The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the
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Association, at the mouth of the Canal,
"Klong Bangkok Yai." It will contain such
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Telegrams.

SOME interruption to the Indo-Euro-
pean Telegraph has prevented any late
telegrams coming on to us by this Mail.
The Ceylon papers are silent as to the
cause of the interruption. Bombay Te-
legrams to the 10th instant have been
received, but merely say, without giving
dates, that the news from Europe was
of a generally cheering nature. The fol-
lowing have not appeared before:

LONDON, JULY 25TH.—-The commence-
ment of the armistice between Austria
and Prussia dates from yesterday. A
great naval engagement has taken place
in the Adriatic Sea between the Italians
and Austrians, resulting in the destruc-
tion of the Italian iron-clad vessels. Both
sides claim the victory. The negotiations
for an armistice between the Austrians
and Italians continue.

JULY 25TH.-—Austria and Italy have
agreed to an Armistice for eight days.
Breach between Johnston and Congress,
dissensions in Cabinet.

JULY 27TH.—-Government agreed to
advance conditionally £600,000 to Mad-
ras Irrigation Company. Reform Riot
renewed yesterday—-Mob made demands.

THE following is a summary of news
by the present Messageries Imperiales
steamer:—-

THE COURT.—-The Prince and Princess
Christian left Osborne for Cherbourg and
Paris, from thence they proceed to Swit-
zerland. The Princess Louis of Hesse
has been again safely confined of a daugh-
ter. Her Majesty is at Osborne.

PARLIAMENT.-—The Ministry have been
engaged in their re-elections, and the
Commons have not in consequence been
able to sit.

THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.-—Very
little that can be relied upon is known
as to the negotiations set on foot by
France, either as regards an armistice or
a definitive peace. The Paris Moniteur
chides the expectant world for its im-
patience, and points out that the negotia-
tions cannot go on entirely by telegraph,
and that it takes a courier three days and
three nights to pass from Paris to the
Prussian head-quarters. The Vienna
Press, however, states that the propos-
ed mediation of the Emperor Napoleon
is for the present at an end.

THE WAR IN GERMANY.—-The Battle
of Koniggratz, fought on the 3rd inst.,
and noticed in our last issue, of the 10th
inst., completed the ruin of the Austrian
army. The central advance of the
Prussians was at Brunn on the 12th inst.

their second army was pushing forward
between Olmutz and Brunn; and the third
corps is approaching Vienna to the west
by Iglau and Znaÿm. Prague is also in
the hands of the foe. In the west of
Germany, the Federal forces have sus-
tained two defeats at Kissingen and As-
chaffenburg, and the Prussians were close
on Frankfort, whith city had been quit-
ted by the Diet.

FRANCE.-—The Empress and the Prince
Imperial left for Nancy on the 15th, the
Emperor being detained in the capital by
the critical state of Europe. Great naval
preparations are making, and a powerful
fleet is ordered to rendezvous at Toulon.
The MONITEUR has cautioned the Press
against disseminationg false news.

RUSSIA.-It is stated that the Czar will
maintain his neutrality in the present
conflict, should no foreign Power inter-
fere in Germany. Troops are said, how-
ever, to be concentrating on the Silesian
frontier and in Bessarabia.

HOLLAND.—-The Parliament has not
yet assembled. Vice-Admiral May is
dead. A society has been formed with
the object of acceleration the moral and
social progress of the Javanese.

PAPAL STATES.—-A New York bank-
ing firm has been commissioned to nego-
tiate a loan for the Pope. Cardinal Mat-
taucci is dead.

MEXICO.-—Matamoros has capitulated,
and the Republicans are preparing to at-
tack Tampico.

WEST INDIES.-—Mr. Eyre has not yet
left Jamaica. The crops are excellent in
all the islands except Grenada.

SOUTH PACIFIC STATES.—-Admiral En-
calada is appointed commander of the
Chilian—Peruvian squadron. All Spanish
residents have been expelled from the
Chilian territory. The Chilian Banks
have offered to lend the Government six
million dollars. A line of telegraph is to
be established across Ecuador, Peru, Bo-
livia, and Chili.

MISCELLANEOUS.-—H. M. S. AMAZON
and steamer Osprey have been sunk by
a collision and a few lives lost. General
Peel, the new Secretary of War, has or-
dered the conversion of our Enfield's into
breech-loaders. The captives in Abys-
sinia have been again delayed. The
Jamaica Committee insist on the trial of
Governor Eyre for murder of Mr. Gordon.

All Securities are generally depressed,
owing to the uncertainty of the proposed
peace. The London Banks are all quiet,
and several favourable reports have been
issued. The Birmingham Banking Com-
pany have however failed, with liabilities
of neary £2,000,000.

France.

The Naval preparations appear to be
serious. The MESSAGER DU MIDI con-
tains the following from Toulon, dated
in the evening of July 9:—"The ar-
mour-plated squadron has just anchored
in the roadstead, coming from the Hyeres
Islands. The address of the despatch
ordering this movement was in the hand-
writing of the Minister of Marine him-
self. A later despatch has come order-
ing a maritime levy throughout the entire
5th maritime arrondissement, the stop-
page of the disarmament of the small
vessels of the flotilla, and the immediate
armament of four steam-vessels of the
reserve." Further we learn:—"A Go-
vernment despatch directed to the mari-
time prefecture of Cherbourg orders the
immediate levy of the disposable men of
the classes 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, and
1865 in the first maritime arrondissement.
The same despatch orders the armament
of four steam vessels—Napoleon, the
Bayard, the Fontenoy, and the Ville de
Nantes. Another despatch directs that
the plated division under the command
of Rear-Admiral Le Ronciere Le Noury,
consisting of the Magenta, Flandre,
Herione, and the advice-boat Forbin,
should put in three months' provisions,
and spare stores, and proceed without
delay to Toulon."

United States.

A dreadful fire has occurred at Port-
land, burning nearly half the city, and
rendering 2,000 families homeless. The
fire has destroyed property to the value
of $10,000,000. Gold on the evening of
5th inst. 153⅞.

Latest

THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.—M.
Benedetti, the French Ambassador,
and the Count de Barral, Italian minister at
Berlin, have accompanied the King to
the Prussian head-quarters at Brunn.
Negotiations are in progress there for a
truce of three days and not for an armis-
tice. An attaché to M. Benedetti left
Brunn on the 14th for Vienna. The
Berlin official STAATSANKZEIGER of yester-
day says:—"The assertions of various
newspapers that Prussia has demanded
the cession of Bohemia and Moravia as
a condition of peace are entirely unfound-
ed. A glance at the map shows that the
possession of these countries by Prussia
would not be a source of strength, but
of weakness; national interests also would
render such an acquisition undesirable.
The aim of the policy of Prussia is direc-
ted towards the establishment of a new
Confederation and the convocation of a
German Parliament. Connection with
countries only in part appertaining to Ger-
men nationality would place obstacles in
the way of the assembling of the Parlia-
ment. The Paris CONSTITUTIONNEL has
an article blaming certain journals for seek-
ing to induce the French Government to
acquire territorial enlargement in order
to balance the increase of territory ob-
tained by Prussia.—-STRAITS TIMES.

Wise Sayings by Josh Billings.

Our newspapers are afflicted with the
writings of a race of bad spellers, who
are very popular just now. We fail to
see the wit in their poor orthography, but
Josh. Billings says some good things in
spite of it. Here are some of his "affair-
isms," &c.:—-

-—The principal differense between a
luxury and a necessary is, the price.

Wise men don't expeck tu do awa with
the visissitades ov life, they onlr expeck
tew blunt the edge ov them.

"Honesta is the best polisay," but don't
take my word for it, tri it.

Most of the advise we reseve from
others is not so much an evidense of their
affekshun for us, as it is an evidense of
their affekshun for themselves.

What a man spends in this life he saves;
what he don't git want ment for him, and
what he saves, he loozes.

When a feller gits a going down hil, it
dus seem as that every thing had bin
greased for the okashun.

If there was nothing but truth in this
wurld, a fool would stand just as good a
chance as a wize man.

Rize arly, work hard and late, live on
what yu kan't sell, giv nothing awa, and
if yu don't die rich, and go tu the devil, yu
ma sue me for damages. N.B.—-The above
remarks are not intended to be permanent.

We are ap tu hate them who won't take
our advise, and despise them who do.

It is dredful easy tow be a phool—a
man kan be one and not know it.

Real happines dont consist so mutch
in what a man dout hav, as it due in what
he don't want.

Marrin for love ma be a little riskey,
but it is so honest that God kant help but
smile on it.

Thare are a great multitude ov indivi-
duals who are like blind mules, anxious
enough to kick, but kant tell whare.

It is highly important, when a man
makes up his minde tow bekum a raskall,
that he shud examine hissela closly, and
see if he aint better konstrukted for a
phool.

Every time you forgive a man yu wea-
ken him and strengthen yourself.

The great art in writing well is to kno
when to stop.

After a man has rods. fast onse, he
never wants tew go slow agin.

Great from Little.

Did holy life consist in one or two noble
deeds—some signal specimens of doing or
enduring or suffering—we might account
for the failure, and reckon it a small
dishonor to turn back in such a conflict.
But a holy life is made up of a multitude
of small things. It is the little things of
the hour, and not the great things of the
age, that fill up a life like that of Paul
and John, like that of Rutherford, or
Brainard, or Martyn. Little words, not
eloquent speeches or sermons, little deeds,
not miracles, nor battles, nor great or
mighty martyrdoms, make up the true
Christian life. The little constant sun-
beam, not the lightning: the waters of
Siloam, that go softly in their meek mis-
sion of refreshment; not the waters of the
river great and mighty, rushing down in
torrent noise and force, are the true sym-
bols of holy life.

The avoidance of little evils, little sins,
little inconsistencies, little weaknesses,
little follies, little indiscretions, and im-
prudences, little foibles, little indulgen-
cies, of self and of the flesh, little acts
of indolence or indecision, of slovenliness
or cowardice, little equivocations or aber-
rations from high integrity, little touches
of shabbiness and meanness, little bits of
covetousness and penuriousness, little
exhibitions of worldliness and gayety,
little indifferences to the feeling or wishes
of others, little outbreaks of temper and
crossness or vanity; the avoidance of such
little things as these go far to make up
at least the negative beauty of a holy
life.

And then attention to the little duties
of the day and hour, in public transac-
tions, of private dealings, or family ar-
rangements; to the little words and tones;
little benevolences or forbearances or
tenderness; little self denials and self-
restraints, and self-forgetfulness; little
plans of quiet kindness and thoughtful
consideration for others; to punctuality,
and method, and true aim in the order-
ing of each day—these are the active de-
velopments of a holy life, the rich and
the divine mosales of which it is compos-
ed. What makes your green hills so
beautiful? Not to the outstanding peak
or stately elm, but the bright sward which
clothes its slope composed of innumer-
ble blades of slender grass. It is of small
things that a great life is made up: and
he who will acknowledge no life a great
save that which is built up of great things,
will find little in Bible characters to ad-
mire or copy.—-BONAR.

The Famine.

The first breath of English opinion on
the famine in Orissa has reached us.
When the frightful blundering and cul-
pable want of fore-sight which have re-
sulted in as many as four thousand deaths
from starvation in one week, are report-
ed, and it is known that the Governor
General was compelled to order the Ben-
gal Government down from Darjeeling
to do its duty on the spot, a cry of in-
dignation from England may be expect-
ed. A correspondent, who has just re-
turned from the scene in Orissa assures
us that, had all the rice which has been
rotting on the beach been sent into Oris-
sa by Gopaulpore, across the Chilka
Lake, it would have reached the markets
in the interior in safety and in time to
have preserved hundreds who have
crowded into Cuttack and Balasore only
to die. Meanwhile, in England, Colonel
G. T. Haly, who long commanded a
Madras corps in the Northern Circars,
has republished the statement in which
we sounded the alarm and urged a gen-
eral subscription so early as the begin-
ning of April last, as the basis of an ap-
peal for contributions to the "Orissa
Relief Loan Fund" to be expended on
works of irrigation and roads which will
prevent the recurrence of a calamity like
the present while relieving the sufferers.
The officials and missionaries in Orissa
have worked with almost superhuman
energy, but they acknowledge they can
do little to overtake the mass of misery
outside of the great stations. Mr. Raven-
shaw, the Commissioner, ought to be re-
lieved from other duties, that he may de-
vote all his time to organising wider
measures of relief, and to supplying
more detailed information than that
which trickles through the Board of Re-
venue. There is more need in Orissa for
a special Commissioner like Baird Smith
than there was in the North-Western
Provinces in 1860.61.

—Up to the 11th instant the Bengal
Government has assigned Rs. 8,08,399
in all for relief of the famine. The re-
lief operations continue in full activity
in the three Districts of Orissa. In Cut-
tack alone more than 3,000 deaths are
attributed to the Famine in the week
ending 1st July. At Balasore 10,816
persons were on an average relieved daily
in the fortnight ending 23d June; from
2,231 of these it was found possible to
exact some slight work; 1,032 mounds of
Rice and Rs. 2,048 in cash were expen-
ded in the fortnight. The deaths attri-
buted to starvation were 768. In Poree
the daily average number relieved was
only 1,124, of whom did no work.
The expenditure of rice in the week
ending 23d June was 77½ maunds; of
money only Rs. 100. 69 deaths are re-
ported. Mr. Barlow says large numbers
get food from the various religious esta-
blishments of the town.—-F. OF INDIA.

Dr. Duff on Foreign Missions.

After describing Keshub Chunder
Sen's Lecture on Jesus Christ, Dr. Duff
made an appeal for missionary candidates.
Upon this point, there are some perhaps
who might turn round on me and say,—
"Why don't you set the example, and go
yourself?" The old members, the
fathers and brethren, know me; I would
not need to make such a remark to them,
for they know me better. But others
who do not know may wonder that I am
speaking here and not on the banks of
the Ganges? Let me say this in one
word. Restore me, if you can, such a
reasonable portion of health and strength
as would lead me warrantably to expect
to work there again,-—do that, and I tell
you solemnly there is not an amount of
moral suasion in the Free Church, or
wealth within the bounds of the British
empire, that would detain me in Scotland,
(Great Cheering.) I have had ties in
Scotland, and I know the poignancy and
heart-breaking feeling of tearing one's
self away from these ties: but when my
mind was made up, thirty-seven years
ago, that it was my duty to go, God who
put that into my mind, put it also, into
my heart to tear myself away from the
sobs and sighs of weeping parents and
brother, and sisters, and surrounding
friends; and when I came home a second
time, He enabled me to tear myself away
not only from these, but from my own
children. I have no such ties in this
country now. There are children whom
God Almighty has made his own and
provided for. I have still friends in this
country, God be praised; but the distance
across continents and oceans would not
dissolve their bonds. I have properly no
home in this country now. I feel as an
expatriated exile in my own native land ;
I never can feel myself at home on the
banks of the Forth as I did on the banks
of the Ganges. I have no home, properly
speaking. I have a residence, but it is a
cold and desolate lodging house, not a
real home. I have no ties to detain me
a day in this land—-no ties beyond the
dust of one, my friend, my councillor,
and in quiet, noiseless, and unobtrusive
ways the light of my eyes and the
strength of my right arm. I have no ties
to detain me here now; and if this As-
sembly will not help in getting the men
who shall go forth to work-—if the men
are exhausted—-if they are not to be
found, and if the Church is obliged to
confess to the Foreign Mission Commit-
tee that they are not to be had, and that
therefore, one or other of our mission
stations must be abandoned—-if this is to
be the case, and the proclamation is to
go forth that as we can no longer get
men to go forth to work, but must be
satisfied to get men to go forth as witnes-
ses and martyrs, ready to die, and in dy-
ing to bear testimony to the grandeur of
this missionary enterprise—-if you are to
issue this announcement this night—-if I
know my own heart, I will be the first to
offer my services, ready to go forth and
without delay.

Oh, dear friends, would to God I could
speak as my heart now prompts me. We
have among us material resources enough
and to spare. I must hold, with that
Bible in my hand, that Edinburgh, Glas-
gow, Aberdeen, or Dundee, could, any
one of them, maintain all our existing
missions and extend them greatly, with-
out themselves suffering any loss(Cheers.)
We have the men among us also, with
energies yet undeveloped; we have the
men with the strong hearts of our stur-
dy national character. Looking at the
ages that are past, do we not find that
the indomitable spirit of civil liberty
embodied itself in one representative
man—the Bruce of Bannockburn? Do
we not find in subsequent ages the spirit
of religious liberty embodying itself in
another representative man, the still
mightier Knox of the Reformation?
And if we were true to our own creed,
after all the victories achieved by this
Church, what is there to prevent the in-
domitable spirit of an aggressive evan-
gelism over the realms of heathenism,
embodying itself in another representa-
tive man, who would be a greater hero
than either of the other two, and thus
give us a triumvirate without a parallel
among the nations? Looking abroad
over the wide world, and perceiving the
seething, simmering condition of the na-
tions, may we not exclaim—-"Behold all
things are ready!" Ah! friends and
brethren, what then ought to be our re-
solution this night? Up—up, onward—-
onward, forward—forward, under the
banner and leadership of the Saviour
King! Oh! His head-—ah, that precious
head!-—already are many crowns-—the
crown of dominion over the kingdoms of
creation, providence, and grace; the
crown of dominion over the hierarchies of
heaven, and the potentates of hell; the
crown of dominion over the Church mil-
itant on earth, and the Church trium-
phant in glory. But one crown is want-
ing still; it is the crown of all the earth;
and all here present this night may be
privileged to share in the honour of
placing it on His head-—F. OF INDIA.

Velocity of Mechanism.

Fan blowers are frequently run with
a velocity of 4000 turns per minute, while
the usual velocity of cotton spindles is
between 6000 and 7,800 turns per minute.
These are the highest rotary velocities
with which we are acquainted in ordinary
mechanism, but M. Arago, in measuring
the difference in the velocity of light while
passing through air and through water,
wished to give a revolving mirror a velo-
city of 8000 rotations per second. This
he was unable to do; with the most deli-
cate and perfect arrangement of cog-
wheels he was able to impart only 1000
revolutions per second to his mirror. M.
Foucault, by substituting for cog-wheels
a delicate turbine acted on by a steam
jet, raised the velocity to 1500 turns per
second. M. Arago, by removing the mir-
ror and turning the spindle alone, achiev-
ed a velocity even by the use of cog-wheels,
of 8000 turns per second-—equal to 480,
000 turns per minute.

That spindle, therefore, turned 80 times
while an ordinary cotton spindle is turn-
ing once! This is the highest rotary velo-
city of which we have any account.—-
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN.

VANITAS, VANITATUM!—-A gold cof
fin set in precious stones now encases
the body of the second King of Siam,
aged thirty-seven, brother of the reign-
ing sovereign. It is deposited on a
throne, to await the day of the solemn
funeral, which, according to the cus-
toms of Siam, will not take place for
a year.—-N. Y. Observer.

Bangkok Recorder.

Accusers of the king
of Cheangmai.

It appears that three of the Laos
princes concerned in accusing the king
of Cheangmai of plotting to throw off
the yoke of Siam and taking that of
Burmah instead, are now in town, and
that having been duly convicted of
originating and circulating entirely
false accusations against the king of
Cheangmai, have been sentenced by
the king of Siam, to perpetual degra-
tion from their princely honors and
civil authority. Their names are Chow
Hong-na—who was but a few days
since 2nd king of Cheangmai, Chow
Racha-Wong, and Chow Racha-Boot.
The latter is to be detained here in
Bangkok; the other two are allowed
to return to their own country but not
permitted to reside at the capital.

A post line to Cheangmai.

It has occured to us that all this
Cheangmai affair would probably have
been prevented, and the consequent
great trouble and anxiety it has made
to the Siamese Government, and the
great expense of time and life of the
king of Cheangmai and his retinue in
coming hither to prove his innocence
avoided, had there been a weekly or
semi monthly post line from the Laos
capital to this city. Cheangmai though
not more than 400 miles distant by
measurement, is virtually four times
that distance from us in consequence
of the utter absence of postal facilities,
the want of any thing like a public
road, and the extreme difficulty of
stemming a strong current and cross-
ing the series of falls in the river in
the Laoe country. Such being the
case, an affair like that which has just
been settled has peculiar facilities,
(being so far from the central govern-
ment) for springing up and growing
to very formidable proportions ere the
strong hand of the government can be
laid upon it. Now a post line, such as
we have suggested, would virtually
diminish the distance three fourths, and
instead of but once in three months, or
four or five months, which probably
is the more usual experience, intelli-
gence would be received from each
other semi monthly. Had there been
in operation a railroad between the
two capitals during these last two
years, thus virtually bringing them
into close proximity, how could those
false accusers of the king of the Laos
have made a quarter of the trouble
and done the quarter of the damage
they have? Now a post line is the
third best improvement below a rail-
road (a common road being the second)
and it could be established with vastly
less expense.

It seems to us high time for Siam
to commence some postal system among
her chief cities in all her States and
tributary Provinces. How weak would
the governments of the western nations
become by cutting off all their postal
systems? Why, they would relapse
into mere pigmies compared with what
they now are. And Siam will and
must be accounted a mere dwarf among
nations if she do not begin in earnest
to make improvements in this direction.
It appears to us that at Cheangmai
are centering great commercial as well
as civil interests. The vast teak forests
of the Laos belonging to Siam are now
being opened, and the timber cut in
them must be brought down the Me-
nam to Bangkok. There is every
probability that this city will, but a
few years hence greatly out-rival Maul-
main in the teak trade. And more-
over, most of that Laos country is
favored with a rich soil well adapted
to the growth of rice, cotton, carda-
mums, coffee, tea, and many other
important articles of merchandize.
We are informed too, that the country
is more densely populated even than
Siam proper—that the several tribes
of Laos at the North and Northeast of
this city, who are tributary to Siam,
are even more numerous than the Si-
amese themselves. If so, how import-
ant that some far more speedy modes
of inter-communication than now exists
between these Siamese subjects and
the central government should speedily
be opened.

When the great telegraphic line
between Rangoon and Singapore, with
a branch to Bangkok is in operation,
as we think it will be some two years
hence, we believe it will become a
prolific mother of other lines in vari-
ous parts of Siam, and we prophecy
that the one to Cheangmai will be the
first born. But let not the authorities
of the two capitals delay longer the
establishment of the cheap post line
which all governments in Europe and
America have had in operation for
scores of years. The true order to be
observed in making this kind of, im-
provement is, first to establish the post
lines, second common roads, third
Telegraph lines, and fourth iron rail-
roads with their iron clad steam
horses.

Petchaburee No. 9.

Paddy fields in Potohaburee are
seldom if ever sown, because the far-
mers find that they are far more likely
to reap a good harvest from rice trans-
planted. What would a western farmer
think of the tediousness of transplant-
ing every stalk of wheat which he would
have grow on a twenty acre lot? It would
be exceedingly difficult if not impos-
sible for even the most experienced of
these native rice growers to calculate
with sufficient accurateness when will
be the best time for sowing. If the
seed come up and there should be a
fortnight of drought immediately suc-
ceeding, it would perish. Or should
the rains fall so abundantly as to over-
flow the young paddy entirely, it would
likewise perish. The seasons are such,
that there are usually two or more dry
spells between the first abundant fall
of rain in May or June, and the still
more copious fall in September and
October. These latter rains are the
most important and usually the most
reliable. But it is then too late to
think of getting a crop of grain from
seed sown so late in the season, for
rice needs at least 5 months of time to
grow from its first sprouting to "the
full corn in the ear." And as the native
farmers have no means of sufficient
power by which they can irrigate ex-
tensive paddy fields in times of drought,
they manage to have the rice growing
very thickly in patches, or nurseries
as we call them, and these being in
comparatively a small compass they
can prevent from injury in times of
drought by artificial watering. For
these nurseries they seek the lowest
localities about the fields in the imme-
diate neighborhood of some pond or
near the river or canal where water
can always be had with which to ir-
rigate them. Having prepared the
ground for the seed by ploughing and
harrowing it until it is all in a semi-
fluid state, they scatter the seed upon
it so that it shall come up as thickly
as it can stand. But they always
sprout the seed before sowing. This
appears to be the work chiefly assigned
to women. You will see them out
with their baskets full of the sprouted
paddy in the latter part of May or first
of June, going to sow their paddy
nurseries in various parts of the great
fields. Being sprouted and sown on
thin mud it never needs to be covered.
This sprouted rice they call kla, and
the sowing of it they denominate tok
kla,—that is, casting the sprouted
seed. If the water be quite turbid,
and the seed be covered by it, it will
rot. But if the water be clear, as it
usually is in some localities, the sprout-
ed seed will do well even when entirely
covered with water, because the sun
light, being not intercepted, causes it
to flourish. Hence whenever there is
too much turbid water standing on the
nurseries at the time of sowing it has
to be drawn off, and this the farmers
usually do by bailing it out, sometimes
by means of the common well sweep
and bucket, and sometimes by basket
scoops or common baskets spread
over with a kind of pitch and swung
on stakes so that a slight swing causes
them to dip up two or three gallons
of water at once, and then another tilt
throws it over the embankment on the
outside of the patch. A boy or girl,
not more than 15 years old will easily
bail out by this means two gallons of
water at a time, averaging we would
judge 15 gallons a minute. We have
many times seen this contrivance at
work, and could not but admire its
simplicity and efficiency. Whenever
the nurseries begin to suffer from the
want of water, the farmers irrigate the
patches in the same way from the
river, canal, or pond near by. By
such means they keep the plants flou-
rishing at all times, awaiting a favor-
able time for transplanting them into
the larger fields. Whenever the plants
are at any intermediate state between
12 and 20 inches tall, they are thought
to be of suitable size for transplanting.
If shorter than 12 inches they are too
liable to become covered with water,
which would destroy them, and if longer
than 20 inches they are too top-heavy
to stand firmly in the water with their
tops above it. The proper time, in-
dicated by abundant rains, may come
in June, August or September. It
requires, we are informed, a great
amount of practical experience to plan
well so as to have the nurseries in the
right state of growth for the trasplan-
ting season; and hence the farmers ar-
range to have several patches of nursery
plants of different ages in a growing
state to meet the necessities that may
arise.

The fields into which the rice plants
are to be planted are first prepared for
them much as the nursery patches are
prepared for the sowing of the sprouted
grain. When the wet season seems
to have been fully established, and the
water in the fields is standing from 6
to 10 inches deep, then is the time for
men women and children to turn out for
the work of transplanting. It is called
dam na—literally to dive into the rice
fields; for they plunge the roots and
⅔ or ¾ of the stalks under water. The
divers or planters have bundles of
fresh pulled rice plants scattered here
and there over the field. Being thus
prepared, each transplanter takes a
handful of plants in his left hand and
wades into the water, and then sepa-
rating 3 or 4 stalks from his handful
he takes them with the toes of his
right foot and crowds the roots down
into the mud with surprising quick-
ness much more so than we could in
our boyhood days display in planting
a hill of Indian corn. He then takes
another bunch of 4 stalks and plants it
about 10 or 12 inches from the other;
and thus he goes on measuring the dis-
tances with his eye as well as he can, in-
tending to have the plants 12 inches
apart each way in the best ground,
and from 8 to 10 inches in that which
is poorer. Now does not this appear
to be a process for planting large fields
intolerably tedious? And yet many
hands seem to make a light work of
it. It is said that an experienced trans-
planter can complete a lot of one rei
per day—-equal to a little more than
three tenths of an acre.

It is indispensable to the success of
the crop after the fields have been
thus planted, that there should always
be water enough on each lot to keep
the ground thoroughly drenched. The
best crops are reaped from lots that
are after transplanting, kept continual-
ly inundated to such an extent as that
⅓ or ⅔ of the stalks are under water
until nearly the time of the full corn
in the ear. Even from that time to
harvest, though the fields continue to
be thus inundated, the crop will not
usually suffer, unless there come a
strong wind and cause it to fall over
into the water. Much of the rice reap-
ed in the province of Ayuthia last
year was, as we are informed, cut
while standing a foot or two deep in
water, and that some of it was injured
by falling over into the water and
sprouting.

The more we have looked into the
business of growing Rice in Siam,
the more are we impressed with the
precariousness of the work. We once
had the impression that the soil and
climate of Siam are so well adapted
to the growth of this grain that it
would grow with but very little cul-
tivation or anxiety on the part of the
farmers. But such is not the fact.
The crops are not only very liable to
be cut off by either too much or too
little water, but also by ground worms
and a kind of land crab. They assail
the roots of the plants soon af-
ter transplanting, and sometimes
make great havoc among the fields.
Sometimes their work is done so early
in the season as to leave still good
hope that the damages may be main-
ly repaired by replanting the patches
and fields which have been thus de-
stroyed.

Field hands are employed usually for
ploughing, harrowing, and planting the
rice fields at the rate of from 8 to 10
ticals per month. In times of a great
scarcity of laborers, or when some
peculiarity in the season has made it
indispensable to press on the work to
completion with all possible dispatch,
the farmers will of course pay much
more for help.

Sometimes hands are employed by
the season, which extends from the be-
ginning of the wet season in May to
the end of threshing out the grain
in December or January. A com-
mon price for a good hand for such a
season is one koyan of paddy be the
same worth more or less. The pre-
sent market price of the best paddy is
51 tical per Koyan.

The transplanting of the paddy is
sometimes let out by the job at 30
cents a rie or 77 cts. per acre.

A rie of good soil will yield 50
buckets of paddy, and the poorest
lots 25 buckets. The cultivated
fields are all taxed by the rie each
rie paying 21½ cents per annum.

Manners and customs of the
Cheang Mai Laos.

The Cheang Mai Laos are quite a
hale looking class of people as com-
pared with the Siamese. And judg-
ing from the few hundreds of them we
see here now and have formerly seen,
they appear to be somewhat taller and
stouter.

A large majority of the men are
thickly tattooed from the umbilicus
down to a little below the knees, and
are hence denominated black bellied
Laos to distinguish them from another
tribe living East of them who are call-
ed the white bellied Laos simply be-
cause they do not tattoo their abdomen.
One of the Laos princes told us a few
days since, that persons of his class
seldom follow this singular custom
as they do not reckon themselves a-
mong the class born to take the rough
and tumble of life, and very rarely to
become soldiers. But that other class-
es of the males follow the fashion be-
cause they glory in being men and not
women—-men who can fight like the de-
vils that are pictured on their abdo-
mens and thighs, and run like deer when
occasion calls, through jungles and
swamps with but little to cover their
tattooed nudity. That prince says
that there is no religious element con-
cerned in the custom. He says that
it is a painful operation, and that some
die in consequence of it. The colour-
ing matter which it deposites under
the cuticle is made chiefly of soot and
hogs lard or cocoanut oil. The usu-
al fee for tattooing a single person is
two ticals. But when figures are re-
quired demanding more of the skill and
time of the operator, the fee is conse-
quently a good deal more. It requires
many sittings or more properly lying
to complete the job on one man.

The dress of the males is very much
like that of the Siamese and their heads
also display the same peculiar tuft.
But the dress of the Laotian women
is very unlike that of the Siamese wo-
men. The main article of their dress
is a very peculiar petticoat—-made al-
ways of four pieces sewed together so
that their seams pass around the body.
The upper piece is white about 6 in-
ches wide; the next below is red, 12
inches wide; the next 24 inches black
shaded, with motley colours, the stripes
being an inch wide; the bottom piece
is red and 14 inches wide. The ends
of the garment thus made are sewed
together, and when placed on the per-
son is kept in its place just as the Si-
amese do their panoong, by using the
white strip for a belt as a band of a sheaf
of wheat is twisted and tucked in under
itself. The women very generally
have a white, yellow, or pink sash
which they tie around their chests.
It is curious to notice the uniformity
and universality of the female dress.
The higher classes vary the style a lit-
tle by inserting a very showy strip of
wrought silk next above the bottom
piece.

These Laotian women wear their
hair long, and dress it neatly by put-
ting it up in a roll on the back part of
the head. It is, perhaps, this style of
dressing their hair more than any oth-
er peculiarity, which makes them
look better than Siamese women com-
monly do. Even those who serve as cooks
for the king and other princes appear
so neat in the prosecution of their
business, that it gives one a good relish
for the dishes they prepare by simply
looking at them while thus engaged.
Their cooking utensils are mostly made
of copper. Iron rings from 8 to 12
inches in diameter sustained in a hor-
izontal position by four iron legs 8 in-
ches long form their fire places. Their
rice pots, spiders, tea kettles &c. are
placed on these portable stoves and
fire built under them.

We observed that a number of the
boats belonging to the retinue
have quite a quantity of teak blocks
on their bows brought down for use
in cooking for the king and his family.
The men were splitting them up into
small pieces for the women. Their
axes are exactly of the shape and size
of the iron wedge with which in our
youthful days we split wood and rails
They are used with great power in split-
ting, but must, we think, be quite awk-
ward to chop with.

LOCAL.

We had the pleasure of receiving
a small European mail on the 27th
ult. per British Steamer "Seewoon".
And from one of our Singapore Ex-
changes of the 18th Aug. we have
copied in our present issue some inter-
esting European intelligence.

Mr. Albert Tucker and Chia Ah
Hin came as passengers on the "See-
woon."

A. M. Odman Esqr. and Mr. Per-
eirs left for Singapore as passengers
on board the Siamese Str. "Chow Phya"
on the 25th ulto.

The steps at the landing in front
of the Protestant Chapel, we have
observed for a long time, are getting
much out of repair. The last sabbath
they seemed so bad as to render it
a good deal hazardous to ascend and
descend upon them. Allow us to en-
quire whose business it is to see that
they are repaired.

ELOPEMENT.—We learn that the wife
of H. A. Gardner Constable to the
British Consulate in this city, eloped
and fled the country under the pro-
tection of Captain Kruse, master of
"Orestes" a Siamese bark.

A SIAMESE MARRIAGE.—Koon Noo
son of the late governor of Ayü, his
was to-day married after Siamese style
to a niece of His E. Chow Phya Ka-
lahome and daughter of Phya Souri-
wong Wieyawat. The bridegroom we
think is a cousin of his bride. The
new married couple are to reside in a
house built for them by the father of
the bride in the vicinity of the old
homestead

Surveying Siam.

We have been credibly informed
that a certain European Engineer—-a
professional surveyor, has recently of-
fered his services to the Siamese gov-
ernment for making a scientifical sur-
vey of the rivers of Siam and other
parts of this kingdom, and that his
proffer has been rejected on the score
that there is not yet sufficient necess-
ity for such a work to justify the ex-
pense to which it would subject the
government. We know nothing of the
merits of this surveyor and consequent-
ly can form no opinion on the question of
paying him $500 per month for which
it is said, he has proposed to serve. We
can only say, that if he be a thorough
man in his profession, with strict hon-
esty and temperance as his security,
the Siamese government might well
afford to employ him on those terms.
The work which he proposes to do
is one of the gravest importance to the
prosperity of this kingdom. The Siam-
ese government should feel deeply
humbled in view of the fact that it
has never to this late day of her boast-
ed enlightenment had any accurate
surveys made of any one of her four
noble rivers, nor of the precise local-
ity, surroundings, and boundary of
more than half a dozen cities, towns,
or countries among all her many
States and tributary Provinces. How
can she deserve the name of being an
enlightened government while per-
sisting in such ignorance of her
own territory? As well might a surgeon
be said to be enlightened in his pro-
fession, who has never studied anato-
my, and has only a vague conjecture
of the nature and locality of the bones,
muscles, nerves, and blood vessels of
the human system. Let not the gov-
ernment think of excusing herself
longer from inaugurating thorough
surveys of her country on the ground
of pecuniary expense. Such a plea,
it seems to us, would be void of any
good reason. It would only prove that
the money which has been flowing in-
to the kingdom to an extraordinary
amount during these last 8 years, has
[............] on such works as do
not at all [....] the country. We
would counsel that all such expendi-
ture be stopped and the public money
devoted to making internal improve-
ments in good earnest.

Visit to the ruins of Cambodia.

After having passed to the other
side of the river of Siemrah, we en-
countered in the forests the ruins of
two other places which present the
same combination of a royal and priest-
ly residence as in the towns of Nakhon
Luang and Nakhon Watt. The royal
city bears the name of Patru Ta-
Phrohm,—the citadel of Ta-Phrohm
and the priestly one is called Prasat
Keoh, the gem tower. The ancient
kings removed to this place after the
destruction of Nakhon Watt and Na-
khon Luang, and there still exists a
long chain of traditions which connect
the first and second period of Cambo-
dian history, distinct indications of
which are given by the names them-
selves.

The last king of Nakhon Luang
lost his reign because he had erected
the four faced figure of Phrohm to
keep off the snake god, who till then
had been the protector of the country,
and the first king is called Ta Phrohm,
ancestor or Grand father Phrohm.

This statue still stands in one of the
corridors in a mutilated state, but
sufficiently well preserved to show
that the hair has been tied up in the
Bhraminical fashion. One of the
principal ornaments on roofs and bal-
conies is the vigorous figure of Kruth
Garuda, the inveterate enemy of the
Nagas tearing a viper in his hands.

The outer wall of the Patru Ta
Phrohm is only a mound of earth, but
the two inner circles are built of stone.
A line of passages and doorways leads
up to the palace, composed of an in-
tricate labyrinth of low and narrow
corridors enclosing small courts and
running out in small turrets, at the
ends between a convolute of chambers
of different sizes and filled with clusters
of pillasters. Most of the columns are
richly ornamented, and on each of the
portals is sculptured a scene referring
to some event in Hindu Mythology.
The whole pillar is often a mass of
sculpture from the base to the capitol.

The style of architecture is less col-
ossal than that of Nakhon Luang, but
the ornamental approaches in elegance
the master pieces which embellish Na-
khon Watt, and as in this latter place
the honey suckle border everywhere
decorates the columns by which the
pointed arch is supported.

The columns are clothed with ara-
besque which have been carved out
of the stone, and mostly enclose in
their curvatures the representations of
Rosi or Thevada or Thephanon a
figure frequently mistaken for a
Buddha. The palace at Patru Ta
Phrohm was surmounted by thirty-five
towers some of which are still stand-
ing, but most of them lie in ruins.
The stones are not so much hewn as
really polished, and they fit together
without mortar. The spires on the
roofs stand in groupes of five forming
a pancha Prauda like the ancient
buildings ascribed by the Malays to
their Hindu princes.

Prasat Keoh the adjoining temple
monastery of Patru Ta Phrohm stands
on a broad flat hill, to the summit of
which leads several flights of steps un-
der covered passages. The forest has
here reclaimed its own and destroyed
the work of human hands, so densely
has the luxuriant jungle shot up in
this formerly cultivated place that for
every step a path has to be cleared by
a cutlass. The plan of the buildings
is that of a cross four turrets with
gates at the four points of the horizon
surrounding a fifth one, and each of
those turrets opens again in four gates
placed at right angles. The temples
as well as the broad terraces on which
they stand are composed of large
stones which although consisting for
the most part of hard slate, are as
neatly fitted together as the soft grey
stone of Nakhon Watt. Ornaments
are very sparingly used and sculptures
of men and animals outside are want-
ing. The temple is said to have con-
tained the famous image of a single
Emerald, or more likely Jadestone,
like the present one called Phra Keoh
about which a great number of wild
legends are current in Siam and Cam-
bodis, originating perhaps in the re-
membrance of the wonderful Jasper
image of Ceylon, which was carried by
the priestly sculpture Nantch overland
to China in the fifth century and care-
fully preserved.

The arrival of Nantha Anon or
Ananda plays still an important part
in the traditions of the Cambodians,
who distinguish him very well from
Gautama's favorite disciple of the same
name.

The original of Phra Keoh was
perhaps the Jasper image of Ceylon
described still by Fa Hean, which had
already attracted the attention of the
Chinese in the first century.

In the neighborhood of Phra Keoh
is an artificial lake called Sa Song, the
royal lake, which was built by the
kings Patru Ta Phrohm for their re-
creation and surrounded by pleasure
houses. It is now covered with lotus
and aquatic plants but still supplies
the villages scattered in the forest with
water as there is no other near. It
must have been a work of immense
labour, and fills the beholder with
doubtful wonder when he compares
these witnesses of former centuries
with the present state of the country.
The whole of the population of Cam-
bodia of to-day would scarcely be able
to raise one of these gigantic structures
which abound in ruins.

The Burmese lake Oungbenteh
comes in no way near to that of Sa
Song, which may perhaps be placed
by the side of the Ceylonese works of
irrigation. The lake of Sa Song is of
oblong shape about 2000 feet broad,
and 4000 long, surrounded by a high
embankment of solid masonry. Some
of the blocks are from 14 to 16 feet
long and highly finished. In conven-
ient places square platforms overhang
the water, with broad flights of steps
leading down to it, and on such places
the huge masses of stones laid on each
other are embellished with delicate
chisellings bearing the figures of ser-
pents, eagles, and lions in three fabul-
ous shapes as Nagu, Kruth, Sinto, on
the ends. In the middle of the lake
is a small island with the remains of
a former palace upon it.

Of all the figures used for ornaments
that which occurs most frequently is
that of the Nags, and the Chinese of-
ficer who visited Cambodia in 1295
has described already the pillars of the
stone bridges adorned with serpents
each of which has nine heads.

Returning to Siemrab on the left
hand of the river I passed two other
remains of antiquity Laitan and Ba-
kong, both of them now converted
into convents, that is to say, the priests
have built their low and tottering cells
between these splendid ruins which
they were not able to repair.

At Laitan a large square platform
is supported by three terraces of cut
stone, ascending one above another on
the highest point of an inclined plain
which stretches away from these to
low grounds on the bushy horizon.
In the height of the rainy season these
are covered with water, and in this
lake boat races and boat fights were
annually held, as the tradition says,
the king of Inthapatsburi looking on
from the terraces of Laitan. A simi-
lar contrivance existed at Arnnapoorra
in Birma.

The stones of which the terraces of
Laitan are composed are huge blocks
symmetrically cut and joined together
with great accuracy. A broad flight
of steps guarded by lions leads up
from the side on one abutment: upon
the platform stand in two four Praasat
built up with bricks upon the free-
stone which forms the foundation and
the lower stage. The bricks are ex-
ceedingly hard and made in a manner
not understood now by the people of
the country. They are polished and laid
upon each other in so neat a manner
that no trace of mortar can be dis-
covered.

The folds of the stone gates are
covered with intricate carvings of re-
buculated ornaments, great care being
bestowed on even the minutest portions
of the design and in the niches ad-
joining statutes of warriors stand sen-
tinels. The surface of the stone
which forms the portal is in every case
elaborately sculptured to present one
scene or other of mythological import.

The most magnificent inscriptions
I have ever seen cover the door posts
from top to bottom in a nearly perfect
state of preservation, the letters are
three quarters of an inch long and cut
half an inch deep into the hard stone.
A another stone inscription is found on
both sides of a flat stone set upright.

The most interesting feature at Ba-
kong, one hours distance from Laitan,
is a hill built up artificially upon a
natural base in the style of the Mexi-
can Teocalli. It rises in terraced lines
and bears the remains of a square alter
upon its level platform where a wide
view opens out over the surrounding
country. The foot of the trunested
pyramid is surrounded by ten praasats
most of them with pedestals inside on
which the statues of the gods were
formerly placed. These are wanting
now, but some of them are heaped up
in idol houses close by. Mutilated
figures of elephants, lions and dragons
stand on the steps, and the stone
gates are embellished with ornamental
designs arabesque in the same way as
at Laitan. In the carvings of the
portal stone, the central place is al-
ways occupied by a Gorgon head on
the face of a Rakshaka called on ac-
count of its peculiar form Rhea by the
Siamese and Cambodians artists. This
is sometimes identified with Rahu, on
according to Cambodian Savans with
Rembu Chutung whose head when cut
off by Vishnu's Chakr had already
imbibed the immortalizing liquor. It
resembles somewhat the hideous mask
on the calender stone at Mexico and
in the sculptures at Palengu. Bakong
was built for the reception of Phra
Kho (the holy ox) which associated
with Phra Kheo (the holy gem) is
continually alluded to in Cambodian
history.

As the Chinese in the middle ages
after Bhraminical rites had been intro-
duced by the Tamulians remarked of
the kings of Ceylon, that they looked
with equal reverence on the Ox and
on the image of Buddh, so it was with
the kings of Cambodia, and even now
a days the form of Sevas bull lies on
the sacred hill of Udong, at the feet
of the temple of Gautama, whose sym-
bol was the ox in the Syara Malaya.
It is said that the people never ate the
cow nor killed it. The Buddhistic
priests to conceal the fact that the ox
had been worshipped, are accustomed
to say that it was used as a library
and kept in reverence on account of
the holy books placed in its belly. I
found no inscriptions at Bakong.

Of the ruins which I visited after
my having navigated the Thalesab in
the province of Battabong, I will only
mention those of Watt-ek, which con-
sists of a monastry, rising on a square
platform, formed by stone terraces
above the swampy ground surrounding
it. Banon which forms a fortified
temple on the top of a steep hill
amongst wild and romantic scenery,
and Basak which was formerly a royal
residence, with considerable remains
of walls, palaces, temples, houses and
streets all built or paved with stone,
and in some places repaired with
bricks. Sometimes to strengthen the
structure beams of a hard kind of iron
wood (chiefly at Watt-ek) are fixed
into the masonry, but in such a way
as only to become visible after the
outer stones have fallen down by some
accident.

The Cambodians who accompanied
me thought that some of the great
slabs were not natural but manufac-
tured on the spot, and I remember to
have seen such an opinion proffered
about some ancient temples in Assam,
as for instance the stone pillars at
Dhemapoor. Of the immense rocks
which enter into the construction of
Nakhon Watt, tradition says, that they
had first been soft and by some pro-
cess hardened after being placed there.
The guides point to the traces of the
fingers which the gods when they re-
moved left on the stones, taking for
such large holes which originally
served to insert the fastenings of the
lead or other metals with which the
building was roofed, or for the ma-
chinery to hoist them up. According
to the Chinese account in the 13th
century the palace of the Cambodian
kings was partly tiled with lead and
partly covered with yellow bricks.

Inscriptions are only found in Basak
and Watt-ek not in Banon, but the
ornamental sculptures of portals, gates,
and columns are equally exquisite on
the three places. Banon was formerly
ly as it is said the seat of Bhraminical
rites, and there are now families
of Bhramins settled in Cambodia as
well as in Siam and Birma, chiefly as
astrologers in the royal service. They
have an alphabet of there own, copies
of which I have procured, but the
letters bear little resemblance to those
of the inscriptions. Amongst the
statues frequently occurs that of the
Inan bearer in the form of the popular
hero, Kotabong, whose name (tabong)
disappeared, Bat at Battabong written
wrongly Phra tambong by the Siamese.

The natives enumerated many other
towns which according to their ac-
count contain ancient ruins in bricks
and stones, and it appears that they
are spread over the whole valley of
Mekhong as far a Laos, but as their
relative position could only be under-
stood on a map, I limit the catalogue
to two communications which were
given me on reliable authority, as the
2nd King of Siam told me, that there
are some stone ruins at Phra Mai
(probably Chieng Mai) near Raxasama
the capital of the province of Korat,
built on the model of the temple of
Nakhon Watt, but in smaller dimen-
sions.

The king had not visited Nakhon
Watt himself, as there prevails a mys-
terious fear throughout Siam and
Cambodia to approach this hallowed
spot; but several of his people who
accompanied him to Chieng Mai had
been at Nakhon Watt and were struck
with the resemblance.

A French missionary who had pass-
ed several years amongst the savage
tribes of Stien, describes to me exten-
sive stone ruins which exist on the
islands of Kosatin on the Mekhong
three days upwards from Panompen,
they consist of four large towers or-
namented with sculptures, and have an
ancient kind of letters inscribed on
them very like by the Akson Miking
as in the other places at Udong.

I saw in the principle Watt, two
inscribed stones which had been
brought from some ruins half way on
the road to Kampot.

The Origin and History of

#The Needle Gun.

The following account of the origin
and history of the needle-gun is nar-
rated by the Paris correspondent of the
Liverpool Journal. Everything rela-
ting to the terrible instrument has a
special interest at the present moment.

If the Peace Society had offered a re-
ward for the invention of the best means
of putting a speedy end to war, the prize
might certainly be claimed by the inven-
tor of the needle-gun, which evidently
proves to be the secret possessed by Bis-
marck, and to which he has so often allud-
ed as ensuring a successful termination of
the struggle with Austria. The news of
the complete defeat of the latter, after a
terrible combat in which the whole forces
of both parties were engaged, has filled
with dismay even those who had hoped for
this very result; for it is owned that
neither to superior bravery nor skill, nei-
ther to superior numbers nor advantage in
ground, is the victory owing, but simply to
the employment of the needle-gun. This arm,
which has shown itself equal to the task
attempted in vain by philosophy and reli-
gion, that of staying the combatants and
arresting the progress of war, has a history
exactly similar in all points to that of
every other invention. It is well known
to be the produce of the long study and
perseverance of an English officer who,
while stationed at a solitary outpost in
Canada, amused his leisure hours with ex-
periments in the rough construction of a
substitute for the rifle which he had dam-
aged by letting it drop down a precipice
while in pursuit of a bear. It was almost
by accident that the discovery became
palpable to the solitary hunter in the
woods. But no sooner did it become
manifest to his senses than he resigned his
commission in the army, returned to
Europe, and, as a matter of course, hurried
to the War Office with his invention,
certain of its adoption in the English
army, from its evident superiority over
the old-fashioned weapon in use. For
more than a year was the inventor kept
in suspense. The Enfield rifle met him at
every turn. He was bandied about from
one official to another during all this time
merely to be told at last that Government
did not feel disposed to alter the principle
of the arms employed. It was then that
in disgust he brought his invention to
Paris, and by even a more bitter mockery
of fate than in London he obtained an in-
terview with the Emperor, who listened
with the greatest apparent interest to the
description of the gun, examined the plans
and sections brought by the officer, much
questioned the superiority of the invention
over others which had been laid before
him, declared it seemed to him liable to
the great objection of being too delicate
for field use, and abruptly sounded the
little gong which stands upon his bureau,
and, lightly rising when the usher entered
at the summons, dismissed the visitor to
admit other inopportunates. It was then
that with the undaunted perseverance of
inventors in general, he betook himself,
armed with his needle-gun, to Holland,
whose Sovereign had always manifested
great interest in the advancement of gun-
nery, and who had first become the pur-
chaser of a steel caullker to repair instan-
taneously the damage caused by the en-
emy's shot in ships' sides, which, being
the invention of a poor carpenter's jour-
neyman, had nevertheless found its way
into the royal presence, and been accepted
without the smallest attempt at bargain-
ing. But, when arrived at the Hague he
found that his resources had dwindled
away to such an extent that he was com-
pelled to delay his presentation to the
King for want of proper costume to appear
in. Meanwhile, he became accidentally
acquainted with one of the gentlemen at-
tached to the Prussian Legation at the
Hague, and to whom he recounted his
bitter grievances. This time was he lis-
tened to with interest. The brother-in-law
of his new friend held some appointment at
the Court of Berlin. War and revolution
were already floating through the air. He
saw at once all the advantage which might
accrue from being the first to present a
new and valuable instrument of destruc-
tion to Bismarck so determined to destroy,
and he lost no time in repairing with the
Englishman to Berlin. Here the way was
open—the hour had come, the needle-gun
was tried, examined, and accepted in the
shortest possible space of time—the inven-
tor handsomely rewarded and encouraged
to establish himself in Prussia. We have
seen the result in this terrible encounter
with the Austrians, where courage, skill,
prudence, and valour were of no avail
against the needle-gun, which for a long
time served as the laughing-stock to every
ETAT MAJOR in Europe, and which has
now become an object of envy to all.
The Austrian cavalry, which by sheer in-
trepidity managed to break one or two
squares of the Prussian infantry in spite
of the needle-gun, did so at an enormous
sacrifice of life, and proved beyond all
doubt that both cavalry and infantry have
found their master in the terrible weapon
employed by the Prussians in this war.

The odds in favour of the needle-gun are
easy enough to calculate. The Prussians
can fire three rounds a minute: if four
minutes' march be the usual time allotted
for a bayonet charge, the Austrian foot-
soldier must have stood four-and-twenty
shots before he could have a chance of
meeting the enemy hand to hand: and,
should he give way to take the full spring
forward, he must of necessity have been
struck down. With such certainty of des-
truction as that provided by the needle-
gun, all question of right and justice be-
comes unnecessary.—-STRAITS TIMES.

MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKENS.
—A writer in the New York TIMES says:
"When the chickens are hatched, if be-
fore taking them from the nest you
would oil the top of the heads of the
chicks, you will destroy all the lice there
are in the brood; for as soon as two or
three chicks are hatched, all the lice up-
on the hen leave her, and quarter them-
selves on the heads of the chicks, and
the oil will kill them; and then with
clean quarters for the chicks on a start,
and a thorough cleaning of the coop each
week, you will not fail to raise your
brood."

THE BULLET AND DISEASE.—The Pro-
vost-Marshal General has furnished the
War Department with various statistics
of the war in which the casualties in the
Union service during the war are set
down as 280,737, distributed as follows:
Officers killed in action, or died of
wounds while in the service, 5,221; en-
listed men do., 90,868; commissioned of-
ficers died from disease or accident, 2,
821; enlisted men do., 182,329. It will
thus be seen that nearly one hundred
thousand more men died from camp and
other diseases, than were killed and died
from wounds.

DR. CHALMERS instructs us to "Live
for something." Do good and leave
behind you a monument of virtue that
the storm of time can never destroy.
Write your name in kindness, love,
and mercy, on the hearts of thousands
you come in contact with year by
year; you will never be forgotten. No;
your name, your deeds will be as legi-
ble on the hearts you leave behind as
the stars on the brow of evening. Good
deeds will shine as the stars of heaven."

DURING one of the battles on the
Mississippi, General Pillow called out
to a Captain Duncan, in his usual
pompous, solemn manner, "Captain
Duncan, fire!—the crisis has come."
Duncan, without saying a word, turn-
ed to his men, who were standing by,
their guns already shotted and primed,
and simply called out "Fire!" The
men were slightly surprised at the or-
der, their being no particular object
within range, when an old grey-head-
ed Irish sergeant stopped up with,
"Plaze yer honor, what shall we fire
at?" "Fite at the crisis," said Dun-
can, "didn't you hear the general say
it had come?"

Results of the Constantinople
Cholera Commission.

The Commission chosen from the
members of the International Sanitary
Conference have drawn up an able and
comprehensive report, after a laborious
session of two months. The questions of
the origin, the naturalization, the trans-
mission, and the propagation of cholera
were examined in all their aspects, and
the Commission have embodied the facts
collected in the course of the inquiry,
and the conclusions obtained, in a docu-
ment which will rank hereafter amongst
the most valuable authorities on the sub-
ject of special diseases. The Commission
formed itself into six sections. The gen-
erating origin of the disease was assigned
to the first, its transmission and import-
ation to the second; the circumstances
and intermediate agents of such transmis-
sion to the third, while the fourth under-
took to examine the influence of large
gatherings of human beings on the inten-
sity and propagation of the disease. To
the fifth section was given the task of
resuming the facts thus ascertained, and
of deducing from them means for arres-
ting the progress of the disease, and the
labours of the sixth comprised the special
study of the epidemic of last year.

The inquiries of the first section were
directed towards India, regarded as the
birthplace of cholera since its first ap-
pearance in Europe. The disease, traced
to the earliest periods of Indian history,
seems to have disappeared towards the
close of the last century, reappearing in
1817 in the new and formidable charac-
ter of an invading pestilence. It spread
beyond the immediate confines of the
peninsula on several occasions in the
years immediately succeeding 1817, but
it was not till 1830 that it found its way
to Europe. This invasive tendency, ob-
serves the report, gave to the cholera the
character of a new disease. Since that
fatal epoch it has constantly threatened
mankind, not by any distinct or "fatal"
route, but by following the footsteps of
human beings as their passage offered
opportunities for its conveyance. It has
in no instance moved faster than the
human stream, while the rapidity of its
progress has increased in proportion to
the increased speed of communication
between distant countries. For this rea-
son, the Commission emphatically re-
pudiates the notion that the seeds of the
disease can be carried by the atmosphere.
Reverting to India, the Commission de-
clares its decided and unanimous opinion,
that every invasion of cholera since its
first appearance originated in India,
the birthplace of the malady, and where
it constantly remains in an endemic state.
In unison with the general opinion the
basin of the Ganges is declared to be the
focus of disease, and Calcutta is desig-
nated one of its principal strongholds;
but others are enumerated, amongst
which are Bombay and Arcot, near Mad-
ras.

The habits of the Hindoos and the
vast and reckless assemblages at Jug-
gernauth and elsewhere form, in the
opinion of the Commission, a quite suf-
ficient explanation of the extent and per-
tinacity of the Indian cholera.

The Commission, thus agreed in fixing
the origin of the cholera in Hindustan,
is almost equally unanimous in denying
that it originates or is permanently dom-
iciled elsewhere. It is admitted that in
the countries bordering on India the dis-
ease is so frequently present as almost to
appear endemic, but this frequency is
probably owing to the proximity of the
centre of the disease. The question of
the Hedjaz is especially and carefully
examined. It is allowed that the district
is at all times liable to sporadic cholera,
and the epidemic in its worst form has
shown itself very frequently during the
period of the pilgrimage. But the Com-
mission decidedly, and with the excep-
tion of Dr. Goodeve unanimously, rejec-
ted the notion that cholera had at any
period been spontaneously developed in
the Hedjaz.

The vital question of the transmission
of cholera which forms the next subject
of inquiry, is carefully and fully handled.
The report traces the line of choleraic
progress on various occasions, and shows
it to have concurred directly with the
line of march of human beings. In some
instances it distinctly followed the march
of armies. In America its first attacks
have in every case been made in the sea-
ports. Instances are given from several
choleraic periods showing the precise
mode in which the epidemic was brought
from place to place by human beings.
In the advance of last year it travelled
from the Hedjaz to Paris in three months
and a half, and its course, in accordance
with the usual traveling route, can be
clearly followed. In various remote spots
of Germany, too, its advent strictly coin-
cided with that of travelers from infect-
ed spots. It even appears that vessels
arriving from infected places may import
the disease, even though no person on
board be affected by it. One instance of
this occurred last year, when the cholera
appeared at Guadaloupe immediately af-
ter the arrival of a ship from Marseilles.
No case of the disease was on board, yet
no other vehicle of contagion existed.
The cases of importation by choleraic
vessels into the small islands of the West
Indies and the Indian Ocean, are extreme-

ly numerous. On this point, therefore,
the Commission unanimously decides that
the cholera is propagated by man, with
greater rapidity as the locomotion
of man himself becomes more active and
rapid.

The transmission of cholera by human
agency is further proved by the progress
as well as by the first importation of the
disease. The development at Constan-
tinople last year followed the course of
communication between the several
quarters of the city. In the villages of
the Bosphorus its appearance was nearly
in every case contemporaneous with the
arrival of infected persons. The ap-
proach of even a diarrhoeic patient may,
according to the report, introduce cholera
in its worst form. Further proofs are ad-
duced from the success of strict quaran-
tine in effectually barring out the epide-
mic. Sicily and Greece are instanced as
having been thus preserved last year,—-
to which the Commission might have ad-
ded Tunis. Passing from man to his
companion or his property, there appear
to be no good grounds for suspecting the
lower animals to be agents in choleraic
transmission. It is, however, very differ-
ent with inanimate objects which have
been in contact with human bodies. Lin-
en which has been used by cholera pa-
tients, is pronounced to be a most dan-
gerous vehicle of the disease. Washer-
women have accordingly in every instance
been especially liable to attack. Clothes
brought from a distance have turned out
to be the cause of choleraic visitation in
remote places where the appearance of
the epidemic was at first altogether in-
explicable, and even ordinary goods
which have in no way served as clothing
may transmit the malady. On this most
important point the Commission declares
"that all effects of which use is made,
coming from an infected place, and es-
pecially those used by patients, may
transmit the cholera, even though kept
from contact with the air; and further,
that every article coming from an infect-
ed place should be considered as suspect-
ed. In the category of objects especially
dangerous are to be considered human
corpses.

The effect of the disease on gatherings
of human beings is the next subject of
examination. The special gatherings
from which danger is to be apprehended
are these religious pilgrimages, the great
fairs of the East, and armies. On the
first the Commission expresses a strong
opinion. Whilst exonerating the Hedjaz
pilgrimages from the charge of origina-
ting the evil, it transfers the accusation
to the pilgrimages to Juggernauth and
the other great religious gatherings of
the Hindoos. The cholera, endemic in
the country, is developed and propagated
by those large gatherings of persons with-
out regard for life, decency, or safety,
and whose religious prejudices are above
all others at once the most provocative
of disease and the most difficult of man-
agement. After these gatherings, the
disease becomes epidemic in the greater
part of Hindostan, from whence under
favourable circumstances it spreads to
the outside world. Armies also are fav-
ourable to the reception of the contami-
nation and apt to carry it with them. But
troops are less liable to dispersion than
other assemblages, and the risk is there-
fore more limited. It is otherwise with
the great fairs, from whence the disease,
if once imported, is liable to be exten-
sively dispersed. The Commission con-
cludes on this point that "these three
great human conglomerations are one of
the most certain means of propagating
cholera, that they constitute the great
epidemic foci which import the disease
into the places which they traverse, and
that the attacks of the disease upon
these conglomerations—-commonly very
violent—in most cases rapidly disappear.
The Commission adds that the disease
may be arrested by dispersing these gath-
erings of human beings, but the danger
of its transmission elsewhere is thereby
increased.

With reference to the faction of the
epidemic upon masses of human beings,
the Commission has collected some curi-
ous facts. The mortality, it would ap-
pear, is not so great as might be expect-
ed on board ship, and is still less in the
lazarets. From the latter, however, it is
apt to spread to the neighbouring towns.
Instances are quoted of high rates of
mortality in vessels at sea; one of those
mentioned being that of the French fleet,
which suffered greatly from cholera dur-
ing the Crimean war, but such cases are
considered exceptional. Those who have
lived through a violent choleraic visita-
tion, are less liable to danger on the re-
turn of the epidemic, and may, according
to the report even be said to enjoy a
species of immunity from infection. The
ambient air is the great vehicle of conta-
gion, but acts as such at only a short dis-
tance from infected persons. A porous
soil impregnated with matter from a dis-
eased patient is a special source of mis-
chief, and may even renew the contagion
after the disease has become apparently
extinct. The Commission examines the
period of what is called the "incubation"
of cholera, the time elapsing between the
reception of the poison into the frame,
and the earliest manifestation of diarr-
hoea. This period appears never to ex-
tend beyond a few days. Finally, the
Commission observes that the real nature
and cause of the origin of cholera can
only be determined by strict inquiries
instituted at its birth place in the basin
of the Ganges.—FRIEND OF INDIA.

CORRECTION.

In the Tide Table of the
Bangkok Calendar for
1866 for May, June, Au-
gust, and October, for High
read Low, and for Low
read HIGH.