The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-10 00:00:00

LITEitATURE,'.

A VOYAGE TO CHINA. 'ByDr. Peng' a sfie.
la these volumes Dr. Beracastle gives en animated
account of his eastern voyage, together with an in-
teresting and instructive description
of Bombay,
the Mahratta country, Singapore, lirid''Western
India and the Ceiestild M
Empire. any -arniasing in-
cidents are narrated of the strange customs of the va-
rious nations and tribes which the author m+ t. in
his travels. One day, Whilst examining the ruins of
a Dutch fort in the neighbiAirheod of False Ba 3-,
during Ids residence at. Cape Town, be ,perceived
cl,,se by at an inr, 'yolept .‘..The Gentle Shepherd
of Salisbury Plains," having an appropriately painted
sign-bDard with the following inscription and
verses:—
"' Life'l but a journey, let us live well on the road,'
says the Gentle Shepherd."
Underneath which are these verses—

" Multum in parvo, pro bono public°,
Entertainment for man beast all in a row;
Lekker kost (nice victuals) as much as you please,
Excellent beds without any * * *
Nos patriam fugimus! Now we are here,
Vivamus, let us live by selling beer;
On donne a boire et a manger ici,
Come in and try it who ever you be."
His graphic and picturesque description of the ascent
of the Table Mountain, and the account of his previ-
ous ascent of Mount Wellington at Hopart Town,
which, from its resemblance to the Table Mountain
at the Cap, is commonly called by the same name,
of which the following in an extract, are well worthy
of perusal :
" Aware of the dangers attending the enterprise, I had
fully made up my mind to undertake it, and guard
against them by proper precautions. Having kindly
been offered by the ex.sheriff, Mr. Beaumont, the ser-
vices of his servant as a guide, we started three in all—
Mr. Beaumont, jun., the servant, and myself—at noon,
expecting to reach the top before dark. We were
equipped with fowling-pieces, a telescope, and pocket-
compass (most indispensable), a tin kettle, a few kitchen
utensils, and provisions for two days.
" Our clothing was light, the heat being excessive; but
we had reason afterwards, on reaching a colder tem-
perature, to regret not being warmer clad. The first
part of our journey was easy enough, there being a broad
footpath through a partially cleared forest for about
three miles,
son leaving which the steepness increased
considerably, and we arrived at the intricate part of our
route. The track lay along a ridge, on each side of
which were deep gullies covered with tall sassafras trees,
and so thickly studded that the eye could scarcely pene-
trate them. It is here that there is most danger of
losing oneself, as it is impossible to see which way to
turn to get to Hopart Town. We pushed on for about
two miles through an almost impenetrable forest, here
called busk, consisting of gum, pepcormint, oak, and
sassafras trees, of great heighr, many reaching from one
to ono hundred and fifty feet. Oar march became much
impeded by a stubborn species of grass, breast high,
rendered still more interesting by our guide informing
us that it abounded with snakes, which in this country
. . •
aro very venomous.

" The mountain now presented an irreguler appear-
ance. The, stones, instead of following any sort of
order, were heaped pell-mell upon each other. They
were all nearly square, and each one detached
from the rest several tons in weight, we had to clanaber
from one to the other nod cling to each for our lives;
the leastfeux pas would have sent us rolling headlong
several hundred feet beneath. It is at this part that
many who undertake the ascent give it up, thinking it
becomes more than a joke. Here we felt that our bag-
gage was a great encumbrance, and before we gut half
through our task our boots and our clothes were all in
tatters. At last we reached the top of the basaltic por-
tion of the mountain, and entered into the same kind of
bush as that we had left behind, with the exception that
our path was obstructed by quantities of large trees torn
up by the roots and lying prostrate in all directions.
Such is the force of the hurricanes from off the moun-
tain that the roots of some of the trees torn up were
twenty feet deep. We had now accomplished three
parts of our task, it was getting dark, ma- incuLil atra,
and but for the cheering hope of soon obtaining water
and bivouacking round a good fire, that kept up our
spirits and renovated our energies, we could not have
completed it. Our physical strength was quite exhausted,
and had we not been tantalised by the spring that our
guide promised to find on the summit, if we could only
muster courage to reach it before dark, we would not
have stirred another inch. We came to a second ridge
of baysalt, but not so steep nor closely heaped together
as the former, so that it was comparatively easy. At this
height a very great change had taken place in the tempe-
rature, and we clearly felt that we were entering a more
rarificd atmosphere; the cool air was rather favourable
to our desperate condition and enabled us to hasten our
pace. At last we saw before us the clear well-defined
margin of the summit, and attained it at 8 P.m,, having
been seven hours performing the ascent. The cold
hero became very intense, and our great solicitude now
was about finding the spring, which to me appeared im-
possible, as it is not bigger than a hand baisin.
Our guide did not despair, having often been there
before. However, after many fruitless attempts, he
began to doubt; but at last, when on the point of giving
it up, we had the good luck to fall in with it. Our joy,
may be easily imagined when it is considered that we
had drunk one bottle of ;brandy out of sheer necessity'
only to wet our parched lips, which had the effect of
rendering us still worse, by adding fuel to the flame,
and for years afterwards I had an antipathy to that
spirit, which originated entirely from this circumstance.
Having filled oar kettle and bottles, we proceeded in
search of a favourable place to pass the night. The
proper way is to descend the mountain for a few hundred
yards, where the cold is less severe, but the darkness
rendered this step dangerous, so we were compelled to
remain on the top. At last we found three large square
stones, forming a partial inclosure. Having collected a
large quantity of fire-wood for the night, we lighted a
large bonfire, and set about cocking our provisions."
After giving the reader a history of the Mahratta
tribee, and a description of the inland country, and
a full account of Bombay, its defences, the military,
the hospitals, &c., Dr. Berncastle conducts him
through the Straits of Malacca to Singapore, and
thence to the Celestial empire, into which he gives him
an insight as far as the Chinamen will allow, and
gives a Fong account of the depredations of the
Chinese pirates, and the apathy of the Chinese Govern-
ment with regard to their suppression. He describes
the celebrated edible birdsnest, which is considered
such a luxury, and is found in Java, Sumatra,
and in most of the rocky islets of the. Indian Archi-
pelago. It is the nest of a small swallow, and is
composed of a mucilaginous substance resembling ill-
concocted fibrous isinglass. The method of procuring
these nests is not unattended with danger, the caves
in which they are found being sometimes many
hundred feet down the perpendicular side of the rock,
which are reached by ladders of bamboo and rattan,
over a sea rolling violently against the rock. After
the nests are obtained they are carefully separated
from feathers and dirt, are dried and packed, and are
then fit for market. The white or best quality com-
mands an extravagant price, costing four thousand
dollars per parcel (about one hundred and thirty-three
pounds avoirdupois), which is nearly twice their
weight in silver. On the author's visit to Macao, be-
longing to the Portuguese, he remarks : -
" One of the most remarkable things in Macao is the
Cave or rather Grotto of Camoens, where that celebrated
man wrote the greater part of the Luciade.' It is situ-
ated in the middle of an opulent Portuguese domain, is
taken great care of, and is surmounted by a bust of the
poet, the rocks being covered with suitable inscriptions
and verses to his memory. The owner allows free ac-
cess to all visitors to the cave, which is by far the mort
interesting spot in Macao?'
Although from the title one might be led to believe
that this work is bat a narrative of a voyage, it is in
reality a very useful and amusing history of nearly
all the important stations from Europe to China.

ROYAL MARINES.—WOOLWICU, JUNE B.—Eleven
volunteers from the Woolwich division, and sixteen from the,
Chatham division, will leave Woolwich to-morrow for Ports-
mouth to join the artillery companies. One corporal from
Chatham to act as schoolmaster, and six privates from the
W oolwich division, volunteers, are to embark in the David
Malcolm freight ship, for service at the Island of Ascension.
Lieutehant Delacombe will take charge of the volunteers for
the artillery companies to Portsmouth.

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iti
nGAZAgTi theatre,
n.
lm —The
verFyAelaLtue nnsEi vet z aTaHr andTHE
ri
duillo rQaEmRi Fcre..
cently erected out of the old fish-market at the ord
Suspension-bridge, has, after several ineffectual attemptsf
keep it going, turned out to be a complete failure, an title
place is now shut up, the large dioramas, with all heir ma-
chinery, are advertised to be sold, under the hammer, in a
few days. There was a report some time since, that the
matter had passed into the hands of an English proprietary,
who were about to open the place again, under more attrac-
tive arrangements, but the announcement seems to have
been premature, as there is not the least sign of animation
about the building. There must have been a considerable
sum of money lost by the speculation, for, after the throng
of the Great Exhibition passed from the metropolis, this
new edition of the Lowther Arcade soon became deserted and
tenantless.
The accounts of the country trade throughout the
past week
interrupted state that business ✓has been considerably
by the I•A • .1-,•,1 owing to the in-
creasing ho.rua3s, w ...u...i,
prosperity been
more generally 2rept of the people, have never
amount at rational ' or
been attended with a greater
continue firm, anderjoment. At Manchester prices
in connexion with the transactionsi have been chiefly
there has been little work of demand. At Birmingham
ex-
cursion trains have reaped heavyany hind, and the railway ,
are large, and quotations 8 profits. The sales of iron
In the woollen districts thew a further improvement.
pears to be maintained. From
of confidence ap-
ports of both the lace and hosiery°illNottingham the re-
more satisfactory than those last departments are
from the United States are extensive.
received, and the orders
ket has been rather less active. The i he Irish linen mar-
gration to Australia is felt in all parts of towards emi-
the departures, which are numerous would be
kingdom, and
be much greater
were it not for the want of hands at bom
. - C° alla tho ougequat