increased to 10 feet in depth. Then came a dreadful scene; men, horses, camels, &c. were swept past, and dashed to pieces against projecting rocks, over which the water flew 20 feet high. No assistance could be afforded, for the stream ran faster

than a horse could gallop. "I stood upon the bank," he says, "quite horror-struck, for I believed that every one ahead of us had perished. In a few moments the destruction was complete, and we felt like men cast upon a desert island, without a particle of food, wet to the skin, a cold cutting wind blowing on us, and no means, from the nature of the country, of ascertaining the extent of our loss; as, until the water went down, all communication with any of the party who might have been saved was completely cut off. About sunset the water had nearly subsided, and I then found how matters stood. The loss of life was 33 men and 101 animals. We passed a miserable night, and in the morning we pushed on to one of our outposts, 8 miles from Dusht-i- Budowlut. We trusted to recover some of the property in the morning before starting, but found very little; for such was the force of the stream, that the matchlocks belonging to the men drowned had the barrels broken in two, and some of the bodies were found by the dawk man at Beebee Narree, 20 miles below the spot where the accident occurred." The property lost is estimated at Rs. 12,000.

The following is an extract of a letter from Quetta, dated June 21st:--" Gen. Brooks and Brigadier Valiant are still here; they have deferred their departure till the weather gets cooler. Col. Stacey is still at Kelat: no one talks of the young khan coming in now, so our more than half a lac of rupees have been completely thrown away. Shah Niwaz is here with his brother, but it is not known what the views of government are as regards the musnud of Kelat. The troops at Moostung have been suffering from sickness. The 25th have marched to Kelat, and were to have reached that place on the 19th inst. The 42nd Bengal N. I. move viâ Moostung and Quetta to Candahar immediately. The Noosky troops came in two days ago. Several of the officers very ill with fever."

A letter, from Ferozepore dated June 21, states that numerous desertions were daily taking place from the infantry regiments, and one or two even from the 10th cavalry. "To such an extent have the sepoys been tampered with (for there is no doubt that such is the cause of the desertions), that one of the commandants has brought the matter to the notice of the political assistant, and the whole is under investigation. Many, indeed most, of the men, have been traced to Lahore, and, it is said, that a rich Sikh has lately arrived and taken up his quarters in the city of Ferozepore, without any ostensible pursuit."

EXCERPTA.

The balance sheet of the Bank of Bombay, to 30th June, 1811, shews an amount of net profits for the half-year, after paying all current expenses, of Rs. 1,18,458. dividend of Rs. 25 per share was declared.

A

The registrar of the Supreme Court has been making application in various quarters for information respecting funds belonging to parties deceased within the jurisdiction of the Court. The Advocate-General, whose opinion has been taken, states that the Ecclesiastical Registrar, as such, has no power to compel a party to give such information.

Accounts from Aden of the 8th July state, that the Arabs had stopped the usual supplies of provisions, and had murdered the military interpreter under the guns, as well as five natives, and it was expected they would shortly make another general attack.

At the Criminal Sessions, the captain of a Scotch merchant ship, which left Greenock last November, was tried for the murder of a half-witted Irish sailor, named Carey, upon whom the most unheard-of outrages were perpetrated: he died from ill treatment. The jury found the captain guilty of the assaults, and he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour in the House of Correction.

A letter has just been received from Brigadier Joaquim Percira Marinha, ex-Governor-General of Mozambique, stating that he left that place, in charge of seven large slavers from Bombay, where he intended to hand them over to the authorities, for transmission to Europe. Bad weather obliged him to put into Goa, where the vessels were immediately seized by order of the Governor, and a guard of Caçadores placed over Gen. Joaquim, and all communication between him and the natives prevented. He was subsequently, with his secretary and two attendants, escorted by a military guard to the Goa frontier, and having been told privately, that it was likely he would be assassinated, the General has applied to the authorities here for protection.-Gaz. July 6.

Ceylon.

We are very sorry to announce, from information received from Trincomalie, that the Cholera has been making great ravages among the troops in garrison there. – Ceylon Herald, June 4.

The Colombo Observer, June 10, states the result of an experiment to ascertain whether Kyan's patent (to preserve timber by means of a solution of corrosive sub, limate) would protect wood from the all-devouring white ants. Several pieces of deal, prepared and not prepared, were buried in a place infested with these insects, and so as likewise to be exposed to the vicissitudes of the weather. At the end of a twelvemonth, they were taken up, when those which had been prepared appeared just as they were when put down, not touched by insects, exhibiting no sign of decay, not even discoloration, and of unimpaired strength; whereas of those that were not prepared, some had disappeared altogether, others were almost completely destroyed, and what remained were quite rotten.

Penang.

At the first sessions for the present year, holden on the 10th May, before Sir William Norris, recorder, and Mr. Salmond, resident councillor, the former, in charging the grand jury, said, he would first mention a circumstance which had just been brought to his notice, viz. the introduction of the name of a native merchant, Mahomed Noordin, into the list of grand jurors. This was the first instance of the kind, he believed, in Penang, and he thought it right to notice it for two reasons; first, that, as there were several other native merchants of equal respectability with the individual in question, the solitary selection appeared invidious to others; and secondly, that there was no real necessity for having recourse to the natives at all, the number of European gentlemen available for the purpose, and whose superior qualifications were undeniable, being amply sufficient here, as well as at Singapore. At Malacca, where the case was different, native gentlemen had been introduced from necessity; and he had no doubt that here, as well as there, they would be found to discharge their duty faithfully; but, until a necessity existed for calling in their assistance, he thought it should be dispensed with, at least without the previous sanction of the Court.

At the close of his remarks on the cases, the recorder said he might be allowed, in reference to the piracy questions which had come before the grand jury at the last sessions, to make a few passing observations, considering the extraordinary interest which the case of Tuanku Mahomed Saad had elsewhere excited. They might have observed in some of the Calcutta journals an anonymous attack upon himself, in which, among other things, he was pretty plainly charged with partiality, corruption, and perversion of the truth; with selecting a weak case in preference to a strong one; and that, too, out of friendship for the accused, a man with whom he had never exchanged a word, and whom he had never even seen before. All judges, who did their duty, must be prepared for abuse from one side or another, since it was impossible to please all parties; but he had scarcely looked for an attack like the one in Asial, Journ. N. S. VOL. 36, No. 141, (E)

question. It could not be necessary to explain to the grand jurors, that the charge was as silly as it was unfounded-perhaps the grand jurors themselves might be thought partial for having thrown out the bill in one of the supposed strong cases. He merely alluded to the letter for the purpose of intimating to the writer, whoever he was (no resident in the straits it was to be hoped), that he feared him not; in that, as in all cases, he courted inquiry, and was prepared to give every explanation that might be required by those who were entitled to ask for it.

Considerable additions towards the cultivation of sugar, in the rich and fertile district of Bukit Tamboon, in Province Wellesley, have been commenced upon by an enterprizing French gentleman, M. Donnadieu, who has already arranged for clearing a very large tract of land, and intends to extend it ultimately to 5,000 orlongs, or about 7,000 acres. The undertaking, of course, will involve considerable immediate outlays, for which it is understood M. Donnadieu has already provided, and he intends, instantly after his return from the Mauritius, in the brig Patriot, now in this harbour, to spare no expense in carrying into effect the objects of his speculation, in which he is proceeding with an enterprise, spirit, and liberality that ought to ensure and secure to him the utmost success.-Gaz., May 8.

The Gazette, of April 10, states that, on the arrival of the brig Freak (with 45 convicts, who, on their passage from Bombay to the straits, murdered the master, mate, and part of the crew, in the Surat passage) in the harbour of Acheen, the rajah, learning the fact, seized the vessel, confined the convicts, and sent notice immediately to this government,-conduct which does the rajah great credit.

Australasia.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

The intelligence from this colony contains no feature of the slightest interest.

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

The Sea-Horse, of 300-horse power, the first of the four powerful steamers sent out from England to navigate the Tasmanian waters, arrived on the 10th of April in the Derwent, and excited universal interest.

The Erebus and Terror, southern discovery ships, had arrived at Hobart Town. They have been further to the southward than any former expedition, sailing over the continent recently discovered by the Americans. The following is an extract of a letter received at Lloyd's, from their agent at Hobart Town, dated the 17th of April, 1841:-" By the last list you will have perceived the return to this port of H. M. ships Erebus and Terror, Capts. Ross and Crozier. Nothing official has as yet transpired here; but it is generally understood that the expedition has been very successful, and that these British ships proceeded eleven degrees lower south than the Astrolabe and Zélé, and four degrees more than any other vessel has ever yet reached; that they were enabled to fix the exact position of the south magnetic pole at about one hundred miles distant thence; and that some extraordinary mistake appears to have affected the calculation of the Americans who approached these regions." The Erebus and Terror entered the main part of the ice, on their voyage of discovery towards the South Pole, on the 5th of January last, being then in latitude 66° 45′ S., and longitude 174° 13′ E. On the 10th of the same month, they descried land in lat. 71° 56′ S., long. 171° 17′ E.; and coming up to it on the 12th of January, they took possession of it in the name of her Majesty. This land extends south to 79°. Proceeding onwards, a large volcano, emitting dense clouds of smoke, was observed on the 28th of January, in lat. 77° 31′ S., long. 167° 30′ E. On the 2d of February they reached to the utmost extent of their voyage, viz. lat. 78° 4′ S., and long. 173° 12′ W., and were here stopped by icebergs 150 feet high, and by fields of ice, which were traced as extending 300 miles to the castward. The expedition pene

trated about four degress further south than the American or French discovery vessels; and although in the course of the voyage it was enabled to verify the correctness of many of the spots laid down in the charts of the former, they also discovered one singular error, namely, the existence of water over a large space described as land, and which the Erebus and Terror actually sailed over for a very considerable distance, leaving the land 300 miles from the latitude laid down in the American chart. It is said that the sea in this direction abounds in seals and sperm whales. Not a single casualty occurred among the crews, and the vessels reached Hobart Town in safety, where they will remain till the season arrives for further operations. The result of the attempt already made has been highly satisfactory, the vessels having got within what was supposed by the indication of the needle to be 100 miles of the magnetic pole."

The Lieut.-Governor had communicated to the Canadian prisoners a despatch from the Secretary of State, in answer to a recommendation for a mitigation of their sentences. They would receive tickets of leave in February, two years from the time of their being landed.

PORT PHILLIP.

The Port Phillip papers of the 8th of April are destitute of news. Provisions were plentiful. A farm of 824 acres of land, situated on the river Plenty, twenty-three miles from Melbourne, together with 800 head of cattle, were disposed of by private contract for £10,000.

The new settlement of Australind is situate on the western coast of Australia, about eighty miles south of Swan River, and immediately to the northward of Geographers' Bay; the latitude of the anchorage at Port Leschenault is 33° 18′ S. At this place is an inlet or backwater, running to the northward, parallel with the coast (from which it is separated by a narrow slip of land) for about ten miles, on the eastern shore of which, and about six miles from its mouth, the chief town or settlement, to be called "Australind," is to be established. The Parkfield had arrived out with emigrants at Port Leschenault, on the 18th March, all well. The projected settlement at Port Grey had been abandoned. Sir James Stirling's observations on the safety of the anchorage off the mouth of Leschenault inlet are said to be not altogether borne out, for in July last, two American whalers were wrecked at Port Leschenault, and another not far from that place; but, according to all accounts, such a hurricane as then prevailed had never before been experienced on that coast.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Mr. Tiechelman, a Wesleyan missionary at Adelaide, has made a long report upon the aborigines of South Australia. Having fully acquired their language, the missionaries have been able to obtain some information respecting their notions of cosmogony and religion:-" Of the origin of this country and the surrounding hemisphere," he says, "their opinions are still unknown. Of the celestial bodies, however, they say that they were formerly living upon earth, partly as animals, partly as human beings. The moon, whom they consider as a male, the sun as his wife, first began to ascend to the sky, and persuaded all the other stars to follow him, that he might have companions; and as the animal world is living here below, thus they believe the celestial bodies are living on their hemisphere, performing the same business. Of the exaltation of almost each star, they tell a history; and so of the formation and habits of the animal world here. For instance, the lark and the whale, when man, were fighting with each other; the lark wounded the whale twice by his spear in the neck; the whale, finding himself painfully wounded, escaped into the sea, and transformed himself into a monster, blowing till this moment water through these wounds, which never heal. Their own origin they ascribe to a kind of lizard, which separated the sexes, but made the female sex inferior-therefore the slavish state in which they are kept. Whether this lizard has been a man before or not, cannot be stated with certainty. Since they now believe that their origin comes from the invisible world, and

that they are closely connected with and depending upon it, it is therefore alone from this side where they expect good or evil. They believe, however, that their doctors or sorcerers are not only able to counteract the influence of these things, but even to govern them; therefore they have amongst them those of whom they say that they can produce thunder, hailstones, rain, and so on, who can fascinate or bewitch, and transform themselves into any shape. Regarding their soul or spirit, they seem to believe the existence of it after death, for when an adult has died, they put him upon a bier, carry him about upon former encampments, and hold an inquest, asking the deceased whether somebody in the night has killed him with a wooden dagger, the wound of which instrument is, however, believed to be invisible. They could not observe this ceremony, did they not believe that the soul continues after death to exist, and that connected with the corpse. But when they saw the first Europeans, they looked upon them as their ancestors risen from death, who had changed their colour and acquired all the technical abilities which they saw amongst them. They thought, however, that they merely wished to see their native country once more, and would then return back again. This first idea which the natives entertained of the Europeans is the reason why they call them pinde megu, that is-man of the grave." The children make some little progress in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but all attempts to induce the adults to labour, or to receive religious instruction, are unavailing. Mr. Tiechelman says:-"With the adults we began to speak as we were enabled in the language, and it has been made an experiment to assemble them on a Sabbath day. Several times they came for curiosity; several times they have been, as it were, pulled into the school-house; but at last we could merely get the children, and now and then an adult. I recollect an instance, when one evening we visited them, two natives said, 'The Europeans say, what those tell you of Jehovah is a story; do not believe it.' We replied, 'Well, they may perhaps have told you so; but they are as wicked as you, and will have to expect the same judgment; if you will not believe nor obey, Jehovah will certainly throw you into hell.' The oldest, taking his spear and laughing, said, 'I am very strong; I will spear Jehovah.'"

New Zealand.

The accounts from the settlements on New Zealand are very conflicting. Persons arriving from thence at Sydney and Hobart Town (according to the papers of these towns) give very unfavourable accounts of the prospects of the settlers generally. One person says, that he expects, in a very few months, the greater number of the colonists will have left for Van Diemen's Land and Sydney. On the other hand, we have been favoured (through Mr. Dillon Bell, the secretary of the New Zealand Company) with a copy of a letter from Col. Wakefield to a relative in India, dated Wellington, Port Nicholson, 22nd December, wherein he states, "that no settlement ever went a-head so fast as this has done. In fifteen months, we have a population of 2,000 English and 800 natives, all on the most friendly terms, not one serious quarrel having occurred during the time; one magistrate and thirty soldiers are our only government; a large town has sprung up. Every commodity and most luxuries are found here at reasonable prices, and the necessaries of life are cheaper here than in England. We have always ten or twelve vessels lying in the harbour, and every body seems to be making money. There has not occurred one death of an adult from natural causes since we landed, and only two or three infants-a few drowned by accidents have been the only thing like casualties. Nothing, I assure you, can exceed the salubrity of the climate." As a counterpart to this statement, we have had advices from persons whose veracity we can rely upon, who purchased land and went to Port Nicholson as settlers, and they give a very different description of the place, stating that the land they had purchased had not been set out, and that it was their intention, at a heavy sacrifice, to return.

From New Zealand papers, we extract the following items :