The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-17 00:00:00

Discovery of Gold in New Caledonia.

A letter from New Caledonia of the 4th July, in
the Parte, gives the following account of the dis-
covery of gold in that colony :—ln March last some
miners, in favour of whom a subscription bad been
raised, left Porte de France in search of gold. The
part of the island comprised between that place and
the river Hyenguene was examined without result,
but from the latter point indications of the precious
metal showed themselves in all directions, and on
arriving at a place called Honehiahomme, about a
mile from the church of Puebo, a missionary station,
they found auriferous grounds on the borders of a
ravine. The gold was found in flikes close to the
surface, lying mixed up with particles of quartz.
Auriferous soil was also found at Bonde, Aroma,
and in all the parts of the country comprised be-
tween the Hyenguene and the Diahot. The Go-
vernor was on a tour to Napoleonville with M.
Coelogon when he received the news of the dis-
covery, and proceeded immediately to Puebo with
the miner who was at the head of the exploring
party. Some of the earth was washed in his pre-
sence, and he was able to convince himself of the
existence of the gold. Even with the means now
used, by simply putting the earth into a vessel and
washing it in the rivulet, a good workmen may
earn sf. to 61. an hour. The Governor has come to
no decision es to the working, but he has sent
specimens to the Minister of Marine, and requested
instructions ; in the meantime explorations but no
workings will be allowed."

THANKSGIVING FOR THE HARVEST.

The following letter has been addressed by the
Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to the clergy of
his diocess :

" Aidington-park, Sept. 11.

"Rev, and dear Sir,—The spectacle we have just wit-
nessed of the in-gathering of a most abundant harvest dur-
ing a singularly favourable season calls for our devout
ackuowledgments to Almighty God for this instance of
His providential care in thus blessing the labours of the
husbandman, Believing that it will be congenial to your
own feelings as well as to those of your parishioners that
public thanks should be offered in the Church for our
Heavenly Father's goodness towards us, I trust that you
will set apart some early day on which the inhabitants of
your parish may meet together in the house of God to offer,
through the services of the Church, the outpouring of their
grateful hearts for the signal mercy thus vouchsafed to our
land. In recollection of the past sufferings of a large por-
tion of our manufacturing population, our sense of this
mercy will we deepened when we reflect how vastly such
sufferings would be aggravated by a scarcity of the staff of
life during tha coming winter.
"It will be fitting that a collection should be made as a
thank-offering after the sermon which will be preached ;
and, as there is no diocesan church building society, I
would recommend that the amount gathered should be de-
voted to the use of the Inc ,rporated Society for Building
and Enlarging Churches, which has, doubtless, made very
many grants towards building churches in this diocese.
"That this solemn occasion may be so improved and
blessed as to impress us all with a deeper sense of our de-
pendence on the bounty of our Gracious Father for our
daily bread and our daily comforts is the sincere prayer of
"Your faithful and affectionate friend and brother,

"C. T. CANTUAR."

The Bishop of Winchester has addressed tte fol.
lowing letter to the Venerable Dr. Jacob, Arch-
deacon of Winchester:—

"Jerscy, Sept. 12.

" My dear Archdeacon,—On inquiry of the Archbishop
of Canterbury I do not learn that a day of general thanks-
giving for the late hat vest is expected to be appointed with
the sanction of the Queen in Council. Under these circum-
stances 1 request you will communicate to the clergy of
your archdeaconry my recommendation that they should set
apart some convenient day in their several parishes f,r the
purpose of offering collectively humble thanks to Almighty
God for His great goodness in vouchsafing us the abundant
harvest of the present season. It is probable that in most,
if not in all, instances collections wiil be proposed after the
sermons in the churches; and I would suggest as a very
appropriate object the devotion of the alms so given to the
fund for rebuilding the Hampshire County Hospital.
"I am, my dear Archdeacon, your affectionate friend and
brother, " C. WINTON."

In a'similar letter to the Venerable J. S. Utter-
ton, Archdeacon of Surrey, the Bishop recommends
that the alms collected in that archdeaconry shall
be given to the new Surrey Hospital at Guildford.

WHITHER BOUND ?—There are several steam
ships of war now building in France under the
same mysterious circumstances as those at Messrs. Laird's
yard, Birkenhead. The two building in a private yard at
Nantes are represented as pierced for 22 guns each, with
engines of 400 horse power, and intended to have a speed of
14 knots as hour. A condition of the contract is said to be
that these vessels are to be delivered to the owners 20 miles
out at sea, off Belle Isle, Two others, of similar character,
are building in the yard of M. Arman, at Bordeaux.
THE POPULATION OF TUE GLOBE.—A professor
of the University of Berlin has recently published
the result of his researches as to the population of the
earth, according to which Europe contains 272 millions ;
Asia, 720 millions ; Africa, 89 millions ; America, 200
millions, and Polynesia 2 millions—making a grand total
of 1,283 millions of inhabitants. As in places whero deaths
are accurately registered the annual mortality is at least 1 in
40, the number of deaths must be about 32 millions every
year, which gives 87,761 per day, 3,653 per hour, and 61
per minute, so that every second witnesses the extinction of
one human life. Another calculator states that the number
of persons who have lived on the earth since the creation is
36,627,813,276,075,855

171)(2)
Lklat-477
elizahr

HER MAJESTY.

Arrival of the Queen in Scotland:

With gracious consideration her Majesty delayed
her arrival at Balmoral by proceeding from Perth on
Tuesday morning, to visit the Duke of Athole at
Blair Castle. (His grace, it will be remembered, is
in a critical state.) The royal train went from Perth
to Blair Athole by the new Perth line, and return-
ing, joined the Scottish North Eastern line at Stan-
ley. Dr Mathews and Mr. Birnie, directors of the
Scottish North Eastern Railway accompanied the
train. Ferryhill, Aberdeen, was reached at 3.12.
Here the engines were changed, and a couple of
ez,gines of the Deeside were stationed. The Scot-
tish North Eastern directors also left the royal
train, and their places were taken by Mr. Duncan,
chairman, and three other of the directors of
the Deeside Railway. The station at Ferry-
hill was kept quite private, only the Lord
Provost of Aberdeen, the convener of the
county, and a few officials being present. The
blinds of the Queen's carriage were, however,
drawn, so that her Majesty could be seen as she
acknowledged the tespectable though quiet greet;ngi
of these present. Aboyne was reached at 4.25, and
the Queen posted thence to Balmoral in about a
couple of hours. The day was pretty favourable,
though several heavy showers fell.

The Prince and Princess of Wales.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales will prolong their residence at Abergeldie
till the close of the week after next, and will then
go to Sandringham, Norfolk, for a few weeks.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge is
expected to arrive at Gloucester House to-day from Rum-
penheim, near Frankfort, where his royal highness has
been staying with the Duchess of Cambridge and the
Princess Mary.

Prince Lieven has arrived at the Clarendon
Hotel.

The Duchess (Dowager) of Sutherland and Lord
Albert Leveson Gower have left Stafford House, St. James's,
for Cliveden, near Maiden'aead. We understand that the
duchess has abandoned her intention of going abroad.
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe have left
the Clarendon Hotel for Floors Castle.

The Duchess of Montrose and Lady Violet
Graham, the Earl and Countess of Bective, Lord
and Lady Rendlesham, Lord Dunkellin, the Hon. Miss
Canning, the Hon. G. Cadokan, Sir Robert Brownrigg, Sir
Hedworth and Lady Willimrson, Mr. H. Hodgson, M.P.,
Captain Beaumont, M. Van de Weyer, Mr. A. Baring, &c.,
are now visiting Mr. and Lady Margaret Beaumont at
Bretton-park, Yorkshire.

The Earl and Countess of Warwick are shortly
expected at their house in the Stable-yard, St. James's,
from visiting the Earl of Wemyss at the family seat in
Scotland.

The Earl of Orford has arrived at Claridge's
Hotel from Aylshaw, Norfolk.
The Earl of Annesley is expected to leave Don-
caster (where, as one of the stewards, he has been attend-
ing the races) on Saturday, for his seat in Ireland.
The Countess (Dowager) of Jersey, accompanied
by Lady Harriet Ponsonby, left town yesterday to spend
the autumn at Brighton.
Viscount Dupplin and the Hon. Misses Hay have
left town for Dupplin Castle, near Perth.
Lord and Lady Londesborough arrived in town
last evening from Doddington Park, near Chippenham.

THE FRENCH CAMP AT CHALONS is now entirely
broken tip, and no troops remain there except the usual
garrison.
THE VOLUNTEERS' total enrolled strength is now
159,000 men of all ranks, of whom 1,300 are cavalry, 23,000
artillery, 2,500 engineers, and 132.000 rifle volunteers.
EFFECTUAL WAY OF LAYING A PATENT GHOST.
—The latest in the ghostly line is the announcement at
Bristol, made this week by public ad vertisement, that, owing
to an unforeseen circumstance, the ghost could not appear
till further notice. this sudden indisposition of the ghost
is the first instance on record. It appears that they smashed
his speculum on the rail, and tnus laid the ghost effectually.
The recipe is valuable.
IT is calculated that 700,000 people had flocked
to Paris for the late Fete de l'Empereur.
Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King at Arms, and
the well-known author of the " Peerage and
Baronetage," was educated at the College of Caen, where he
carried off, amongst other priz.is, that awarded for exemplary
conduct. To preserve the pleasing memory of his youthful
triumphs, he sends every year a splendidly-bound cppy of
one of his own works to be added to the prize awarded for
exemplary conduct. At the last distribution of prizes, the
volumes kindly sent by Sir Bernard were presented to M.
E. Tessier by M. Bertrand, mayor of the city of Caen, who
presided over the solemit.y.
LONDON IMPROVEMENTS.—The Inns of Court
Hotel Company are about to commence operations
between Lincoln's-inn-fields and Holborn, and at the same
time will most probably be begun that gigantic undertaking
by which the Government proposed to unite Farringdon-
street and Leicester-square on one side by a road straight
through Shoe-lane, Chancery-lane, Carey-street, Princes-
street, Drury-lane, and Great Russell-street ; and on the
other side to open a new means of communication between
Holborn and the Strand, through Lincoln's• inn-fields and
the dirty regions of Clare-market.

NfooN !—Anyone, says Professor Phillips,
who goes to see the process of extracting the silver
from lead ore may have an opportunity of witnessing, on a
small scale, causes in operation producing exactly similar
effects to those observed t,n the surface of the moon. After
the process is completed, and the litharge all blown off from
the pure silver, the observer may be very apt to go away,
nothing apparently remaining to be-seen ; but ii he wait
for a short time, as the mass of silver cools, he will soon see
its surface torn up by explosions from within, caused by the
extrication of oxygen gas, and elevations and fissures pro-
duced exactly resembling those on the surface of the moon
as observed in the best instruments.
THE GHOST A LA PEPPER.—This very day I have
seen some hundred ghosts, and sc.nes of people saw
them with me, though not consciously. It was in an om-
nibus, passing from Charing-cross to the City. The plate-
glass in the shops had dark backgrounds, and became thus
the dark chambers of Porta, and everything that passed by
was projected by the vision into the shops. It was a per-
fect phantasmagoria, and it was the plate-glass that pro-
duced the effect " polished like a looking-glass on both
sides." I had occasion afterwards to enter a butcher's
shop, the front open, and a counting-house in the interior,
glazed with plate .glass. Projected into this glass were
dozens of ghosts of the sheep and beeves hanging up in
front. They were as clean as photographs, and with a
similar effect.—Once a Week.

INTERESTING DISCOVERY AT WlNDSOlL—Cardi-
nalWolsey's Chapel is now being resioredand beau-
tified, and while ereeling some richly carved stone-work last
week, it became necessary for the workmen of Messrs.
Poole (who have charge of the restoration) to cut away a
portion of the wall on each side of the doorway opening into
the cloisters, opposite St. George's Chapel. On removing
the masses of stone from the mortar in which they were
imbedded, sixteen or eighteen of the pieces were discovered
to have formed (it is supposed) a portion of the chapel
erected by Henry 111. These interesting relics form por
tions of the jamb of a doorway with ogee mouldings
pillars, and other parts of an ancient ecclesiastical
edifice. On one of the stones is an angel's wing, while
the mouldings and surfaces still bear the crimson, green,
red, and black colours with which they were decorated in
curved and zig-zag lines. The whole of the stones seem
to have belonged to the early English and Norman periods.
They have been examined by Mr. Batchelor, the anti-
quarian of Windsor Castle, and it is believed that in the
reign of Henry VIII. they were used in the construction of
the present edifice in forming the interior wall. A photo-
graph of the stones has been taken by Mr. Poole. The
carving will be taken to the Castle for her Majesty's in-
spection on her return from Scotland.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES.—A.II great acces-
sions to geograpnical knowledge, observes a Satur•
day Reviewer: Nearchus' descent of the Indus, De Gama's
passage of the Cape, the voyages of Columbus and M'Clure,
the journeys of Lauder and Livingstone—have been wel-
comed with exultation. The early settlers in America
toiled long in felling the forests that enclosed them, for they
sheltered the Indian and the wild beast, and when the tra-
veller ventured into the shades, the horror of darkness
troubled his spirit. So the axe sounded cheerily till at last
men found their landscape bare, and their stock of fuel
almost:gone, and passed laws to save what remained. Some-
what in this way do we begin to shrink from the comple-
tion cf the survey of the world. Every one, except each
successive asirant for himself, wishes the Matterhorn to
stand as it has stood, the maiden peak of the Alps, un•
scaled and unapproachable. We had half hoped that at
least one problem of geography would outlast our day. It
is strange enough that that problem should be the very
secret which is recorded to have first roused men's curiosity
--the source of the Nile. Even this has at length found
its solution; and the last link which joined us to the old
world is snapped, now that the question of Tibullus is an-
swered :

Nile pater, quanam possum to dicere causa,
Aqt quibus in turis, vcouNisee caput,