The Express.
London, England, 1862-12-26 00:00:00

INTERNAL EVIDENCE.

The following jeu d'esprit appears in the
Cuardian :

"TIN WINKS IN NATAL" CIMCALLT

Sir,-1. A few yeah ago • book, purporting to be by Dr,
Calcium, was published under this title. and was valued as
an interesting and useful work by a large number of readers
who supposed it to be • guanine narrative of facts
2. I .ball now proceed to draw, by mew of a number of
prominent indanoes, that the book contains such remark-
able contradictions. and involves such plain impossibilities,
teat it cannot be regarded as • true narrative of actual his-
torical matters of fact. I need at present examine but •
few of the earlier pages to prove this.
3. The writer ayes,Ny intention was to visit different
parts of the district and make 'equal:tame with the inhabi-
tants of all dimes, ebristran and heathen, whether resident
in Europeen towns, villages, or firm-houses, or collected in
Haar kraals ." and he calculates that the whole might be
done effectually within three months. Now, he admits
that the country in extent is 18.000 *Tare miles—about •
third of England and Wales.
. . . . .

4. It is aertain that to make acquaintance with people of
different tangos scattered over • country destitute of rail-
ways sad roads would occupy much longer time than In the
case of an English district of the mme extent. But could
this be done even in England? The Bishop of Salisbury is
an active Bishop, but has he been able io nearly nine years to
make acquaintance with all the inhabitants of his dimes,
consisting of 2,046 square miles! Not with a tenth part of
them. The mere travelling distance for came inspection
over 18,013 square miles would amount to some 3,600 miles ;
it is simply mandible that the writer could calculate to do
this effectually in three month'.
. .

5. lie begitis with stating, " I Nailed in meow) with
the Bishop of Caps Town and Mrs, Gray," and at
i page 2 be
writes, "We dropped anchor in Table Bay." There s no
mention made of any other persons or of any machinery by
which this might be done • nor any claim otlmiraculous
power. I assume, then, that is absolutely undeniable that
the narrative distinctly involves the statement that three
persons, two men and one woman and no others, did raise
and heave into the sea an anchor which I suppose could
weigh not less than ten or fifteen hundredweight.
6. Along the east coast of Africa " • anneal runs (se we
are told) at the rate of three or four Mike an hour •" take
the mean of tinee and a half miles, and this would give
eighty-four miles in a day ; but he presently informs us
that, though steaming with might and main, the aforesaid
current carried us backward 100 miles. How ix it conceiv-
able that in spite of steam-power it could have caused the
steamer to retrograde faster than its own flow? And the sin-
gular result of this lengthened voyage with its 100 miles of
retrograding is, that they took the people of Durban (their
destination) by surprise and caused actual inconvenience by
the steamer arriving a week or ten days before it was ex-
pected.
7. On landing he is met by one of the churchwardens,
but at page 1 be informs us that there is not a single church,
chapel, or school erected in the district. Was it, then, the
churchwarden of a church to be erected? No, the narra-
tive puts that explanation out of the question by adding
that the Bishop's letter had been read in the church oa the
day previous.
8. In Durban we are told that the streets, which are of
considerable width, and the market-square, are cevead a
foot deep with white sand. Putting aside the jolt incre-
dulity with which a simple-minded native of the Fens
would beer this statement, let us e :wipe the incredible
amertioo gravely made with regard to this sand. Let us '
tint premium, that these wide streets would not be lees than
30 feet wide, and suppose them to be but half a mile in ex.
teat, sod the market-place only 60 feet square, here would
be 9,200 cubic yards of sand. "This quantity of sand,"
says the author, "is now in my eyes and mouth." Row
thankful we mnt be that (after this criticism) we are no
longer obliged to believe that an Englishman oat down to
write his journal with 9,200 cubic yards of white sand in
his mouth and eyes.

9. The ohrosology, too, is obscure : in one sentence (page
14) we have the word now used twice, referring as to one and
the mine time to February 2, 1854, and to January 1,1856.
10. These difficulties 1 meet with in the first fourteen
pages of the volume. I cannot but feel that thus much is
more than enough to show the unbistoric character of the
book, sod the groundleamiess of that notion of its veracity
and honesty with which so many (brought up, alas ! in the
school of simp:e trustfulness) have regarded it, and doubt-
less will regard it, until their attention shall be drawn to
the facts which make such a view impossible for reflecting
and inquiring minds. H.

The Perthshire Advertiser records tba death of a
Mn. Jobirstoise, who kept a small shop for a quarter of •
(*story at Alyth, and who expired no Tuesday morning.
She died in the chair in which she rested herself and alept
for fully twenty yews,
long period. _ _ _

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