The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-09 00:00:00

Another errand, made somewhat later by another
party, revealed results of unfortunately too opposite
a nature to those which the explorers from the
Walker had acquired from their researches. About
half-past 9 o'clock, Capt. Hall, secretary to the Percy
Mutual Insurance Company, accompanied by the
committee of the company, set out from amidst the
little knot of anxious gazers on the Newcastle Quay
to seek for themselves, independently of the praise-
worthy efforts of the Walker's crew, some explana-
tion of the disaster, and to make further inquiry
as to the consequences. The Laurel was chosen
for the conveyance of the party, and in the bright
moonlight a rapid sail brought up the steamer
alongside of the now partially revealed hull of
the Forester. Spectators were gathered on the
beach, sculler boats glided calmly hither and
thither, a solitary lamp warned approaching vessels
of the submerged wreck, whilst the dark shape of
the Tynenuouth lay scarcely perceptible on the
rocky southern beach. Very quickly and very ener-
getically those on board the boat set about their
work, and in little more than half an hour two
bodies were brought up from the cabin skylight.
Five bodies in all have been recovered.

The Forester, which belongs to Mr. Dobson, has
been sunk once before during the past twelvemonth,
and it is only a day or two since that, newly
painted and thoroughly renovated at considerable
expense, she was again placed on the station. She
is insured to two-thirds of her value.

HUMAN SACRIFICES.—One of the most difficult
tasks of the British Government in India is that of winning
such wild tribes as the Khonds to civilisation. In the an-
nual statement showing the progress and condition of India,
recently issued by the Government, there is a report by
Capt. A. C. from which it is plain that the prac-
tice of female infanticide has not ceased in the hill tracts of
Orissa legal evidence, however, is seldom procurable, and
the only check is considered to be an annual visit at which
the agent insists upon seeing all the children of both sexes,
and it is suggested that the head men of those villages in
which the relative number of the sexes is proportional
should receive some mark of favour from Government.
Although many more female children are now reared than
formerly, it is clear that infanticide must still obtain to a
great extent. Large districts here are inhabited by sacri-
ficing Khonds. Capt. M'Neill was plainly told in the
hill tracts of Bundhasir of Karoonde that compulsion alone
causes them to refrain from human sacrifice. Among the
Khonds of Jeypoor he found an uneasy feeling prevailing
under the relinquishment of sacrifice. In the last
three seasons, he writes, the rains had been scanty in the
Karoone and Jeypoor Khond tracts, and the crops of cattle
suffered much in consequence. The Khonds were anxious
to revert to their long-cherished rite, and applied to the
pant rajah of Tooamool for permission to sacrifice, and asked
him for a meriah, or victim. This he declined to give,
stating that human sacrifices had been prohibited, but
offered them buffaloes and sheep. The offer was rejected by
the Khonds, and they resolved that, be the consequences
what they might, a public sacrifice should take place at the
full moon of Poosoo last year. The question was then raised
where a victim could be procured, and was solved by a
Khond stating that he would hand over for sacrifice a
" toorie," who, though not purchased as a meriah, was an
agrarian slave, bought for srs. The offer having been ac-
cepted, the intended victim, an elderly woman, was removed
to the village of Puckregoodah, and there heavily ironed, and
on an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the paut rajah to
rescue her, was taken off and secreted on the hills. The
paut rajah then sent an express to the agent, and within an
hour a guard of 58 sebundies started under a trustworthy
sirdar, marched 52 miles in 38 hours over a very hilly and
rugged country, and reached the scene of sacrifice as the
victim was being removed to the post erected for her im-
molation. The assembled lihonds, at least 5,000 in num-
ber, found themselves at the last moment deprived of what
they fancied no power could dispossess them. A most de-
termined attempt at rescue was made ; but the sirdar, mak-
ing a judicious disposition of his small party, and 50 match-
lockinen sent by the paut rajah, was able to defeat the at-
tempt, though he was obliged, in self-defence, to fire when
attacked by the Khonds. Tooamool, the scene of this de-
termined attempted at sacrifice, is an elevated plateau,
rising abruptly from the plains of Karoonde to a height of
4,000 feet. The plateau is about 50 miles in length, and
its extreme breadth from 15 to 20 miles. It is an undulating
country, well watered; the lower ranges of hills are covered
with dense bamboo and other jungle ; the upper ranges are
overgrown with a very rank coarse grass, which in many
places attains a height of 12 or 15 feet. No less than 53 in-
tended victims for sacrifice were rescued in the hill tracts of
Orissa in this one season. In Chinna I.(imedy the Khonds,
when interrogated regarding the renouncement of the
meriah, endeavoured to avoid the question by evasive re-
plies, such 'as—" How can we sacrifice meriahs when the
sirdar has taken them away PYet 30 persons dedicated to
''
the meriah goddess, and intended for sacrifice, were rescued
there in the season 1860-61. The 11 hond chiefs were invari-
ably carefully exhorted to remain true to their pledges, and
evil counsels of badly-disposed
not to be led away by the
men. The yearly visits of
.the agency alone prevent a re-
turn to the old state of affairs.