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.

The Rain upon Roof.

The night, with her sable pinions,

There is no sound diurnal

The wind is awake and dashing

From the night so grim and sooty

It brings no me a vision

I see the grain grow greener

Thus do I muse and listen

The San Francisco, Japan
and China Line.

The long-talked of line of steam com-
munication between New York and China,
VIA Panama and San Francisco, is at last
to become an accomplished fact. When
California was settled into one of the
United States it was believed that our
monopoly of American correspondence to
China would soon cease. Ever since 1850
has the question been agitated, but vari-
ous influences at Washington have suc-
ceeded in preventing a subsidy being
granted to this line. It is the greatest
anomaly on record that our American
colonies should have talked so long over a
thing so practical and useful; no scheme
could be more legitimate, it was palpable,
and yet there has been sixteen years' talk
over it. It may be that we Britishers have
had a share in that talk, and done all we
could to prevent what was so injurious to
our own supremacy as the ocean carriers
of the world from being carried into effect;
however, talking is now over, and action
is in the order of the day. We announced
in our last issue that the line would be
opened by the despatch of the Pacific Mail
Company's steamer COLORADO on the 1st
January next. This vessel will be follow-
ed by other steamers of about 4,000 tons,
built specially for the service, with large
accommodation for European and Chinese
passengers. The question as to calling
at the Sandwich Islands EN ROUTE is still
in abeyance. It has been decided that the
terminus in China should be at Hong-
Kong, with a smaller steamer running be-
tween Yokohamna, Nagasaki, and Shanghai,
to connect it with main line. The service
is arranged to be a monthly one, but as
the connecting links with Panama and
New York are three times a month, and
between Panama and Southampton twice
a month, we believe the company will
soon find sufficient inducement to make
the China line twice a month. For the
monthly service we understand the Gov-
ernment subsidy is $500,000 per annum.
Until the Company's vessels built for this
line arrive at San Francisco from New
York the service will be once in three
months. The Company's steamers leave
New York on the 1st, 11th, and 21st, but
the one to correspond with the departure
from San Francisco for China will be that
of the 11th, and the route will stand thus:

From New York on the 11th, arriving
at Aspinwall on the morning of the 19th,
and in the evening at Panama, say 9 days

From Panama to San Francisco,
arriving on the 1st or 2nd ... 12 "

From San Francisco to Yokoha-
ma, arriving on the 18th or 19th... 17 "

Stop at Yokohamna ... 1 "

From Yokohamna to Hong Kong,
arriving about the 25th ... 6 "

Total ... 45

The present route from New York to
Hong Kong VIA Liverpool and the Red
Sea occupies 54 to 57 days. The journey
from England by this route will be as
follows:—

Leaving Southampton by the Royal
Mail (West India) on the 17th of the
month, arriving at Aspinwall on the 8th,
and across to Panama, leaving that port
on the 9th ... 22 days

From Panama to San Francisco,
arriving about the 21st ... 12 "

Stop at San Francisco until the
1st of the month ... 9 "

From San Francisco to Yokoha-
ma, arriving on 18th or 19th ... 17 "

Total ... 60

From Yokohama to Shanghai or Hong-
Kong this passage is four and six days
respectively. The time will of course be
greatly shortened when the Pacific Rail-
way shall have been completed, so as to
form a direct line between New York and
San Francisco.

Although the route VIA Panama, as it
at present exist, effects no saving of time
for passengers to England, it will make a
material difference in the conveyance of
telegraphic news, San Francisco being in
telegraphic communication with New
York, and New York by the Atlantic cable
with London. We have only to allow the
sea passage of seventeen days from Yoko-
hama to San Francisco, or twenty-one days
from Shanghai, while our service by Galle
occupies twenty-seven from Yokohama
and twenty-three from Shanghai, allowing
that the lines to India are in good work-
ing order, which unfortunately is the ex-
ception, and consequently the time of
transit is indefinite. At all events there
will then be two distinct channels for the
conveyance of telegrams between Ameri-
ca and China, with the certainty of a
third at no very distant date, since the
Russo-American telegraph will be com-
pleted in about two years.

The rates of passage money fixed by
the Company are $300 between San Fran-
cisco and Shanghai or Hong Kong for
chief cabin, $200 second, and $100 steer-
age. From Yokohamna, $250, $175, and $95
for the respective classes. These prices
include all requisites, except wines and
liquors, and we consider them moderate
—at least as a commencement. The rates
freight have not yet been announced.
As regards the accommodation for pas-
sengers and the exact measure of comfort
they may expect to enjoy we are of course
not in a position to speak. As soon how-
ever as the line is open we purpose taking
steps to furnish a special report on it, as
we are quite sure that as a change of route
it will be availed of to a great extent,
even by residents in China and Japan,
who have no business with San Francisco,
and we need not tell our readers that a
considerable business is conducted between
Hong Kong and San Francisco.

The following comments on the new
line are from the NEW YORK SHIPPING
LIST:—

"We understand that the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company, to whom Govern-
ment awarded the contract for carrying
the mails between San Francisco and
Hong Kong VIA Kanagawa, have lately
added to their line the new steamship
KINAU OTAN, and that they have on the
stocks, in this City, two more steamers of
greater tonnage than any vessels belong-
ing to the Company. The first steamer
(the COLORADO) will be despatched from
San Francisco in January next, and be
followed by the MONTANA, now on the
way from this port to California. The
establishment of this line, in connection
with the direct line recently established
between New Zealand and Panama, it is
expected will create a new era in the com-
merce of the Pacific. The Australasian
trade will be controlled by the British
line, but, as an offset to that, we shall have
the vastly greater and richer traffic of
China and Japan. The inhabitants of the
colonies, including Australia, are few in
number compared with those who will be
brought into direct commercial intercourse
with us by means of our steamship line
across that ocean. Many of the most
valuable commodities which the world af-
fords are produced by the people who
dwell upon the borders of the China sea.
The silk, tea, and cotton which seek a
market from that densely populated region
make it certain that this country will
come into possession of a great trade from
beyond the Pacific, as soon as the mail
steamship line commences its work. Steam
to China will cause our country to realize
more forcibly than ever the necessity of a
Pacific railroad. That the construction of
this great thoroughfare will be hastened
by the increase of trade which will be of-
fered by means of a steamship line from
the Pacific coast to China, at once appears
evident. Not only is the commerce be-
tween China and Japan and our Pacific
possessions expected to be greatly enlarged,
but a large passenger traffic is confidently
looked for. A few years ago China fur-
nished no passengers. Now large numbers
travel to and fro by sail, and it is esti-
mated that at least 5,000 Chinese will
travel each way by the steamers. Restric-
tions upon travel have already been re-
moved by the Japanese authorities, and
the time may not be far distant when that
curious and inquisitive people, availing
themselves of their newly-granted privi-
leges, will travel extensively, and their
patronage in this way may become of
great importance to California."—LON.&
CHINA KK.

The Spirit of Austria.

Austria is a conventional not a real
state. There is no Austrian people.
What is called Austria is a certain ex-
tent of recruiting ground on which ar-
mies are raised. She represents a totally
different order of ideas from Prussia,
and notably the feudal idea of territorial
sovereignty, of which she may be said to
be now the last embodiment. She is the
result of the doctrine on which all poli-
tical arrangements have been based in
Europe for a thousand years that the land
belongs to the princes and not the peo-
ple, and that any-divisions of it, how-
ever arbitrary, on which sovereigns may
decide, may be made for the benefit of
particular families. With the disappear-
ance of the Austrian empire the last
trace of this doctrine would have disap-
peared, and we should have entered on
a new era, in which governments would
rest on nations, and in which the mon-
strosity of armies like Benedek's with-
out a country, and compelled to fight
for the mere purpose of keeping one man
and his near kindred in the enjoyment of
a certain amount of luxury and power;
would no more be seen.

We, therefore, honestly confess that
we hope that the Prussians will make a
clean sweep now that they are about it,
and we think it very likely that Bismark,
after ten days victory, will not quietly ac-
cept, through a French mediation, what he
might have had a month ago without fight-
ing at all. Austria has not a single claim
on the sympathy of any human being. The
house of Hapsburg has done nothing for
literature, nothing for science, little
for art, and has probably inflicted more
misery on the world than any race with
which it has pleased God to curse it.
For six hundred years its sword has been
a very present help to all forms of bigot-
ry and tyranny.-—NATION

Exploration of Cambodia.

The French Minister of Marine and
the Colonies a few months since appoin-
ted a commission to explore the great
river, the lower part of which rounds the
three French provinces of Cochin China.
The expedition left Saigon on the 5th of
June last. and consisted of Captain
Lagree, the director, a naval lieutenant
and ensign, two surgeons, an attache of
the Foreign office, and two interpreters,
one French and the other a Cambodian.
The escort consisted of a sergeant and
private of marines, four sailors, and six
Annamite soldiers. The avowed object
of the expedition is to ascertain the
physical geography of the Mekong as
well as the history, philology and ethno-
graphy of the vast country refreshed by
its waters. The various names given to
this river have been the cause of much
error and confusion; thus not long since
Vincendon-Dumaulin described it as be-
ing an arm of the Meinam river of Siam,
while Bluteau, Berghaus, and Balbi declar-
ed the two to be perfectly distinct from
each other. It is considered as settled
now beyond all question that the great
river Mekong has its source in the moun-
tains of Thibet, a very important fact.
If this be so, these mountains give birth
to the Caou-kiang, Yang-tse-Kiang, and
Hoang-Ho, which fall into the China
Sea, to the Brahmapoutra, Ganges, and
the Indus which pass, by the Himalayas,
into the Indian Sea, and lastly, by a
third outlet not yet well defined, to the
Mekong, the Meinam, and the Irawaddy
which fall into the Indo-Chinese Sea.

The lower part of the river, that which
waters Cambodia, is pretty well known;
the hydrography of the river of Noong,
which connects the principal stream with
the Lake of Angcor, has been completed
and the course of the Mekong has been
explored as far as the rapids of Sambor,
in latitude 12° and 13°. Here then com-
mence the labours of the expedition in
question. One of the great practical
points to be decided is whether these
rapids are always impracticable or only
during a certain portion of the year, and
consequently if transhipment be neces-
sary during a part or the whole of the
year. It is believed, though not known
for certain, that only one arm of the
river at Khong is affected by the rapids,
and that the other is open to navigation.

Above this point all that is known posit-
ively is from the observations of M.
Mouhot, who lost his life there in the
autumn of 1861, and his discoveries re-
main incomplete. He described the Me-
kong, in the Laos between 19° and
20° latitude, as being more by high
mountains covered with rich verdure; he
declares absolutely that there is no con-
nection whatever between the Mekong
and the Meinam, but his exploration on-
ly extended to Luang-Prabaag, one of
the principal towns in the kingdom of
Laos, and containing from 7,800 to 8,000
inhabitants, and not 80,000 inhabitants,
as stated by Pallegoix. Below Laos
the Mekong penetrates the vast and
populous Chinese province of Yun-nam,
where it takes the name of the Lau-tsen-
kiang, which is applied to all its upper
portion. It is there separated by a small
distance only from the celebrated Yang-
tse-kiang, and from the Lo-kiang which
forms the boundary of the Birman em-
pire, of Tenasserim and Siam, and falls
into the gulf of Martaban at the English
port of Maulmein near Rangoon. The
proximity of the Mekong to the Yang-
tse-kiang (called in Yun-nam the
Kincha-kiang) if a fact is an extremely
important one, as the latter river serves
the three great towns of Hankow, Nank-
ing, and Shanghai.—Lon. & C. Express.

The Atlantic Cables.

The contents of a lady's thimble would
hardly be expected to constitute a very
powerful instrument. They would scarcely
have been thought capable of one of the
most astonishing feats ever performed by
science. The chairman, however, of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company informs us
that this little instrument has actually
achieved such a feat. By way of experi-
ment, the engineers of the company joined
the extremities of the two cables which
now stretch across the Atlantic, thus for-
ming an immense loop-line of 3,700 miles.
He then put some acid in a lady's silver
thimble with bits of zine and copper, and
by this simple agency he succeeded in pas-
sing signals through the whole length in
little more than a second of time. A few
years ago how incredible such a statement
would have sounded! It seems, indeed,
that the simplicity of the fact has taken
even electricians by surprise. When a
cable was first laid across the whole breadth
of the Atlantic it was anticipated that an
unusually high power would be requisite
to drive the current in sufficient force
through such a length. In the first in-
stance, therefore, they used a battery with
50 cells, and afterwards employed 300 cells.
But this extraordinary power only injured
the cable, and the company are now work-
ing between Valentia and Heart's Content
with a battery of only 20 cells. It is, in
fact, remarkable how greatly the success
of the present year has dissipated the sup-
posed difficulties of distant or deep-sea
telegraph. So long as a cable broken was
a cable lost, it could not but appear a most
heavy loss speculation to venture half a
million upon that continuity of a rope
2,000 miles long. This element of hazard is
now almost wholly removed. It was no
mere chance by which the 1865 cable was
recovered. The success was accomplished
by a month’s steady work, according to
well-understood principles, and the same
method may at any time be repeated. For
the future, therefore, it will be a matter of
plain business, not of speculation, to lay
deep-sea cables. The distance and the
extent of submersion create no difficulties
at all. On the contrary, they seem rather
to have a favourable effect than otherwise.
The new cable has steadily improved since
it has been laid down, and the old cable is
better than the new. Up to the present
time the cables have been working under
great disadvantages. The breakdown of
the land lines on the American side has
seriously checked the dispatch of messages,
and, moreover, by refusing to send any
messages for a less sum than £20 the com-
pany have greatly restricted their business.
Nevertheless, under all these disadvan-
tages, the receipts have amounted on an
average to nearly £1,000 a day. On one
day they reached £2,000. Two very long
messages were sent, and it is curious to
learn that one was the speech of the King
of Prussia, the other the account of some
sporting match. The speech made by
Prince Gortschakoff, at the banquet given
to the American naval officers was tele-
graphed to the NEW YORK HERALD at
cost of £1,400. An arrangement has been
made by which the telegraphic news from
Europe over the Atlantic Cable is furnish-
ed to the American newspapers at the rate
of $100 a week for each journal desiring
it. Some twenty papers have thus far
entered into the agreement, and about 100
words a day will be transmitted, including
the commercial reports. This has made
necessary an advance in the charge for
advertising in many offices, about 25 per
cent, having been added to the former
rate.—LONDON & CHINA EXPRESS.

The Real Trouble.

Putting together the many conflicting
reports that fill our exchanges, and glean-
ing all we have been able from private
parties, we are satisfied that the real state
of affairs at the South is about this :

The majority of the people are dis-
posed to accept the situation quietly and
resignedly. They must have time, it is
true, for the feverish feelings that the
war engendered to cool down. A certain
suavity and cordiality toward the Yankees
can hardly be expected just yet. But an
unrestrained expression of opinion would
doubtless develop a purpose to make the
best of the new state of things, and to
get along amicably with the Freedmen.
Secessionists they are yet, but with no
hope for the “lost cause.” If this were
all, the task of reconstruction would be
more one of time than difficulty.

But it is not all. In every State there
is a dominant minority who overawe and
override this peaceable majority. Men
ruined by the war, in property, or char-
acter, or both ; men who fell into a guer-
rilla life a great deal more readily than
they fall out ; men of the passionate,
lawless natures that slavery was so well
calculated to nurse, compose this factious
element. They may be but a few in a
parish or a county, but in most sections
they rule, and with a high hand. It is
they who shoot the Bureau officers, mob
the colored schools, persecute Unionists,
and make so many places too “hot” for
Northern men. They hold a rod of ter-
ror over peaceable citizens. The weal-
thiest and most influential of the latter
dare not set themselves against them. No
one will act as Sheriff to arrest, as wit-
ness to identify, as jury to convict, or
judge to sentence them for their outrages.
It would be at a risk of property or life
that few men care to take.

It is the existence of this troublesome
element that makes the necessity for the
Freedmen’s Bureau and a standing army,
and that justifies the Republican opposi-
tion to President Johnson’s plans of pre-
cipitate reconstruction.

We have no doubt of the fact as we
have represented it. We wish we could
be as sure of the right remedy for the
evil.-—Lo. Co. News.

No Silent Partners.

A minister in Brooklyn was recently
called upon by a business man, who said:

“I come, sir, to inquire if Jesus Christ
will take me into the concern as a silent
partner?”

“Why do you ask?” said the minister.

“Because I wish to be a member of
the firm, and do not want anybody to
know it,” said the man.

The reply was, “Christ takes no silent
partners! The firm must be ‘Jesus
Christ & Co.,’ and the names of the ‘Co.,’
though they may occupy a subordinate
place, must all be written out on the
sign-board.”

Reader, are you trying to be a secret
Christian? Jesus Christ takes no silent
partners!—THE CONGREGATIONALIST.

Diogenes being once asked the bite of
which beast was the worst, answered,
“If you mean of wild beasts, ‘tis the
slanderer, if tame, the flatterer.”

Bangkok Recorder.

Royal Criticisms.

We have quite recently received a
paper from the king's chief scribe cr-
iticising severely, in his master's name
our use of Pali words such as the pri-
ests of the temples employ. He af-
firms that our writings are full of
words such as a hundred Siamese of
whatever classes, aside from the priest-
hood, speaking from morning till
evening would not once use. As ex-
amples he instances the words haang
Pra-ung of a sign of the possessive
case, and the word or rather phrase
Ahpai in the sense of beg pardon.
He says these words which neither
man nor woman of a company of 100
persons outside of the priesthood
would employ once in talking all day,
we are continually lugging into our
Siamese compositions.

Now in reply we beg to say, that
our teachers have generally been from
among the best educated of the Siam-
ese-—educated at the Temples—the
highest seminaries which the kingdom
of Siam enjoys. Some of them have
had as good a knowledge, we think,
of the Pali even, as our critic himself
and certainly of the Siamese not un-
equal. Some of them have been even
honored by having conferred on them
the literary degree of-—Parcan[?]. Was
it unwise, then, for us to confide in
such teachers as to the best use of the
words we found in Siamese book—-for
example the Records of the kings of
Siam? In speaking to us, they some-
times employed such words as our
critic now condemns as being obso-
lete. They have used these words
frequently in the books they have
written for us. We see the same
words used in Siamese books that
have been generally acknowledged to
be written in good Siamese. We know
without a doubt that the common peo-
ple are at no loss to understand them,
and we have thought it well, as the
pure Siamese language is quite mea-
gre, to exert our influence by the
press and every other laudable means
to amplify it, and hence have used
such words, we confess, more freely,
than we have heard them spoken or
seen them employed in Siamese books.

Our critic next inquires, why, in
reporting the king's visits to the tem-
ples, as we did three weeks since, we
followed the old obsolete language of
the priests in giving the names of the
temples, and not the common names by
which the people speak of them? Our
answer is, that we took the names just
as the king's chief scribe dictated
them to us for the article we wrote,
thinking that that style would be con-
sidered the most appropriate in report-
ing these pompous visits of the king.
And for a similar reason we frequently
employ the phrase His Majesty in-
stead of the common one,—-the king
Our critic asks, who among all the in-
habitants of this city ever speak of
the royal temples by those old obso-
lete names? So might he as well cri-
ticize our frequent use of the phrase
His Majesty for the people scarcely
never use the term in Siamese. Why
does he not ridicule our Siamese arti-
cles in which the phrase Pra-bat
Somdetsh Pra chaoem klow now and
then occurs? Who of the people or
princes or Lords ever use it in com-
mon conversation? Who is ever heard
to speak of a royal procession by the
terms P'a yuhd bat tra? Do not
the people always employ the simple
word Sadet pei Sadet ma—the king
goes and the king comes? Why then
does our critic in his paper to us on
this subject employ such pompous
words? Simply because it was the
book language from time immemorial,
and for the same reason we have used
those high flown names for the tem-
ples. It is very true they are not
colloquial names, but it is equally true
that they are such names as we find
in the standard books of the country.

The truth is the papers of our cri-
tic and his master are full of words
which are not commonly used by the
people. And is it right that we should
be ridiculed for a similar freedom—
saying that we are forever raking up
obsolete words which only men who
died 70 and 80 years ago employed?
Our critic does not deny that such
names as we have employed were us-
ed freely by the last generation. But
he says that the king does not now
use them in any of his messages or
edicts. We suspect that this is a piece
of the same singular ambition which
the king has to distinguish himself by
coining and rejecting words and phra-
se according to his own notions, and
thus endeavoring to create a modern
style that shall distinguish his reign
above all that have preceded it. We
will frankly confess that we have been
pleased with parts of this his literary
reformation, but must protest that if
he means to carry it so far as to make
a host of the book words of the last
generation obsolete, and radically
change the style of writing, that our
sympathies cannot follow him. The
truth is the Siamese language is en-
larged and enriched by that class of
words which our critic would seem
now to wish to have cast over board,
as the English language is amplified
and improved by her many words of
Latin derivation. What would be
thought of an English monarch who
should arise and attempt to reject
thousands of English words that were
used in the last generation, and es-
pecially such as are of Latin and
Greek origin?

It will be recollected by some of
our readers that but little more than
a year ago, this same critic overhaul-
ed us repeatedly for not Romanizing
proper words in the Pali according
as they were originally spoken, or as
the most learned Pali scholars speak
them now. And to this day he does not
cease a ch. criticisms continually reite-
rating that the people and nearly all
the priests are universally ignorant,
and do not know how to speak Pali,
but that we ought to avail ourselves
of the very best Pali scholars that can
be found to direct us aright, and to
spell all Pali words, especially Pali
proper names, so that good Pali schol-
ars in India and Europe will see that
we and our teachers are not ignora-
muses in the Pali language. Our rea-
ders can find a fair sample of that
system as understood and loved by the
king in the catalogue of the names of
His Majesty's children as published in
the Bangkok Calendar for 1865 or 6.
Why, we would beg leave to ask our
critic, among all the princes, or no-
bles, or lords, or people ever speak
any of those names as indicated by
that orthography? Why then is it
insisted upon and the names of the
princes and princesses be made such
as no European can utter?

A Siamese Ox Cart

A native ox cart is a very singular
piece of mechanism—-so odd and
primeval in its style as to claim a de-
scription from some pen. And as no one
else appears to have attempted it, we
propose now to try our pen at it. We
regard it as a very difficult work-—so
much so that for many years we have
looked upon the instrument and wish-
ed to describe it to our friends abroad,
but have not felt able to do so until
now. If we are successful we may
perhaps flatter ourselves that we are
growing stronger rather than weaker
as years multiply upon us.

The Siamese ox cart is only about
half the size of the buffalo cart, and
yet it is enormously heavy for the
little creatures that have to draw it.
The wheels are about four feet in
diameter—-made of iron-wood, and
yet with large hubs, spokes, and fellies.
The hubs are 30 inches long and 8
inches in diameter where the spokes
enter them, They are rather neatly
turned with tasty mouldings. There
are no iron boxes in them or bands
about them. The hole for the axle-
tree is but an inch and a half, or two in-
ches in diameter, and of equal size at
both ends of the hubs. The spokes are
thickly set and rather neatly wrought,
but very heavy. They are trammelled in-
to the fellies by a dove tailed mortice,
and kept in their places by wooden
wedges driven from without inward
towards the hub in a part of the mor-
tices left open designedly for them, so
that they keep the dove tailed tenons
in the dove tailed part of the mortices.
There is nothing to keep the wedges
in but the rolling of the wheels upon
their heads. No kind of tire is ever
used, and not a particle of iron or
steel about them-—You will see the
fellies of an old cart wheel worn quite
sharp, which an iron tire would have
prevented. You will see all the tenons
with their wedges directly on the
superfices of the fellies.

The axletree is simply a little round
rod of hard timber an inch and a half
in diameter, of the same size from end
to end. Often times it is only a small
bamboo rod. The wheels revolve
on this, which is connected with the
frame above it and kept from turning
by the primeval means of withes.

The base of the cart box which sits
upon the axletree is a frame of hard
wood two by three inches in size and
six feet long and five feet wide. Into
each side of this frame, about midway,
the two ends of the axletree pass by
a hole of the same size as that through
the hubs. The outer ends of the hubs
come into quite close contact with the
sides of this frame, and by them the
wheels are kept from running off from
the axletree, and this supersedes the
necessity of linchpins. The four
corners of this frame are neatly framed
and kept together, not by pins as is
usual in frame-work, nor by wedges
or nails, but by withes which can
readily be untwisted and the frame
taken to pieces whenever circumstances
may require it

The cart box is built directly over
the two arms of the tongue and but
a little wider or longer than those
arms; Consequently it is much nar-
rower in front than in the rear—the
hinder part being about 2½ feet wide,
and the fore part less than one foot.
The frame work of the box is of hard
wood framed into posts two feet high
and kept together by withes. The
walls and floor of the cart box are
made of bamboo slats, and when grain
is hauled by the carts, matting is
spread all about on the inside of the box.
The box is strengthened by wooden
braces passing from each corner to
the four corners of the general frame
which embraces the wheels, and these
braces, like all other parts of the cart,
are confined in their places by means
of withes.

Hence it may be truly said that
there is not a wooden pin or nail or
iron band in the whole concern. The
instrument used for yoking oxen to
the carts is simply a round stick
four feet in length, and fixed to the
tongue of the cart by withes or cords.
In the place of bows, ropes are employ-
ed, which pass through auger holes
in the round stick as bows do in a
European ox-yoke, or are tied to pins
which occupy the places of the bow-
holes, extending two or three inches
above and six or eight below the yoke.
When the cattle are unyoked you will
always see the yoke fixed to the
tongue, and the tongue resting on a
crotch of wood.

These carts being heavy, and hav-
ing nothing but wood in the places
where all the friction comes, are very
unwieldy things, especially for the
small oxen which are yoked to them.
These creatures will not, on average,
weigh more than 4 or 500 lbs. and
are able to haul by these carts only
about the same weight of goods. As
there is no place for the use of tar or
grease to relieve the friction, they
almost always make a great groaning
as they roll along.

Buffalo-carts, as before intimated,
are as much heavier than ox-carts as
buffaloes are heavier than oxen. They
are always made after the same fa-
shion, and a smart yoke of buffaloes
can usually haul about eight or nine
hundred weight.

The oxen yoked to these carts are
always driven by means of reins fasted
to loops in the nostrils of the cattle,
and the driver always sits on the cart
holding the reins with his left hand,
and an ox-goad in his right.

Shan Land of Siam.

Siam or Shan Land has, like all
other countries, become exceedingly
modified by emigration, revolution,
and varied policy. Almost within the
age of the old men, of the present
day, the present capital of the coun-
try, was a wilderness, with gardeners
scatte[r]ed here and there, seeking a
quiet livelihood, and during the pre-
sent generation, the villages, on the
coast of Siam, have become entirely
modified and greatly enlarged. Siam
is a growing country.

The original stock of Siam, came
out from the Laos or Shans, as the
Burmans call them; rallying from
Cheangmai and vicinity. To this
day, the language is identical modified
only, by such incidental effects, as
adopting a different alphabet, and
surrounded by different influences
would naturally induce. Cheangmai
identifies itself with Siam, and pro-
perly so. They may well esteem it
the country of which they themselves
are parent, though as often happens,
the child has out-striped the mother
country.

The original Shans or Laoa live in
up-land country, seeking their living
by agriculture, and the mechanic arts.
That branch of them, which wander-
ed away to the coasts and rivers of
Siam, took a modified type, and be-
came more commercial, in their cha-
racter. Yet they have been more mo-
dified by revolution and inter-marri-
ages with other nations, than by a
location communicating readily with
the sea.

The last Barman war with Siam
laid waste the old capital at Ayuthia,
and sent the people terror stricken and
homeless seeking an asylum in dens
and caves and trackless forests—broke
up old Siam almost entirely, except
in its religion, and when it started
again, it was with a new policy and
new laws.

The honor of bringing order out of
chaos belongs to P'UYA TAK, a Siamo-
Chinese, who gradually collected a
band of braves, in the western part of
Siam, and came along as he could, ap-
pearing on the coast at Bangplassoi,
and from thence, after varied daring
deeds, he made a stand at Bangkok,
at what is now called the old fort. On
the western shore of the river, nearly
opposite the present royal palace P'UYA
TAK ruled the country as a sort of
Cromwell. But he was considered a
usurper. After a few years, e'er he
was permitted to establish a decided
policy, and make customs and usages
permanent, an old general of his, a
Siamese, trained in war to daring
deeds, of royal lineage and pleasing to
the Siamese because of their own
blood, was placed upon the throne of
Siam, and hailed as the great king of
Siam, and its dependencies.

This king has left many proofs, that
he was a man of great efficiency, and
justly popular among all his people.
He was the first of the present dinas-
ty, and bore the title of P'UYA P'UTTI
YAWT FA. He made the laws by
which Siam is now governed. The
Siamese, respect him as a wonder of
efficiency, who trained all the people
to mighty works and deeds. As a
man said to me the other day, while
inquiring about him, now when the
king orders out a thousand men, one
hundred do the work and nine hun-
dred look on; but when P'UYA P'UTTI
YAWT FA called out a thousand men,
a thousand men worked.

P'RA P'UTTI YAWT FA founded the
city of Bangkok. He built the pa-
laces on the east side of the river. He
surrounded the city by a wall, built
the fort at the mouth of the river, dug
numerous canals. Indeed he was a very
wonderful man, if we may credit Sia-
mese annals. In his day the Siamese
were a brave, efficient, industrious,
working people. The king applied
himself to the real progress of the
country, and stimulated the people, to
do works of a permanent character.

P'ra P'utti Lert La, his own son,
did not emulate the father in this res-
pect. His object was to amuse, rath-
er than develop the people, and the
resources of the country. He gave
himself to glorify the customs, that
had been handed down with the
Buddhist religion. Holidays were
his delight, and to make a show on
those occasions, to delight and fascinate
the people, the joy of his heart. Of
course he had many wives, and lived
for pleasure rather than usefulness.

His first son, that came to the throne,
the predecessor of the present Siamese
king, seemed to make it the end of
his life to exalt Buddhism, and shut-
ting his ears to all that was told him
of western nations, insisted that Siam
was the great nation of the earth, and
the Siamese the great people. The
most bombastic style was assumed in
all state documents, and he seemed to
think that Siam was well enough as it
was. For all things foreign he had
but one phrase, "away with them, away
with them".

He made himself the god of the
people. Living himself, in his heaven
of three hundred wives, he seemed to
make all believe, that all things were
made for his use, and that all the use
of the common people was to serve
the king, and fear before him. And
certainly he had one quality of a great
man. He could use a great many
people, and consume a great deal of
worldly goods. But all was to little
purpose, if we may except those ques-
tionable good deeds, in building many
large "Wats" which made a home for
a large number of men, to laze away
a life of celibacy, while the king
could surrounded himself with the
wives, they ought to have had, to raise
up children to the nation, making
strong vigorous people, based on the
principles of Him, who instituted all
things.

When this king sat upon the throne,
every thing seemed stereotyped. There
was no such thing as making an in-
road upon established customs. The
great centre was Bangkok. The king
was the end and aim of all thought
and effort. All the kingdom, com-
pared with the city of the great king,
was as nothing. Taxes came to the
capital to be there disbursed or con-
sumed; but consumed there to a very
great extent.

When customs become fixed, we do
not expect them to be overturned in a
day. As great an advance has been
made during the present reign as
could possibly have been expected.
The morning light is breaking. The
king has welcomed and recognized as
pre-eminent the arts of the west. He
feels and acknowledges, that Siam is
but a small kingdom among the na-
tions. What we now want is to make
Siam a strong learned people. If P'ra
P'utü Yawt P'a, when he called forth
a thousand men, found in them a
thousand workers, this thing can be
done again.

The Siamese are susceptible of high
inspiration. They respect their rulers.
When there comes forth from the
throne energy and might-—a will to
devise liberal things, and a heart to
carry them out, the nation loves to
rally around the royal standard, and
asks to be led on to brave and noble
deeds. Let the king patronize a
sound religion, and deep learning, and
the whole country, with ears open and
heart aroused, will listen, believe, and
awake to the real end of their being
and the proper objects of effort.

What is needed in Siam is to grasp
the country as a whole, make the
kingdom a great family of equal rights
—-equal protection—-equal love—-and
welcome assimilation in all its borders.
Let the Shans of the north have the
fostering care of a daughter strong
and able to protect. Let the Karens
wandering upon the mountains, have
inducements to make for themselves
a home, and be assured of a father’s
care, and the people already assim-
ilated by contiguity and the most in-
timate relationships together devise
liberal things, to make the country
every where distinguished for good
laws, good protection and hearty pro-
gressive policy.

A mission among the Shans is most
opportune. Perhaps this people may
become the leavening element that
shall make Siam a christian nation.
It being a border province between
Siam and Burmah, the religion that
has already been freely received in the
sister kingdom, may thus come to us,
in Shan land, who seem as yet to be
sitting in the valley and shadow of
death, in our religious surroundings,
though the gospel has been freely
preached in all those regions border-
ing on the sea. God speed the mission-
ary that now goes forth from Siam,
and may he find a brother’s fellow-
ship from the missionary of Burmah,
who has already found willing hearers
among this people, and the time come
in our day when the same God shall
be adored through these eastern coun-
tries, and the true basis of progress be
every where established.

Sandwioh Islands No. 8.

The government of the Sandwich
Islands up to the time of the conver-
tion of the principal chiefs, sometime
before the year 1830, was a despotism
of the worst kind. "The will of the
king was law, his power absolute; and
this was true of the chiefs also, in
their separate spheres, so far as the
common people were concerned. All
right of property, in the lastresort, was
with the king." But from an early
period in the mission, a happy change
began to appear in the government, and
steadily increased until the 7th of
June 1837, when the monarch signed
the following Bill of Rights.

"God has made of one blood all na-
tions of men, to dwell on the face of
the earth with unity and blessedness.
God has also bestowed certain rights
alike on all men, and all chiefs, and
all people, of all lands.

"These are some of the rights which
he has given alike to every man, and
every chief, namely, life, limb, liber-
ty, the labor of his hands, and the pro-
duction of his mind.

"God has also established govern-
ments and rulers for the purpose of
of peace; but, in making laws for a
nation, it is by no means proper to
enact laws for the protection of rulers
only, without also providing protec-
tion for their subjects; neither is it
proper to enact laws to enrich the
chiefs only, and hereafter there shall
by no means be any law enacted
which is inconsistent with what is
above expressed; neither shall any
tax be assessed, nor any service of
labor required of any man, in any
manner at variance with the above
sentiments.

"These sentiments are hereby pro-
claimed for the purpose of protecting
all alike, both the people and the
chiefs of all these islands, that no
chief may be able to oppress any sub-
ject, but that the chiefs and the peo-
ple may enjoy the same protection
under the same law."

"Protection is hereby secured to
the persons of all the people, together
with their lands, their building lots
and all their property; and nothing
whatever shall be taken from any in-
dividual except by express provision
of the laws. Whatever chief shall
perseveringly act in violation of this
Constitution, shall no longer remain
a chief of the Sandwich Islands; and
the same shall be true of the govern-
ors, officers, and all law agents."

What a glorious bound was that
from the ancient despotism of the
Islands! It appears that king Kame-
hameha IV then the reigning monarch,
having a full understanding of the
import of this magna charta, and a
strong conviction that it would re-
dound to the good of his people, and
a pure desire that the welfare and
happiness of his subjects might be
enhanced by it, cheerfully signed it,
thus surrendering most voluntarily all
further arbitrary power, which rulers
all naturally love, for the best good of
his kingdom. There was nothing
like "an intervention of armed nations
and their retainers" to make him will-
ing to do that sublime deed. It would
be difficult to find in the acts of any
of the kings which Europe has ever
had, a deed so truly noble, one ex-ec-
uted with so pure a desire for the good
of the subjects.

The next grand step in that up-
ward march was to frame a constitu-
tion and confer it on the people.
This was done on the 8th of Oct. 1840.
The constitution recognizes "the three
grand divisions of a civilized mon-
archy, king, legislature, and judges,
and defining, in some respects, the
duties of each." It is interesting to
notice in that constitution the follow-
ing clause viz: "no law shall be enact-
ed which is at variance with the word
of the Lord Jehovah, or with the gen-
eral spirit of his word," and that all
laws of the Islands shall be in consis-
tency with the general spirit of God's
law.

It appears that the laws framed in
accordance with this spirit were es-
pecially severe upon the vices of in-
temperance and licentiousness and
were remarkably successful in driving
them into concealment.

As the great reformation progress-
ed, and the relations of government
multiplied, it felt its need of the ser-
vices of a man who had received a
thorough legal education. Hence Mr.
John Ricord an American lawyer was
called to sustain the relation of legal
adviser to the government as At-
torney General. In June 1845 Mr.
Ricord, was requested by government
to make a digest of the existing laws
of the Islands, with such improve-
ments as it was wrought the circum-
stances of the people required. The work
was promptly and well done, and that
code was adopted April 27th 1846 by
the legislative council assembled. The
following are some of the statutes con-
cerning religious matters.

1. The religion of the Lord Jesus
Christ shall continue to be the esta-
blished national religion of the Haw-
aiian Islands. The laws of Kame-
hameha III, orally abolishing all idol
worship and ancient heathen customs,
are hereby continued in force, and
said worship and customs are forbid-
den.

2. Although the Protestant religion

This gentleman subsequently came to
Siam and offered himself to the Siamese
government in the capacity of legal coun-
selor. But the government did not then
feel its need of such service, and decli-ned
the application. M. R. then turned his
thoughts to the gold mines on the western
coast of the gulf and came near losing his
life in fruitless efforts at mining. He re-
turned to this city an invalid, having had
two strokes of paralysis. He left the
country, we think in 1867, and finally died
as we have been informed at the residence
of a distinguished uncle, a physician in
Paris.

in the religion of the government,
heretofore proclaimed, nothing in the
last preceeding section shall be con-
strued as requiring any particular form
of worship, neither is anything therein
contained to be construed as connec-
ting the ecclesiastical with the body
politic. All men residing in this king-
dom shall be allowed to worship the
God of the christian Bible, according
to the dictates of their consciences,
and this sacred privilege shall never
be infringed upon. * * * * *

"3. It shall not be lawful to violate
the Christian Sabbath by the transac-
tion of worldly business. The Sab-
bath shall be considered no day in
law. All documents and other evi-
dences of worldly transactions dated
on the Sabbath shall be deemed to
have no date, and to be void for not
having legal existence. It shall not
on that day be lawful to entertain
any civil cause in the courts of this
kingdom. Every attempt to serve
civil process on that day, shall be
deemed a trespass by the officer at-
tempting, and shall subject such officer
to the private civil suit of the party
aggrieved. Provided however, that it
shall, in criminal, fraudulent, and tor-
tious cases be lawful to issue com-
pulsory process for the arrest of wrong
doers, and it shall without such pro-
cess, be lawful on that day for any
conservator of the public peace and
morality, to arrest, commit and detain
for examination a wrong-doer."

While the Sandwich Islands have
adopted the christian religion for the
national religion and the Protestant
form of it as the religion of the govern-
ment, the union is not that of Church
and State, inasmuch as no sect derives
its support from the government, and
all are free to worship the God of the
Bible as they please.

It appears that the government of
the Sandwich Islands is a limited mon-
archy quite similar to that of Great Bri-
tain. The crown was perpetually con-
fined to Kamehameha IV., and the
heirs of his body lawfully begotten and
to their lawful descendents in a direct
line. Next to him was His Royal
Highness, Prince Lot Kamehameha
now on the throne, and next their sister,
the Princess Victoria. In the failure
of all these, and of the king and House
of Nobles to designate and proclaim
some person during the king's life, a
successor to the throne is to be elected
by joint ballot of both Houses of the
legislature. To the King belongs the
executive power, and his person is in-
violable and sacred. His ministers are
responsible. Laws passed by both hou-
ses of the Legislature must be signed by
His Majesty, and also by the Kuhina
Nui, as the premier is called.

"The House of Nobles is restricted
by the constitution to thirty members.
* * * The popular branch of the
legislature consists of twenty-seven
members who are chosen biennially by
the people, and the representation is
proportioned to the population. Less
than one fourth of the representatives
elected at the opening of the year 1864
were of foreign origin.

"The supreme Court has a chief jus-
tice and two associate justices. There
are also Circuit Courts, with judges
not to exceed three; and these two
classes of judges hold office during
good behavior. There are besides,
district judges, whose commissions
expire at the end of two years.

"The independence of the Hawai-
ian nation was formerly recognized by
England and France on the 28th of
November, 1843. Her independence
was acknowledged by the U. S. as
early as Dec. 20th 1842.

LOCAL.

We learn that Hon. R. Marsham,
who arrived here from Singapore by
the last Chow Phya, left on the 5th
for Maulmain by the overland route
via Kankuroo. The object of this
tour has not been made public, but is
surmised to have some connection with
the Telegraph line or Railways.

A part of the company connected
with the Boundary survey between the
Tenasserim Provinces and Siam, arri-
ved from Singapore per Chow Phya
on the 26th ult. Lieut. Bragg, who
is at the head of the expedition, is ex-
pected to come by the next Steamer,
when the company will quickly leave
for their important work on the boun-
dary South of the latitude of Tavoy.
All north of that parallel, has, we think
been surveyed, and all South remains
to be done.

His Majesty the king is reported to
have left town on the 5th inst. for a
trip to PRA PRATOM CHADES where he
and H. B. the Pra’klung are lavishing
their money on an immense pagoda in
honor of Buddi.

We have just now learned that His
Royal Highness Somdetah Chowfah
Chulalongkorn took a trip to Pe-cha-
buree on the 18th inst. in H. S. M. gun
boat Impregnable, for the purpose of
distributing priests robes at several
of the royal temples in that city, and
that he returned on the 20th ult. We
have been informed that His Royal
Highness is to come out of the manhood
some time in the course of the present
month.

We are credibly informed that the
loss of the four large spars for the Pra-
mane in the gulf some weeks since
will not at all delay the funeral obse-
quies for the late second king, and
that it is intended to have the crema-
tion come off about the 20th of Feb-
ruary.

WEATHER—-Never could there be
more delightful weather than is now
enjoyed in this city and throughout
this entire kingdom. We are having
many more cold invigorating days
this year than we did last year at
this season.

RICE—-It is now certain that the
new rice crop is past all further dan-
ger, and will be much more abund-
ant than the crop of last year. It ap-
pears from reports from Petchaburi
that there will be some failures of the
crop on the most elevated fields in
that vicinity from too little water in
the latter part of the rainy season, but
that the crop on all the lower grades
will be excellent. It is probable that
the higher fields in other quarters will
suffer somewhat from the same cause,
but inasmuch as such localities are
comparatively few, and as much more
rice has been planted this season than
ever before, the harvest will in all
probability be much greater than has
ever before been gathered in Siam.

LAGOOR.—-A Siamese friend of ours,
having recently returned from the
Province of Lagoor, whence he went
to purchase rice, reports that it is a
good rice country and a beautiful land
naturally, with splendid mountain
scenery; but that the people suffer
greatly from oppression and fraud by
their rulers and that they are con-
sequently miserably poor and wretched.
The mountains abound with
tin, and the mines are worked almost
entirely by a company of Chinese
from Hongkong. The people cannot
be prevailed upon to take the flat
coin from the royal treasury for more
than three quarters their true value.
Mexican dollars and rupees pass at
par.

REV. CAPT. BASKET preached the
second time in the Prot. Church last
sabbath day, from Matth. 11: 28th—-
"Come unto me al ye that labor and
are heavy laden and I will give you
rest". His discourse was "a feast of
fat things—-full of marrow—-of wines on
the lees well refined,"—-unto all his
hearers, certainly, to those who were at
all spiritually minded", wi a ever others
might have thought of it His dic-
tion was most chaste, his style of de-
livery, though with but little ges-
ticulation was quite agreeable. In a
word his preaching was what we
would term "to the tune of old
hundred."

We are sorry to learn that there
is much complaining among the trai-
ders in small boats coming in from all
parts of the country of unlawful exac-
tions of boat taxes by the farmer of
this monopoly. By a government
notification issued on the 14th of last
March all small boats as trade in the
river, from the inner provinces and
come and go without making trading
shops of themselves in the city, shall
be exempted from all taxation. The
law was put into force for a little
time, and such traders were happy in
the enjoyment of their privileges. But,
now, if the reports be true, the farmer
has found a loop hole in the new law
by which he has been evading it for
several months. It is this. If he finds
these traders moored at any place for
a day or a night, he accounts them as
belonging to the class of boats that
make trading shops of themselves in
the city, and exacts the usual taxes
for all such trading boats, which is a
salung (15 cts.) per cubit in length of
boat. We would beg the government
to look into this matter thoroughly,
for we fear there is great injustice be-
ing done the people by this farm as
well as many others.

The Steamer Chow Phya left the
anchorage at 6. A. M on the 4th inst.
having the following passengers, Mes-
srs Virgin, Crum, Maclean, Kennedy,
Wood, & Mrs. Hewetson and child.

To the readers of the
BANGKOK RECORDER.

I am commissioned by the ladies of
the Bangkok Bazar Association, and
instructed specially with many pleas-
ant Christmas greetings, to inform
you, that they intend, D. V. to hold
a Bazar on the 24th instant, at the
Protestant church, kindly placed at
their disposal, by our much esteemed
B. Consul T. G. Knox Esq. for the
purpose of disposing of a few fancy
articles, worked conjointly by the la-
dies here, for the aid and benefit of
the new Mission about to be opened
at Cheangmai. The hours will be
from 2 to 6 p. m.

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—On Hong Kong 30 d. s. at
par. On Singapore 10 d. s. 3 p c. pre-
mium

Freights.—The following charters have
been made since the 15th ulto.

PRUS. “Mathilde” 65 cents inside, 60
cents per pic. outside to Ningpo.

SIAM. “Kamarye” 8$ per ton teak to
Singapore.

HAM. “Albert” 45 cents per pic. in-
side to Hongkong.

HAM. “Edgar Ross” 45 cents per pic.
inside to Hongkong.

BRIT. “Omrad” 43 cents per pic. out-
side to Hongkong.

BRIT. “Evangeline” 40 cents inside 35
cents per pic. outside to Hongkong.

AMER. “D. Marcy” 30 cents inside 44
cents per pic. outside to Ningpo.

The following vessels have sailed for
China since the 15th ulto

“Gold n Fleece” with 6390 pls. rice,
167 sapanwood, 67 hids., 415 teakwood.

“New York” with 7570 pls. rice, 118
sapanwood.

“Hera” with 9119 pls. rice.

“Abbotsford” with 12, 391 pls. rice,
157 sapanwood, 425 pepper.

“Fezia” with 5720 pls. rice.

“Cutty Sark” with 9500 pls. rice.

“Lark” with 10, 464 pls. rice, 200 sa-
panwood, 23 horns.

“Albert” with 4930 pls. rice.

“Edgar Ross” with 4900 pls. rice.

“Lyemoon” with 10, 000 ps. rice

“Amazone” with 4300 pls. rice.

The following have sailed for Batavia
with fish.

"Railway," "Brilliant," "Fling II ett
& Elise.

The following have sailed for Singa-
pore.

"Chow Phya" with 4251 pls. rice 200
sugar 62 horns, 28 teelseed.

"Mathilde" with 7000 pls. rice.

CHLORIDE OR LIME FOR VARMIN.—A
correspondent of the builder says : "Four
years since I took an old country house
infested with rats, mice, and flies. I
stuffed every rat and mouse hole with the
chloride. I threw it on the quarry floors
of the dairy and cellars. I kept saucers
of it under the chests of drawers, or
some other convenient piece of furniture;
in every nursery, bedroom or drawing-
room. An ornamental glass vase held a
quantity at the foot of each staircase.
Stables, cow-sheds, pig-sties, all had
their dose, and the result was that I
thoroughly routed my enemies. Last
year was a great one for wasps; they
wouldn't face the chloride; though in the
dining-room, in which we had none—as
its smell, to me most refreshing and
wholesome, is not approved by all per-
sons—we had a perpetual warfare. And
all the comfort for eightpence !"

WEEDS. The microscope reveals the
fact that every stem and twig as large as
a quill contains some ten thousand little
tubes, through which the water or sap is
constantly passing upward during growth,
to the leaves above, which spread it out
by means of their fine net-work, and give
it in the form of vapor to the air. With
ten weeds upon a square foot, an ex-
change estimates that the careless farmer
has forty four million pumps at work on
every acre, dissipating the moisture and
drying up the soil at the expense of the
crops. Friends, are the weeds pumping
your fields at this rate?

GAPES IN CHICKENS.—-The NEW ENG-
LAND FARMER pronounces the common
opinion about this malady being produc-
ed by some worm which is generated in
the throat as incorrect. It says the cause
is colds and sore throats, which the
chickens get by wandering in the wet
grass. It asks how many chickens' lives
are bodies ever saved by running feathers
down their throats to scoop out the
worms. It says the true remedy is ad-
ministered before the disease makes its
appearance, and that is to confine the
chickens away from the early morning
grass.

HOW TO COOK A BEEFSTEAK.—-A beef-
steak ought always to be broiling and
never fried; but the following method
of cooking is recommended by Mrs.
Hutton, which even those who are ac-
customed to frying may be willing to try:
"The frying pan being wiped very dry,
place it upon the stove and let it become
hot—very hot. In the meantime mangle
the steak—pepper and salt it, then lay it
in the hot, dry pan, which instantly covers
as tightly as possible. When the raw
flesh touches the heated pan, of course it
sizzles and adheres to it, but in a few
seconds it becomes browned and juicy.
Every half minute turn the steak; but be
careful to keep it as much as possible un-
der cover. When nearly done, lay a
small piece of butter upon it, and, if you
want much gravy, add a tablespoonful of
strong coffee. In three minutes from the
time the steak first goes into the pan it is
ready for the table. This method of
cooking makes the most delicious, delic-
ately broiled steak, full of juice, yet
retaining the healthful beefy flavor that
any John Bull could require. The same
method may be applied to mutton chops,
only they need a little longer cooking to
prevent them from being rare. An ex-
cellent gravy may be made for them by
adding a little cream, thickened with a
pinch of flour, into which, when off the
fire and partly cool, stir in the yolk of an
egg, well beaten.

FRESHENING FISH.—-Many persons who
are in the habit of freshening mackerel,
or other salt fish, never dream that there
is a right and a wrong way to do it.
Any person who has seen the process of
evaporation going on at the salt works
knows that the salt falls to the bottom.
Just so it is in the pan where your mack-
erel or white fish lies soaking, and if it
lies with the skin side down the salt will
fall to the skin and remain there, when,
if placed with the flesh side down the
salt falls to the bottom of the pan, and
the fish comes out freshened as it should
in the other case it is nearly as salty as
when put in. If you do not believe this
test it for yourself.

Doctor Macgowan on China.

Want of space will not admit of review-
ing the whole of Doctor Macgowan's in-
teresting address to the mayor and board
of supervisors, on Monday evening of
last week. But there are a few points to
which we would call especial attention,
as they deserve more than a mere passing
notice. The first of these is his recom-
mendation that the Government of the
United States should follow the example
of other great Powers and establish, at
the earliest possible moment, a naval sta-
tion on the coast of China or Japan. In
the event of a war between the United
States and any other maritime Power,
one of the most important points where-
in the commerce of that Power could be
seriously annoyed, would be the Indian
Ocean and China Seas, but to do this a
powerful squadron would have to be em-
ployed; and this could not be done if we
possessed no base of supplies nearer than
our nearest home port, which port would
be San Francisco. Had we, a port where-
at our vessels could be refitted and
repaired without the necessity of returning
to the distant coast of the United States,
we could maintain a fleet in those waters
that would harass and annoy the enemy
constantly, without the certainty of the
vessels composing it being compelled,
sooner or later, to leave their cruising
ground to make good deficiencies. Even
as a peace establishment, its importance
and its great economy will be manifest to
every one. Our squadron in the East
Indies is now larger than it ever has been,
and there is no probability of its being
diminished in size. A proper naval depot
will have always on hand the means of
supplying this squadron with everything
required, and if located far enough north,
the port will answer admirably wherein
to give the crews liberty, and enable
them to recruit health and strength after
an extended cruise within the tropics.
Of course a hospital would form a portion
of the establishment. Again, after the
vessel's commission had expired, or the
time had arrived to relieve the officers
and crew, instead of the vessel going
home, and another coming to take her
place, she could be overhauled and refitt-
ed, and a new set of officers and new
crew could be sent out, thus avoiding the
necessity and heavy additional expense of
taking the vessel from the station. We
cannot now speak of all the advantages
to accrue if the recommendation of Dr.
Macgowan be acted upon, but we are of
the opinion, if the matter is properly laid
before our Government, it will receive
the attention it deserves. The second
point to which we will refer, and which
we deem the most important, is that
wherein the Doctor makes suggestions as
to the kind of men we should have for
consuls in China, and his remarks upon
the men who have heretofore held those
important positions. His remarks ap-
plied only to consuls in China, but he
might with great propriety have extended
them so as to apply to nearly every point
whereat we have a consul. In no way does
the United States suffer so much abroad as
by the conduct, character and ability of
the majority of those men who are sent
to represent us as consuls in foreign parts.
In their appointment no effort whatever
is made to examine into their fitness for
the position. Senator this, or Represen-
tative that, recommends John Smith or
William Jones as a man who has done
much to further the political interests of
the party in power, and one who for this
service should be properly rewarded.
No pains are taken to find out who John
Smith or William Jones are, or if they
possess in the slightest degree qualifica-
tions for the office, but, for the want of
a vacancy at home, or to get them out of
the way, they are sent abroad as consuls.
On arriving at their destinations, without
any knowledge of the duties of a consul,
or the ability to speak the first word of
the language of the people among whom
they are to reside, and with whom they
are to be thrown in constant intercourse,
they are generally like lost sheep. Then
in many instances they imagine that to be
a big drinker, a proficient swearer and to
have a good political swagger, impresses
foreigners with the importance of a con-
sul of the United States, and they act
accordingly, until foreigners, judging
from their conduct, imagine us to be a
nation of ignorant fools, of blackguards,
or both, from which no better selection
could be made than the one amongst
them. In this way we lose all respect
abroad, and the State Department be-
comes involved in a lot of trouble and
annoyance that would be entirely avoided
were some care taken in selecting men
for consular appointments. The remedy,
as suggested by Doctor Macgowan for
this evil, is the only feasible one, but we
very much fear that in the present con-
dition of politics in the United States
there is but little hope of a change from
the present system. And lastly, the
Doctor's remarks on the great benefit to
be derived from the new steamship line
to Japan and China, the importance of
the establishment of the electric telegraph
in China, and the benefit to agriculture
in this State from the acclimatisation of
the plants of India, China, and Japan,
are all worthy of extended notice, and we
regret not being able to go over the en-
tire ground taken by him, Not that we
could say more upon the point he has
handled so well, but in order that we
might add our mite in aid of the good
work he is engaged upon, of bringing to
the notice of our people how much our
country can be benefited by a closer rela-
tionship with the great Celestial Empire
and its neighbour, Japan. Dr. Macowan's
mission to Peking as Commissioner of the
East India Telegraph Company is a most
important one; that he will be successful
we have no doubt. His knowledge of
the people, their manners, customs, and
language render him the best selection
that could be made, not only for the
interests of the company by whom he is
employed, but for the interests of our
people generally.—-Los. & C. Express.

Southern Loyalists.

The convention of Southern Union-
ists held in Philadelphia last week, Sept.
was one of the most remarkable assemblies
that ever met in that city, or any other,
the circumstances the men, their charac-
ter, their trials, their spirit, their states-
manship, their magnanimity, and their lof-
tiness of bearing, combine to give an im-
portance to their proceedings, just now
immeasurable.

Not only were the Southern men
themselves men of mark, but the dele-
gates from the Northern States, who
were there to counsel, sympathize, and
congratulate, were men of the very high-
est rank—-governors, senators, members
of congress, and others of good position
and commanding abilities. So much
brain power, so much manly culture, so
much strength of principle, so in such
breast of patriotism, and so much high
souled courage have rarely met together
in the world. No convention has ever
before received so much attention from
Philadelphia, from the best people, as
was one, and none has ever before
made so profound an impression on the
whole population.

The convention, of August, mutely
met in the same city, and adopted an
elaborate address in support of Presi-
dent Johnson, which the masses will
neither read nor appreciate, was but a
feeble and flat affair in comparison with
this of September. That was a nine
days wonder; this will prove a stimula-
ting and perpetual power.

The resolutions and address put forth
by this convention ring out like trump-
ets. They are heartily and unanimous-
ly in favor of the Congressional method
of reconstruction, and very radical. They
are able, broad, generous, and noble.
Their principles are just, their tone is
manly, and their spirit is admirable. As
was to have been expected, the address
condemns the course of President John-
son severely; and he is indicted on sev-
eral charges, in language that is almost
terrific, and yet all too true. Governor
Brownlow, of Tennessee, never spares a
traitor; and he made some characteristic
speeches; while many other members
were as bitter in the denunciation of
President Johnson and his policy, as was
that famous patriot.

All the members of the Convention
were agreed, heart and hand, in favor of
Congress and its policy, endorsing Con-
gress without limitations, and in all di-
rections. On the subject of enfranchis-
ing the colored population there was a
division of sentiment. The delegates
from the states further South were desi-
dedly in favor of giving the negroes the
privilege of voting! Governor Brown-
low made a speech in favor of it. Most
of the delegates from the border States
were open to negro suffrage, but not
all of them. It has become evident to
all observing persons, that most of the
Southern states will be kept in the hands
of the rebels, and friends of the old
oligarchy, unless the negroes, loyal to a
man, are allowed to vote with the Union-
ists.

We sympathize with the delegates from
the far South. We are in favor of giv-
ing the ballot to every loyal man, that
can read and write in English, whatever
his race and color. We hope this may
yet be done. We shall not be sure of
peace, amity and perpetual allegiance,
till it is done.

But, for the time; that must be at-
tempted in which the masses of the Un-
ion party are agreed; and the amend-
ments to the Constitution, proposed by
Congress, must be ratified by twenty-
eight of the states. Unless this be done
speedily, the miseries of the Southern
loyalists will be prolonged, increased,
and intensified: and the nation be again
deeply agitated and convulsed.-—PACIFIC

The Corea.

From Chefoo we learn that the news
of the burning of the General Sherman
by the Coreans and the consequent death
of all on board is confirmed under date
of October 23rd. The French fleet con-
sisting of one frigate, 3 corvettes, and
4 gunboats left for Corea on the 11th ul-
timo, and on the 15th entered the town
of Kanghon, some distance up a river,
described as a small place of only 10,000
inhabitants, nearly all of whom deser-
ted the town on the French approach.
The fact of the murder of the missiona-
ries is fully admitted by the Coreans, and
a mandarin who was captured and taken
on board the admiral's ship seemed to
glory in the fact. The King invited the
French admiral to proceed to the capital
to negociate; but this was declined, as a
trap was suspected, and a despatch was
sent instead, in which demands were made
for punishment of the mandarins who had
instigated the murders, and for the ap-
pointment of a plenipotentiary. News
had been brought to the French by a Co-
rean convert that junks containing stones
had been sunk in the River Seoul, be-
tween Kanghon and the capital; and that
the Viceroy had despatched an army 15,-
000 strong to attack them.—-Ov C. MAIL.

Butter without Churning.

At a late meeting of the American In-
stitute Farmer's Club, Dr. Sylvester stated
that he had tried the experiment of niak-
ing butter by burying the cream in a linen
bag and that in another bag to keep it
clean, which he buried about eighteen
inches deep, and after twenty-four hours
took it up and found the cream thoroughly
converted into butter as it is by churning.
It is just in the condition that butter is
when it is "come" without being gather-
ed by the dasher. It was worked in the
usual way, and made as good butter as
ever was churned.

A SUBSCRIBER asks how warts can be
most readily removed-—with caustic, lunar,
or potash. Five cents worth, of either lu-
nar caustic, or caustic of potash, will suf-
fice. Keep the caustic in a vial, take a
stick of it, wet the end with water or spat-
tle, and rub it on the warts. Two or three
applications will suffice. Be very careful
with the caustic of potash, or it will eat
too deep and make a sore.-—N. H. FARM-
ER.

IT APPEARS, by the proceedings at a
late meeting of an agricultural society in
France, that certain learned cultivators
there have met with great success in the
use of coal tar and phenic acid, in protect-
ing plants and vegetables from insects.
Three per cent of the tar, mixed with
earth, and placed about grape vines, had
caused abundant crops, when, without it,
the fruit was certainly destroyed.

UP TO March 3d, the cattle plague had
appeared on 16,415 farms in England ;
8,396 in Scotland ; and 688 in Wales ; to-
tal, 20,499 farms. There was on these
farms a grand total of 342,712 head of cat-
tle ; of these 187,069 had been attacked ;
26,35 killed for security ; 39,081 slaugh-
tered healthy ; 117,664 died of the disease;
recovered, 26,166.