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.

The Recorder will be open to Correspon-
dents subject to the usual restrictions.

The Proprietor will not be responsible
for the sentiments of his correspondents.

No communication will be admitted un-
less accompanied by the name of the Cor-
respondent.

No rejected manuscript will be returned
unless as a special favor.

Prepaid advertisements under three months
for the first insertion, ten lines or half a square
and under, One Dollar, and each additional
line, Five Cents.

Subsequent insertions, SEVENTY FIVE
Cents for ten lines, and each additional line,
FIVE Cents.

Advertisers must be particular to specify
the number of insertions.

For advertisements over three months the
following are the Terms.

The above is calculated for Brevier body.
All advertisements payable separately and in
advance.

Communications and remittances can be
sent to the subscriber, or left at the store of
Messrs. Virgin & Co.

D. B. BRADLEY, PUBLISHER & PROPRIETOR.

An “unsurpassed” Hymn.

In the NEW-ENGLANDER for August,
1860, Dr. Bacon pronounces the following
exquisite hymn “unsurpassed in the Eng-
lish or any other language” and adds that
“perhaps it is as near perfection as any
uninspired language can be.” It is usual-
ly ascribed to Hillhouse, the poet, i. e.,
James A. Hillhouse, but, according to Dr.
Bacon, it was written by his younger bro-
ther, Augustus L. Hillhouse, who died
near Paris in March, 1859.

Pastor Harms.

This great and good man, who has re-
cently died in Germany, has shown to the
world what great things can be accom-

plished for Christ by faith and prayer and
untiring labor. He lived and died in Her-
mannsburg, a village on the great Lune-
burger Heath, becoming the pastor of the
parish after the death of his father in
1848. The care of this parish, which is
about ten miles square, and contains seven
villages, would seem to be sufficient to
engross a pastor's thoughts and energies.
A dead orthodoxy prevailed; but, under
his earnest and faithful labors, a new
Christian life soon began to pervade the
people, which, under his direction for over
sixteen years, has made the parish of Her-
mannsburg the most remarkable mission-
ary community in the world.

Though his people knew nothing of for-
eign missions, he soon formed the plan of
establishing a missionary institute for
training candidates for the work by a
course of four years; where, besides study-
ing to be ministers, they could learn some
trade, and thus be able to introduce the
arts of christian life as well as christian
ordinances into heathen countries. He,
however, had no funds to start the enter-
prise, and his people were poor. He then
cast himself upon God, and like Müller of
Bristol, found that He whose is the silver
and the gold, could supply all his wants.
Funds flowed in upon him from all parts
of the world, enabling him to build a large
building, and afterwards another, capable
of accommodating forty-eight students.
Over a hundred candidates now desire ad-
mission to the institute.

In 1858, when eight students had finish-
ed their course of study and were desirous
of establishing a mission on the east coast
of Africa, the question arose how were
they to be sent? Pastor Harms decided
that they must build a ship; and though
most of his people had never seen a ship
on the ocean, and lived at a distance from
any port of the German sea, he prayed to
God for this.

The ship called the Candace was built,
and sailed from Hamburg October 18th,
1858, and has been sailing on missionary
voyages ever since, having transported
more than fifty missionaries and more than
a hundred colonists. They have nine mis-
sion stations in Africa, over 40,000 acres
of land appropriated to the missionary
service, and more than a hundred converts.
Preachers have also gone from his insti-
tute to Australia, the East Indies, and to
the Germans in our western States. In
1854 he started a monthly paper to diffuse
missionary news among his people, which
has now a circulation of 14,000, the larg-
est of any religious periodical in Germany.

With all the immense additional toil
which the oversight of these great enter-
prises required, his custom being to spend
twelve hours a day over his books or cor-
respondence, while he seldom retired to
rest before two or three o'clock at night,
Pastor Harms did not neglect his paro-
chial duties. He preached three times on
the Sabbath, often two hours at a time,
and held a daily evening exercise of pray-
er for an hour at the parsonage. His peo-
ple were trained to systematic giving, eve-
ry member of his church bringing to him
each week, for missions, as God had pros-
pered him. There are no beggars, no
drunkards, no ragged straggling children,
and no paupers in his parish. In every
house there is family prayer morning and
evening: no one is absent from church
services on the Sabbath or in the week,
except from sickness. His people are very
industrious and live in great harmony.

And all this, humanly speaking, is the
work of one man, afflicted with a painful
disease, but animated by an all-conquer-
ing faith, trusting not in man, but in the
promises of an Almighty and prayer-hear-
ing God. Professor Park, of Andover, who
visited him in 1863, says of him, "I never
saw a man so wonderful—so much like a
being of another world and a superior
race."—THE PACIFIC.

Carlyle on John Knox.

Thomas Carlyle, in his late inaugural
address to the Edinburgh students, paid a
noble tribute to the Puritan Reformers in
general, and to John Knox in particular.
Having remarked of Cromwell : "I don't
know, in any history of Greece or Rome,
where you will get so fine a man as Oliver
Cromwell, he added:

And we have had men worthy of mem-
ory in our own corner of the island here
as well as others, and our history has been
strong at least in being connected with the
world history, for, if you examine well,
you will find that John Knox was the au-
thor, as it were, of Oliver Cromwell ; that
the Puritan Revolution would never have
taken place in England at all, had it not
been for that Scotchman. That is an au-
thentic fact, and is not prompted by na-
tional vanity on my part at all. And it is
very possible, if you look at the struggle
that was then going on in England, as I
have had to do in my time, you will see
that the people were overawed by the im-
mense impediments lying in the way. A
small minority of God-fearing men in the
country were flying away with any ship
they could get, to New England, rather
than take the lion by the beard. They
dare not confront the powers with their
most just complaints to be delivered from
idolatry. They wanted to make the nation
altogether conformable to the Hebrew Bi-
ble, which they understood to be accord-
ing to the will of God, and there could be
no aim more legitimate. However, they
could not have got their desire fulfilled at
all if Knox had not succeeded by the firm-
ness and nobleness of his mind ; for he is
also of the select of the earth to me—-John
Knox. What he has suffered from the
ungrateful generation that have followed
him, should really make us humble our-
selves to the dust, to think that the most
excellent man our country has produced,
to whom we owe everything that has dis-
tinguished us among modern nations,
should have been so sneered at and abused.
Knox was heard in Scotland—-the people
heard him with the marrow of their bones—
they took up his doctrine, and they defied
principalities and powers to move them
from it. "We must have it," they said.

"This doctrine of Knox, which inspired
the people of Scotland, and which gave
birth to Cromwell and the Puritan Revolu-
tion, we need not say was Calvinism. We
do not think that its virtues are yet ex-
tinct, nor that a little more of it would
hurt the American people, or make them
less firm and invincible than Knox and his
followers. The New England Fathers had
the same spirit, because they had the same
faith. If we would inherit and perpetuate
the former, we must not abandon the lat-
ter. The doctrine of the absolute sover-
eignty of God and of the absolute depen-
dence of man—it is the doctrine to make
men at once humble and strong, obedient
and unconquerable. The faith of the Scotch
Reformer, of the English Puritan, of the
New England Pilgrim, is yet needed to
steel the supporters of freedom, of justice
and of pure christianity in America. En-
larged, liberalized, humanized, let it be as
much as you please, but not diluted, nor
mutilated, nor sublimated to mere va-
por."—-THE PACIFIC.

Accessory Before the Fact.

When the President issued his pro-
clamation for the capture of Davis,
charging him with a part in the assas-
sination of Lincoln, the accusation was
almost too enormous for belief. And
when time dragged on without his arraign-
ment, and the trial of the chief assassins
failed to prove the complicity of the
Richmond authorities, it seemed that
Mr. Johnson acted hastily and without
good evidence.

The report of the judiciary commit-
tee, to whom was referred this whole
matter, will materially change public
conviction. The testimony is so strong
that the committee do not hesitate to
say that it is PROBABLE that Davis was
accessory before the fact to Mr. Lin-
coln's death. The evidence which they
present, gathered from the captured r.
b. el archives, lacks but a link or too to
make the chain of full conviction com-
plete. Whether that link will ever be
found, and Mr. Davis' crimes stand to
public gaze crowned with that greater
one, at the thought of which the world
stands aghast, is uncertain. It is proved
that plans and propositions for the mur-
der of the Federal authorities were re-
ceived and considered by him, and the
very papers, endorsed in his own hand
writing are in possession of our authori-
ties. It is proved that Booth was in pre-
vious communication with and in the
confidence of the rebel cabinet, and that
he also was in communication with the
leaders in the plots to burn New York,
blow up the National Capital and burn
the Mississippi steam boats, and that
these fiendish enterprises were set on
foot by Davis and his advisers. And to
remove all doubt that Mr. Davis could
stoop to such, a depth of villainy the
documentary evidence is produced that
he was directly responsible for the hor-
rors of Andersonville and Belle Isle, that
he knew the state of things in the prison-
depots when at their worst, and refused
to interfere to ameliorate them.

In the light of these revelations we do
not wonder that there is a hurrying of
Davis' counsel to Fortress Monroe, and
long consultations. Nor do we wonder
at the nervous sleepiness of the crim-
inal which complained of a quiet sentry's
tread as unendurable.—-Lo. Co. News.

Seward-—Then and Now.

These are the words which Mr. Sew-
ard hears from old friends as he turns
his back on those principles of which he
once made so proud defense. Says the
Utica HERALD:

It has been our habit to confide in
William H. Seward. We remember when,
“faithful among the faithless,” he held
high the banner of liberty and human
rights, and his ringing words aroused the
country like a clarion. We cannot forget
the services he rendered to that cause
through trying years in the Senate, when
great men fell away from it. History
will make mention that he steered the
ship of State amid foreign breakers and
storms, when a false movement of the
rudder would have ruined it. His name
is subscribed to the Emancipation Pro-
clamation with that of Lincoln. He can-
not, if he would, sever his name from the
destruction of slavery in the land. Weary
with cares and with years, does he now
refuse to go further in the work of es-
tablishing liberty and securing justice?
Jubilant over what has been gained, is
he ready to forgive his old enemies? So
far no one can complain. It is when Mr.
Seward prefers enemies to friends, when
he throws his influence for reaction, when
he casts away the records of his life and
enters on a sole[?] in which success is in-

famy, he must go without the associates
who have held him up heretofore, without
the inspiration of the principles which
have made him all he is.—-Lo. Co. News.

An Authentic Account of the
New Orleans Riot.

[The following letter was not design-
ed for publication; but, as we so thor-
oughly know the writer's truthfulness and
intelligence, we lay his authentic account
before our readers. Our correspondent has
been a twenty years' resident in the South,
and was a Union officer during the war.—-
ED. INDEPENDENT.]

Yesterday was a sad day for New Or-
leans. The Convention of '64 met at
noon, at the Mechanics' Institute. After
calling the roll, on motion of Hon. King
Cutler, a recess of one hour, to admit
the sergeant-at-arms time to bring in the
absent members, was carried unanimously.

During the interim, on a preconcerted
arrangement made by the mayor, the
alarm-bells were tolled, and the conven-
tion was attacked by the whole united
police force. It can be proven, whenever
an investigation may be had, that the
mayor issued orders to the entire police
force to be in readiness, and doubly arm-
ed. At twelve o'clock on Sunday night
the police were called off their stations.
On Saturday Rebel Gen. Harry T. Hayes,
sheriff of New Orleans, swore in 250
extra deputies. The rebels were cut-and-
dried for the affray and they carried out
their vile intent with a vengeance.

It has been their intent to frustrate
the action of the convention at any and
every hazard. The Union men did not
suspect anything more than that writs for
the arrest of the members of the conven-
tion would perhaps be issued.

About one o'clock p. m. yesterday, the
Institute was surrounded by the whole
rebel police force-—for all these are parol-
ed rebel soldiers—-and others in citizens
clothes, all armed to the teeth. About
two hundred negroes were in the hall of
the Institute and outside in the street.
I was in the hall when the convention
took a recess, and for twenty-five minutes
afterward. I had been sick, and just out
of the hospital, and went out to take
some refreshment. I noticed, particularly,
that the negroes were not armed, except,
perhaps, some who may have had small
pistols in their pockets. As a proof of
this, the rebels killed between sixty and
seventy negroes and wounded 150 more.
Ninety wounded negroes were carried to
the marine hospital, who, when released
by the military, were unable to go to
their homes, being too badly mutilated.
Only a few policemen were wounded,
and it is supposed they shot each other
accidentally.

Ten policemen rushed up the stairs of
the hall, and commenced firing indiscri-
minately at black and white. Dr. Hulton,
Baptist minister, who offered prayer at
the opening of the convention, cried to
the police, "For God's sake not to fire,"
that "the people were unarmed," etc.
But nothing could induce these fiends to
desist; they fired away, and killed and
wounded many. They retired but to re-
load, and returned to the bloody work.

I was returning to the hall of the In-
stitute when the word was passed along
the street, "A riot! a riot!" I saw a negro
coming from the Institute all bloody. I
went on to within one square of the hall,
when a general hub-hub was raised, and
shots fired as if a regiment of soldiers
were engaged in a regular battle, people
running to and fro. I went into a house
and to the second story, where I had a
full view. I saw a negro shot down, and
several beating him with sticks and brick-
bats; a policeman came up, and struck
him with a mace; he was dragged across
the street, and beaten on the head and
back with bricks and clubs, and then
dragged off to jail. I saw another man
across the street, near the railroad car;
he was shot down and dragged into the
gutter. I saw another dragged out of
the Harrow-street car, and shot at sev-
eral times; I saw a policeman shoot him,
not eight feet distant.

Every place where a negro was found
about the hall of the convention was the
signal of his murder. Many hid themsel-
ves under the houses, and in corners in
coalpiles, ect.; but were unmercifully
shot, and stabbed, and beaten. The riots
of Memphis were but child's play to this.

This has all emanated from the policy
inaugurated by Andy Johnson. Where
it will end God only knows. There is no
security for life or liberty here—for white
men, much less negroes. I tell you—and
mark my words for it—-that it will not be
five years from this day—-if every thing
goes on here in the same progressive ratio
as in the past twelve months—when slav-
ery will be established in this state, in one
shape or another.

All the blood which has been shed
should be justly laid upon Andrew John-
son and his accursed policy.

Fourth of July.

The editor of the Xenia TORCHLIGHT
gave the National Anniversary the fol-
lowing puff:

“It is only ninety years ago to-day
since the sublime Declaration of Indepen-
dence announced our country to be one
of the nations of the earth. There are
men now living whose age reaches back
to the birth of the nation. A nation not
older than a man, with thirty millions of
population, thirty hundred millions of
public debt, eight million traitors, and—-
Andrew Johnson.

It is a hurried little history for ninety
years. But that is what we have come
to. Yet our record has some luminous
lines in it.

We have distinctly whipped Great
Britain twice. (N. B. We are hankering
to do it again.)

We have waved the banner of glory in
and around the Halls of the Montezumas.
(and we have about made up our mind
that Maximilian has waved his there
nearly long enough.)

We have built incredible thousands of
miles of railroad. (Likewise, we have
smashed incredible thousands of Ameri-
can people thereon.)

We have invented and put in practice
an infinite tangle of telegraph all over
this continent. (And we keep it to the
top of its lightning in diffusing Associated-
Press dispatches and Johnson’s vetoes.)

We have searched the old forest with
republican civilization, from the Atlantic
to the Pacific coast. (In which process
we have combed out and cracked innum-
erable vile vermin of humanity called
“red men of the forest,”-—romantically
so called.)

We have given to the world the bless-
ed sewing machine and Hoe’s cylinder
press. (With which we are in a way to
sew up and Hoe down all creation.)

We have fought the greatest civil war
of the world’s history, crushing a con-
spiracy of eight million people,—-the most
causelessly, criminally, and desperately
treasonable people the sun ever shone
upon. (Besides, we squelched, in the
same process, the hundreds of thousands
—-we don’t know how many—of their
copperhead allies in our midst; and were
so lamentably magnanimous as not to
have hanged any of them,—-letting them
all live to vote us back to where we fought
out from.)

We have, by this war, righted the most
stupendous wrong of christendom, strik-
ing off the shackles from four million
slaves, and restoring to them those “un-
alienable rights of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness” which our 4th-of-
July Declaration maintains that all are
“endowed with.” (We are taking meas-
ures to secure these freed loyalists in the
aforesaid rights by remanding them to
the mild and patriarchal rule of those
whose judicious and gentle lash has go-
verned them hitherto, even as a fond
father governeth his wayward children.)

In this war, we put the finest body of
soldiers into the field that ever did bat-
tle,—-noble, generous, glorious men, who,
(God bless them!) lavished their lives by
the hundred thousand that we might still
be a nation. (And we manufactured
Generals and Colonels enough to fill our
offices for two generations.)

In this war, too, we found three of the
grandest heroes of history.—-Grant, Sher-
man, Sheridan. (This was after we had
found George B. McClellan.)

We had for President, from the begin-
ning to the end of this war, one of the
most honest, earnest, genuine men that
even guided a people through the Red
Sea of battle. (We have-—Andrew John-
son.)

Such are some of the glories (and so
forth) that it is natural to recur to on
this 4th of July. And it is natural, too,
to look round and contemplate results.
We have the ninety years of national
growth before us—-and that with slavery’s
mortal poison in the national soul and
body. Look at it, and, without any 4th-
of-July fustian, say if there is anything
in the books that can be named in com-
parison. In spite of the shameful and
degrading drawback, we have risen to a
standing with the first rate powers of the
earth.

But, the stain on the banner now dyed
out with patriotic blood, we go forward
from a new era henceforth. Ten 4ths of
July from this will not have passed till
we shall be recognized as the controlling
power on the globe. This is not patriotic
prophecy; this is the logic of events—-
destiny.

Dear readers, may we all celebrate
that hundredth 4th of July. And let us
live, and act, and vote as to feel that we
have contributed our share to promote
the integrity, peace, prosperity, and gran-
deur of the Great Republic.—-Lo. Co.
News.

EMPLOYMENT. “Nature’s physician,” is
so essential to human happiness, that indo-
lence is justly considered as the “mother
of misery.”

Bangkok Recorder.

An outlook Homeward.

By the last Chow Phya we are in
receipt of telegrams from U. S. to the
7th September; from London to the
8th September; papers from the States
to the 23d of August; from London to
8th September; from Serampore to
20th ult; from Penang to 22d Sept.,
from Shanghai to 15th September, from
Hongkong to 27th September and
from Singapore to 6th inst.

Peace appears to be fully establish-
ed in Europe, and the results of the
late war no less inspiring of hope, to
our minds, than when we ventured to
pen our thoughts on the subject four
weeks ago. We feel confident that we
shall yet see more and more occasion
to admire our King of kings for his
wisdom and power, faithfulness and
love in overruling and directing the
political affairs of Europe.

The signs of the times in the U. S.
seem to indicate a very stormy time near
at hand. President Johnson still ad-
heres to his policy of admitting all the
Southern States, lately glowing hot in
rebellion and now but doubtfully
penitent, to full representation in Con-
gress without delay: and Congress still
opposes it with great wisdom and
power though there have been some
deplorable defections from her ranks.
It is very sad to see the President
using his great power to proscribe the
Republican party who raised him to
his high seat, and on whose platform
he pledged himself to abide. His pro-
mises of being a Moses to the Freed-
men, he seems to have abandoned,
leaving them to fight their own way
alone through the wilderness, beset
with most fearful dangers. Instead of
exerting his influence to punish any
leader of the rebellion, and thus asser-
ting 'the majesty of the law against
treason, as he has often said he would do,
he pardons all. It looks too much as
if he had gone back into Egypt and
become confederate with Pharaoh and
his host.

He seems now to fraternize more
with Southern politicians, whose hands
have been imbued in the blood of hun-
dreds of thousands of Union men, than
with the party who under God sub-
dued the rebellion, and who elected
him to power. He is making most
extraordinary efforts to form a new
political organization composed of
those Southerners, and those at the
North who sympathized with them in
the rebellion. He is determined to
swell their ranks by all the power he
has to make backsliders from the Re-
publican party. He hopes to sway
the elections this fall so that the next
Congress will favor his policy of re-
construction, leaving the question of
the full enfranchisement of the blacks
to be disposed of as shall best suit
their old masters. We must say that
we can have little hope for any peace
and prosperity to the Freedmen for a
whole generation to come, if that poli-
cy shall be fully inaugurated. But
our hope in God is, that he will leave
Mr. Johnson to work out his own over-
throw in the course he is taking, that
the people of the States will thus be
incited to come to the polls against
him with overwhelming majorities,
and that the next Congress will be
found even stronger against him than
the one which has just been disbanded.

The Philadelphia Convention, held
last August for raising a new political
party for sustaining the President's
policy, appears to have been the most
extraordinary "deliberative body"
of politicians which the U. S. has ever
had. We cannot learn that there was
any exchange of sentiment on its floor
whatever. One of the most respectable
public journals of the States declares
that the convention did nothing but
appear in dress-parade before its
leaders, that its total sessions amount-
ed to less than five hours, two of
which were occupied by the reading
of the address and the declaration of
sentiment, that all motions, resolutions,
and nominations were prepared be-
fore hand, that every State delegation
voted in its private committee-room
and that no member was allowed to
speak except by unanimous consent
of the delegation.

The argument of the convention for
admitting the Southern States to Con-
gress, is founded mainly on the soph-
istical idea that Southern States are
now in the Union. "Why" says the
same Journal "are they in? They are
in because they were never out. But
are these States entitled to be in
Congress just because they are in the
Union? Were they not, according
to the argument, just as much in the
Union as they are now? And were
they entitled to sit in Congress during
the war? Such a proposition shocks
common sense. If, then they were in
the Union during the war, yet not in
Congress, they can be in the Union
now, and not in Congress."

[We extract the following article from
the Bangkok Recorder for 1860, thinking
that few of our readers are acquainted
with the customs therein described, and
that those even who are will not take it
amiss to have their memories thus revived
on subjects to which the present season is
especially calling their attention.

The phrase KOW WASA means the com-
mencement of the wet season and AWK
WASA means the going out or ending of
the wet season. These names however are
not to be understood as any thing near an
exact representation of the beginning and
ending of the wet season, for it really be-
gins two months earlier and ends generally
a month later.

The KOW WASA season always commen-
ces at the middle of the 8th Siamese month
and the AWK WASA at the middle of the
11th month. The intervening time of three
months has sometimes been denominated by
foreigners the BUDDHIST LENT.]

K'ow Wasa

All Buddhists who have much ven-
eration for their religion, anticipate
this season, by making special provi-
sion in behalf of the priests to serve
them for a term of 3 months on which
they then enter, and during which they
are deprived of the privilege of tra-
veling so far from the temples to
which they belong, as to make it ne-
cessary to spend a night away from
them. For their comfort during this
term of confinement, all classes set
themselves to provide for their parch-
ed rice and corn, flowers that never
fade, both natural and artificial, silver-
ed and gilded trees, figures of birds
and various animals beautifully con-
structed, and made to stand daily be-
fore them in their dormitories. On
the day of the 15th, they are formally
presented to them. Of these the
priests take a part and offer them to the
idol, and place them in order at his
feet to stand there for three months.
Another part they present to their
teachers, and elders, and aged priests
residing in the same temple. Having
done this, the priests then assemble
together and pledge themselves to the
idol, and to one another, that they will
not sleep out of their dormitories un-
til the expiration of the three months.

The 15th waxing of the 11th moon
is the day when Buddhist customs
allow the priests to come out of their
confinement in the temples, and travel
as far away from home as they please.
To provide for them suitable clothing
during their wanderings, extraordin-
ary efforts are made by the laity, from
the highest to the lowest, in anticipa-
tion of these days.

The awk wasa Holidays.

The Kings especially, take care to
have innumerable bales of white c.tton
shirting cut up into small pieces,
and then sewed together into large
priest robes to imitate apparel made up
of patchwork, for Buddhist priests in
the beginning clothed themselves with
rags, to show their self mortification.
But how greatly have they in these
days, departed from their original
simplicity! These robes are after-
wards, dyed yellow. They are not all,
nor the greater part, presented to the
priests on either of those days. A
whole month is required to finish the
offerings. There is on those three
days a general devotion to works of
merit-making.

The Kings of Siam have on each
evening, a public exhibition of their
own personal offerings, made with
particular reference, it is said, to
Buddha's foot-print near the sea-shore
in a distant country, unknown, which
can only be reached by water convey-
ances. Consequently the offerings are
made on the river. They consist of
little skiffs and plantain stalk floats;
some in pagoda form, towering ten or
twelve feet; some bearing images of
birds and beasts, real and fabulous;
with other varieties innumerable, all
splendidly illuminated with wax can-
dles. These offerings are floated off
in regular succession, one by one, by
the ministration of His Majesty's ser-
vants, he himself being present in his
royal seat on the river. The offerings
float down with the ebb tide, beauti-
fully illuminating the river for several
miles before their lights burn out. Af-
ter this, many of the naked floats are
captured by the people, and each skiff
is returned by the man who had
charge of it.

This part of the ceremony being
finished, the King then ignites a match
to the fire-works arranged in boats, in
the midst of the river; when a new
scene breaks forth. Fire trees are seen
standing in the river; and by their
powerful sulphurous blaze, illuminate
much of the city. Presently the glo-
ry of these depart, and then a line of
flowering shrubbery made by fire ap-
pear, and develope their varied flow-
ers, continually changing their hue.
After this, rockets and squibs of great
variety are shot off from boats.

The people generally make their
own family offerings, on those three
evenings, several hours before the
King comes out of his palace. You
may see them all over the city, on the
rivers and canals near their homes.
They consist of the arks made of the
inner layers of the stalk of the Scilla
maratima, illuminated by wax can-
dles, and squibs innumerable flying in
the open heavens, and frolicking in the
water. The prevailing notion among
the common people seems to be, that
these fire-works are offerings to the
genii of the land and water, to ex-
piate for the sin of polluting their do-
mains with the excrement and filth of
man and beast, as they have done, dur-
ing the 12 months which are then
about to close.

All the time onward thence to the
1st day of the 12th waning moon, is
regarded as being peculiarly propiti-
ous for making offerings to the priests,
and worshiping the idol. About the
beginning of the 12th month, the
Kings, one at a time, make their ap-
pearance in their best estate, being es-
corted by vast processions by land and
water, carrying with them yellow
robes to present to the priests, with
their own hands, at the many temples
dedicated to them. Some 15 days are
almost wholly occupied in this way,
passing in great pomp from temple to
temple. Three or four of the temples
are usually visited by them daily.

Other temples not dedicated to the
Kings, are in the mean time visited
by large parties of Budd'h's followers,
who unite together in processions by
water, and carry yellow apparel, fruits,
and other things, to their priests after
the fashion set them by their Sover-
eigns

About the same time, many parties
get together evenings, and make a
great show of lanterns, gongs, and
trumpets, on the river, in bearing to
temples, yellow garments, and fruit,
suspended on bushes fixed in their
boats. Having arrived at their desti-
nation, the priests come out and pick
them off from the bushes, according to
their several wants. This custom is
said to have originated in the fact,
that Buddhist priests in olden time,
lived in the woods, and satisfied their
daily wants by gathering wild fruits,
and old cast-off clothing. Such self-
mortification is said to have been high-
ly praised by Buddha. How widely
have the priests in these latter days,
departed, in this matter as well as in
most others, from the teachings of
their venerated Head!

The 14th and 15th of the 12th wax-
ing, and 1st of the waning moon are
the closing holidays for the season. On
these three days, the Kings have extra-
ordinary religious services in their res-
pective palaces, and late in the evening
of each day, make offerings of fire-works
publicly on the river, much as on the
former occasion, but more complete
and beautiful. This is the better time
of the two, to witness those plays, as
the weather is almost sure to be fine,
the sky cloudless, with a full moon in
extraordinary splendor.

A two legged Hog.

Less than a year since we were on
our way to Petchaburee in company
with Mr J. Thomson the Photograph-
er, and stopped a while at one of the
temples in the town of Maaklawng.
Here we called the attention of Mr. T.
to a great animal curiosity which we
had many times before seen, and
which we thought would make an in-
teresting photographic picture.

The creature is a sow about ten
years old, and would probably weigh
more than one hundred pounds. She
was born without any hind legs.
There seems to have been an essay of
nature to form them, but became a-
bortive after the first incipient effort
had been made. There is something
within the integuments where the legs
should be, which work back and forth
on walking, as if they were short
stumps of the thigh bones. The pig
moves about slowly on her two legs
dragging her breach on the ground.
She was presented to the priests of
that temple when quite young to pro-
tect and rear as a meritorious work,
and they seem to have been faithful
to the charge committed to them.
We proposed to purchase the hog of
the priests, but they would not con-
sent to sell the creature at any price.

It is a singular coincidence that the
Siamese twins of world wide celebri-
ty for their monstrous union, and
this hog monster were born, not only
in the same country, but also in the
same town, and very nearly in the
same place.

Mr. Thomson, thinking it a good
opportunity to increase the number of
his many interesting pictures of Siam-
ese creatures and things, determined
to try his skill on the hog. So while
he was making ready his instrument to
do so, we procured a few plantains and
by them beguiled the pig to a favora-
ble spot. We found it quite diffi-
cult to persuade the creature to
balance herself steadily on her two
legs like a cat in a sitting posture. Mr.
T. took three pictures of her," and
found the first one taken the best.
The one preserved represents, the hog
in its only possible standing position,
that is standing on her two feet while
resting her breach on the ground.

The priests of the Wat were a good
deal interested in witnessing the ex-
periment, but not the hundredth part
as much so as it seemed to us we
would have been in their circum-
stances. But the truth is, we cannot
tell what we should or should not feel
in all the ignorance and stupidity of
Buddhist priests. It is a great part
of their religion to look with a spiritual
heart upon every thing that is curious,
beautiful, and wonderful.

A FISH CURING ESTABLISHMENT.

Having to wait until the next
morning watch, either there or at the
mouth of the Maaklawung river three
miles distant, before it would be safe
to cross over the bay toward Petcha-
buree, we concluded to stay in the
town of Maaklawng until sunset and
get all the information we could from
the people near by. We first walked
into an establishment for curing
the pla coo, which is a small salt
water fish about the size of herring,
and very abundant in the gulf. When
slightly salted and properly steamed,
they are very nice to eat with rice.
Thus prepared they are called plat oo
nung, and are sold by pedilers at 7½
cts. for 30 or 40. But the fish esta-
blishments at Maaklawung are designed
chiefly for preparing the fish for ex-
portation to Batavia and other ports
in the Indian Archipelago, and when
ready for market they are called pla
too k'em—Salt p'at oo. The works we
visited had in its employ from twelve
to fifteen persons whose sole business
is to dress the fish, and then salt and
dry them. They have nothing to do
in catching them, this work being done
by other parties entirely distinct.

The latter go out in their fish boats
to the mouth of the river late in the
evening, and wait until the calm of the
morning, from midnight to 8 or 9
o'clock A.M. When the sea is calm they
scare the fish in large schools into
enclosures made by stakes stuck in
the mud, so arranged as that the two
sides of the enclosure come together
at an acute angle where the fish are
caught in nets by thousands at a time,
and put into the boats.

The fish are always the most a-
bundant at seasons when the wind is
generally from the head of the gulf,
as their nature is to resist the current
made by the wind. Consequently the
best season for fishing them is during
the North East monsoon; and that
too, very providentially, is the very
best season for preparing them for
market, as no rain falls from week to
week, and the sun by which they are
dried is unobstructed by clouds. In
fact the fish in the wet season are so
scarce, and the weather so precarious
that little of any consequence is ever
done at these fisheries but to prepare
their establishments and fishing
grounds for the next dry season.

As soon as the fish boats come into
the mouth of the river they are met
by the servants of the curing esta-
blishments, bidding for each load.
Hence the fish are sold to the highest
bidder, usually, before they get into
town.

The companies who cure the fish,
hire men and women to dress and
put them into brine at the rate of
7½ cents a person for each boat-load.

They are salted in large wooden tubs
holding from three to four hogsheads
each, and kept in brine three days.
They are then taken out and spread
about on bamboo slats raised three
feet from the ground and exposed to
the sun three days. When thus made
ready they are sold at the place for
22 Ticals per 10000 on an average.
Many are spoiled before they reach the
brine and become exceedingly offen-
sive. These are sold for manuring
den plants and other orchard and gar-
den plants. It is these rotten fish
which make the cori and betel or-
chards in the vicinity of Bangkok of-
ten times so exceedingly offensive to
the olfactory organs.

NATIVE MODE OF HULLING RICE.

From the fishery we went into a rice
hulling shed. The native mill for
hulling rice consists of a pair of circular
blocks like small mill stones. The
nether mill block is usually about 18
inches both in diameter and thickness,
fixed firmly to its place by stakes driven
into the ground. There may be two
or more of them in the same shed. Its
upper surface is thickly set with rows
of teeth made of the hardest wood, ap-
parently driven into the block, but
really set in a kind of cement which
becomes like stone when perfectly dry.
The teeth are set with the greatest
order much after the usual arrange-
ment of the grooves and ridges made
on mill stones. They are neatly trim-
med, so as to form an even plane to
match a similar set of teeth in the up-
per mill block. This is of the same
circumference, but only ten inches
thick, and has a hole near its middle,
a small bamboo basket-work hopper
attached, and a little basket fence en-
closing it at a distance of 4 inches.
It is fixed to its fellow by means of a
pivot in its centre, and is made to
revolve about this by a crank attached
to it. This block is turned by a rude
wooden shaft eight or ten feet long,
made fast to the crank by a pivot in
which it sits loosely. The outer end
of the shaft has a handle two or three
feet long to admit of two persons work-
ing it; and this is suspended to a
beam in the shed by a rope. The
workmen, or more commonly women,
take hold of the handle of the shaft,
and pushing or pulling, as the case
may be, turn the mill block the half
of the circle, and then by the opposite
motion make it complete the revolution.
And thus they do rapidly until they
get out of breath. It is a brisk exer-
cise for two stout persons, and quite
hard work for a single one. The hull-
ed rice comes out of the mill all about
its circumference, and is scraped to
the door way of the basket work sur-
rounding the mill, by a little paddle
attached to the block.

The next process is to fan out the chaff
which the natives do by two modes.—
The one by throwing it up and down in
the breeze on a large flat and shallow
bamboo basket, catching it with the
same as it falls down. The other by a
wooden fanning mill with wood cogs,
much like those we used to turn 40
years ago when timber was cheap; and
labor saving machines little known.
It makes us groan, even now, to think
of the sweats we had in turning those
mills.

The rice as thus hulled is far from
being clean enough to use in cooking,
but sufficiently so for exportation. To
prepare it for cooking it has to go
through another process. And that is
to put it into a wooden mortar and
pound it with a wooden pestle. The
mortars are simply blocks of hard
wood two feet long and 18 inches in
diameter, chiselled out so as to form a
vessel of conical shape, and to hold a
half bushel or more of grain. The
pestles are of two kinds. One of them
is merely a round stick of hard wood
made conical at each end—-slender
and wasp-shape in the middle, for the
convenience of handling. Its weight
may be 10 or 15 pounds. One or two
persons grasp it in its middle, and
strike it down on the rice in the mor-
tar. The other kind of pestle is a
piece of hard wood framed perpen-
dicularly into a heavy horizontal shaft
which rocks up and down on a pin
passing through two posts. The end
on which the pestle is attached is
much heavier than the other. It is
worked by two or more men or women
treading on the lighter end, and when
down they raise their feet, which leaves
the pestle to fall heavily into the mortar.

This process thoroughly cleans the
rice of its chaff, and when winnowed
on the basket winnower, comes out
white almost as snow. This work is
called by the Siamese Sawn Kow.

LOCAL.

The Presbytery of Siam will meet
on Thursday, Nov. 1st at 10 A. M. in
the Chapel of the Presbyterian Mis-
sion.

The Presbytery will be opened with
a sermon by Rev. D. McGilvary. All
who are interested are cordially invit-
ed to attend.

Passengers per Chow Phya arrived
on the 16th inst from Singapore.

Mr. Harvey, Principal Manager of
the Borneo Co. Limited, R. R. Scott
Esqr. P. Littlejohn Esq. Mr. Muller,
and 2 Rajahs.

Passengers by Chow Phya sailed on
the 22nd inst, for Singapore.

Mrs. Campbell and two children,
Tan Kim Chieng, Siamese Consul at
Singapore, and the Rajah of Quoda.

The first of the royal fire works called
Lawi Katong come off on the evenings
of the 23d, 24th, and 25th inst. We
have heard no report of them except-
ing the noise, which the multitudes
made in frolicking on the river with il-
luminated little floats, with fire birds,
and fishes, and rockets, and with boat-
racing and shouting, from early lamp-
lighting till after midnight.

The next of the series will fall on
the 21st, 22d, and 23d proximo.

Foreign shipping is arriving slowly.
We have now 14 vessels in port, most,
if not all of them, are loading cargo.

The Siamese fleet having nearly all
sailed on their annual trip; there re-
main 26 vessels in port, and judging
from the appearance of some of them,
their sea-going days are over, and
they ought to be struck out of the list
of sea-worthy vessels.

We are sorry to record that Mrs
Doctor Campbell, though convalescent
from many weeks of ill health, has felt
it to be her duty to leave Bangkok for
a season, and try a change in Singa-
pore for a more thorough restoration.
She left on the 22nd per Chow Phya,
taking with her her two small child-
ren. Her society will be greatly mis-
sed by all the European and American
ladies here, while they will earnestly
hope and pray for her return to them
after a month or two.

To'day as we were out on the
river we saw some China-men bringing
down a raft of teak logs from above
the city, and when they came opposite
the mouth of Bangkok Yai canal, they
discovered 'that the raft was unfortu-
nately floating direct upon one of H
S. M's. gun boats anchored in the river.
The current was very swift, and they
were drawing close to the vessel. The
men on board were shouting to them
to push off to one side. The China-
men became excited and began to jab-
ber. They would push the raft first
to one side, then to the other. Some
appeared to be in favor of passing on
this side, and some wished to go on
that side, and instead of uniting their
strength to turn the raft to one side
the result was that they kept it direct
in the line of the vessel and brought it
down on the bows. The raft parted
on the anchor chain with a great crash,
and a part passed down on either side.
Just before it struck we saw two men,
one on each side bellowing at the top
of their voice and pushing with all
their might in opposite directions. In
an instant the men on board sprang
down and siezed the Chinamen, and
left the logs to float down with the
current. We suppose they were seized
to be punished for such a daring at-
tack upon a gun boat. So much for
not being UNITED.

We learn that His Majesty's birth-
day dinner party for the Consuls and
Roman Catholic Bishop had well nigh
become an utter failure, not for the
want of attendance on the part of the
guests, but from want of what was
thought due attention on the part of
the king, and that but for extraordin-
ary efforts which His Majesty after-
wards made to re-call the dispersing
consuls he would scarcely have had
any but the French to represent the
Western powers. We hear also that
the second day dinner party of Euro-
peans and American was sadly slim
both in going and returning, and that
only one American attended it. The
truth in His Majesty's peculiar ideas of
absolutism and Imperialism are not
at all popular with the large majori-
ty of his western friends residing at
his capital.

There have been four days of ex-

extraordinary services, ending yesterday,
held in honor of His Royal Highness
Prince Somdetch CHOWFA CHULA
LOXKORN whose regular term of ser-
vice as a Nane closed the same day.
It is understood however that he will
remain in the Nane-hood a month
longer. We understand that on each
of those days there was preaching in
the royal palace by 15 different priests,
and that Prince CHOWFA himself made
his debut as a graduating nane by de-
livering one or more sermons in his
turn.

The thing most extrsordinary about
the whole affair was, a monstrous sham
Junk near the eastern gate of the roy-
al palace loaded with all sorts and
kinds of eatables which the season af-
fords, and which the ingenuity of the
Chinese and Siamese could get up, and
then being on public exhibition sever-
al days were distributed to the thou-
sands of spectators, making special pro-
vision for the Buddhist priests and
all the royal officials.

We are thankful to learn that His
Majesty has requested an able writer
to prepare for us an article descriptive
of the many curiosities that were there
exhibited, and that that article will
probably be ready for insertion in our
next issue.

We learn that the Siamese govern-
ment are introducing a quantity of
improved rifles for their army. Mo-
dern improvements are progressing
with such wonderful skill and rapidity
that governments scarcely know what
to do in the way of arming their forts,
ships, and armies. Should the im-
provements in instruments of war and
slaughter continue to progress for a
few years to come as they have done
for some years past, the day will soon
come when no nation will dare to
make war on another unless she be
quite sure of possessing a great advan-
tage over the other.

While writing on this subject we
would remind government of the great
importance of rebuilding their forts and
putting them in good repair. The island
off the village of Paknam possesses
rare advantages for a strong fort, and
if properly rebuilt and mounted with
modern artillery, no ironclad nor any
other war vessel could ever pass it or
get up to Bangkok. Com.

His Majesty left the Royal palace
soon after 10 p. m. on Wednesday
evening the 25th inst, for a trip up
the river to the ancient city and pro-
vince of Pitsanuloke, and will probably
return about the 1st November. This
city was one of the early capitals of
Siam, and there are many interesting
historical reminiscences connected with
it. The river at this season of the year
is full to overflowing, and the tour
will be in steamers. No king of Siam
has visited this city, so far as we can
learn, for a hundred years or so, and
it must be quite an event for the
people to see their sovereign in those
regions. For this royal visit they
are indebted to the introduction of
steam, which has already wrought
wonders in Siam as well as in other
countries. The first steamer built in
Siam was launched on the 25th Sept.
1855, and was built by H. E. the
Prime Minister with the assistance of
J. H. Chandier Esq. who has the honor
of introducing steam boats and steam
machinery into the country.

His Excellency the Prime Minister
returned from his tour to Ratburee
on the morning of the 25th inst.
The rice crop in the region is reported
to be one of the best for many years.

THE GAS exhibition advertised in
our last to come off on the 24th, was
a failure, because the gas having been
made too long before hand became
so much decomposed by the heat of
the sun that it gave only a blue light
but slightly illuminating.

But we are happy to add by way
of a postscript, on this evening of the
26th that Mr. Nelson succeeded ad-
mirably with the gas. He exhibited
an illuminated Elephant and the
initials of His Majesty the king of
Siam from a window in front of the
New Rice Mill, glistening, as it were,
with hundreds of fixed stars, closely
united. And when on leaving we
looked at it from a distance it was
bright like a full moon rising in the
clearest horizon.

We sincerely hope Mr. N. will be
well supported in introducing this
great improvement of night lighting
not only in the Rice Mills but also
the many consulates, mercantile es-
tablishments, palaces etc.

PRICES CURRENT.

EXCHANGE-On Singapore 6 P cent

FREIGHTS-Very little has been done in
charters, only two or three disengaged
vessels in port. Rates may be stated at
from 40 to 47 1/2 cents P picul for Hong
Kong. There is a slight demand for small
vessels to take fish to Java.

The following vessels have sailed for
Hong Kong since the 23d Sept. viz :-
British bark "G. SHOTTON" with 11073
picul rice.

British bark "COSTA RICA" with 4405
piculs rice, 21 Sapanwood, 475 paddy.

British bark "STANLEY" with 2100 pi-
culs rice, 480 Sugar.

British bark "NORTHAM" with 8300
piculs rice, 135 Sugar, 15 horns.

French bark "EMMANUEL" with 5366
piculs rice.

Dutch bark "G. H. SUSANNA" with
11,239 piculs rice, 75 Sapanwood.

Dutch ship "PIETER" with 14,063 pi-
culs rice, 218 Sapanwood.

Dutch bark "JOHANNA MARIA" with
10,221 piculs rice, 13 Sapanwood.

British bark "EASTFIELD" with 9,538
piculs rice, 65 Sapanwood.

The following have sailed for Singapore,
since 1st, inst.

Siam steamer "CHOW PHYA" with
1,779 piculs rice, 735 Sugar, 26 Hides, 90
Teelseed.

British bark "FLORENCE" with 4,742
piculs rice, 98 Sapanwood, 140 Sugar.

British steamer "SEAWOOD" with 3,607
piculs rice, 150 Sapanwood, 180 Sugar, 52
horns, 197 Sticklac.

The present King of Siam.

To a superficial observer, indepen-
dent of the question of right and
wrong, it might seem sound policy,
in a king to cluster around him a host
of women, and to take into his house-
hold wives from all the important no-
blemen's families in the kingdom but
it is neither sound policy for perman-
ent fame, or benevolent, or kind, or
human even.

True, noblemen that have given a
daughter as a sort of hostage, may be
expected to be true and faithful, par-
ticularly so, if his daughter should
bear children to the king. But let the
king die, and then what follows? The
host of wives become dead weights to
clog the career of the reigning mon-
arch, and many of the children misera-
ble vagabonds because they have not
the money to sustain the career which
was planned for them in infancy.

There is not wisdom in such a
course aside from the light of christi-
anity Where are all the children of
the three hundred wives of the bro-
ther that sat on the throne during the
last reign in Siam? They had a tem-
porary notoriety it is true, while their
father lived, but their multitude, when
their father's patrimony was eked out
to them, placed them in the company
of those that had to make so many
shifts to eke out a subsistance, that
they have little time for fame or pa-
triotism.

One of the saddest things on the
death of the preceding monarch was
the miserable condition of the concu-
bines he left behind him. They lead
a hopeless, aimless, miserable existence;

and such must be the destiny. of the
house-hold of him that now setteth
upon the throne, unless while he
yet lives he frecs them from their im-
pending destiny, restores them to their
parents, and bids them seek an alli-
ance that shall give them honorable
protection while they live, and a circle
of friends, tried and true, that shall
cherish their memory when they are
dead.

We do not become securely great
by aggrandizing ourselves, but by ag-
grandizing the great and good cause
to which we may be attached. We
do not secure permanent good to others
by placing them where we cap meet
most easily their wants and secure
their immediately interests, but by
making them powerful to meet their
own wants and adequate to secure
their own interests.

Rulers become really great only by
serving faithfully the people they go-
vern, and so far as possible making
each subject happy and independent
in himself. Happiness or greatness
does not reside in the name but in
the character and circumstances that
make the wants of the character most
nearly met. To be a daughter of a
king might seem to be a boon. But
if to be a daughter of a king, imperial
eternal-celibacy, and eternal idleness
and seclusion, weighed in the philoso-
pher's scales, the risk would bound
aloft as a weightless bubble, the bene-
fits sacrificed in holding the rank
would sink down, down, down, with no
imaginable counterprise to tell their
value.

In the light of God's word how beau-
tiful is the position that women holds
in the scale of being. A help mete
for man, taken from his side. A
true yoke fellow—united to his inte-
rests in every relation of life. To
share his every thought; his every wish,
to help carry out his every laudable
purpose—-identified in all his interests,
and rising in the scale of being as her
sworn protection, leads her on and
shields her path-way—-to whom love
makes every burden light, and truth
every care a pleasure.

Man holds the destiny of woman, in
his influence to make her what he
will. If he will to bring her into her
true position and awaken in her a
character that is congenial to her ori-
ginal nature, she then from the throne
to which he elevates her, pours forth a
flood of influence that gives to man,
refinements of all he has most nobly
conceived. Let man be true to wo-
man in her girl-hood, and in her wo-
man-hood she will be his greatest
safe-guard and his wisest counselor.

But what has all this to do with
the king of Siam! Much every way,
but chiefly, that the king errs more, in
the course he is taking in his own
domestic relations, than in any other
respect; and when he is dead, the in-
fluence of his present course, if not
averted while he still lives, will bring
a world of sorrow. and still prolong
the thraldom of his kingdom
Ms Recorder,—-"Some of your
readers " have been very much shock-
ed to hear you call an Alligator, or a
Crocodile a domestic animal! The
tookhaa of Siam, you say, belongs to
the same class, and indeed it looks
enough like an Alligator, differing on-
ly in size.

It inhabits our houses, it is true, but
it is a much more fit inhabitant of
the forest. If it is domestic, it is cer-
tainly not in looks. Its song is any
thing but pleasant, often startling you
from your midnight slumbers with its
shrill scream. Often times it seeks
a convenient spot near the head of
your bed, where its scream will be
the most effectual in arousing you. It
is, I think, any thing but a "harmless"
creature. True, it makes no unpro-
voked assaults upon you with open
mouth; but then, imagine a diminu-
tive Alligator tumbling down from the
ceiling upon your head! Whether or
not its intentions are malicious, its
effect upon your feelings in this un-
provoked attack, is certainly any thing
but "harmless" and pleasant.

If you have a friend to dinner with
you, the tookkaa is almost certain to
take up a central position upon the
ceiling directly over your table, per-
haps attracted there by the swarm of
flies and mosquitoes buzzing in the
lamp-light, and, like yourself, trying
to get his supper, but if he makes a
wrong step and his foot-slips, he might,
to your great annoyance, supply some
of your platters with fresh meat, not
much to your liking. Now, Mr. Edi-
tor, this is a "social" quality of the
CREATURE which I should think was not
very pleasant nor agreeable. I should
rather, for my part, dispense with his
friendly and "social" approaches thus
to my table.

I know there are many in this city
who will agree with me in saying that
he is any thing but a "beautiful"
CREATURE. Beautiful! Monstrous! Hide-
ous! The only description I ever heard
of a tookhau, before I read yours, Mr.
Editor, was "what a hideous looking
thing!" But Sir, I have no objections
to you admiring his beauty. I sup-
pose the old, and oft repeated saying,
"people will get accustomed to any
thing," accounts for it. I know that
some of those who have recently tak-
en up their residence in Bangkok
would gladly dismiss all such annoy-
ing creatures from their houses, and
send them "rapping" at your door
for admittance. A RESIDENT.

Wit in the Right Place.

At the last quarterly conference of the
year they showed great anxiety as to
whom they should have for a preacher
the ensuing year. They said that the
place was a very growing one, and that
the minister settled in a church near by
was a very talented man; moreover, that
some men of position in society, among
them a physician and a young lawyer who
had lately moved into town, had been
two or three times to their church; also,
that there was talk of building two new
factories and a branch railroad to connect
the village wit's the main road, and they
closed by saying:

"Brother Rice, we must have the ablest
and best man in the Conference."

"Oh, yes," said he, "no doubt you
must, and I must try to gratify you. I
suppose you want a thousand dollar
man?"

"Oh, Brother Rice, we couldn't think
of paying that sum."

"Well, then, you want an eight hun-
dred dollar man, do you?"

"Why, Brother Rice, we couldn't pay
half that."

"Well, then, a four hundred dollar
men, is it?"

"Why, it would be hard even for us
to raise even half that."

"Perhaps, brethren," he concluded,
"I can find you a two hundred dollar
man; such a one is very scarce among
us, but I will try and do the best I can
for you at that price."

They did not urge any more to have
the ablest man in the Conference; and
Mr. Rice knew that the excellent brother
that had served them for the year nearly
closed had been terribly pinched to live
among them.

— THE BRITISH fleet on the coast of
North America consists of 26 ships, with
443 guns, and manned by 5,288[?] officers
and men, two vessels mounting 21 guns
and with 440 men.

— THE TOTAL attendance in the different
departments of the College at Oberlin,
Ohio, this season is 770, of which 425
are gentlemen, and 345 are ladies. Of
the whole number, 261 are new students.

— The success of westward bound trav-
elers over eastward bound, that passed
through Chicago during April is estimat-
ed at 10,000. This is an index to the
flow of emigration to the west this spring.

— UNLOCKING[?] THE ROCKS. The great
cost of silver and gold arises not so much
from their scarcity in the earth as the
difficulty of extracting them from their
[...] combinations. Dr. J. C. Ayer, the
well known chemist of Massachusetts,
has cut this gordian knot. After having
merited and received the gratitude of half
mankind, by his remedies that cure their
diseases, he is now winning the other half
by opening for them an easy road to the
exhautless treasures of the hills. He
has discovered and published a chemical
process which renders, at little cost, the
hardest rocks and ores frialde like chalk,
so that the precious metals are loosed
from their containment and easily gatiner-
ed. Mines too poor to pay, many be
worked at a profit now, and the yield of
rich minerals largely increased, while the
cost of extracting the metals from the
ore is diminished. Either is a great
achievement—to enrich mankind ro cure
their diseases. But we are informed our
celebrated countryman [...] to the
latter, as his speciality and chief ambition.
—Buffalo Sentinel.

OLD AGE is a public good. Do not
feel sad because you are old. Whenever
you are wlaking, no one ever opens a
gate for you to go throught, no one ever
honors you with any kind of help, with-
out being himself the better for what he
does; for fellow-feeling with the aged
ripens the soul[?].

BOOKS are the windows through which
the soul looks at us. A house without books
is like a room without windows. No man
has a right to bring up his children with-
out surrounding them with books, if he
has the means to buy them. It is a wrong
to his family.

CONVICTION makes us rich. Repetition
makes us act. The farmer builds the
barn into our hearts, that we may see and
show our grievances; the latter leads us to
the mercy seat, where pardon may be ob-
tained.

Famine Districts.

The Famine in Orissa seems to have at-
tained more frightful proportions than
even those who dissented most widely
from the views of the Bengal Government
ever anticipated would be the case. A
correspondent of the HURKARU states that
at Balasore out of 9000 persons there is a
daily average of 140 deaths; that there
are only 1700 men fit for work; and that
it is the firm belief of a member of the
committee that already half of the popu-
lation has perished. The non-distribution
of food, the reluctance to interfere with
the rules of commerce, the absurd talk
about the laws of free trade and the grand
principle of supply and demand, have re-
sulted in excluding all but a very small
portion of the community from any chance
of preserving their lives. The deaths in
Cuttack are now said to amount to the
fearful number of six thousand per week.
The HURKARU points out that the cost of
bare subsistence for husband, wife, and
one child at present rates would be Rs.
9.6-0, for one man Rs. 3.9-6 per month, and
asks where people who have nothing in
the world but a dirty and worn out rag
are to get this sum of money month by
month? Perhaps Sir Cecil Beadon can tell.

Reports of the most harrowing nature
continue to reach us from the famine-
stricken districts around Cuttack. Death
appears to be the solitary escape offered
to thousands, and tens of thousands.
Whilst it seemed that the lowest depths of
human endurance and suffering had been
reached, another and lower deep presents
itself. Floods, and the partial failure of
the rice crops, have destroyed to a great
extent the only ray of light which has been
permitted to touch the picture in Orissa.
Whilst rice, a few weeks back, was selling
at Khunditta for two seers the rupee, this
poor and little nutritious food is now said
to sell at Damougpur, some few miles from
Jajipore, at one shilling per pound. In
the wealthiest countries of the world,
this simple fact would tell its own story
but, applied to the poverty stricken and
inert peasantry of India, its meaning can
only be guessed at by the missionary and
district officer. Jackals and vultures grow
sleek, and an ominous silence rests upon
villages half depopulated, fields untilled,
roads marked by human bones. All the
truth will never be realized : how many
fell who might have been saved by timely
succour, or how much of the aid furnished
was never permitted to reach its destina-
tion. It is beyond doubt that considera-
ble quantities of rice, forwarded to the
distressed province by Government, have
been abstracted in transit. Bags of grain,
issued for distribution, are found material-
ly under weight. Whether this robbery of
the dying occurs before shipment; whilst
at sea, that is between False Point and
Cuttack; or at all three places, imports
nothing. The fact remains, and demands
instant attention. It is enough that we
slept when action was required, that the
Bengal Government talked and wrote re-
ports when Sir Cecil Beadon should have
been at Cuttack, without permitting our
tardy charity to miscarry, to be misappro-
priated by rogues and harpies. Even now,
at the eleventh hour, sufficient European
superintendence is wanting. A few over
taxed officers are crushed by the responsi-
bility and labour imposed upon them.
Meantime, whilst multitudes perish under
our eyes from hour to hour, the talented
and impassive official entrusted with their
care rests resignedly at Darjeeling. The
health of the Lieutenant Governor of Ben-
gal is unequal to the responsibilities im-
posed upon him. Such is the excuse.—-The
FRIEND OF INDIA.

The Telegraph and the Press.

Electricity has been a serious blow to
the Indian journalist, whatever it may
have been to the public. Formerly, Euro-
pean questions were discussed at length,
ARRIATIM ET VERBATIM; affording sub-
ject for many editorials and much display
of wisdom. There was the view possible,
impossible, and probable. Each was care-
fully and artistically exhausted, and when
the truth finally reached us, and results
proved at variance with prognostication,
it became necessary to sift and explain
away the causes of the miscarriage. Clear-
ly a Calcutta writer was not to blame that
Louis Philippe could not, or would not ace,
the propriety of dying at the cannon's
mouth. On the other hand there was glo-
rification and self-worship when events
proved in accordance with any of the mul-
titudinous predictions offered. Attention
was drawn to some remarkable leader,
venerable from age in which the future
had been anticipated, by three weeks. The
best oracles were, necessarily, those which
prophesied with sufficient vagueness to
meet any contingency; and by which
peace and war, prosperity and disaster,
appeared equally imminent and remote.
Placed many thousand miles away from
the scene, uninformed of the conflicting
interests which influenced events, and lit-
tle versed in the political history of Eu-
ropean courts and statesmen, the opinions
propounded by the local press were rather
curious than profound, and somewhat re-
sembled those of home papers when treat-
ing of Indian subjects. There was about
the same amount of special knowledge,
practical experience, and breadth of view.
Still there was matter in abundance upon
which to build paragraphs and columns,
and journalists, butterfly like, disported
themselves from Dan to Beersheba; Eu-
rope and Asia were their play things, and
China yielded her riches. But whilst hea-
vy articles upon political complications in
Chilli and Vienna, penned in the back
streets of a cantonment, or about Dhur-
rumtollah, were assumed essential to the
character of high Anglo-Indian journa-
lism, it was not insisted that subscribers
should read them, and, in truth, few did.
If the public cared nothing about what
opinions the PONDICHERRY OBSERVER en-
tertained regarding a £6 franchise, the
fact rather concerned the public than the
editor. Happily, at this juncture, science
and British capital destroyed the respec-
table dulness, and India was linked by an
iron thread to the civilized world.

By these new means of communication
Edinburgh has virtually become nearer to
Delhi, for purposes of correspondence,
than York was to London forty years be-
fore. Space and time have been bridged.
It costs less time to-day, to ascertain what
is passing upon the continent, than to re-
duce our surmises to type. Half a dozen
battles lost and won, were the first intima-
tion of the German War. We learn the
conclusion of a campaign in the act of
proving that hostilities are impossible, or
in predicting when they may be anticipa-
ted. Swift footed electricity outruns the
brain, and probability; sometimes itself.
The birth of a Prince is announced before
the infant is born, and longitude-—the dif-
ference of a few minutes—-becomes res-
ponsible for the anomaly. Editors and
Mrs. Gamp, are at their wits ends. Una-
ble to dive into the future, to know where
the next telegram may cast us, we reason
to small purpose. Instead of arguing
from cause to effect, it is necessary to in-
vert the operation, and crawl, crabwise,
from effect to cause. Three ill spelt words
destroy the ablest article, and the manu-
scrip passes to the waste basket, or is
pruned to suit the new position. Judi-
cious silence passes for prescience, and is
most often right. Just sufficient intelli-
gence is conveyed to establish a fact, which
cannot be explained upon any data we
possess, and which is, nevertheless, too
succinct to permit of doubt. The Indian
journalist knows too much to be altoge-
ther silent, too little to write with confi-
dence, and, like another Newton, plays
with shells upon the sea shore, whilst the
great ocean of truth lies beyond. He has
been distanced by electricity, made the
sport of the "lightning wire;" and the
public must henceforth be content to sup
upon editorial paragraphs intended to ce-
ment and connect Reuter's telegrams, in
lieu of the heavy literary fare formerly
supplied. Probably the loss will not be
very seriously felt, whatever views
Mr._______ may entertain to the con-
trary. By electricity we are enabled to
follow the course of events in Europe
with some degree of closeness, for India is
seven or eight and twenty days nearer to
the world, and their full explanation
through the columns of the home and con-
tinental press, is no longer in reaching us
than heretofore. With a weekly Bombay
Mail the delay will be decreased. Instead
of living upon anticipations—-futile and
unsatisfactory gropings after the truth,
Anglo-Indians are compelled to look back,
think back, read back, live back, in order
to comprehend events the outlines of
which have alone been permitted to reach
them. Great events arise from out the un-
known promontaries looming high above
a sea of mist and doubt, solitary and
grand, and bye and bye, and bit by bit, we
are permitted to fill up the landscape; to
tear events, beginning with the occupa-
tion of Leipsic, and terminating in fatal
Badaw, piecemeal from the electric wire,
and complete a Mosaic, which is history?
at our leisure. If the continuity of the
story has been destroyed, the gain in other
respects has been out of all proportion to
the loss. Better to see in part than not to
see at all, better to know the truth than to
guess at it, and by so much richer has
electricity made the Indian public. Nor
is the day very distant when increased
competition and communication between
the countries will render possible telegra-
phic messages as detailed and complete, as
they are now brief and often unsatisfac-
tory.—-THE FRIEND OF INDIA.

The end of the Jamaica affair.

Mr. Eyre is not even censored, may
be to-morrow appointed Governor of
Madras or Bombay, to govern a score or
so millions of persons with dark skins,
and will in all probability receive some
acknowledgment of his zeal. The House,
it will be remembered, defends a limited
suffrage, very justly, on the ground that
it represents not only the kingdom, but
the Empire, and would angrily deny that
it changed its measure of Justice within
that Empire for any consideration of race,
creed, or colour. Consequently, if London
is placed under martial law, and Hyde
Park rioters shot in batches under sen-
tences passed by ensigns, and women
flogged by the score for slanging the po-
lice, and Whitechapel burned to the
ground because some rioters came from
thence, and Mr. Bright hanged by mock
trial for having been a "troublesome
agitator," the House will pass a resolu-
tion "deploring" those events. The mere
statement of such an absurdity is sufficient
to convict the majority, it may be even
to convince them, of the offence they un-
questionably have committed. They have
refused to do to one, and a weak, section
of Her Majesty's subjects the justice they
unquestionably would have done to an-
other and stronger one.

We have said little of Mr. Gordon's
case, designedly, for Mr. Eyre is on that
case to be brought to trial, and have only
to remark that the Commission reported
Mr. Gordon unjustly put to death, that
Mr. Russell Gurney in his place formally
reiterated and justified that verdict, and
that on such unjust putting to death the
House of Commons, which accepts the
Commissioner's report as final, has no com-
ment to make, while Mr. Adderley, who
calls the Commission a "judicial tribunal,"
declares its verdict unjust, and the offence
it condemns merely an "act of practical
justice." And House and Minister alike
represent that "aristocracy which has
stood for ages between the throne and
the people."—SPECTATOR.

The Hero of the Hour.

No man in the country has a right to
a prouder joy to-day than Cyrus W.

Field, whose eight years of labor in be-
half of the Atlantic Telegraph are at last
crowned with complete success. The
whole world owes him gratitude for the
untiring energy, the patience under de-
feat, the steadiness under opposition, the
faith amid difficulties with which he has
pursued his work. He is a representative
American of whom his countrymen may
be proud. All honor to the hero whose
laurels are not stained with blood, and
who has wrested from the stubborn sea
and stubborn men so signal a victory for
science and civilization.—Lo. Co. News.

The Needle Gun Described.

The "flint needle-musket" (Zund-
nadelgewehr) has spread as much terror
to the Austrian ranks as did our gun-
boats for a year or two, among the
Southerners. This musket is breech-
loading, though not revolving. A sec-
tion of the breech, about six inches in
length, can be removed by means of a
fixture similar in principle to that by
which the bayonet is removed from the
muzzle of the Springfield musket. When
the piece has been fired the soldier
brings it down a little, and by two move-
ments of a little arm, ending in a knob,
which can be made in a second, unfixes
the section, drops the butt of the gun on
the ground, in two seconds more inserts
the cartridge in the forward end of the
section, brings up his piece, claps in the
section, and, by two movements of the
little arm, has, at the same time, fixed the
section and shoved the cartridge forward
into the muzzle. Another movement sets
back the hammer, and he is ready to fire.
The average rate of firing is about ten
times a minute, and the universal testi-
mony of the wounded Austrians is, that
they cannot fire oftener than once while
the Prussian fires five times.-—NATION.