The Sun.
London, England, 1839-05-17 00:00:00

i E NUN. LON )Ik,I,FRIDA I**: A a 17, 1 9.

Dunn's troop of Royal Horse Artillery is under orders to
proceed to Bristol on Moaday. That portion of the Rocket
Troop lately quartered in Weedon have been removed
to Nottingham, and the remainder are likely to follow.
A detachment of one non-commissioned officer,and eleven
privates, proceeded to the Tower on the 4th inst. to em-
bark (per steamer) for Scotland, to be employed on the
survey under Lieutenant Robinson, Royal Engineers.
A detachment of one sergeant, two corporals, and
twelve privates embarked on the 7st inst. on board the
Recovery, lying off Deptford, to proceed to South Aus-
tralia, under the command of Lieutenant Frome, R.E.,
to be employed in surveying and other duties. This is
the first detachment of the Ordnance Corps which has
proceeded to that settlement.
Royal Engineers—On Tuesday Lieut. Trome, one
colour sergeant, and thirteen rank and file, marched
from Woolwich to Deptford, where they embarked on
board a transport for South Australia. 'The men are
all married, and permitted to take their wives and chil-
dren withthcm, as they are to be there stationed for ten
years.
Royal Sappers and Miners----A. communication has
been received authorising an addition to the establish-
ment of the corps of one company.
Royal Marines, Woolwich division—The effective
bayonets of the corps at present were mustered •n
Monday, and marched out to Woolwich Common for
field drill. After some manoeuvres executed under the
inspection of Colonel NS ingrove, the Commander, they
fired blank cartridge by platoons, and were very
deservedly eulogised by many experienced officers
present. The division is constantly under drill,
being mostly composed of young soldiers, preparatory to
an inspection by the Lieutenant-General Commandant
of the garrison. On Tuesday, the 7th inst., Captain
C. Clark, First Lieutenants Fleming and Halliday, three
sergeants, three corporals, two drummers, and 144 pri-
vates, embarked on board the Impregnable, and Captain
Mends, First Lieutenants Land and Elliott, three ser-
geants, three corporals, two drummers, and one hundred
privates, disembarked to head-quarters from the Royal
Adelaide.

LITERATURE.

THE B d NISHED-3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1839.

The tale before us is a free translation from the Ger-
man of M. Hautr, who states in his p; cface that he was
incited to the composition by a frequent perusal of the
novels of Sir Walter Scott, of which he appears to be
quite an enthusiastic admirer. " All classes among us,"
ne adds, " read these admirable tales with avidity, ren-
dered, as they are, into our language in faithful transla-
tions, and realising to our minds historical events
which happened some six or seven hundred years back.
Their magic consists principally in placing before the
reader historical facts which their author's fertile genius
has faithfully dressed up in the manners and costumes of
the day in which they took place. With the same view,
our object has been to bring to light an event of our
own country, in which we have been guided by histori-
cal truth alone." The " event" to which M. Hauff here
alludes, is the quarrel between Ulerich, Duke of Wur-
temberg, and the Swabian League, which was composed
of a formidable confederacy of Princes, Counts, Knights,
and certain free cities of Swabia and Franconia,
formed for the mutual protection o 1 their rights,
chiefly against the tyrannical encroachments of
Duke Ulerich. This quarrel took place in the
year 1519—the date of the present narrative—
and terminated in the total overthrow of Ulerich
and the loss of his dominions, who is the " Banished" of
the tale. The author paints the Duke in animated co-
lours—in fact, makes him a most interesting hero of
romance, which, we believe, is not quite in accordance
with that historical truth on which he professes to lay
so much stress. Besides Ulerich, whose strange escapes
and adventures, and concealment in the castle of Lichten-
stein, keep the reader's attention constantly awake, there
are several other spiritedly pourtrayed characters in the
tale—such, for instance, as old Fronsberg, the most ex-
perienced chief of the Swabian League ; the Fifer of
Hardt, a mysterious sort of being, who seems endowed
with the power of übiquity ; Dieterich Von Kraft, a
lively, dapper young citizen of Ulm ; Bertha von Lich-
terstein, a damsel, amiable, beautiful, sentimental, and
so forth ; and her " sweetheart," Albert von Sturmfeder.
The two last are the hero and the heroine of the tale,
who, though their love is crossed by all sorts of vexatious
obstacles through two volumes, arc both made happy by
marriage, in the third. Those who relish a bustling,
romantic story, which never stands still for an instant,
will find much to amuse them in the " Banished."

ESSAY ON BITUMEN, SETTING FORTH

ITS USES, 4-c.
London. Effingham Wilson, 1839. .
A short account of this substance, which, under
various names is used here, but more particularly on the
Continent, will be both interesting and instructive to a
numerous class of readers, and we have therefore ex-
tracted from the present work descriptions of the
different species, and their application for useful pur-
poses. The word bitumen has been adopted by chemists
in the generic term for all bitumous substances, includ-
ing the species asphalt, which is a purely Greek word,
answering to the Latin word bitumen. aVaptha, one of
the species, is of essential use in preparing Indian-
rubber, for rendering articles of clothing waterproof. It
is found in Persia, Calabria, America, and at Pilch-
ford, in Shropshire ; but the most copious springs are at
Baku, near Derbend, on the north-west shore of the
Caspian sea. The soil is of a very clayey marl, strongly
effervescing with acids, and so thoroughly impregnated
with naphtha, that when turned up to the depth of a few
inches, it will take fire on the application of a lighted
candle, and continue burning till it is purposely extin-
guished ; the flame in calm weather rises to the height
of several feet. The naphtha is procured by sinking pits
into which it percolates. The Persians and Russians use
naphtha internally as a cordial. It enters into the composi-
tion of some varnishes. The naptha procured by distilling
the sand-stone of which there are extensive strata at
Pitchford, is sold under the name of " Betton's British
Oil," and is esteemed an active remedy for strains and
rheumatism. It is used as a substitute for lamp oil in
this and other countries. Naptha is remarkable for its
property of dissolving caoutchouc, which first swells up,
and then gradually gelatinizes, when digested in it with
a gentle heat ; in this pulpit state it is used to render
various articles of clothing waterproof. The broods are
stretched out and varnished over with it, and then the
varnished sides are applied to each other, and made to
adhere by powerful pressure, se as to form a complete
fabric or texture. The well-known application of the
solution of caoutchouc in naptha or coal-oil, was first
suggested by Mr. Macintosh of Glasgow.
Mineral tar or bitumen is another species, and is
known by the designation of slime in Scripture. It is
supposed by many to have vitrified on ancient buildings
through exposure to the air, and the vitrified appear-
once of the ruins of Babylon may be more properly attri-
buted to this than to lightning, as some travellers have
inferred. For the last few years it has been extensively
employed for various purposes, and more particularly for
paving foot-paths ansl,carriage-roads. It is found in
• :s._ -
abundance in the

the wines or BitAtennc
the Pyrenees. Tic precise date of the discovery of these
mines is not known ; hut, for upwards of thirty years,
the tar has been 'used at Bordeaux and its vicinity, in
combination with sand and calcareous matter, for roofing
houses, and making roads, footpaths, and floorings. It
teas at first employed, with sand only, in the repair of
roads near Bayonne, and being found to answer
this purpose, it came afterwards to be employed
by architects and builders, in its combined
form, in preference even to slite and stone ;
and at the present time upwards of 500 houses
at Bordeaux arc roofed with it. It was tried with per-
fect success on the public wharfs and quays at Bayonne,
where it still remains in its pristine state. Many
bridges, roads, and footways, were also paved with it,
in all of which it has been much admired and approved.
The qualities of the mineral tar soon became more
generally known, and the proprietors of the asphalt
mines of Seyssel were amongst the earliest purchasers
of it, for the purpose of admixture with the asphalt
rock, and it has since been invariably employed in all
the works undertaken by them. It is now several years
since bitumen was first used in Paris ; and its merits
are now so fully acknowledged in France, that its use
has been encouraged by the Government, not only in the
metropolis, but also in the provincial towns. It has
been extensively applied to the fortifications of Vin-
cennes, Douai, Grenoble, Besancon, Lyons, Lisle,
Belfond, &e. ; and to the covering of the roofs of the
extensive commissariat magazines at Bercy, and of
warehouses constructed several years since in the arsenal
at Douai ; in the fortaficatien of Bayonne ; in the
Government bonding warehouses at Bordeaux ; in the
reservoirs constructed to contain the waters of the
Seine at Batignolles. near Paris ; for the pavement on
the Pont-Neuf, in the abattoirs, the common sewers,
and in some of the promenades and foot-paths of Paris.
There is scarcely a town of importance in France or on
the Continent where the bitumen of Seyssel and Bas-
tenne is not extensively laid down, and from all accounts
with complete success. In London the experiment has
been but recently made. In 1838 specimens of the for-
mer were laid down in Whitehall, opposite the Horse
Guards, at the Surrey end of Westminster Bridge, and
at the foot of the steps at the York Pillar, and of the
latter on the carriage pavement in Oxford-street, side
pavement at Northumberland House, before the guard-
room at the Artillery Barracks, Woolwich, at the ter-
minus of the Croydon Railway, and several other places.
On a small scale—for instance, from 50 to 100 feet—
the expense is considerable ; but for a surface of not
less than 2,000 feet, we believe the cost is about 7d,
per foot. If it should prove as durable as stone, it
must be an excellent substitute in many places.