their myriad little red
roots that are now hanging down from
all the lower limbs that are within 20
feet of the ground, will, if left to them-
selves, soon be rooted in the earth and
thus in time become so many addi-
tional stalks uniting the whole of the
now 12 distinct trees into one mighty
banyan with a base of more than 150
feet in length. But this multiplica-
tion of the stalks can easily be preven-
ted by destroying those small roots
when young.

The house stands back from the
landing about 150 feet with a beauti-
ful lawn in front, surrounded by a little
hedge made of an ever-blooming and
balmy shrub, tastefully trimmed and
shaped for the purposes intended to
be served by it. There are two vene-
rable tamarind trees standing in the
lawn, being original occupants, wisely
preserved to impart a rural and very
agreeable aspect to the place.

The house has a firm foundation
with brick walls 2 feet thick, two
stories high, and 13 feet between
joints. It has what is technically call-
ed a hip roof and is covered with
Chinese tiles. Its size is 100 feet each
way. A width of 12 feet all round
on each story is made into a veran-
dah which leaves 76 feet for the body
of the house. There is a grand hall
on each story 33 feet wide, passing en-
tirely through the house from west to
east. The portions of the building
on each side of these halls, being 21
feet in width, are divided into a variety
of rooms. The part at the right hand
on the lower story is divided into a
Consular Office, Jail, and Bath room.
On the left hand is the Court room,
and two or more other divisions.

The verandah is one of the best we
have ever seen, and forms a delight-
ful promenade. The roof covering it, is
supported by neat wooden pillars, which
are connected by a tasty balustrade.

In the rear of the house, about 80
rods distant, passes the new royal road
coming from the king's palaces extend-
ing southward; and with it the Con-
sulate is connected by a good car-
riage road.

Siam in advance of China.

It is gratifying to know, that in
some respects Siam is at least one reign
in advance of her Celestial neighbour.
There are those amongst us, who were
here in the late reign, and were sub
ject to its restrictions, and who can
now well appreciate the privileges
foreigners enjoy under the reign of his
present gracious Majesty. What Siam
was fifteen, or twenty years ago, Chi-
na is in some respects to-day. The
late King of Siam had not only deter-
mined to pursue that exclusive policy
to which China and Japan have held
so tenaciously, and which they have
only been forced to yield through fear
of European arms, but his person was
also considered too sacred for barba-
rian eyes to behold. It might have
been expected that the young Emper-
or of China, would have been more
liberal in this respect than his prede-
cessors, but it appears not. A gentle-
man residing in Pekin thus refers to
a journey, which the Emperor made a
few months since.

"The young Emperor, has lately
made a journey to some distance from
the City, for the purpose of paying
the last honors to the remains of his
father. The Cortege was on a scale
of imposing grandeur, and had I been
permitted to witness it, I might favor
your readers with a detailed descrip-
tion. But in this capital the reign of
Oriental jealousy is not yet ended, and
in the same dispatches, in which the
Foreign Office acquainted the resident
ministers with the time fixed for the
solemn ceremony, they requested that
no foreigner should approach any of
the streets through which His Majesty
was likely to pass. Nor on this occa-
sion did the Emperor show himself
partial to his own subjects. He issu-
ed from the gates before the night
had lifted its curtain; and as an addi-
tional security against vulgar eyes,
stealing a view of his sacred person, a
double screen, was stretched on each
side of the road, as he passed.
From a pupil who peeped through the
shutters of a shop window, as the cav-
alcade was passing, I have received
an account of all he saw. His Ma-
jesty was borne on a sedan or palan-
quin, covered with yellow silk. He
was escorted by what may be called
the Pretorian Guard-—a body of about
5000 troops, who are equipped with
foreign arms, and for some time have
been training in the evolutions of
western tactics. They constitute the
chief prop of the throne, and the only
defence of the city, against the bands
of rebels who infest the provinces.
Beside the troops there was an army
of princes. They were nearly all
blood relations of the late Emperor,
and were therefore bound to partici-
pate in the sacrifice to his manes.
But the most interesting part of the
proceeding, consisted of ladies. The
two Dowagers—one the real, and the
other the nominal mother of the young
monarch—followed in sedans, similar
to that of the Emperor. Of the form-
er my informer obtained an advant-
ageous view, whilst her sedan stopped
to change bearers, and he describes
her as still young, and very beautiful.
They were accompanied by maid ser-
vants mounted on horse back, and
what is remarkable, clad in male
attire. They were very young and
managed their horses with much skill.
The ladies of the palace occupied a
long train of carts. Many carried
their precious lapdogs, and not a few,
bird cages. It was perhaps the pres-
ence of these pets, that gave rise to
the rumour, that under the colour of
visiting the tomb of his father, the
Emperor was removing his court to
another capital. The reason assigned
for so strange a movement, was the
presence of foreigners in Pekin; and
there can be no doubt, that if they
were sure the Barbarians would not
follow them, the statesmen of the court
would be glad to escape them, even
by abandoning the capital. But little
as they like us, an event has recently
taken place, which shows that the
knowledge of foreign countries, is at
a premium. An old Minister who
was degraded about fifteen years ago
for writing a book on geography, has
lately been recalled to public service,
and assigned a place on the board of
foreign affairs. The offence for which
he suffered, was not only in writing
the book, but in finding something
good out of China, and in eulogizing
such men as Peter the Great, Napo-
leon Bonaparte, and Washington."

It is pleasing therefore to know that
Siam was first thrown open through
commercial treaties, by her present
king, from choice, and that it was not
forced upon him by the fear of Euro-
pean arms, or the actual smell of Euro-
pean powder as in China. Also that
he has got so far advanced, as to throw
away all useless, and unnecessary re-
strictions in regard to his person, which
would have rendered it unpleasant for
foreigners to remain here.

Courrier de Paris.

We are often tempted to believe
that all the world is formed by the
victims either of fear or imposition.
Not long ago the public was greatly
occupied in discussing the fearful a-
mount of pauperism in London, and
we were inclined to congratulate our-
selves that our capital was exempt from
such an evil. It seems however that
we cried before we were out of the
wood, for every statistical account of
the condition of the poor in Paris show
us that we are but little in advance of
our neighbours d'outer marche.

The quarter of La Marian Blanche
is one of the poorest in Paris. It con-
tains 20,000 inhabitants 11,000 of
whom are assisted by the bureau de
bienfaisance. The clergy of this
parish, when visiting their flock, have
the habit of giving two or more francs,
according to the necessity of the fami-
ly visited.

It appears that the poor are not con-
tent with this charity, and have resort
to an artful dodge, to augment the sums
left by the clergyman. One of the
family feigns to be dangerously ill, and
sends for a priest to give him the last
sacraments, which being done, the
good pastor generally leaves a small
alms before leaving the house.

It frequently happens that 5 or 6
members of the family repeat the
dodge in the same day, always taking
care to send for a different confessor,
and thus a respectable sum is amassed
by these impostors; but alas! for them
the trick has been discovered by the
police, and the authors of it will have
to recover from their imaginary ill-
ness in prison.

The tribunal correctionnel de Paris
has lately been occupied with the trial
of a most singular nature. A certain
Tapounier, a Swiss, has been condemn-
ed to 4 years imprisonment for hav-
ing swindled and obtained the hand of
the daughter of a nobleman under
false pretences. Tapounier began life
as a stable boy, and appears to have
been gifted with a certain amount of
natural talent, which enabled him to
carry on his infamous schemes for
sometime. He was assisted in his
machinations by persons holding a more
or less respectable footing in society,
which sufficiently prove the state of
corruption of the high classes in Paris.

It seems the fashion now a days for
all the world both man and beast to
be afflicted with some malady or other.
Last year the cholera reigned trium-
phant; then the poor pigs fell ill, and
now it is the turn for the canine race
to be seized with madness. Even dogs
of high degree!! are not exempt from
the scourge and one of the King
Charles spaniel belonging to the
Empress having lately been seized with
Hydrophobia has been the cause of a
serious accident at the Court, having
bitten the first aumonier Mons.
Tirmarche.

This sorrowful event has greatly af-
flicted his Majesty Napoleon III. The
venerable prelate being an old and
faithful friend of his, having been chap-
lain of the fortress of Ham at the time
that the Emperor was prisoner at that
place. It is well known that Nepo-
leon never forgets those who were kind
to him in the days of adversity, and he
therefore surrounds Monsieur Tir-
marche with every possible comfort;
nevertheless his state causes great un-
easiness.

Whilst on the topics of dogs and
their diseases, we must not forget to
mention the death of the favourite
spaniel of Theressa, the celebrated
Diæa of the Alcazar. The poor ani-
mal has succumbed after a great deal
of suffering.

But it is not only of Epidemics that
I must speak to you, we are threatened
with something still more terrible one
of the plagues of Egypt. Immense
quantities of locusts have arrived from
the South and devastated our fertile
colony of Algiers. Letters received
thence inform us that the sun was lit-
terally darkened during the passage
of these destroying insects which con-
tinued for several days. Wherever
they alighted they devoured all before
them, laying waste the surrounding
country.

It is to be feared that the locusts
will come to France; should they
do so, the damage they would make is
incalculable.

It is rare to see literary authors re-
vise and correct their works after
once they have been published. How-
ever, there is no rule without excep-
tions, and we have lately had a fine ex-
ample of the kind.

Mons. Emile Angier, member of the
Academie francaise and author of the
piece entitled La Contagion, which
was performed sometime back at the
Adeoy and which was at first severe-
ly criticised, has entirely re-modelled
his work, and added a fifth act to it
which is greatly superior to the others.

It is a popular saying that Laws
are made to be broken; however the
case may be, it is certain that stolen
fruit is always the sweetest.

The perfect of police has lately for-
bidden the game of baccarat (a game
of hazard) to be played in Paris clubs
or Cercles as they are called. The
consequence has been, that instead of
gambling being put an end to, it has
on the contrary been increased. It is
true the game of baccarat no longer
exists, but our young men now play
at the zen de Barethon.

This game consists in placing a
purse of money on a nick and throw-
ing at it. The player who succeeds in
hitting the coin off the nick wins all
the money staked. Thus large sums
of money may be lost.

And this has lately been the case at
the baccarat. Many respectable fami-
lies have been reduced to utter ruin by
the extravagance of their sons.

LOCAL.

We are informed that an audience
was given by His Majesty the king to
Monsieur Aubaret Consul for the
French, on Friday the 6th inst. for the
reception from the Consul's hand of
the autograph letter of Napoleon III.
Emperor of the French, as also the
sword sent by the Emperor as a pre-
sent to His Majesty. What was done
with the dagger from the prince Im-
perial to prince Somdetoh Chowfa
Chulalongkorn we have not been in-
formed, but suppose it was then duly
presented to His Royal Highness.

It is currently reported that the
ceremonies were quite imposing, and
that many of the finest royal elephants
and royal horses were paraded on the
occasion.

M. Aubaret had a private audience
of his Majesty the day before. What
was there said and done by the parties
with reference to the past and the
future, has not yet been disclosed, at
least so far as we know.

The Steamer Chow Phya left Sing-
apore on Tuesday evening the 3d inst.
and arrived at the bar on Saturday
afternoon the 8 inst. Crossed the bar
at midnight, and arrived at Bangkok
at daylight on Sunday morning. The
mails were brought to Bangkok by
Messrs Dyer Schmidt & Co.'s post
boat.

The Chow Phya had fine weather
with West and S. W. winds through-
out the passage.

By the Chow Phya we have dates
from England and the Continent up
to 26th May, from India to 21st June,
from Rangoon and Maulmain to 21st
June, from Shanghai to 16th June,
and from Singapore to the 30th June.
Telegrams from London up to the
14th June.

Died.

At the residence of her sister, on
July 8th, of dropsy, Phebe Sirr, age
32 years widow of Richard Sirr,
youngest son of the Rev. Joseph
D'Arey Sirr, of Winchester, England.

The deceased had been a resident
of this city only two or three months.
She came from Bengal with little hope
that she would ever recover from her
disease. We are happy to be able to re-
port, that while remaining with her
new made friends in this city, she
manifested the christian spirit, putting
all her trust for righteousness and
salvation alone in Christ, and patient-
ly waited for him to come and re-
cieved her unto himself. She was a
member of the Independent church in
England, and having backslidden, as
she penitently confessed, was enabled
by grace to hope in the restoring
mercy of God. By her special request
the bread and the cup of her Savior's
dying love were administered to her
on the sabbath seven days before her
death. She has left two little orphans
both sons, the elder about 6 years of
age in England, the younger about 3
years, here with his male and aunt.

In this city on the 10th inst, very
suddenly Max Elliot aged 8 months
and 6 days, son of Paul Lessler Esqr.
Prussian Consul

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—-On Singapore 5 per cent
premium 10 d.s., Hongkong 1 per cent dis-
count 30 d.s.

FREIGHTS-—Foreign shipping scarce;
and freights at present are from 40 to 47
cents per picul to Hong Kong.

The following vessels have left for Hong
Kong since 17th June, principally loaded
on owners account.

Siam bark "Ban Lee" with 100 piculs
pepper, 220 rice, 1850 sapanwood, 1600
sugar.

Siam bark "Princess Saraphi" with 600
piculs pepper, 510 rice, 1300 sapanwood, 270
sugar, 130 teelseed, 1000 paddy, 18 hemp,
102 mussels, 3500 rosewood, 40 teak planks.

Belgian brig "Guillaume" with 6567
piculs rice.

Siam bark "Happy" with 700 piculs
pepper, 2400 rice, 850 sapanwood, 900
sugar, 120 teelseed, 200 mussels.

Siam Steamer "Viscount Canning" with
3000 piculs rice, 300 sugar, 200 tin, 100
hemp, 600 mussels.

Siam bark "Hong Kong" with 7582 pls.
rice, 12 cardamoms, 60 hides, 1111 pepper,
1146 sapanwood, 203 sugar, 156 peas, 41
tin, 25 hemp, 154 salt fish, 2¾ ivory.

Hamburg schooner "Friesa" with 3882
piculs rice, 350 sugar.

Siam bark "Amy Douglas" with 3500
piculs rice, 11 cardamoms, 9 hides, 530
pepper, 410 sapanwood, 479 sugar, 430
mussels, 210 mangrove bark.

Siam ship "Resolute" with 2000 piculs,
pepper, 500 rice, 5000 sapanwood, 3000
sugar, 200 teelseed, 2500 paddy, 50 salt-
fish, 100 mussels, 500 rosewood.

Siam bark "Flying Fish" with 4180
rice, 60 hides, 30 horns, 220 pepper, 70 teel-
seed, 340 mussels, 1000 mangrove bark.

Siam bark "St. George" with 3200 rice,
30 hides, 734 sugar, 630 teelseed, 256 salt
fish, 550 mussels.

British Schooner "Fairy" with 3600 pls
rice.

Siam bark "Denmark" with 1700 piculs
rice, 488 sapanwood, 289 teelseed, 1314
paddy, 256 peas, 27 tin, 1257 rosewood, 58
mangrove bark, 5 bird's nests.

Siam bark "Meteor" with 270 piculs
rice, 1580 sapanwood, 360 sugar, 1750
paddy, 80 hemp, 26 saltmeats, 130 tin, 400
mussels, 160 indigo.

Siam steamer "Chow Phya" to S.nga-
pore with 2365 piculs rice, 118 hides, 145
horns, 881 sugar, 41 teelseed, 25 peas, 16
silk, 576 salt fish, 4¾ ivory.

Siam bark "Envoy" to Singapore with
980 piculs paddy, 92 peas, 960 salt, 150
salt fish, 6000 sets iron pans.

Telegraph to the Straits

The important subject is still under
discussion. It requires years of talk, be-
fore come the days of action. Very
properly the communites at Penang,
Malacca, and Singapore, desire to get con-
nected with the Indian and European
telegraph system. Whatever may be the
ultimate fate of the project for connect-
ing Australia with India, there is no good
reason in this world, why the Straits Se-
ttlements should not have their telegraph
on an early day. We are glad to notice
that a Mr. REAH, whom we believe to be
an officer of Government, has been de-
puted to Siam, whether in behalf of
Government, or in behalf of some Tele-
graph Company we are not informed, to
enter into negotiations with the King for
extending the wire from the Tena-serim
provinces into Siam, and thence down the
Coast to the Straits.

We are thus very happy to notice, that
all idea of laying down a Submarine cable
from Rangoon to Singapore has been a-
bandoned. It was one of the vainest and
most foolish schemes, which ever entered
the head of any man. The cable had
been actually manufactured and was about
to be shipped, and nothing but the early
close of the Chinese war saved us the
humiliation of seeing another million ster-
ling irretrievably sunk in the bottom of
the great deep.

Now we seem to be acting like wise
men. Capitalists think it a proper scheme
to encourage. Every body believes that
it would be a good thing to lay down a
LAND LINK, not a Sea line, between Brit-
ish Burmah and Singapore. But capitalists
are also taking count of their dividends.
The traffic of the Straits alone would not
pay the handsome dividends which a
proper project would be likely to yield.
To be sure Singapore is a great port of
call. It is the half way house between
all Indian ports and China. It will in-
crease and prosper until the overland route
between Burmah, Siam, and China has
been constructed. Then like the Cape of
Good Hope, or rather Cape Town in
South Africa, it must decline, because
of the withdrawal of its trade to other
and more direct routes, except to Aus-
tralia which may possibly save it. Man-
kind are looking out everywhere for short
cuts in every direction. It is useless to
object to this tendency. As every mile
of railway was laid down in England, it
shut up some Turnpike road, and injured
the pocket of some Inn keeper. Many
years ago, a traveller between London
and Edinburgh had to eat a good many
dinners on the way before he reached his
destination. Now one dinner is all he
needs, and so all the old Taverns had to
some down.

British Burmah has an interest in the
proposed Telegraph to the South as well
as the Straits. Our population will be
delighted to the put into communication
with Bangkok as well as with Penang and
Singapore. We should however be glad
to find that both Tavoy and Mergui were
brought within the limits of the line. This
line would include the port of Amherst,
for which the Merchants of Maulmain
have with a noble generosity come for-
ward and each over his own signature,
promised to pay all working expenses of
the line for a definite period.

It is hoped that those who have this
Telegraph project in hand will not fail to
remember the handsome offer made by the
merchants of Maulmain. They promise
and engage to pay all working expenses
of the line for a stipulated time. Amherst
lies almost in a direct course on the route
to Bangkok. The Government have de-
clined the construction of this line, be-
cause as it is said, they have other and
more important points to connect. They
cannot lay down telegraphs everywhere
at once, and the Director General has no
personal knowledge of the province and
as a consequence no interest in its com-
mercial or political welfare. Twice has
this authority vetoed the application laid
before him, on this very subject of put-
ting up a telegraph wire between the
town of Maulmain and the port of Am-
herst a distance only of twenty five miles.

No reasonable doubt can be entertained
that if Bangkok can be connected, and
there is no reason why it should not, with
the proposed Telegrams to the Straits,
two important objects will have been
achieved. One is, that much of the dis-
tance will have been gained toward Sai-
gon and China; the other is, 'the line will
pay better dividends to its shareholders.

Our public will therefore feel a com-
mon interest in the mission of Mr Read,
to the King of Siam, and we shall! all
hope that his efforts may be crowned with
complete success.—-RANGOON TIMES.

Famine in Orissa.

FAMINE spreads in Orissa, but not
there alone. It has again broken out in
Behar, and in some places with terrible
severity. Even the rich districts of Tirhoot
suffers, and there is a call for the imme-
diate construction of the chord railway
through the Monghyr district to save its
lowes classes. Districts like Purnea are
beginning to be affected and parts of
Krishnaghur have long felt the scarcity. Of
Tirhoot a correspondent writes thus;

The ryots in these parts are very badly
off, numbers dying daily for want of food,
and matters getting worse. The very worst
rice sells at 8 seers the rupee, which puts
a full meal quite out of the power of the
lower orders. In all my experience I
never witnessed anything so distressing as
the sight of the poor starved wretches you
meet on the roads, and lying on the high-
ways unable to proceed further. They just
lie down to die. Government must be
cognizant of the wretched state these poor
people are in, yet they give no help. If
matters are left as they are, one half of
our working population in this part of the
district will die from starvation.

SIR,—-Permit us once more to encroach
on your space with details of the sufferings
from famine in Orissa. We have received
a letter from Mr. Miller, and enclose it for
insertion. He writes from Pooree, 16th
May 1866:—-

“When I entered the town I was horror-
struck by the number of living skeletons,
in the shape of men, women, and children,
seen prowling about in search of food, and
actually turning up with their hands the
gravel and dust in front of shops in the
hope of finding grains of rice or any thing
in the shape of food, which might be con-
cealed. Nothing eatable, however filthy
and offensive, is rejected! I saw one youth
in the act of eating grass, a mode of trying
to satisfy the gnawings of hunger which I
fear is now commonly resorted to. The
first victim of this fearful visitation I saw,
was an an elderly female lying in the street
opposite a wealthy marl, just about to
breathe her last. The next was a man ly-
ing with his face to the ground, so reduced
as to be unable to move or speak. My at-
tention was then directed to a lad asleep
in the road near the Raja's residence; he
was the complete skeleton; every bone was
visible; he seemed unable to arise or speak.
After several attempts he succeeded in the
faintest voice imaginable to tell where he
came from. Not far from this youth I
found a mother seated by his son. She
was blind and much enfeebled; he, who
had evidently been a tall strong man, was
reduced to a skeleton and lay on his back
perfectly helpless. I arranged to have
food supplied to them for a week. After
two days they both died. On the south of
the temple I came up to what appeared to
be a corpse. On inspection signs of life
were perceived. After being aroused a
grey-haired old man fearfully emaciated,
managed to breathe out the name of his
village. Near the south-east corner of the
temple I found a large crowd of hungry
emaciated men, women and children, cry-
ing out in the most touching manner for
food, the bony deformed bodies and pinch-
ed up, extenuated and unnatural counten-
ances of most of them with their vehement
cries for help told a tale of protracted ab-
stinence from food and intense suffering
which would have melted a heart of stone.
I tried to relieve the worst cases. There
were however so many applicants, and so
great was the pressure, and commotion, I
was not able on this occasion to do all I
intended. On my next visit I entered a
shop where rice was sold; immediately a
crowd of starving creatures collected.
With the help of a policeman I got them
to sit in two rows in order to give each a
little rice. Before half had been served.”
the original number, 100, or so, had in-
creased to three hundred. Hence I was
obliged to confine myself to the most needy
cases. The number of these poor creatures
in the town is daily augmented by acces-
sions from the surrounding districts, espe-
cially from Goope and the region south of
this, where probably the famine has been
most severely felt. It is now most difficult
to pass through the town without the aid
of the police. Last evening I was imme-
diately surrounded by hundreds who fol-
lowed me, crying out most piteously and
loudly for rice. Some seized the bridle of
my pony; others laid hold of my coat, sev-
eral prostrated themselves so as to com-
pletely block up the way. Had it not
been for the police coming to my rescue,
I really do not know how I could have got
away.—-FRIEND OF INDIA.

"RAIN FALL IN BURMAH." On the op-
posite shores of the Malay Peninsula in
Siam, the mean annual fall of rain appears
to be much smaller than it is on the Sea
coast of Burmah, and even in the hilly
range of the interior at Toungoo. We
find in the Bangkok Calendar, a table ex-
hibiting the actual quantity which fell at
Bangkok during a series of years, begin-
ning with the year 1858. The maximum
fall was in 1860, when there were seventy
two inches and a half came down. In 1864
there was a minimum fall of only thirty
nine inches. Even with the comparative-
ly small fall of rain during the year, there
is one peculiarity in the climate of Siam,
which does not occur in Burmah, and that
is, they have generally showers of rain
during every month of the year. The oc-
casional fall of rain every month especially
at the season which is deemed the hottest,
does not occur here, but the refreshing ef-
fect of which must be well marked.

On the coast of Siam, the south west
monsoon seems to be the same wet rainy
period, as it is on the coast of Burmah,
only there is less moisture and intensity to
the weather. April is the driest and hot-
test month in the year at Bangkok, as it is
at Rangoon. But about the middle of the
month the south west monsoon opens
there, by very copious and heavy falls of
rain. Here at Rangoon the monsoon does
not set in until a month later. Taking an
average for a great many years, the first
showers of the opening monsoon do not
fall here, till the second or third week in
May. Often the long period of five months
pass away without a single shower, though
there occasionally are two or three falls of
rain sometimes at the end of March and
other times in April. These are commonly
called the " MANGO SHOWERS " from the
fact, that this description of fruit with
which the mango trees are then laden,
require water very much to hasten forward
their growth, and a shower for two of rain
exercises a very marked effect at that time,
on vegetation generally.

In this latitude May is commonly a very
blustering month. The heat is truly in-
tense. The winds which now rise are
blown about in every direction. There is
occasional thunder and lightning, which
has a most beneficial effect on the cir-
cumambient volume of air resting on the
earth. The rain produces immense relief
both to the animal and vegetable kingdom.

Rangoon is becoming by the incessant
trotting of carts and gharries over its
streets, one of the dustiest places in the
East. It rivals Cape Town in South
Africa, where every person, who can afford
it wears a green veil, whether man or
woman, to keep the dust from very nearly
suffocating them. When strong winds
blow down the gorge of Table mountain
and the TABLE CLOTH is spread, the dust
of the hills is swept down with great vio-
lence against the face of passengers walk-
ing along the public streets. In the ab-
sence of rain which sometimes holds off
for days the sand is driven with a force
that will make most persons remember it
for a good long while after, who have
once experienced it.

During the last rains the quantity which
fell in the Pegu division exhibits a pretty
fair average. Rangoon, as might be ex-
pected from its nearness to the Sea got
the largest quantity, or one hundred and
forty inches of rain, or nearly twelve feet
of water. There are many of the smaller
class of Gun Boats in Her Majesty's Navy
which could float very nicely in twelve
feet of water. Toungoo showed the next
largest quantity, or six inches less than
quantity which fell at Rangoon. Bassein
did not measure the rain for the want of a
pluviometer, which has now been supplied.
In the interior of the division, the rain
fall diminishes as you get farther away
from the ocean. At Myanoung and They-
etmyo, we have the same average, as at
Bangkok or about fifty one inches. As you
ascend the Irrawaddy, the quantity is still
less and less, till you reach the royal city,
where they have only three or four showers
of rain throughout the whole year. In
upper Burmah irrigation is conducted whol-
ly by the annual inundation of the river,
which overflows its banks and spreads the
water for miles all over the adjacent coun-
try. In April and May enormous quanti-
ties of snow are melted on the northern
ranges of mountains stretching far into
Thibet and Chinese Tartary, which causes
the Irrawaddy to rise to the height of
twenty five and thirty feet.

However much, Siam may be exposed
to changes in the nature of its season, as
was the case last year in a diminished fall
of rain, from the sheltering effects pro-
duced by the Malay peninsula, lower Bur-
mah must always remain exempt from
such a contingency. The whole coast is
open to the full brunt of the South west
monsoon, coming directly across the Bay
of Bengal. Heat will always produce
vapours on the surface of the ocean at cer-
tain seasons, and those vapours will be
blown toward the land and be condensed
into rain, which by the laws of gravita-
tion must fall to the earth which it ever
refreshes, fertilizes, and blesses for the
comfort and happiness of man.-—RANGOON
TIMES.

The Monetary Panic.

THE City will not soon forget Friday,
May 11, 1866—"Black Friday," it has been
designated with great propriety. On that
day the monetary unsettledness of some
weeks past, which the day—before had risen
to a gale, culminated in a tornado, the
frightful force of which was far beyond all
precedent within the memory of the living,
and which, if it had continued four-and-
twenty hours longer, seemed likely to in-
volve in disaster and wreck all the money
establishments of the country. Happily,
and let us add, owing in great measure to
the moral courage and promptitude of the
Government, the fury of the commotion
was as short lived as it was violent, and
before Saturday was gone the panic may
be said to have subsided; and credit, which
had been suddenly prostrated by the irre-
sistible force of the hurricane, albeit trem-
bling and bewildered, stood erect once more.

From time to time, for two or three
months past, there have appeared pheno-
mena in the money market which were in-
terpreted by some as prognostications of
an approaching convulsion. They did not,
it is true, show themselves in the usual or-
der of succession. They were somewhat
fitful in their occurrence, and rather indi-
cated an abnormal state of things than
pointed with consentaneous precision to-
wards what was about to happen. The
feel of the atmosphere, if we may be allow-
ed the expression, created uncanny occa-
sionally amounting to anxiety. Still, gen-
eral as may have been that undefinable
sort of apprehension which so often fore-
runs a storm, nobody, it is probable, enter-
ed upon last week with the least idea of
the proximity and irresistibleness of the
outburst he was destined to witness before
its conclusion. No gloomy imagination
prefigured anything which came near the
actual event in destructive power. Its
suddenness, its sweep, its terrific force,
startled the stoutest-hearted into dismay.
Sensible men, men of cool reason and
strong nerve, grew pallid at the prospect
before them; for at midday, on Friday, it
seemed as if the whole commercial and
monetary system of the country would
presently collapse.

The disturbed condition of the money
market excited no terror until Thursday
afternoon. It was then announced that
the great discounting house of Overend,
Gurney, and Co. (Limited), had been com-
pelled to suspend payment. The business,
which was the largest of the kind in the
City, and for the goodwill of which half a
million sterling had been paid, had less
than twelve months ago been transferred
from the old firm to a limited liability
company, who had since then reaped such
an extent of loss sown for them by their
predecessors, and had sustained such a
singular concurrence of disasters, that
speculative shareholders in the concern
took alarm and began to sell out. Shares
naturally fell to a discount, and depositors
in turn, became nervous and apprehensive.
A persistent and exhaustive drain of the
resources of the establishment forced the
managing directors to seek assistance from
the Bank of England, which, stringently
applying its own rule not to rediscount for
discount houses, declined compliance with
their solicitation. There was no time for
employing any other expedient, and the
company, with liabilities exceeding £10,-
000,000, of which £3,500,000 is covered by
no security, had no option but to stop pay-
ment. The excitement caused by the an-
nouncement of this stupendous failure was
intense, and the red sky of Thursday even-
ing betokened a tempestuous morrow.

The morrow dawned upon three or four
monetary disasters of appalling magnitude.
The first sign of the distress, destined to
increase hour by hour, was the raising of
the rate of discount from 8 per cent to 9
per cent, by the Bank of England. If such
a bark, it was asked, is compelled to ride
under storm sails, what is likely to be the
fate of weaker craft? The reply, given by
facts, came almost instantly. The English
Joint-Stock Bank, with its thirty-one pro-
vincial branches, deemed it expedient to
close its doors for the present. This was
but a comparatively small affair—a mere
prelude of what was to follow. The next
announcement was the stoppage of Messrs.
Peto and Betts, the great contractors,
whose liabilities were estimated at about
£4,000,000. Two of the finance companies
presently gave way—the Imperial Mercan-
tile Credit Association, with a nominal
capital of £5,000,000, and the Consolidated
Discount Company, with a capital of £1,-
000,000. As information of the rapidly-
extending ruin spread abroad, a complete
panic seized the commercial world in Lon-
don. Lombard-street was besieged by
crowds of struggling and half-frantic cred-
itors, and the heads of houses in Lombard-
street fled for aid to the Bank of England.
Upwards of £4,000,000 was distributed at
9, and in special cases at 10 per cent dis-
count amongst the private and joint-stock
banks and other establishments able to
offer unexceptionable security; and the
Bank reserve, which in the morning stood
at nearly six millions, was reduced to three
before the close of business hours. The
fury of the storm increased as the day
wore on, and threatened to submerge every-
thing exposed to its force. Solvent and
insolvent firms were alike imperilled; and
it became difficult, and in many instances
impossible, to purchase safety at any sacri-
fice. The first mitigation of the prevailing
terror was produced by an incorrect ru-
mour that the Bank Charter Act had been
suspended, on the responsibility of the Go-
vernment. Then, even the despondent
saw a break in the clouds, and the sun
went down amid signs that the worst had
already been encountered and that the
next day might be a brighter one.

Fortunately, what was but an incorrect
rumour at five o'clock on Friday afternoon
had become before Saturday morning an
indisputable fact; but the panic which was
born of one fancy had been strangled by
another. The Chancellor of the Exche-
quer stated in his place in the House of
Commons at an early part of the sitting
that there was no truth in the statement
that her Majesty's Government had autho-
rised any step to be taken at variance with
the provisions of the Act of 1844. At a
much later hour, however, having in the
interval received a deputation from the
joint-stock bankers of London, who cor-
roborated the statements and enforced the
request which Mr. Gladstone had previ-
ously received from the private bankers,
he admitted that the state of things in the
City and of the public feeling excited
thereby called for the intervention of Gov-
ernment. Jointly with the First Lord of
the Treasury, therefore, he had addressed
to the Governor and Deputy Governor of
the Bank of England a letter substantially
the same as was addressed to those officers
in 1847 and 1857. In other words, those
potentates of the monetary world were re-
commended by the Queen's Ministers, to
the unspeakable relief of every banking
and commercial establishment in the king-
dom, if it should be found necessary to the
restoration of confidence, to issue bank-
notes beyond the limits fixed by law; and
were promised, in case they should do so,
a Ministerial application to Parliament for
its sanction. It is not likely that any in-
fraction of the statute will be needed, the
more liberty of the Bank of England to
disregard its restrictive provisions having
sufficed to dispel further apprehension.

In truth, the panic ceased almost as sud-
denly as it had sprung up. It was a single
day of wild, ungovernable terror. Before
the country could thoroughly realise the
danger, it had passed. Men look back
upon it and shudder at the thought of
what it might have been, at what it must
have been if the barriers of law had not
been temporarily removed by the hands of
the Executive. And, of course, retrospec-
tion is followed by discussion as to how
the phenomenon may be best accounted
for, and how a recurrence of it may be best
avoided. Into such discussion we are not
about to drag our readers. Nothing only
as significant characteristics of the sever-
est monetary crisis which has yet occurred
that it was entirely limited to England,
and that it happened at a time when, on
the admission of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, there was no general unsoundness
in the condition of our commercial rela-
tions, we content ourselves with sketching
in barest outline the course of events, and
with adding our voice to the universal ut-
terance of thankfulness that the calamity
is overpast, and that the ruin it caused was
so much less extensive than was feared.

Hints for Singers.

A frequent excuse put forth by per-
sons asked to sing is the declaration
that "they would be delighted, if they
could remember the words." As words,
in the present style of singing, really
matter very little, we give the follow-
ing verses as a sample of the kind of
thing that may be sung by people of
short memories : "Oh, if I had lumty
tum lumty tum too.

In the Land of the olive and fig:
I would sing of the lumty tum lumty
to you,

And play on the thingamy jig.
And if in the lumty tum battle I fall,

A tumty tum's all that I crave;
O, bury me deep in the what you-may
call,

And plant thingumbobs over my
grave.

RECEIPT THAT NEVER FAILS—-
To destroy rats—-catch them one by
one, and flatten their heads with a
lemon-squeezer.