The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the printing office of the American Missionary Association, at the mouth of the Canal, "Klong 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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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.

2nd. By some kind of disease.

3rd. By drowning.

4th. By the hand of man.

5th. By a fall.

6th. By a blow.

7th. By old age.

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.

To be for such a slumber sweet

With holy confidence to sing

That death has lost his season’d sting”

“Asleep in Jesus! far from thee

Thy kindred and their graves may be

But thine is still a blessed sleep,

From which none ever wakes to weep.”

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

O’er the waves of a world of sin,

Turned to God’s ark imploring,

A pierced hand drew it in;

Where tempest ne’er hath striven,

Where discord’s reign is o’er,

Thou dost learn the song of heaven,

And wilt sleep to earth no more.”

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.