The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-21 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

11Ir Cocks, the British Acting Consul, states in
his report this year on the trade of Islay that,
though little has been done as yet in the cultivation
of cotton in that part of Peru, vast quantities of
land are lying waste in the valleys on the coast in
that southern district of the country, and which
cannot be made available for any produce so likely
to be profitable as cotton. The cost of conveyance
has hitherto been a bar to cultivation of this plant
in the interior, but it is proposed to cultivate it in
the fertile valley of Jambo, which is within two or
three leagues of Megia. Megia is about 12 leagues
south of Islay, and is intended to be substituted for
that place as the future port of this part of Peru.
A railroad is in progress from Megia to Arequipa.
The imports of Islay in 1863 amounted to 2,100,698
dols., and the exports to 2,630,890 dols. ; the exports
chiefly wool and bark, the imports cotton and
woollens, paying a duty of 20 per cont. Among the
minor exports likely to increase is ratania, the root
of a bush growing in the environs of Aequipa ; it is
a stringent, and yields a red dye, is used in medicine,
and, it is believed, in the " manufacture" of port
wine. The imports are kept down by protective
duties, even though there is no interest to protect.
For instance, there is an import duty of id per lb.
on flour, and this in a country producing hardly
any wheat; were it not for large supplies from
Chili, the inhabitants of the coast of Peru could not
well live. Only immigration, or rather colonisa-
tion, and railroads are wanted to develope the abun-
dant resources of this remarkable country. Peru
is one vast mine, of which the hand of man hitherto
has only scratched the surface. The great eastern
Peruvian territory especially has been much over.
looked. Two parts, the department of the Amazo-
nas and the littoral province of Loreto, are among
the richest in Peru. There can be little doubt that
the short sighted policy of Brazil will be changed,
and that the Amazon river at no distant period will
be open to all nations ; and when the railroad of
the west coast of Peru shall also be extended into
the centre of the country, the rich products of the
interior will have a chance of egress to Europe, and
the manufactures of Europe an equal chance of in-
gress. The Montana, or region of the woods, pos-
sesses sources of inexhaustible wealth in the richness
of its vegetation, the colossal size and peculiar
character of its trees, its balsamic and medicinal
products, its fruits and substances exotic to all other
countries. The department of Amazonas is rich in
plants and vegetables. Among them are sour cane,
which properly prepared cures the intermittent
fever ; coffee equal to that of Caravaya, which is
perhaps the best in the world ; cotton, tobacco, bar•
basco, the root of which is used by the savages for
fishing, because thrown into the water it operates as
a narcotic; semi, the leaves of which give a blue dye;
huito, or jagua, a high and thin shrub, of the trunk
of which spoons are made, and the fruit dyes the
hair a strong black; llanchama, the bark of which is
sofiexible that after cutting and pounding it stretches
like cloth; quimba, a tree 40ft high, its fruit not un-
like cotton ; sapaja, a tree like palm, the leaves of
whichfrom their hardness serve for combs,opeque like
tortoiseshell. The province of Loreto, in the north
of Peru, is so extensive that it almost equals in sure
face all the rest of the departments put together.
It produces the plantain, serving instead of bread,
of which there is none. The sugar cane grows with
the greatest luxuriance, and it is sufficient to plant
it once to have constant yields from the roots.
Coca yields six crops a year. This is a plant de-
serving to be more generally known on account of
its extraordinary qualities., A Peruvian will en•
dure the severest labour while chewing its leaves,
and accompany a horse or mule for days together
up hill and down, and through the deepest sand,
with scarcely any other refreshment than chewing
coca. Its effects are said to be truly surprising. Tea
or a decoction of the leaves of this plant is a most
wholesome, refreshing, and agreeable beverage.
Tobacco is cultivated the whole length of the Hul-
loge, and yields magnificent crops, part of which is
e \ ported to Brazil. Cotter, grows almost sponta-
neously in the neighbourhood of the houses, and
serves the inhabitants; gr ay shirting is an article
of exchange in this province. Coffee grows with
extraordinary luxuriance, the branches being borne
down with the weight of numerous berries. The
population of the province of Loreto, counting all
the Indians reduced o r submitted to the Govern-
ment is about fifty the usand, and there are thirty
or forty thousand savag 'es. Its commerce is yet in
its infancy ; the exports: are almost wholly by the
Amazon, the imports chic fly from the Pacific ports,
owing to Brazilian im port duties. In Moyobamba,
the capital of Loret,a, moi .0 than three thousand
women are occupied in spit suingcotton, the clews
or balls of which are current money. The Amazon,
the Ucayali, and. the Pachit, ea are navigable for a
great distance. So stupendon sis the mass of water
which the mono rch of rivers bears to the Atlantic

A handsome monument to the officers, non_com-
missioned officers, and private soldiers of the 75th
(Stirlingshire) Regiment has been lately erected in
the cemetery at Stirling by the officers of the ree
giment and by many of those who formerly served
in it, This monument is a plain Runic cross, 12ft.
high, of polished red granite. On the front face is
the crest of the regiment, being a garter encircling
the word Stirlingshire and the number 75, sup-
ported by two thietlem, and surmounted by a crown,
and beneath it, on the shaft and pedestal, the fol-
lowing words incised and gilt—" In memory of Col.
R, D. Halifax ; Captains E. W. J. Knox, A. Chan-
cellor; Lieuts. A. Harrison, S. R. J. Fitzgerald, C. R.
Rivers, E. V. Briscoe, G, C. N. Faithful, W.
Crozier; Surg. J. Coghlan, and of 13 sergeants, 9
corporals, 3 drummers, and 216 private soldiers of
the 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment who fell during
the Indian Mutiny, 1857-8. Erected by the officers
of the regiment and by their old comrades." On
the reverse face of the cross is the regimental badge
—the Royal Tiger, granted for hard service in
India half a century ago, when 300 men and officers
were left in the breach of Bhurtpore. Under the
tiger are the words " India," " Seringapatam,"
"Delhi," "Relief of Lucknow," and then there are
thus briefly recorded the deeds of the regiment in
the performance of which the brave men fell to
whom the memorial has been erected :—" The 75th
(Stirlingshire) Regiment served with the army
which besieged and took the city of Delhi, and it
afterwards formed part of the force which relieved
Alighur, Agra, and the garrison of Lucknow, A.D.
1857-8." Underneath this is inscribed, "Thine, 0
Lord, is the glory and the victory." The 75th Re-
giment was raised at Stirling in the latter part of
the last century, and was then a kilted regiment,
Having been recently permitted to adopt the county
name, it was thought desirable by the officers of the
regiment to erect this monument (which had been
long contemplated) in the county town. Provost
M'Murrie and the Town Council of Stirling cordially
assisted in carrying out their wishes, and granted
the best site that could be chosen for the memorial.
Mr. E. Richardson, Harewood-square, London,
designed the memorial.
Colonel Mitchell, Commandant Royal Marines at
Woolwich, yeeterday retired from the service, with
the honorary grade of major-general, and is sue.
ceeded by Col. Williams Friend Ilopliins, C. 13„
A,D.C. to her 'lajesty, who will assume the duties
in a few days, Colonel Joseph Oates Travers, C. 8.,
late Assist.•Adjt.-General, acting ad interim,.
The reinforcements selected to augment the 12th
Regiment and the 43d Light Infantry, together with
the other detachments under orders to proceed to
New Zealand, will embark at Gravesend to-morrow
on board the chartered troopship Light Brigade,
under the superintendence of the officers of the staff
from Chatham garrison. The troops have been fur-
nished with their mem kite, and havo been medically
inspected, and also inspected by Major-General Sir
Robert Walpole, K.C.B.

The ordinary drills and field exercises usually
carried out in Woolwich garrison yesterday gave
place to a series of rustic sports and gymnastic ex-
ercises, held on the Royal Artillery barrack field, in
commemoration of the joint anniversaries of the
battles of the Alma in 1554 and Delhi in 1857.
The proceedings were under the sanction and patro-
nage of Major-Gen. E. C. Warde, C. 8., Comman.
dant. The committee of management consisted of
Cal. Wodehouse, C.B, Major Ord, Captains Calvert,
R, Gore, Keate, and Gibbs; Lieuts. Walker, I. C.
Robinson, and W. Crawford ; Capt. Lardner Clarke,
superintendent of the gymnasium, secretary and
treasurer ; clerks of the course, Captain 'Williams,
R,A,, A.D.C., Capt. Nangle, R.A., Deputy-Assist.
Quartermaster General and Lieut. Mc. G. Stewart,
R.A. ; starters, Capt. Calvert, R.H.A., and Major
Hay, Brigade Mojor,R.A. The sports occupied the
entire day, commencing at 11 a.m., and, with an
interval of an hour for dinner, continuing until 6
p.m. Many thousands of persons were present, and
a space in the immediate vicinity of the grand stand
and booth, appropriated for ladies only, was kept
select by admission on the presentation of tickets
obtained at the Deputy-Quartermaster-General's
office, which were liberally supplied. The garrison
bands of music were in attendance. The sports
consisted of throwing the cricket ball and heavy
shot, fiat race, hop, step, and jump, hurdle race,
wrestling, sack race, three-legged race for men and
boys, &c. The prizes were contributed by the officers
of the garrison.
Her Majesty's steam storeship Supply yesterday
returned to Wool with from the Mediterranean, laden
with returned stores, in temporary charge of Master-
Commander Fox. Her commander, Bawden, having
terminated his sick leave, yesterday reported him.
self at the Commodore'swffice, in order to resume his
command. Commander Bawden has been invalided
'rom a severe attack of rheumatic fever, but is now

convalescent.
The stem of the iron frigate Bellerophon, having
been completed at the smithery in Chatham dock-
yard, has been removed to the factory, where it is
undergoing the cutting and planing process previous
to being fixed in its place. Unlike the other iron
frigates, the stem of the Bellerophon is forged in
three separate pieces, and is the largest work of the
kind ever undertaken at Chatham dockyard. Its
gross weight is nearly 30 tons, but this will be very
considerably reduced during the time it is undergo•
ing the necessary preparation before it can be fitted
in its place, The peculiar:formation of the bow of the
Bellerophon, which resembles nothing so much as
the lower part of a capital S, renders the operation
of smoothing and cutting it a difficult and somewhat
tedious undertaking, but some additional powerful
machinery has recently been erected at Chatham
dockyard, to be used in operations of this kin&
Some new machinery, of a more powerful kind than
any hitherto in use at Chatham, has recently been
erected in the factory adjoining the dock in which
the Bellerophon is building, to be used in the pre-
paration of the 6.inch. and other armour plates
destined to incase that vessel,',which, according to
her present rate of progress, will be ready to receive
her first plate early in the ensuing year.
The following appointments were made on Monday
at the Admiralty :—Commander Henry \V. Mist, to
the Achilles ; Edw. T. Peach, engineer, to the Brie
tannia, for the Dapper; Henry Vatcher, second-
class assist.•engineer, to the Britannia, for the
Dapper; Charles K. 0' Molony, clerka,sstiostt,ceießrkriskto;
and George 0. E. de H. Goullet, ,
the Impregnable. The following appointments
were also made yesterday at the Admiralty :
Lieut. Charles Giffard, to the Excellent ; Lieut.
Sugden,Henr the Cumberland, for the Cad-
'. Ommaney, to the Tamar; Selwyn S.
master in charge, to the
atsosist..pay
Supply ; Richard S. Stuart, master's assistant, to
the Royal Adelaide; Nicholas H. Rowe, acting
mus ; J. limiadsdteler:
second-class assist.• engineer, to the Cumberland,
for the Bristol; AV. M'lntyre, acting second-class
auisteengineer, to the Cumberland, for the Terrible!