The Express.
London, England, 1863-07-04 00:00:00

BOMBAY AND MAURITIUS MAILS.

The following telegram has been received at Mr.
Renter's office from the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, July 3 :
"The Vectis, with the above mails, reached
Marseilles at 1 p.m. this day. The mails leave for
London at 5 p.m.

THE BOULOGNE FETES.

(nom ouz owl' comzerommerr.)
BOULOONE, TecasnAT.

Since my letter giving an amount of the banquet
of Monday the hospitable corporation of this city have pro.
sided • continual round of amusements for their guest*.
Promenades by land and by water, breakfasts, luncheons,
dinners, and suppers, beside* what the Americans call
"cheeks," keep the twenty-fours in • perpetual double
quick march. Among the many entertainments one of the
moot interesting to me was a gymnastic performance on the
rampart+ by the Bth Chaaseum Several companies of this
regiment, young men for the moot part, short (not exceed-
ing the average of sft. 4in.), but thick set, muscular, and in
splendid condition, performed feats worthy of the most
accomplished professional acrobats. They turned summer-
saults over an immense wooden horse—apparently risking
frightful contusions in case they should miss
their spring raised themselves by the mum-
cular forte of their arms to the top of •
table 6 feet high, laid down upon the table, and then I
rolled off : made pyramids of men four stories high, and per-
formed daring exercises on the trap4e. One performance I,
which excited great laughter among the numerous spec-
tators was a game of quentin with • washing-tub full of
water for the target. A man placed in • little cart
with • lance in his bud is pushed down a bill
by another man, and as he pares under the tub
be strikes it in the middle with the point of his
lance and tilts over all the water ; the fun .is to see whether
the man behind escapes getting wet through. Such exer-
cises as these, developing as they do every muscle of the
body, must vastly increase the power for an assault of the
regiment practised in them. On this same ground there
is frequently early in the morning some archery practice,
for which the Boulogne people are famous. MM.
Ballet and Crony, the mayors adjoints, to whom I
must repeat my thanks for their unremitting
attentions, conducted a large party to the marvel.
loos crypts lately discovered under the cathedral
which has been thirty years building. These crypts are
ascertained to have belonged to a church built by the
mother of Godfrey of Boulogne. M. Daly, the editor of
La Revue cr‘rrhilerture, and an extremely learned man,
made some very interesting observations about the dates
of the many specimens of early Roman and middle age
architecture which are to be found in the crypts,
and corrected several errors of the guide. W.
were informed that the magnificent Boulogne cache.
deal is shortly to be completed by an unrivalled altar
in costly mosaic, the gift of Prince Torlonia of Rome. On
Tuesday MM. Ballet and Crony gave a banquet at Chris-
tors hotel to • large party of Paris journalists. In the
*vexing there was • concert in the establishment, at which
Madame Vanderhenvel Dupree sang ; the rooms were
full to overflowing. last night the grand ball
came off and was kept up till long after sunrise. There
is talk of a cricket match to-day between some English
officers from Dover and the rtsideota of Boulogne.

During then fetes the Northern Bail way Company,
anxious to contribute to the of the present occasion,
has organised several pleasure trains, both from Paris and
Amiens. The Boulogne races and steeplechues are fixed
for the 15th and 16th of July.