THE EDITOR'S DRAWER

Condensed Correspondence.

Tuk "Church Gazette" and Free Library. —'• A. Vi.-ilor' , observes t,h»r '•,. finds in tho Visitor-,' Book of the Free Library, ie various page?, requests for the "Church Gazette": -"Every other relt qioua journal ran be seen in tho tree Library, but tho 'Church of England Gazette' is moat, eonepionone by its ab fience. \7ojld it not therefore be a grace ful ant on the part of that Church to in augurate tho opening of the new I rce Library by at once responding to the wishes of thoee whose request is contained in the Visitors' Book, nnd who, I am sure, aro to a large extent members of that, Church ? I , have very often read that journal myself, and I can certainly say that aa far aa religious journalism has been presented to tho visitors of tho Free Library, the ' Church Gazette ' ia the ona I prefer before all others of its kind." Shelly Beach.—P. Smith calls tho atten tion of the public who froquant Sne'.ly Beach in picnic parties to tho dangerous habit of breikin? glass bottle, as thero are always a number of bathers and me:; from the Bowing Club walking about haro-footed. A man may ba ruinod fir life by wadin" on the bottom of a broken bottle.

WiiAsr.AßEi Tessis Club —" Ex-rnem bor" writes in reply to some ill-natured remarks made by '" Peregrine" in our morning contemporary relative to the Whangarei Tenuis Uluh. "Peregrine's " grievance consists in tho failure of the Club to ask him to join in when visiting the ground upon the invitation of an ex-mem ber. Our correspondent explains " that the Whangaroi Club woie going to play Darga ville Club a match (tho match that " Pere grine " mentions, in which Whangarei got soundly beaten, and at which he felt glad. Poor revenue, " Peresrine !') and on the afternoon that " Peregrine" was on the ground it happened that tho repre sentatives of tho Whangarei Ciub were on tbo lawn practising, and not having had any practice together, and not likely to get a practice again before the mutch, thoy doomed it ex pedient to keep together for prac tice on that particular afternoon, and for a wonder poor "Peregrine" 'was not asked to join in. Tho members of tho W T hangaroi Tennis Club treat all visitors to their district with courtesy nnd good feel ing, and throw thoir lawn and amusements open for tho use of visitors whenever they can possibly do so without special iisconvoni enco or detriment to the interests of tho Club, and aro only too glad to see them take part iv such amusements as can be offered." ' Father O'Rara's Sermon: ox Calumny. —"Fiat Lux" says:—"ln your i.-suo of Thursday last, you gave us a portion of Father O'Gara's last Sunday's sermon on ' Calumny,' tho point of which, with respacfc to the penance inflicted by St. Philip Neri, was signally omitted, both in the sermon and in the report. Sir Philip Neri, in prescribing tho penance upon tho princess for the calumny confessed, said :— * You must take a fowl, and carry it through the streets of Rome until you arrive at 0 certain brirtgo; there you must kill it, and as you return, pluck it, and emitter the feathers to tho winds.' The princess, having done as the saint com manded, returned, when St. Philip Neri continued, ' Now, go and gather up all the feathers yau_ plucked off, and I will give you absolution.' ( Oh, father,' tho princess replied, ' this is an impossibility.' So the saint replied, 'It is equally im possible for nDyone to make complete reparation for a calumny ones circu lated,'"

Freeman's Bay.

(To the Editor.)

Sir. — Truer words were never written than those contained in your editorial leader in tho Star of the 2nd inst. You echo the words of tho thousands who daily pass that pestilential spot, "Freeman's"Bay." What a misnomer the name is ! " Deadman's " Bay would be more appropriate. It is nothing better than an open sewer and fever trap, and would not be tolerated in any other town with r/hieh I am acquainted. Instead of the question being " How is it that fever and sickness is so prevalent ?" it ought to be : "Why is thero so little of it ? ' when such spots as these exist in our fair city. lam astonished at tha apathy of the Harbour Board. They go to an enormous expense in importing a largo dredger, and instead of utilising the silt, &c , brought tip by depositing it in Freeman's Bay (tthich could be done in several ways),thoy carry it out to sea,at thaloss of both time and money. fhey build a retaining wall in a great hurry jn order to facilitate the work of filling in, and what then ? Come to a dead atop and allow the sewage, mud, &c, to He festering in a semi tropical sun, lo the injury of the health of the _ large population who live in tho vicinity pi the bay. It appsars to be r. matter oi aablirno indifference to the [Board how many people are stricken with typhoid and other fevers, so long as they pursue the even toner of their way. I think it is timo thp City Council stopped in and compelled the work to be done, and they will be very much to blame if they hesitate to do so. What is the Harbour Board wuiting for? They have obtained power to borrow the money, labour is plentiful, the weather propitious, material for filling in easily obtainable, and everything favourable for the work being prosecuted. Why, then, the delay ? I hope the Harbour Hoard will display more energy.snd bearing in mind tho words of tho immortal bard : " Ii t'wore well t'were done, then t'were well t'wore done quickly," urge on this neceseary.important, and ultimately profitable work.—Yours, £ 0 J. Owes Dalkv,

The Globe Readers.

(To the Editor), Sir,— Many of your readers who have children attending the Government schools will bo pleased to learn that the Education Board havo decided to re-consider the suit ability of the Globe Readers as lesson books for the children. If the members cf the Bwjrd personally examine the iiOOfcs of this series, 1 do not think thero can be any doubt what their verdict will bo. Their introduction has given such general dissatisfaction both to teachers and parents that the wonder is hovv they ever came to bo adopted. We can only suppose it happened through some oversight or mistake. Tho Chairman says that "the books wore adopted alter a concensus of opinion from head teachers, inspectors, and also Professors Alois and Tucker. I have not tho pleasure of knowing Mr Tucker.but from what I know of Mr Aldus l cannot think that they would meet with his approval. When our children brought their oewbooks home from school.and my wife and I looked through them, we were so surprised and indignant that 1 took an early-oppor tunity of asking Mo Harrison what could poesiblv bo the object of the Board in sub stitutiogtho Globe Readers instead of the "Royal" The only rc-a-on lie could give, was that Professors Aldis and Tucker ap proved of them. Ho said the head teachers were not asked which school series they pre ferred, but to choos* between tho •■ Globe and one other kind, of the two they gave the preference to tho " Globe ;" but. He added the masters, with scarcely an excepuomanti without any collu-ion, recommended the Royal Readar series as in their opinion tho best. Placing the "Royal"' and "Globe side by side, I wonder what intelligent, right-minded toachsr or parent would select the latter I Tho use of the Globe Readers in our public schools is a very serious injustice to the children, to their parents, aud to the State. But in adopting the "Royal" or auy other new books, the Board should see that the parents, many of them very poor, are not put to needless expense. The Board ought to be able to buy the books at the best advantage. They should be supplied to the children at the lowest possible prices, which should be uniform in all the schools, and be publicly advertised, so that pwonts would know what they had to pay for each. Hoping the Royal Readers, or a bstter series, if there be one, will at once super sede the very questionable " Globe,"—l am, etc., . _ A Father

A reasonable supposition — Visitor-:. '.' Well, paries has paid the debt of nature.: Merchant: " Why, when was he hung 2 "Hung? YVhat do yon mean j Ea died a natural death." '".On, 1 supposed that pature must hav-o gotten her dobs as the rest of us always did--by execution." The Council of tho Royal Colonial In stitute have assured the members that tho union with the Imperial Institute w»u not deprive them of any. of teß"'* 8 ' m,f„ t> -„„ _t -Wales, in a personal letter to The Prmce of Wales, t intlmato the Colonial a^^ ioa between the two relatious and co operara»« bodies.

REVIEWS.

"Vignettes of Travel."

[Br Mp.s Ai.iT.r.D Br.N'.s'ETT, Sydney.] NfcXT to the pleasure of travelling ourpelvep. ns think there is nothing more agreeable thnn to rcce'.ve ploaeant, chat*} , , notes from ' a friend who is passing through new ecenes and enjoying the experience of a colonist abroad. Ibis true that books of travel in numerablo have been written embracing every country under tho nun, and that tho "stay-at-home" can sit by his fireside and eeo other lands through tho eyes of tho masters of descriptiva' writing ; but thoro is lacking in the most elaborate of theEO artistic accounts of foreign lundd that connecting link of personal interest which belongs to a letter fresh from the hand of a Iriend who haa written do'.vn his itnprossio'is and expoiiences on the spot' .md in th»; midst of the novel scenes which ho describee. Who i= there, having an intimate friand sotting out upon a journey, that does not strongly exhort the traveller to ■' ba sura and write," "3 though it would not bo easier for both if tho por w>ll laying this burden on hia friend would just sjo down to any well-selected library, mark out his friend's track, and road all nbout tho show places which

ho either will see or ought to t-00 in his peregrinations. The authoress of this littlo work soems to have been thua besieged on ths eve of her departure for an extended trip to Europo, and she has endeavoured to satisfy thoio friendly importunities in a very sensible and pretty manner, which ought not only to dc-lirzht her friends but greatly extend their number. In stead of burdening herself with a weight of correspondence, she jitted down notes of what she taiv and heard and thought durinsr tho journey, and at its eloso these havo boon leisurely arranged and printed in a noat little volume, which will enable her wide circle of friends to travel along the track which sho followed without tho (rouble and expense of sea and rail way voyages, guides, cabbies, insati able waiters, and tho wholo race of extortionists - .vbo make tho life of tho travellor who has not unlimited time and money at his dispo«al one prolonged night mare. Tho bcok isalso written without any stri vingofter effect—in ploasaot.chatty stylo, weaving in enough of the history of tho places and objects described to make the bonk in structive as well as ontorlaining. The pro fessional bookmaker generally ovorlays bis description with matter which no ono but a man who noes forth to write a book ever sees or thinks ; Mrs Dennett is content to describe very much what any colonist of in tellig«nco and education would sco and ex perience in the course of a trip home made under favourable auspice-. SII3 shows good literary costo and judgment, however, in studiously avoiding tho trivial and commonpluco. We have no records hero of what timo they partook of dinner, and what thoy had to eat, no reproduction of shipboard and hotol complaints of bills-of.fnre, the stock subject of three-fourths of the travellers and letter writers who are not of the professional book-ranking class. We should havo con veyed a wrong impression, indeed, were wo to be understood as implying that " Vig nette3 of Travel " goes no further than tho letters of one intoliigont, well-read lady to another. In reality it give-" a very faithful picture of a great numbor of places, Eng lish and American. It also furnishes a capital picture of English social lifo and customs, and tho popular mnelos of enter tainment. The descriptive chapters touch up the places visited with so much skill that, without boing bored by guide book rigmarole, the reader can get a very fair idea nf some of the loading at tractions of the Old and tho New Worlds. These descriptions, interspersed with per sonal ineidouta of travel, make una very entertaining book, which willb.-iperused with pleasure by many beyond tho circle of the authoress's own friends, for whoso special benefit the tisfe of writing it was originally conceived and undertaken.

"Handbook of the Fishes of New Zealand."

By It. A. A. Shekrik

The Government havo published a " Hand book of tho Fißh.cs of New Zealand." It has been prepared undor tho instructions of the Commissioner of Trr.de and Customs by Mr ShorriD, of this city, and printed try Messrs Wilson and Horton. A small map of New Ssaland is found following the little p3ge. Tho preface characterises the handbook as a compilation of what is known about New Zealand fish "put in a simple form for simple people to eaoily find." In the intro duction chapter tbo objectof the compil-rtton is stated to be "to draw attention to the commercial inducements the lish, and the fisheries of New Zealand oiler." In both respects the author fulfils tho objects and promises with which he Fot, out. The book, which consists of some 300 pages, after the introductory chapter, opens with a description of Stilt Water fishes, alphabetically arranged by their common names. Each fish has the scientific name following tho common one, and the scienti fic description given before the ordinary details that' are known about them. An illustration with make our moaning plain, taking one of the shorter descriptions.

Kod Sehnapper (Anthiaa liichcirdsonii). Length about three and three-quarters tho length of ths hoad, or three times the height of tho body ; length of tho head rather moro than three and a-half times the diameter of the eye; lower jaw longer; operculum with two Hat spines ; prreoper culum serrated, feebly on the posterior margin, acutely on tho lower ; teeth on tho vomer, palatine bones, and tongue; cleft of the mouth very oblique; maxillary much expanded and truncated at the end, extending to the vertical from the middle of tho eye ; sixth dorsal spino tho longest, less than half the length of the head ; second anal spine very strong ; scaloa finely serrated ; caudal forked.

Uniform pale pink, passing into pale grey on the body. Tho red sehnapper belongs to the same family aa the hapuku and kahawai, the Percicke. It was described as a new species by Captain Button, and is not, wroto Dr. Hector, unfrequenfly caught in the sounds on tho West Coast of Otago. It is generally called the red sehnapper by senmen who are acquainted with tho fish of the coast, the oslour being a uniform bright roc', with a fov.' dark streaks on tho fin" and a black spot: on tho Tho length of the fi;uro lithographed w.is 12iii. he said, but larger specinvns wero obtained byhimin Anita Bay, MilfordS und. Aspoc men from which Captain Hutton corrected his first description was I7£in. They were subsequently, found in Dusky Sound. White Island is one of tbeir most favourite resorts and Maeleay places the same i species in Tasmania, but it is not mentioned either in tho catalogue or tho description of the fishes of Tasmania by Mr Johnston. Gunther says there ate about twenty species of the genus in the tropical 3nd temperate sea?, but they are mostly small in s:zo and agrrrubly coloured, pink and yellow being the pio.lominatir.g oolours Aristotle said that fishers of sponges called one species sacred, because no voracious fishes came to the places which it frequented, and tho divor might des cend with safety. Following the salt water eo'ible fish, which occupy in description some 100 pages, i 3 some information concerning sharks and the commercial value thoy possess, which may be commended to the attention of those who era oh the lookout for new industries, on the development of those already in existence. The Rays follow the sharks, and then what is known about the fresh water fishes of the colony is given, with some de tails gathered from native sources, not per haps severally possessed. The chapter of Fish Canning and Fish Curing is valuable, bb the information it contains is now found in books of ordinary circulation, being regarded as trade secrets, and the author in his preface says that ho had difficulty in obtaining what he had ealhored. It should, however, be stated that in the first part of tho book the various modes of curing fish for sale or preservation aro generally stated under each particular species. The procoss, for instnoce, under which the mullet are earned at Wai -1 para and the salmon at California will bo : formed under "th«ir respective head- Some 70 pages are devoted to Fish Cul ture, which is described in the first sentence: " Above forty years sioco a labourer in Nor way was laid .up wi<h a bad leg. ..Nor by any moans are uneoraroc-n occurrence, it | will be said ; but this man use to beguile 1 tho tedium of his enforced rest by going

to the riverside and catching fish. But, ho did more 5 ho watched tho trout spawing, and assisted by his wife, he secured a pair of fish and expressed their mill and ova into water. He then placed the fertilized genua

I in sheltered spots in creeks where trout were not previously found and the eggs patched, aud too fish did well. This wets H*h Cul ture." .liter dealing with the subject generally, the -writer narrates tho history of Fish Culture in JNew Zjaland, commencing with Brook Trout, (Ultimo fontiualis) ami ending with Whr.e Fish (UoretjoiMs albus). There is no intention on our pari ol ouui marizing the largo amount ot inio.rnaiiuii there is here collected and condensed ; it can only bo got from a perusal of the volume itself and under the head ot Salmon (ijalmo suia-r). Tho writer saya :—- The history of the attempts to introduce salmon into New Zealand waters needs not to be related iv detail. Here, fish culture has largely been in tho hanus ot Acclimatiza tion Societies, and controlled by detached efforts. Otagoappearsto have made the first movement, as in May, ISB4, MrMacandiew, moved in tho Provincial Couucil, " That an address be presented to his honor the Super intendent tj have placed 011 tho estimatea a sufficient sum for tho purpose ot introducing salmon ova into the rivers ot Die Province ;' and on June 2nd, 01 ilia, same year, a vote 01 £200 was carried for th-it purpose. Iv ISii-f tho Olago Accl:maMscaHon Society wa-, founded.

" In ISG7, nhcn tup2iiutendeni of Olago, MrMacauurew wroty to i-.au Executive oi Tasmania to learn it Odgo cuuicl bu sup plied from that Colony, where the experi ment ot salmon acclimatisation wad sup posed to have succeeded, with salmon ova, Tho Tasrnanian Government very cordially responded to the application, uuc it was iound dmt it was quae uncertain how far thoy themselves had succeeded, and Mr Macandrew determined to get ova direct from tho United Kingdom, and £1,000 waa voted by the Provincial Council fur turn purpose." Under tho heading " White-fish wo notice a \cry graceful compliment paid to Mr J. C. Firth. It ruus us follows :— "And h re, while I think of doing so, it is only ri.'hc to stato that no person can read ihrougu the coriespondercce respecting thu acclimatisation of fish in Now Zealand — ospocially that portion relating to tho in trod notion of the ova of the Oalifornian salmon, and tho white-fish—without feeling a strong tulmiratioti of thu persistent efforts of Mr.l. G. Firlh, or Auckland, to ensure succesß in the enterprise ; nor fail to men tally compare his generous expenditure of time and money, with the lagging and ver bose efforts of others from whom patriotic efl'irts rivalling those of Mr Lurth may havo been appropriately, if not us cotilidontly, expected." With regard to the spawning of fiahos v/o aro told " The populur impression is that most, li-hea deposit their spawn at tho bottom ol tho t-ea, and many assert that ti:h migrato thorewarda to deposit their ova in ►hallow wator, but the number of murine ti.-hes which are supposed to deposit their eggs on the sou bed is > early dimin ishing,' while tho ranks. of tlioso iv which the ripo egtis .ire found floating correspond ingly incroases. Thus, tho majority of the American flounders, certain kinds of wrasses (Ctciiobabiiis), n species of sparling (Osmcrtis) , several species of oottns, cod, haddock, gurnard, s-had, mackerel, and Spanish mackerel, n kind of dory (Kelts) and the trog fish are among the so which have floating eggs. The eggs ut tho plaice and tho leaser weaver are equally buoy ant."

He further adia: -" Thoreanlt of inquiry then appears to ba thnt manna tUixor, far 03 can bo ascertained, save those of tlio hulling family, lhat are regarded in edible, deposit buoyaut egg* in the waters of tha sou. which s-rvo-< as their hitching place. Prote-sor Mc!nto.-h add* : ' The compara tively small tiiwa of Uiu chief food tishta ri.-o to tlio -urlnoe or nearly to tlio eurfuce wherever the shoal of adulc fishes happen to be feofiinp, and thia occurs not during a brie: period, but extends over a consider ahle spacj of time. Tho tiny young in thoir holi'lotH statfl me carried aloDg with multitudes of egg?, by evary t.iiie into sheltered creeks ana bajs, in the "liallow wu'.or c.f which tiny liud uocti .-holtdr aria feod. . • ■ They aro cavri«J away hither and thither by evorj- surgo of tho tido, cr more eteudily' homo by the deeper currents to stock anew exhausted waters. Tho vniimto and imporfectly-developad ewbryoi aud tho dolicato young r.ro eon- VGVoci into roii 1006 "ocidL liuitccl ttittir growth and wull-boing They are plactil Horn tlie lirst amidnt a rich sur faco-fiuina of minute forms which serve them as food-' "

The chapter on seals is perhaps the most interesting to tho general reader in the book; and one cauoot well ptruso the accounts cf tiio abundance of souls in our SoutlKvn waters in tho early port of tho century without feoli'Jg a regret at their wantcii dtstiuction ; move especially when it ie demonstrated by American example that seal iarming is as practicable and more profitable than shocp farming.- Seals abounded all ever those Southern seas until they were made scarce by tho Botany Bay und American sealers. Tho following de tails aro cl; jjeac.-al iutoiost: - " Iv Nfl* South Walo", the sealintr trade was at its height from 1810 to IS2O, the first systematic promoters of which wero rhe Sydney firms of Cable, Lord, and Underwood ; Riley and Jones; Birnio ; and Hook and Campbell. Tlio viwela em ploy ed by them were manned by orows of irom twenty-five to twenty-eight men each, and were fitted out for a cruise of twelve months.

"Tho nude of capture udoptcd was: The men selected ior the shore pirty would number irom six to eighteen, this being regulated by the mo:o or less numer ous gatherings of the seals seen in the rookery. These men always land well to leoward, as tho scent of tho animal U very keon, and cautiously keep along tho edge of tho wator, in ordor to cut off tho possibility of retreat; then, when abreast of tho mob, thoy approach tho soals and drive thorn up the beach to some convenient spot, as n small nook or naturally formed inclosure ; this accomplished, ono or two men go in to the attack, whilo tho others remain engaged in preventing outbreaks. As toon as a sufficient number have been slain to erect a wall of tho dead, thon all hands rush in to the general massacre. 'To so great an oxteot was this indis criminate killing carried that in two years (ISI4, IS15) no le»s than 400,000 skins woro obtained from Penantipod, or Antipodes Island, alone, and necessarily collected in so hasty a manner that very many of them were but imperfectly cured. Tho ship Pegasus took home 100,000 of those in bulk, and on her arrival in London, the skins, having heated duiing the voyage, had to be dufj out of tho hold, and were sold as manure—a sad and reckless waste of life.

" Mr Morris confirms Sir George Simpson and Mr Musgiavo in their acoount ot the afF'.:ct ; o!i of tho mother for hor offspring. ' Ac" the time of the slaughter the female utters most, piteous ories, alternately look ing at you imploringly then at her young "Peron, in ISOI aud ISO 2, f.iund British seamen iv Bass Strait, killing all that came in their way. "The schooner Endeavour, from March 9th, lSo3,toMay2Sth, ISO 4, got 9,514 skins; tho schooner Surprise, from March llth, 1803, to September IStb, 180.3, got 10,450 skins. Iv September, 1803, a vessel brought int.) Sydney 11,000 skins. The Sydney records, in anything like a full form, arc hard to obtain. " During the years ISO 3, 1304, upwards of So GOO skins were sent from the islands in Bass Strait, tho slaughter being made without regard to sex or season. On some s«alir"- "rounds tho idea was entertained that t"e~frmalo seal ..lone was valuably and the result of such faith could only have one end. . " 'Tho most sculherly group in Austra lasia,' Polack writes, ' was discovered in ISII by a sea'ing master (.vho procure! a cargo of 80 000 skins of that amphibious animal), and were named Macquario Is lands A gentleman in Sydney,' he says, ' procured by moans of a sealing party 100,000 skins in one year.' " Seals had a wider range in earlier days along our coasts than their descendants enjoy. Their bones are found in the middens at Whangarei. Polaek tell us how the natives on the East Coast captured one at Poverty Bay when he was there in 1836, affording them, ac it did, a rich treat. Kennedy says they wero found in Cook Strait at an early period in immense num bers ; while Diffenbach, in 1839, states that only a straggling animal was 'occasionally seen in Cook Strait. Cook, it will be re membered, says the largest seal he had ever seen was On tho excursion to the east, and notices in' Charlotte Sounds a sen hot) rise twico near the shore. Polack says the favourite grounds of tho seals were tho whole ot the west coasts of tho Island of Victoria, from Cape Farewell to the South Cape, including tne rosfes called tho Trips, tho Snares Islands, Ihe Anti nodes 's'.ands, and tho Chatham group Heaphy. at a much later date, writes: 'The seal parties wero located ac lort Pegasus, Dusky, Jackson's, Dacgs, Mtl ford, and Teramakau, in the Greenstone Country! and they visited iv thoir beats thfl Blsck Kscf ry Throo Steoples, off the mouth of the Bui'er ;' Toropuhi, near Reeky Point ; and the Brother's Rocks, in Cook Strait. In 1540,' he adds, ' I walked along

300 miles of the West Coast of the Middle Island, passing the Black Reef and Toro puhi. Thoro wero pieces cf English oak and fragments of copper on tb o bouchos, indicating whero ono of the sealing ships had been wrecked and tho staffing crow eaten by the bush natives. At Toropuhi ' there wero thre.s scale on an offshore rock, streto'iing out. thoir necks tuid ungainly heada to look at us. Thoy were the laec remnants of their race.' " A chapter on whales an i whaling l follows that on eeols, which conj tains a hug) amour t of whaling statistics of tho early dayo of the colony, whon .'lO or 40 whalers were aeon *t, j anchor in tho Bay of Islands at one time. Iv IS 10 the valuo ot tbo whaling export ofNe-v South Wales was a quarter million sterling ; tho bulk of which was thu produce of New Zealand waters. What the tVtiieri can catch of these years amounted to wo have no means of knowing. International agreement may yet "protect" tho whale, which Free Trade will render as scarce, eventually, as tho olophantor tho buffalo. a t; • bo t nd of tho book tho Acts in force in Now Zealand concerning fish aro reprinted together with tho Orders in Council framed uneler their operation A list of tho cltissi lied fishes ot New Zealand precedes tho index, which is not as copious as it might have. been. Tho whole work bears ovidencoof p.iins; iikiug research and the exercieaof very considerable literaly skill and judgment iv tho selection of nutter. The book will, we believe, produce useful results in making moro widely known tho immense, wealth that lies comparatively undeveloped in our fisheries. The Commissioner of Customs showed good practical judgment in ordering tho preparation of such v book, and ho could not have placed it in hands that would have liono it greater justice.

THREE SCORE AND TEN.

Instances oi Great Longevity.

Whkn the Psalmist fixed tho limit of man's life nt threo score ami ten he docs not appear to have been uwuro of tho numerous exceptions to what his observations had led him to holiovo was a universal rulo. War was common in these days, and it waa next to impossible for a man to permit his life to woar out by tho natural pro cesses of decay unless he withdrew from tho world and lived the life of a her mit among mountains of the desert, If ho stayed at homo he was sure to bo dratted into tho army, anil etui his days prematurely. Whoro ilicio were to miinv causes ot death other than natural, it is difficult to under stand on what the sacred writer bn3t.nl his average. Still, it must bo acknowledged that his estimate of tho maximum of human existence was in a moasuro, justified by fac's, and that, tho standard ho established has, with or without, reason, been reoeived by most, persons down to the present day. Vet tho exeep lions aro numerous, far more numerous than most, people are nw.v.o of. Soiv and then the newspapers get together a few cases, all drawn from some particular country, which aro quito insufficient for the purposes oi general illustration. When tho enso of anyone having passed 100 years is quoted, it is treated with general scep ticism, and tho proof, which must, chit-fly depend on the memory of tho person him self, is snoored at.

That any pau\arch over livultotho age attributed fo Mcthusaleh amy well be doubted, but from what wo now know it may be inferred that tho lives of some of them might have exceeded 200 yours Though extromo longevity is not conlinod to any country, it. seems to havo been more common in mild or tomperato climates. I'liny tho older gives some statistics re garding old age noar tho beginning oi tho Christian era, irom which it; appears that some parsons of whom ho know in nnciun.: Italy lived to tho following : King Arifanthonidus, 120 ; Gorgias, IDS; Cor vir.us. 100 j and Torrentia, wife of < "ieofo, lei. CHodin, wife oJ I'romt-ai, a noble, died at 113, after having borne 15 children. Lucsia, a Roman actross, remained on tho td.ugo till eho was ICO. There were living in Italy at one timo about this epoch three men aged 140, four aired from 135 to K'»7, and four ntjed 1:>0. Thoro wero al*o two women, ono aged 135 and tho other 137.

Thero died in llioO, in tho country of York in England, a nun named Henry Hawkins, who had reaened 1(1!) Thomas Parr died in 1 BUS, aged 1.32. In Germany thero was v man still in sorvico at 130. Ho died of weakness six months later, lohn Eseingham, a soldier, died at 1-14. A Danish sailor remained in that occupa tion till he was ill. At 111 he remarried and lived tin 140. It is hardly possible that this soldier ou'd have seen much ac tive service, while the life of tho sailor revs*; have bjea passed with less than tho ordinary amount of hardship. Mention is made of a I'ole who iv I7OU had a grund-

son aged 101! and a son aged 82. A Nor wegian named John Surrington died at IliO, leaving oue eon a;sed 10.'! and another aged 9. The eldest brother might have boon tho, jjyoHV-grundfnther of tho younger. It is affirmed that a Scotchman named Kintigern and a Hungarian named (V.avten lived to ISO years. Mrs Single son of South Carolina died at 131, in pos ... s-ien of all her faculties except that, of ei.'ht, which sho lost at DO. In the six teenth century Captain Loudoniere found in Florida a father of six gouorations who ? eemei likely to live many years longer. Mrs Forster of Cumberland county, Eng land, died in 1771, aged V.MS. An English man named Goldsmith died in 177(5. in ("Vine*, at the ago of HO, Iv 1757 John £,f:i:!"h»iu died in Cornwall, aged lit Surrington, already mentioned, lived till IliO, and when ho died loir, two sons, ono 10!) and Iho other 101. .Marion do Lome was born in Uil!) and lived VU years. Louise Truxo, a nogress, died in ono of tho Southern States in 17S0, aged 170. There have sinco been some remarkable instances of longevity among tho people of her race, but none whoso cases approached her own, oven approximately. As she must have been densely ignorant, it is hard to under stand how her ago could have been satisfac torily proved. Extreme old ago is by no moans rare in France. About twenty years ago a domes tic whoso duties could not have been arduous died at the age of 144 in the De partment of Euro. In 17<>5 the census showed that thero wero 155 contonarians in tho country, sotno of whom must have considerably passed 100 years. In Chile, which has a population of but a few mil lions, it was estimated a few years ago that there were 532 parsons over : 100 yours and 1-2.244 of from 00 to 99. The climate of thin count, y, which is not unlike that of Darts of California, must, have singular pre eorvatlve qualities. A French physician named Madre says in reference to the fact that thera are twice as many female as male con ten aires that they must havo becomu un sexed very early in life- that is, that thoy took life roughly like men. Physiologists have placed on record some cases of partial restoration of parts of the body in old two. A French writer gives tho case of a man of 72 who nfter a rover and severe pains had a double tooth. Mention is made of a man of 75 who had several. An old man ot S'2 lost his teo l h and had them grow again three years after ward. He peserved them till his death at 100. A woman ot 02 had several toeth grow after a sovoro sickness. An inhabi tant of tbo Palatinate who lived till I'2o had fifty sound teeth grow during tho last few years or his life. Tlio man of S2 had his grey locks replaced by hair of the ex act, colour which it had been ill his youth. As a rulo animals aro short-lived. But thero are a few exceptions, among which aro the elephant, the rhinoceros und the hippopotatnus, which undor ordinary cir cumstances, live to more than 200 years It is not on record that any porson ever bought one for the purpose of testing tho question by his own personal experience, but naturalists have arrived at that con clusion. Among birds, the goose and raven are mentioued as examples of loneevity. Tennyson has alluded to the fact in the sonorous Hue often quoted regarding. The many- wintered crow that leads tho claDg injj rookery home.

OUR LONDON FLANEUR.

(From Ovr Lomwk Cobrkspontjekt.) Loxdoit, January 14. l Tiik main object of tim " mashing Earl " ' in visiiioy Australia and New Zealand is i nor, T am cold, to ensnare with his manly [ beauty tho young affoctions of a wealthy ~ pquafcter'fl daughter, but—mark the magni tude of tho enterprise—to go o-whnleing. Loi'dCairne mu-it,abovoalHhin£s,beuniquo. ' To do as o~her men do is hi.- abhorrence. < Ho acorns lions, tigere, bison and gach \ email jjaixio. When his lordship hunts it ] will be tho mighty loviathan of all—the 1 whale! Cetaceans are reputed to bo (as ' thci song suya) "all very fine and larf;o " j 0(1 tho of Now Guinoa, and thither, ' nfrcr ''iloiilj the colonies," tho noblo lord } will, 'cix said, makci hia way. I lady CoiJn CampUol!. Lady Colin Campbell is very wrotll over : the rt-parta in tho papers about hoc 'Voing ,' oriOhe.-cuj;e,"*ir.i;inp utjmueic-lial)rt,&c.,<fce. c Her ladyship quite overlooks tho fact that i Mho provokes by foronjj heivolf so ' continually e.n PVitletNX. One day we road j uf ■' Colin Campbell psucimiti}; .'it mi ] Kiikc End charity," me next th&C Lady i Colin Campbell suug hymna at Limehouso j the previous evening, and tho next that t Lady Colin Campbell vras the " cynosure of i all eyes" at the private view of tho \ Orosveuor Gallery Exhibition. "Cynosuro \ of all Byoe" is, tiitor ai!, a vory mild way of t doaoribiag tho way !ior ladyship vat , mobbed t.t 'he Grosvonor. Most women j would have Hotl (afc leaet I hopa po) from ] Much an ordeal as Lady Colin endured, it' she i diii uoo enjoy it, with the utmose com- ' oosura. Her ladyship was, I am told, I ooeufcuully droeued, and won- two diamond t earrkißa (single drops) that Must have cost i a pretty ponny. ] The Death of Sergeant Ballr-atlne j The deatii u{ Sergeant BaUuntino recalls ] tho which tho announcement ' «>i!iiß yeara back that ho was going to pub- j lish a volume of reminiscence* created, i There never wan a man more " behind tha • numeii" of the London criminal, t;ocisl and '• thuntmtai worlds than tho Snrgennt. When ! ho chrsu to talk ho could tell tho most ex- ' tvao'dinory storiep, ospociallv i'l connec- ' tion with cortoio caitsen Celebrex, and ex- ] peeri'.ion naturally ran high with regard \ tohin autobiography. But the book proved v I disappointment in many respect*, h; was in- ' torosting in a vupiri »orr of way, and (as was ' inevitable) hud n gigantic pale: but to those i who knew what tho Sergeant was capable •: of, it soo:nud watery sort of stuff. Ac- [ cording to report, ho lias left behind him , material for a work of a vastly more en- ; tortainiim kiud, T,hoa K h whether 'twill be < thought policy to publish tho whole at , present reui.'iitis to bo In hiH 1 " Koniiniscence.3 " tho Sorfjoant wan con- ■ epicuouslv roticont aa to hi;< relations with ! the notorious " Claimant." A large portion of tho memoranda he leaves bear, I hoar, < reference to tho Tiehborne cuse, and ulso J to two faiuouH criminal trials in which he ; ' Tholuift Authooy Trollope had r. K roat ' htiliof in Batlantino a* au advocate, and in- j trofiuued him into several of hia novols as i "Mr ChauanbrnsH." ilo fifruroa prouii- t nontly in " Orley ;rro," if 1 remsinbor J rightly. The tlaunuial auccess of Ballan- J tine'rt (irst book ioducad him to publish i another iloscribinß » lecturing tour ho took i in tho United iitaten. i(: was a sad Jailing j oli'ovon from tho "Reminiscences," but ho ; had livei! hard, and tor the la.st few year.? of 1 hia life tud'ereu much. Tho "Era" Almanac. Tha mo3t, notable feature of tho "Era" almanac, published on Monday lanf;, is a sorios of autograph letters (oxecutod in fac simile) irom famous actorx uud actrosfea in aiiHwor t,o tho editor's (Vlr Lodpcar'.s) quoHtion, *' What tho most Ptriltin^ Thu '■ Daily Nevve " quotes os fallow? some of the nxiiuy intaruating answers: —Mr Irvii.j.', waoso humour it to take tho quostmn id a matter-of-fact f.i'hion, replies ihat iho ino:it fltrikinp; incident ho can roinembor wan when " the s'.otn" in "Fon»t" " striteli him on tho broaat insioad of cavry ing hi:a np into tho flios." Mrs Banuroft in reminded of how onco ftio hurried';;,' dirootoa ;i nabmnn to drive hor down to "The l'rinoo of WttleVs," an.l bairig , prooccupiea and anxious about » new ptoco then in relieareal never observed tjiu route who was tukinfj till f.ho wan do po.iircii ar. tho door? of Marlborough House. Jlr Ptnerc, who disfniiies all hin abstract oouii.i wisb capital initial Ist.ter", is lain to remouiboi' that he played ijalarino in "'Tho Merchant of Venice," " o:io of tha most wrotcliedly cioprofjinj; parts in rho drama," on 'J.">o eon?ocutive nights at tho Lyceum Theatre. " 1 a.ld (ho continue..?) with J'rido that I noted tho part wiili tho sumo EarntdCnoi.-, Absorption, and Zeal on the 1.1.-U aw on the tirat night. All my in tervening parfoi'inanceß, however, were ox tremeiy ciroloi"." Mr Terriee doscribos -■ nr, rathor, assures us that ha cunnot fits nribe— "ni- fooling xflion o.;u iii<_-lir. while ha was playing Lanrtcs at. tho Lyceum he found huiisdlf, 1-' nfcranfjc iic ofab atraot'on, >iut lor a nfrall in walking .■iilive wholly oblivions of tho fact that Laortos was' wanted in Ui<> third scene just: than coinmentinn. Tho result of tho catastropho was that probably "for tho (irsc riiuo o;i ->:iy sUuc" there was r.o Laortus to tuko part i" the seeno between Polouiua Jin , . ODbolia, ranch to the surprise of Jlr riowoanrj Misa Torry, and no doubt i,i that of r.ho aurJianco ui-o. Mids Amy !l'j*oll&'fl 'inocdote re!ato« to the mournful inciOans at iho goizuro o: Mr (Jaorgo Honuy with psralysin while he w-j(i ulayiua hie tamoin part of Ecclej in " Ciswi" at. tbo Princo of WaleeV. Miss Roselle, who relates the cirnumstincea with a trua, pathetic touch, was enacting the part of tho" heroine on tho occasion. Mr Alexander's! story is one of sudden darknoes de-eondini; on st>if?a and auditory by tho extinction of lijjhte nt a most unfortun-ito momant; while Mr Bancroft, who, like Mr Irving, if found in a prosaic mood, is reminded of once ptrucl: on tho head by tho act drop at Hie Oevonport Theatre, Mr Grossmith follows with a tale of a euddon descent through a " trap" while lie was playing in " Tho Sorcerer," nnd Mr Tools ponrl* (juifo alitt'fl professional romance ex tending to throe cl y> c.lv written pages. Those spocimona must suiiico of tho "s. riling inuideuta" which receive further contribu tions from Mr Dion Boucicault, Mi-e Mario Suker, Mr Henry Neville, Miss Gonevive Ward Mr Kdward Conipton, Miss Kate Koike, and Mr Edward Terry. ,: T;io t'iok;ii)Dkaf." ha* reached the end of its rethor at the (ilobo Thautre, and will b-.i replaced next Saturday with a piece caller! "Thu Lod£er£,"by Brandon Vhomaa. On Iho samti yvorjin;; Mr It, A. Jones's four an: play " Hard Hi:. " will follow "Jim tho Peiimou " a'- Hie Uayroarlset. Tho cireu-o? lit. Covont Garden, Hengler's and >Sans:er'i.< are suli'uiini; seriously from the competition ab "Olyinnii , " of the Pari.s Hipoodromo. "Olympia" accommodates 9,000 persona easily, and is orammed twico daily, so you can (riie'R tho sort of business they a>-p doing. Even Drury Lane t00',3 thatffeot. Ticket.! lire far more oa»ily obtained than they wore last your and the year lioforo Archer's Personalty. Notwithstanding poor Archor'a heavy lossua laat. season, I hoar his personalty has been pr.ivod t>l, over JC-JOO.O 10, tiio bulk of which will S3 to his. liltlo daughter. Tho peri-J of tho c l i.'i:npiou jtwkty'a death was particularly unlucky for CJiuiriei , Archer ancl aoathor rotative. Wljen Fred made the will that is bsiiii.' aciail on, Archer was vary v ell oil; consequently it seamed unnecessary to make him a heavy legatee. Subsequently, however, ha got into trouble with the Jockey Club, lost Lord Eleinere's horses, and generally came down in the world. Fred of course kuew this, and only a few days before his death had announced his intention of altering hia will in Charles's favour. The instruction!) had even been given to a solicitor, and the new will was being endorsed when poor Fred fell ill. There is no winter bettiog on the Derby nowadays. Not a wager haa been laid eincß Christmas ; nor ia any real busirieda likely to be don 6 till towards April. It eeoma etraogo to reai of tho leviathan wagers laid in tho old : d«ys twelve months before tho race. Why, at Ascot in 18(io («o Bays an old fllo oF " liall'i' Life " I oiimo acroeE the Other day), aftov JJermit anil The Palmer (both two-year-olds) had wen tho Biennial'and Maiden respectively, Sir Joseph Hawkey laid Mr Chaplin v bat. lof £&>,OOO oven on his colt v. Hermit £or the Derby of the following year. When tho eventful day'came The Pqlmpr stood nt G to i in tbo betting and Hermit OU to 1. Nevertheless as we ai! know, Hermit wo», to the intense chagrin of Sir Joseph, who hod not hedcod » penny. The I'iin- c of Wales hae asked for, and hn baeu preaetiCed with, th 3 spurs which poor Archer habitually used.

Jt is estimated tint there aro in London 22 paupers to every 1,030 of the population. Iv ISGS tho percentage was 4i2 to the 1,000.

A Visit to the City Abbatoirs.

How the Sheep and Cattlo for the City aro Killed.

It ia generally to be noticeil that on the out break of any epidemic—nV.."i Nature's viiinisli" menf. for the attempt to evade her hygienic laws —iiiiinv persons rush into print, or privat:-lj hnlillorth ujion Hi..: iliswritceli'.l way in wmdi some public institution is conducted. Our water Fu;,;ih Ihe envy of the .Australian coal.,:,;::: —ha-Tbocn recently attacked, and " water llcas and other " horrid creatures" are in-oduceu as witnesses for the iirosecuiiori ;e-;im:-.1 the purify of the xeaimaori given us by the city.. The uexl outcry is a M ai::-:! Di.'.l mvmi. ..lion where the woolly baa-lamb and the horned beast " ]>cri>h that man may live." Tho Abattoirs ot our city arc now attacked, and the following do; criution o£ a vis.it paid by our reporter will, we hope, reassure those citizens who may have been somewhat alarmed with reports that have been current ot putrid "glory holes" (ollitl pits), from which tho huzziiu; liy carries infection to the meat that is about to be carried furand wide to I he homes of our citizens. Tin;; is not the lir.st visit our representative has made to the place, and. as will he seen, ho finds it, .leaner, if anything, than when he visited it some months ago. According to instruction from headquarters, I.lm writer visited the City Abattoirs lately sit a little past. li.M a.m.. and remained at this i;;iv.ruinni->- spot till past eight o'clock. The Iji'.iMime; c:v : incited on the ri-i-.g ground that cro.sses'llie country from the U'oil.-.-n Springs, via Arch Hill lo Newmarket, und ovcrleoin; the ialei; mulc-mcd .-cure" of our I'i'.v Water M'uris, A , i reacned the brow of the hill, the larks (Ihe proverbial "early birds") were singing over head, and the wind shook off the glistening drop;; which the last summer shower had left upon Ihe bright, green quickest hedgerows. Away down in the valley the ' shadows of the departing rain clouds were chasing each other across towards Avou dale. All looked charming and restful outside, as 1 entered those dark and fateful portals over which might be written, as far as cattle, pigs, and sheep are concerned, Dante's words about "abandon hope." On entering the fenced quad rangle of the yards of which tho slaughter houses form three sid.es, a number of collie dogs pig dogs, and nondescript curs of low pedigree and of " villainous countenance," camo forward and silently escorted inc. a sort of yardc de corps, to where some horses and carts were standing near the door of a shed on the left. To ihe l'ig'at. opposiie, across the yard, was a shed markei! " Jigs," shewing where '" the gentleman thai pays the i-int" was usually helped to "Khulllo oil'this mortal coil." From the interior uf the shed, at the door of which I stood, came the. bleating of lambs. Entering. 1 found myself stiff surrounded bymy canine escort, in a lofty building in which "rows of death." fresh from the slaughterer's knife, h uugthe carcuscsof a number of sheep. Through this room J camo to where the work of blood was proceeding. The actual slaughtering place adjoins Ihe "hanging shed," and every tiling upoeured well nuuiagedand business-like. The animals arc killed in an open battened floor, which allows the blood to depart quickly into liv: offal pit, alongside, and here I found some 2 or.'J young fellows hard at work. There was not much here that ditl'ercd from the slaughter houses I had seen elsewhere, but it is interesting to compare mental notes between these yards und those of London and Deptford, and ot the abutloh-sof Paris, and to find our colonial ones as good as them. Wishing to learn somethingof tlie .vorkingof the place. I approached andoponod v. conversation with a young fellow, who in blood-smeared shirt, wns engaged with his mouth toii.slitbe had cut in the leg of a carcase of lamb "blowing up" tnes-ame intoa nice plump appearance. " What's that for.'" I asked withnew chuii-.-'.ikoMi.iplioilv-. - Well." he murmured in be! ween hie blowings. " ge■• -, il nin- the c'reet ibing. Iml (apologetically) il 'uit loo:-: like a .log's body if 1 didn't." He eonliuued, in answer to a question : "We gels up enough beasts on Friday to do till Monday, and then enough for \\ edncsday. and so on."

1 next entered tho place where t.ho killing of oxen was taking plate. Thero was the same clean, high-roofed, whitewashed, "hanging" shetl, through which one lms to pass before reaching the actual killing-place ; only this one dill'ered from the sheep-shed, in thai it had beams in order to curry the great sides of beef that hung therein. 1 was Justin time toscca kill : four beasts in the pen behind being on Hie point of being driven in. There aro two great, solid sliding-doors lo these chambers of death, the one opening to tlie bunging house, the other to the pen. in which the victim.; arc confined. Tho former it; now shut and the latter opened, and the butcher ascends an iron ladder, and crossing by a plunk over the killing place on to anoiher plank which commands the pen be low. The job is now to drive, a couple of brutes i.ilo the killing chamber, and a.iob it appears to he. Time is as valuable lo a slaughterman' as to attvboily else, and if a Least would not enter Ihe chamber of death, which, recking us it was -with the ellluvia from blood and ofl'nl, was not to be wondered at, the "pithing spear" was freely used. The result, was sickening in the exlrcme. Trembling with terror at the smell of blood, which, us all country solders know, lias a marvellous ctl'ect on beasts, and tortured by the wounding spear, the poor brutes arc ul la.-; shipping about on the gory lloor. and Ihe sliding door is shutting out from them the last, view they will have of sky and pasture. The bttte .cr now takes his .station on the plaid; over them with the." pithing spear." a chisel -shaped iron tool

set ill v wocd"ii bundle of about 14 feet inlength. The beasts are ipiict after a moment or two, und the slaughterman raises his spear, and then with t.crrillc. force drives it, if a, good shot, into (he backbune of a beast close to the base of the skull; the brute immediately sinks with a groan, where it lies with panting sides and rolling eyes, us if iv astonishment at what has happened, hut without the ability to rise. That they are killed or stunned by this blow, as is often stated is a fallacy. It requires much skill to Hot" the "spear" properly, and I was sorry to bee that us many misses as hits oc eured. the wounded animals evincing great pain therefrom. The poor brutes arenowdowit, and the horrible knives at work, and here some needles cruelly was inflicted, for after cutting the aiilmnls's tnroals, no time was allowed for them to die. Flaying was commenced at once, and I nin liriniy convinced before all sense of I'eelin". hud d,-p.U'li d. The sight was a horrible one. a-; usual, in such places. When! visited "the yards" one Sunday morning, a short time into, I wits sorry to see a number of youths and boys looking on at. the sickening spectacle with evi dent satisfaction.

Taking all things into consideration, how ever, all i saw at tlie Ahnltoris redacts

. red it. on the lire out muuai;einent, 'there v.a- water in the trnm,-hs on my pr; -cut visit ; there was none when 1 visited the yards he f.u-e. and ihe place, was cleaner than of old. Further hniuirics weie made, and I learned that aeout 120 bullocks 1, tjilal tn about Pli'l hundied v.ae.vin ol' i.c.-.') mid SOU sheep arc despatched !i> re per week. In summer time the number slain is less than in the colder months of winter. The ",e;'.orv holes," of which complaints have been nude, are cleared out daily. Their contents used to he carted awnv by ■i. local farmer, tii! lately; but a charge has lately been made, and Mr S. White., the late night-soil contractor, was asked by the city authorities to continue the same instead, and ho has done so lor the last few days. In the muddle of changing these holes were left unenipticd for some two or three days, its Mr White could not get one of the city night-soil carts (.Mr Casey, the present contrac tor, having use for them alp, and hence I pre sume, some oi the complaints that have reached ««. Mr Moylnu. Ihe pro-cut inspector, I can hear testimony, is a mosl trustworthy and care ful man. and t he yards are scrupulously clean,

OVER THE ALPS IN A SNOWSTORM.

AN AWFuL EXPERIENCE AND NARROW ESCAPE,

TliK (lonoa correspondent of the " Pally News" furnishes tho following account of an all but fatal attempt to cross tho Albula Pass in one of tho severest snowstorms over known in Switzerland. " An account ot it," and writes tho adventurous traveller," may not be uninteresting to those people who havo no knowledge of high Alpine passes whon winter has transformed them into howling wildernesses cf deathly whitenoss, and when tho thermometer frequently registers forty and fifty degrees of frost. But in the absence of wind this low tem perature is quito endurable and may even be ugeeable to people in rude health ; for the air is so dry and rarefied that the is not felt to the same extent, us it would bo at, lower altitudes whero the titmospheie contains more moiatun. When tlie.-o is wind, however, such a degree of cold be eomos de.-.dly and insupportable, and no weather I hat is over experienced in England can compare with it.

" A matter of urgent busir.c-ssuoce.-sitaled my journeying into the Bugadino, and as 1 had'en make a call at Chur I resolved to cross by the well-known Albula. I reached the capital ot the Grisons lute at, night, tn find the streets blocked with snow, and I learned with astonishment that oommuni cati m wsili Ilia Kngadiiio was interrupted This is a rare occurrence ever, in the depth of winter, and may bo taken as evideuco (.hut riie weather was exceptionally bad. Si; diligence hul left that day, ami on in quiry at tho bureau I was informed that probiblv nouo would leave on tho following day. As tho tnb-eiou on v.-hico I was bound

v..sot „' vui'y urgent. ciiur.,cto'r, 1 resolved, to maketiioattcroti! tocio-sehouidthcdiligeoce fail to storl. Tho morning broke sullen and gloomy, and the air was thick with swirl ing snow, and I was mortified to learn that the diligence would nor, be able to £iet through. But '.ho landlord of my hotel in formed mo that some peasants who had come to Chur on the previous day from Ber gun, a well-known village on the Albula, were going to start back in about an hour on a wood sleigh, and possibly I should be able to accompany them, trusting to,' luck to continue the journey from Bsrgun on foot. Such an undertaking was not without risk, considering tho weattier; but as the nature of my business scarcely permitted its postpone m nt, I made up my minel to attempt the journey. The peasants were soon discovered —a father and. son-and a bargain stsucls, and nt hail-past six, in bliuding snov( and piercing cold, we set oS. The sleigh was a strong sort, of cart w^tnaot,"idea, such, as ■ is commonly nam; in the n ips for coaveyißg st-ac!;,s of w. >vi over ii : o mountains. It"was drawn hy a powerful horw, that was able to proceed at a more rapid rato than usual, having no weight behind it; and, as tho peasants were anxious to reach their home, thoy lost, no time on the way. The journey to Bergun was without; incident,- except when crossing tho well-known and exten sive open tract known as Leuzer-Hit'e, where tho blinding snow aud obliteration ci tho road caused us to sink ibto tiriftz throe ! or fov;r times, irom which we only extricated \ ourselves with dillioulty. By the timo we hni reached tho Alvc-nen Baths, where ••• o resfreshed and warmed ourselves at th-> comfortable hot<l thero, it I had erased to snow, and the aun

occasionally shone out in fitful, glary gleams. As we proceeded the weather got brighter, and whon wo arrived at Bergun, the Bky was partially clear and the sun was brilliant. But there wore manifeat signs that tho lull was only temporary, aud that thero was a groat deal more snow to come down. My auxioty to push on prompted mo to ue ovcy endeavour to roach the h jspioe on tho summit, whero I could pass dm night, and aesc.-nd into the Engndine in good timo tho following morning. I made inquiries for a guide, but had some difficulty in securing one, as it was con sidered improbable that tho journey could bo done, aa there were prospects of a renewal of tho storm. Moreover, I waa in-' formed that in some parts of the pass there were masses of snow fourteen and fifteen feet deep, and it would be all but im possible to get through them. As I per sisted in my determination, however, I at length succeeded in obtaining the services of a s'.urdy poasant, who knew every inch of the route, and who waa tempted by vie lib"-nl fee I offered him. We left Bargun soon if tor twelve with awell-siockodkuapsnack ot | r .visious, m- Juuing a turtle of old brandy. An hour later the sky had clouded over, the sun had ouito disappeared, and little wreaths of powde-y snow filled the air. The tempera ture was very low, but the exertion of walk hn' kept us warm, and there was little or no°wiud at this time. My guide glanced anxiously about, and said he did not like the appearance of the weather. I asked him whether he wasdeaiious of turning back, but he replied, "No,"unleaal wished to do so. ds i uld nim that I had no auch intention so long aB he wa3 willing to accompany me, ha said, with a determined expression of face, ' Very well, than, we are in for it; and we must make the best of it.' As we ap proached tho majestic and terrific Teufela ehal tho snow thickened and fell in large, compact flakes, wiii c gust 3of deadly wind came up with a roar from tho awful ravine whero 'the Albula thunders its rocky bed ;300 feet below the roadway. The whole landscape was obliterated, and it was im possible to see half a dozen yards ahead. The road itself waß entirely lost,, but tho guide with unerring instinct traced the way, cleverly avoiding the precipices ancl the drifls, though now and again we found ours3lves struggling up to tho waist in soft accumulations on the road itself. By the time we had painfully toiled up to tho woll-known stone bridge which spans +ho awful ravine, tho wind was blowing a gale, while the snow was. blinding. We camo within an ace of plunging down into the rocky chasm ; for ihe snow was level with the parapet of the bridge, over which it curled in a great cornice. He-re, for the first time pothapf, we fully realised the hazardous nature of the undertaking. But to turn back was out of tho quostion, aa that would have boou even worc-o than going on. From the bridge tho road is carried over the face of a stupendous precipice, and theuce debouches on to an extensive plain. Before opening upo-t tho plain the defile is exceedingly narrow, and through this the wind swept with such terrific force, aud was co charged with compact snow, that six different times were we driven back into the shelter of tho projecting rocks that broke tho force of tho cruel blasts. At length, taking advantage of a lull, wo forced the passage and gained the open. I confess that here I almoat lost heart. Tho icy wiod seemed to blow clean through me, and it stung the exposed parts of the face like whipcords. AI. around appeared to be a solid wall of snow. The flskea were as largo as hvo-shilling pieces, and almost blinded one. Conversa tion was out of the question, for it was im possible to hear each other, while the, exer tion required to make progress at ah waa exceedingly exhausting. "No ono who hadn't been born amongst these mountains and who had not spent a lifctimo in such desolate regions could possibly have found hia way, and must inevitably have perished. But my guide, with ono or two exceptions, never once sc-emed to go astray. For myself I lollowed in his tracks mechanically. I was uumbeJ and drowsy, and ho had tho appearance to me ot a white spectre only dimly teen. Although by the hour thero should havo bean plenty of daylight the air was darkened by the thick snow, and I began to very seriously doubt whether it was at all possible to reach our destination. Tho guide had similar thoughts, for soon alter ho stopped and shouted in my ear that there waa a shepherd's hut somewhere about there, and it would bo as well to try and find it and shelter in it fer the night. I readily acquiesced in this proposal, and wo turned oil'at an angle, and forged ahead [or about a quarter of an hour, when, with suddenness, tho guide disappeared—where I knew not. I only kuew that he had gone out of my vision, and I was left alone in that ghastly region of death, with the ap p d!in<' roar of the wind and tho river thuu d-ring in my ears. The incident, however, -■"rved to arouso me to energy and a Eense of the peril that menaced me. Iteit perfectly well payeforupsculiarnumbnesaottnoiimbs, aspccinlUMhe lege, that rendered it some what difficult to bend tho knees. Xma was no doubt due to the intense cold having lowered the circulation. I stood for a momont and shouted, but lay voica was drowned by the wind, and I scarcely heard it myself 1 determined to try ana dis cover" what bad become ot my companion, and render him ass. : s:anoe if needed. And so, like a blind man groping along, 1 ad vanced oautioasly, piooing the snow with myalpouetock, bur, suddenly my feet teemed to go from under ma, aud I felt myself tail ing through the air. The next thing 1 waa couscious of was thatl was buriedintuesnow aud was suffocating. 1 raised my hands with some difficulty ana cleared tho snow irom my mouth, and was then able to breathe. The next, moment I heard a voice close to me, and never in all my life have I heard anything that soundod so welcome as did that human voice in that awful moment of deadly peril. I managed to turn round and saw about a yard away tho head and shoulders of my companion. The situation was clear now; we had plunged oyer a precipice about ton feet, and fallen into a | a soft snow-drift. < We must get out of [ this immediately,' ho said calmly, 'or we're dead men " He had retained pos-, session of hia alponatocb, and he gave me ono end of it, and by this means, but only with groat difficulty, he was enabled to extricate himself. Wo for tified oureelvea with a strong dose ol brandy, and he then pulled mo out, and wo scrambled by tho aid of some bushes to tho road again. Ho seemed much annoyed by his orror of judgment, and said sullenly, "We must go on or perish." 1 made no response. 1 really had nothing to say. I was v.-c-ll aware that ho was perfectly right, but it occurred to mo that under the circutn stances whothor wo proceeded, or vrhether we stopped, tho chances of perishing were equally great; for tho cold waa increasing, night was coming on, and the enow waa thickening. We wero alone in that stem wiia'ernces, and at any moment wo plight topple over seme preeipjcCj or, foilipg that, sink from erfiau,sty>n in tho snow und bs irozen to death. If we could only have got shelter from, tho deadly wind things would not havo been so bad. For, apart from the distressing cense of numbneßS it producod, it swirled tho snow around us, and made breathing most difficult. One had to take in Ihe air in gasps, as it wero, and at inter vals, when the f.irco of the blasts lessoned. For two and a half weary hours wo struggled on. It was a sheer struggle of physicial strength rgiinst the £orcc« of nature, and tho slightest >itilu,ro ol that strength would have tjealocl our dqom. At Un.'th, with startling suddenness, my oomPKiiiori tittered a joyful aodel. Hia quick eyes had seen what mino hud nor, namely a friendly gleam of light streaming Irem one ot "tbo little wiudows of the lonely Tho people of the hospice tward the shout aud came out with a lantern to welcome us. They were naturally surprised at our appearance, and as we entered the room, whero a huge iron stove diffuse.! a genial warmth, I felt that we had come out of a white world of death into the living, breathing atmosphere o£ human companionship, that was doubly and trebly welcome after the extreme peril we had passed through. When we had diyested ourselves of our frozen garments, and thaw, d our blood, we recounted our ad ventures over a hflwl of steaming spiced wing, " I passed the night on a feed oj straw, Jot which I was infinitely mora grateful than 1 have been c-c. saany occasions for a bed oi fc,athe-i C» the following morning the i r,r.ow hs>.rj ctived to fall, and, retaining the services of my brave mountaineer who had piloted me so well, I continued my journey to my destination. But I felt that no in ducement I could think of would ever agair tempt me to traverse an Alpine pats !iB t doj similar circumstances."

"Wo sr?. tvsio«,ndcd,' J ' s&ys an Oamirn " with tie knowledge that onions aye imported from California and elsewhere for the use of this community— to a district possessing land of the rarest quality for tho perfect growth of this common vegetable When it is mentioned that these imported onions fetched about £13 per ton wholesale, the nealecfc of our farmers to cultivate a few acres is inexplicable."

THE CAPRICE OF FASHION.

WOMEN'S HUNGER FOR NOVELTY AND THIRST FOR CHEAPNESS.

Deterioration of Manufactures,

(Br Oct. London Corrispondent.)

LosnON", January 14,

The following article, communicated to tho •'Daily News " by a well-known commer cial traveller, has created considerable sen sation, aud been quoted far and wide. Tho facts it exposes are undoubtedly true. One cannot walk down a big shopping thorough fare enjoyably in London or the provinces (by which, of course, I mean a large town in the provinces), without realising that middle-class feminine passions for novelty and cheapness are doing incalculable mis chief. Almost everything a certuin sort of woman wears nowadays co3ts "four pence three farthings" or "oneshilling and elevenpence," or some sutfn stuff. Her "get-up" is flimsy, ur.rubstautial, pre teusious, and one mass o i nutation. Imi tation laco. imitation fur, ioiitnti m velvet, and fal-c hair. Everything that cm be imitated by something cheaper and lees durable is imitated. Even the humbio flannel has not escaped. "As wo write," says my friend of tho " Daily News," " huge stacks of a poverty-stricken article called "flannelette" are heing shown and sold at 3yd a yard, tbo mere ap pearance of which is calculated to make every orthodox piece of white flannel in the country blush scarlet." N.B. These counterfeit stuffs always boast pretensious names. No one would care to wear a petticoat of falso flannel, but " flannelette !" a petticoat of flannelette sounds quite smart Many men, I think rightly, aro making a set against their women folk wearing imita tion stuffs, &c. "My daughters," I heard a paterfamilias say the other day, " wear comtortable cloth tiilor-made dresses. I sit my face against plush, velveteen and all each abominatione. They have a few good furs, not sables, perhaps, but genuine, un dyed fur. andthelittle jewellery I ailowtbem I take care is good ol its kind." With these few words of introduction, I loave the com mercial traveller to (.peak for himself. " The fashion of tlio present day is char acterisbed by a hunger for novelty and a thirst for cheapness. Each season the various markets aro flooded with some new urticie of feminine adornment, whose merits or demerits are in every person's mouth. Unhappily its reign is generally brief, and at the expiration of t>)e short spell of power the remnant is thrown on one side, to be tiken down at half, or perhaps quarter, its original price, at tho next stocktaking Sometimes the novelty altogether lungs fire, as ia the case of tho lace—a mixture of silk and wool-intro duced into tho London markets in tho autumn of last year. A few weeks sufficed to show that the public did not take kindly to tho new article, and ■by the close of the year the goods might havo been purchased at half the original cost. When the history of ribbons comes to bo written, it will be found that thoir career, like other and more important things, has been somewhat checkered. Until a year or two ago thoy had ceased to find favour io the eyes of the public, and tha stocks of that article in factory, ware house, and shop diminished not. Sudden ly the ribbon trade lsapt into importance, and everybody wanted that pretty article in a hundred different colours. Whcuce arose this sudden demand? Because sotno in genious manufacturer conceived tho happy idea of embellishing the edges of the ribbon with a loop of silk. Tho idea was de veloped, and ribbons with a picot edge became the order of the day. Again the .old experience repeats itself. Coventry can manufacture ribbons un rivalled for durability and exeellence_ of workmanship ; but for diversity of design, fancy, and taete we must turn our backs on England. Oi course thoro are exceptions, but as a eenoral rule tho truth is forced upon us that the artistic touch is not the Briton's birthright. A nation's character may be read in the very boxes in which the goods are packed. Those Irt.m abroad are of such a light and flimsy description that they generally fall to pieces at the journey's end. Their work is accomplished, and they disintegrate themselves. But the solid English boxes arrive at tbeir destina tion co carefully roped abd screwed that the task of opening and unpacking is one of considerable labour.

"There is no limittothe caprice of fashion, and no logical reason can be adduced why it should accept some and refuse other articles. For a time bandanas were all powerful, and a coloured silk handerchief peeped from every third feminine neck. Tho fashion ceased, and now one may walk from Bayswator to Bloomsbury and not see halfa-dozon. Bast summer a cry arose from all parts of the country for "lace boos." Every small manufacturer hastened to turn out ns many as possible, and within a few weeks the demand was supplied, A few weeks more and fashion would have nothing further to do with them, and the warehouses were cumbered with useless stocks. Last month a cartload of those articles were sold for—well—'twould not do to inquire too ouriously. Somo time ago such an innocent article as a lady's fall or veil created much disquietude. Time was when it was customary to purchase these goods in a finished form suitable for immediate wear, requiring no cutting or shaping. But, one day, the other sex, for whose adornment so many of us devote our lives, discovered that a piece of net nino inches wide answered every purpose and was more economical. The makers of falls were de posed, and net manufacturers reigned in their stead. Before the change, a certain warehouse had just laid in a heavy stock. These were packed away in parcels rele gated to the obscurity of a top floor, in hope that the whirlgig of timo would once more create a demand for them. ' But the oppor tunity novor came, and here they remained a sad memorial of the fickleness of woman. Baoh succeeding stocktaking they were taken in at a reduced price, till one fine day somebody discovered that they were of less importance than the space they eaaupied. The parcels were then and the falls fell to pieces. " What becomes of the accumulations of bad stocks that manufacturers are unable to dispose of ?. Whero are thoee monstrosi ties in silks and plushes and velvets that apparently owe their origin to some tempor ary m.ental disarrangement of the designer! They havo been certainly sold, but —to whom y perhaps the fema'e relatives oi one of Mr Stanley's dusky chiefs could answer 'the aueation. Or do Em.in Bey's, woman folk grant the despised articles that recog nition denied them here? Nowadays the fashion in dresa has loft the main stream, ai plain serviceable articles, and wandered away into channels of strange styles and queer combinations Thvrs, in the i matter of imitation laces, a few years ago the public wore contont to have the goods in white and cream. But the sfiirit of dis content was about, and v demand sprung up for lacos in a f\oeile colour, and shade achieving the highest success whoso ap pearance was most like a Ball of string. Tiring of that novelty, the public called for .other colours, and tuscan, apricot, coffee, '' and beige followed in quick succession, while silk laces ware dyed in all the colours of tlio rainbow. Each season somo one col our is pre-eminent, and tho past few years have eeon ths rise, and fall of Dink, crushed strawberry, heliotrope, and others for which suitable names have, hid to bo in vented. In the frilling trade aleo a great change has been taiiDg place. Somo few years ago the public were content with a plain lissi or tarlatan frilling in. white or craam. Now the goods that sell are a com bination of loop and band and cord, and must be dyed in befgo, nankeen, mauve, pink, sky, cardinal, and dozens o£ other colours whose ugliness must be seen to be believed. Ono reason for this continual succession of novelties is the eagerness ci manufacturers to do. business. Tho com. petition is so keen that a maker la in dan ger oi going to. the wall unlee* he can el ways be snowing something fresh. I one man does introduce a sueceesfn novelty it, is immediately copied by a neighbouring manufacturer, and sold at a lower price. The copier is copied in hjs turn, and to it goes on till the artiola ip made of such poor material as to bo almpat worthless. The imitations;, spoih the sale of each otHer, and of original itseH,. and the whole tiling soon dies a natoral death, without over having had a chance of being judged on its awn merits. Kegis tratipn ' is ol little w»e> as an ingenious manufacturer caa easily so contrive his imitations as to make it without the pale af the patent laws. Last autumn a Nottingham firm introduced a now frilling, both pretty and effective, which at onoo hit the public tistc. The price was nSne pence halfpenny a yard, and a cazd with in the box notified the,t ih» design had beon registered. Sko manufacturers also asserted that tboy s would decline to supply any warehouse w;ho sold the goods .at less than ninepence-halfpenny a yard. But the precautions were of no avail. Within a week a similar frilling waa brought

out and sold at 7Jd a yard. It was copied again and sold at s£d a yard, then at 4gd, and finally dropped to 2d, where it stopped, as that was the lowest price in which, with tbo ilimsiost material and the poorest work manship, a profit could be made. "The craze for cheupuessis honeycombing every manufacture. Hardly one escapes. And this sign of the times is so well under- I stood that customers frequently refuse to | purchase novelties on the plea, perfectly true, that in o week's time the price will '■& lower. The reign of cheapness not only flourishes in the suburbs, but is eaining a linn hold upou the trade of the West-End. And business bouses which wish to retain their supremacy must forget their old traditions, and go with the times. Wo see the old highly • respectable business houseß of Fall Mall and elsewhere give place to the flar ing windows of Oxford - street, and the aggressive shops of Westbuurne-Grova. Huge drapery emporiums riso right in the centre of thearistocrotic quarter, and dames of high degree, standing without, compare the shop-window prices, and haggle over the farthings inside. This depreciation in the valua of dress and fancy goods is almost univorsal. The bulk sold is as great, if not greater, than any time during tne past ten years, but the returns show a lamentable decrease."

A TEMPESTUOUS VOYAGE.

Narrow Escape of the Crew of a 01s

abled Crew.

The story of a desperate twelve days' battle by fifteen men on a disabled barque in tem pestuous eeas against the fury of terrific gales, the vessel's filling from a leak and settling towards destruction, with, the pumps helpless and the men powerless to stay her fate and theirs, the rescue of the men at the last moment, and the burning of the sinking vessel to prevent damage to other vessels on her course, was graphically told by Captain Weed, of the barque Cre monia, who arrived at this port to-day. The Cremona, 581 tons burden. Captain Weed, owned by M. B. Mansfield of this city, and i.i tho South African palm oil trade, loft Accra, on the African coaßt, early on tho morning o£ October 11th. Sha was bound for Boston, with a cargo of palm oil and gum copal. Wind and weather were fine and tho sailing fair until Novem ber 2Gfch, when the Cremona was in latitude 34 deg. 50 mm. and longitude 71 deg. SO mm. During that day a sharp gale sprang up. followed later by heavy cross seas. On, the next day the seas rau higher, and furious gales began to blow from all points of the compass. For the next lour days the gales prevailed without cessation, but tbe Cremona weathered them creditably.

On December 6th and 7th ihe winds reached the fury of a hurricane, shifting - from northwest to southwest and 'north* and the seas ran mountain high from north east to southeast. The Cremona laboured . heavily, and was practically helpless all of December 6th, but showed no sign of suc cumbing to the storm until December 7th. Early that morning heavy cross seas struck her astern repeatedly, and she quivered i with every now assault as,though going down every minute, > But she ploughed along, bravely rising at one moment on the crest of a tremendous wave, only to be • dashed headlong at the next far down into the tiough of the sea at 10.30 a.m.' At that time a mountainous "comber" or white-capped billow struck her aft, shatter- - ing the rudder post, and smashing in her starboard side under the counter on a line with the lower deck. The shock started the cargo between decks, and all control of the vessel, virtually impossible before, now became utterly hopeless. For the next forty-eight hours the barque plunged madly through the unabated Beoe, now back .yard over great billows, and again headlong into others. The hurricane continued to increase, and at every plunge ! it seemed impossible- for the barque to rise again. Sho kept rolling about in this way until 10 o'clock on the morning of Decem ber 10th, when she was about latitude 38 deg. 35 mm and longitude 72 deg. 40 mm., on the west side of the Gulf Stream. The crew, horseless at this time, sighted a pilot boat and" signalled her. She proved to be the Charlotte Well, Captain Malcomb, of this port. Captain Webb at once responded to the Cremona's signal of distress, and took off her crew, which consisted of twelve seamen and two officers besides Captain Weed.

The wind was blowing hard at the time from north-west, with heavy cross seas. The pilot-boat's arrival was in the very nick of time-for the rescue of the Cremona's crew. There were already four feet of water in the barque's hold. Her pumps were useless, being blocked with sand and hard palm oil, and within a few houis at furthest she must have foundered.

After all the men of the Cremona's crew had been removed at noon, an effort was made to save the barque.'! But the cross seaß ran so high that, at 12 30 o'clock, Captain Malcomb, of the pilot-boat, con sidered it dangorous and fruitless to struggle with her longer. Captain Weed also decided that the Cramona could not be saved, and, at Captain Malcomb's order, the barque was set on fire, as she would have proved a dangerous obstacle to life and property lying in the track sailed by a large fleet of vessels. Captain Malcomb then brought the crew of the Cremona di rect to New York, arriving this morning. " I wish for myself and my officers a-ud crew of twelve men," continued Captain Weed, '' to kindly thank Captain Malcolm and his crew for their great service and generous treatment of us. He brought us straight into port here, without stopping to board other vessels, which caused him to lose the pilotage of an inward-bound ship." The Cremona was built at Mystic, Conn., in 1867. by M. B. Mansfield. She hailed from this city, "New York Commercial Advertiser,"

AMONG THE SIAMESE.

Observations or am American Female Missionary.

Miss fjovuu Coet, who has just written a , book, "Siam, or the Heart of Farther India," left Colorado in 1874, and joining other missionaries on the way, reached Bangkok at the end of the year. Lately she returned for a visit, and has gone back again to her school of small, dark-eyed Siamese, as profoundly convinced as ever that her way of looking at religion is the only way, and that Western clothes, gas - lamps and locomotives are only the be ginning of a geneial conversion of the "heathen "to Christianity in its most en gaging Presbyterian form. , ;■•■'■ Bangkok ia Baid to ba far from un healthy, and ite festivals are observed with gseat pomp on land and water. It is & Venice in its übb of the river. "The palaces and temples have their gates upon the river.. Out upon the river come the kings ia thoir great dragon boats that look like centipsdal monsters with uplifted. heads. As these strange craft make swiftly toward one, and the sharp, startling cry of the dusky and almost naked oarsman, breaks upon the ear, no second exhorta tion is required to clear the! way for royalty. Out upon the river corns the kings for coronation or burial. Out upon the river come the priests to visit or beg or to perform their priestly functions at some distant shrine. Out upon tho river COB 1& the pedlars with their moij chandiss and the hucksters with thoir various supplies. Out upon tho river for a i visit, or a purchase, or an airing, all must go who live in Bangkok, as you would gt> out upon .Broadway or upon the Avenue, if you are living in New York. It ia nob necessary to go to the Feejee islands to see. : babies dressed in soarlet handkerchiefs, for that is a favourite costume in Siaro, Thero ara other, suits as ludricous x viz., biace- Ms, anklets, and a woollen hood ; » birthday suit and a warm, comfortable cigar; a waistcloth and a piece of lace for a scarf; and there goes a pretty nobleman who failed to finish his toilet before he left the house, fo? he is followed by a train oi servants carcyinghb hat, shoes andumbreUa* and oehers bearing his betel, his box, his cistare, teapot* and cap. We meet Chinese,. Siamese, Laos, Cambodians and Karoas, and' now and then a disdainful Hindoo,, who, no> matter What casto he belongs ia himself;, seams to feel quite sure every one else hs» meets is a ' pariah." ..• : Of the Chineso Mho Corfc has good to say. Their secret societies are iormidable, and many, especially the Ang Ye, which Bomatimes disturbs tho peace of the city and threatens the kingdom. " Its. members seem banded together for mutual! protspiion in wrongdoing !" The Chinese are privileged far above the natives. There is a colony of Mohammedan merchant* from. India; the carrying trade is in tb* hands* of the English and Germans; all the great, nations aro represented at the capital; in tho streets domestic offices are performed,, artisans ply their trades, and .merchants of ■ all kinds sell their wares. The Siamese are great bathers, but use neither soap non towel*, are given to much jewellery, to drink. • and gambling.

THE AUCKLAND EVENING STAM, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 1887,

3



American Co.'a Hop Bitters are tho Puresl nad Best BJttora Ever Mafic. Thoyareoompounfleil froniHopn Mftlt, Buchu Mandrake.fiuii D^ndollon—t'io old 3c, Uirf.Hud moat vulttablo miidicinoe in tho morW—and coo talu ell tho licit and nicrat curntivo proportie? oi all otlior remerlijsi bein« tiw greutoa bior.nl I'urillcir, Ijiver Kußulaior, anil Lite acd tlualtli KiMtorlog Airenc on cart'i. Tt3s* Klvo iw-v life und vigour lc tho asf/i Rnc lafli'in. To fill whose ettiploynionw eanou ln:e KUlarlty of Ihe bow.:lfl or Hrinury ornane, orwlic rootiire an Appetiser. Tcnic, and nr.ld ftimu hint. American Co.'? Hop Bittero iroinatilnable tielut! highly cuTiitivo, loiiio, iiUd stimulailcif, v Itiiuatintoxleatlnsr. No nmtter what your feolings or symptom:; pre what tho disease or eilu.ont iB. n« Hop Jilttera. Don't wait ntitil you'are eiok, but ii you oaW fenl bad or raissrublc, u»e Hoc Batcrt atoaoo. Itni»yßavuyourllf''. Hundreds have hseo saved by 60 coins:. £500 v/iii bo ror » case they will not oiire or halp.



It is reported fha v Michael Davitt is about t) marry. Whether or not this will alter his opinion of Home Rule remains to bo seen.