The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-13 00:00:00

POLICE

7STRALL4

all the windows of houses and churches that lay in its
course. The hailstones were commonly the size of large
greengages "like those" (pointing to a plate-full on the
table), and many " quite as large as those peaches ;"
that is, about seven inches and a half in circumference.
In Sydney the thermometer was continually at 130 deg.
in the sun, and in Adelaide it was sometimes 140 deg.
As for the hot dust blast (called a " brickfielder"), they
Lad it just as bad at both those places. It would thus
appear that one "heaven upon earth" is about as ob-
jectionable as another.

The complaints of the country are influenza, diarrhcea,
dysentery, boils, eye-blight, consumption, and a strange
sort of cough, which the people, for the want of a more
appropriate name call " the guitar." All of these are
very prevalent, scarcely anybody escaping one or more
of them.

In the cemetery north of the town I noticed no less
than eight grave-diggers at work the other day. The
quantity of recently made graves of children and young
people is extraordinary. By the simple record on the
little wooden tablets you may count at least 100 deaths
of young children, young people, and adults under the
age of 35 or 40, for one of the age of 60. But, recol-
lecting the blunder some of our statistical men made in
England, when they endeavoured to show that Green-
wich must b• a very healthy place from the great num-
ber of deaths, showing periods of life varying from 60
to 70 and upwards (forgetting that so many never came
to Greenwich till they were old men), nothing very con-
clusive can be deduced from the above circumstance, as
the very great majority of the people who come out
here are under the age of 30 or 40. The thermometer
of Australian enterprise cools at 40, gets very cold at
50, and freezes at 60. Fortunate that it does so, since
the severe and capricious changes of temperature would
soon cut off those who were at all "shaky" or touched
by the warning hand of ailing age.
A word on the other side. We must distinguish be-
tween " climate" and " weather." The variations are
not always so bad. Captain Wright, the chief gold
commissioner, who has been here these 14 years, assured
me that this was "an unusual summer." Other resi-

dents of long standing have said the same. v So much
cold and rain in summer are not common. All the rest
is but too common. Nevertheless, I do not consider
the climate as maealthy. It is good for strong and for
perfectly healthy people. There is no miasma. Men
go mad from various causes, but dogs never go mad
here. No virulent fevers or agues are incidental to the
place (though they are being regularly manufactured by
the horse and bullock slaughterers' yards, cesspools,
want of all under-ground drainage, over-population,
&c.) ; and, even with regard to the various epidemics
and other complaints which are incidental, some persons
have but slight attacks, and a few escape altogether. I
do not believe one could sleep at night in the open air
in England and be drenched to the skin with the same
impunity as in Australia. But everybody cannot do
this. There are plenty of rheumatics, sore throats, and
"guitars" in consequence. The troops of the Victoria
Gold Escort use no tents in camping out at night, and
the troopers complain bitterly, Their horses often die
from it. One of mine died. Many parts of Australia
would be fatal, I should think, to anybody with pul-
monary weakness. Yet consumptive patients are sent
out hero.

Science declares that Australia is a most ex-
quisite climate. Well, let us be just to science,
though we suffer meantime. Science cannot do away
with the hot wind, or simoom, but the dust, which is
the worst part of it, may be the consequence of
the present wild and uncultivated condition of the
country. If the fields were tilled and the roads
macadamized there would certainly be a great diminu-
tion of the dust which is now swept from them. But
this must be a work of considerable time. At present
Plutus stands in his own light, and can see nothing but
himself. The soil and climate readily produce all sorts
of fruits and flowers ; they cannot, however, be com-
pared to those in England for flavour or for beauty.
Here the fruit grows almost wild, and prodigal in quan-
tity. Cultivation would probably greatly improve the
flavour, and the same may be said of vegetables gene-
rally, which at this time are wretched objects. It
should moreover, be admitted, that if you will forego
all residence in towns and villages, and dwell among the
vast solitudes of field and bush, some 200 or 300 miles
up the country, you will there find a climate that may
often justify science in many of the deductions which
have so deceived those who very naturally applied them
to Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide.
The only really satisfactory period of the day is the
early morning when fine ; and fine mornings, from sun-
rise, about six o'clock, to about eight, are not unusual.
The air is then clear, light, dry, fresh, and a cool bright-
ness pervades the whole atmosphere and surrounding
scenery. After this, the day may be anything. The
sunsets are often magnificent in crimson masses of all
gradations, floating over changeful fields of fiery gold,
with pale emerald lakes and flames between. Though
the twilight is of very brief duration, the heavens pre-
sent a grave scenery of fading purple in grand well-
defined designs, which in the clear solitudes of the bush
suggest the profoundest melancholy by their associations
with intense beauty and the loneliness of death. But
the air is generally cold, and what we understand in
England by a "sweet summer evening" is comparativeily
unknown in Australia.—Tintei Correspondent.

INDIAN WARFARE.

The following statement of the recent "difficulties"
between the whites and the Apache Indians in New
Mexico is communicated to the Ohio (United States)
State Journal by a Santa 1-i'd correspondent, under date
Marsh 29, 1853, who claims to have possessed supe-
rior opportunities for arriving at the truth of the
matter :
" A treaty was made with the Jicarillas by Governor
Calhoun, in which it was stipulated that they should be
rewarded by the United States' Government for their
lnds, but this treaty was never ratified by the Senate.
The agent tells them they must remove from the
settlements to the country west of the Rio Grande.
They stop and argue the question in such a way that
it is impossible to answer them, for they have right
and justice on their side. They say, Comply with
your part of the treaty—pay us, and we are ready to
go.' A great deal of indignation was felt by the people
of the United States against this band of Indians about
three years ago for the murders committed by them
at that time. Having had an opportnnity of cultivating
the friendship of the captain of this band, and feeling a
strong desire to arrive at the truth in relation to this
matter, I have lot lip no opportunitY'of my communi-
cations with Apa,aes, Utahs, Mexicans, and Ame-
ricans to get the correct history of what occurred, and
I herewith send you the result of my investigations.
And I will take this occasion to say that I have never
known an instance of a murder being committed by
an Indian in New Mexico, except in revenge for the
loss of some of his people who had been unjustly killed
by some of his more civilised neighbours. In
August, 1849, a band of Jicarillas Apaches, with
their families, visited the town of Los Vegas for the pur-
pose of trading. The officer then in command of the
United States' troops at that place, having heard a
rumour (which afterwards proved to be a false one) that
the Apaches had killed a Mexican in the Rio Abajo,
sent a peremptory order to the captains of the Jicarillas
to visit his quarters, to form a treaty of peace. From
the manner in. which the demand was made the Indians
became alarmed, and mounted their horses to return to
their village, about a mile distant, on the road to the
States, near the Campo Santo. A lieutenant was ordered
by his commander to mount his company of dragoons to
pursue the Indians, and to bring in the chiefs by force
to make the treaty. The Indians, not knowing the
object of their pursuers, fled in every direction. The
soldiers fired upon them, killed three of their number.
and charged upon them with their sabres. The Indians
did not show fight, but as they ran they cried out, For
what are the Americans killing us ?' and the reply of
the Mexicans was, Quien Sabe.' Five women, a boy,
and a young man, were taken prisoners and lodged in
gaol, where they remained in confinement for nearly a
year. The Indians, exasperated at what they considered
the treachery of the Americans, determined upon having
revenge. On the 18th of October following, Mr. White,
his wife, and little daughter, two black servants, and
two Mexicans, left Mr. Aubrey's train of waggons, with
whom they had been travelling from the States as far as
the Cimarron, in order to travel more rapidly to Santa
114, their destination. Mr. Calloway, the waggon-
master, accompanied them. When near the point of
rocks, 70 miles from Barclay's Fort, they were attacked
by a large party of Jicarillas Apaches and Utahs, who
fired upon them from behind rude breastworks that had
been thrown up by the side of the road. Mr. White,
Mr. Calloway, the two Mexicans, and one of the negroes,
were killed, and Mrs. White, her daughter, and the
negro woman, taken prisoners, and carried off by the
Indians to the canon' of Red River. The melancholy
intelligence soon reached Los Vegas, and a sergeant,
with a detachment of 20 men, was ordered in pursuit of
the Indians. One of the Indian women, who had been
taken prisoner by the troops at Los Vegas, a daughter
of Loho, captain of the Jacarillas, accompanied the sol-
diers, partly in hopes that she might assist in discover-
ing the whereabouts of the Indians, and partly that she
might be exchanged for Mrs. White and her daughter.
After reaching the point of rocks the party encamped
upon the little mound for the night. The Indian woman
asked and obtained leave to remain on the top of the
mound during the night, where she commenced crying,
and continued to utter her wafflings, in spite of the
maledictions of the soldiers, until morning, when she
appeared to be more calm ; but upon a teamster approach-
ing her to put her into a waggon, she suddenly seized a
butcher's knife lying near the fire and attacked him.
The teamster, in endeavouring to escape the infuriated
woman, stumbled and fell, and before she could reach
him she was knocked down. She rose instantly and
attacked the man in a perfect frenzy who had struck
her ; but, being unable to catch him, as he dodged
behind the mules that were standing near the waggon,
she stabbed two of the animals so severely that they
died shortly afterwards. In the confusion and excite.
ment attendant upon this scene, the sergeant ordered
her to be killed, and one of the men pulled a pistol from
his holster and shot her dead upon the spot. The ser-
geant and his party, being unable to find any of the In-
dians, returned to Los Vegos, and reported accordingly.
The news of the murder of Mr. White and his party
reached Taos about the 3d of November. Major Grier, in
command of a company of United States' Dragoons, with
a mountain howitzer, and Captain Valdez, in command of
a company of New Mexican Rangers, started in pursuit
of the Indians. The celebrated mountain guides, Carson,
Leroux, and Fisher, volunteered their services to ferret
out the murderers from their hiding-places. Near the
point of rocks the skeleton of a woman was found, which
at first was supposed to be that of a negro woman be-
longing to Mr. White, but was afterwards known to be
that of the Apache woman killed by the sergeant's party
a few days before. Here the guides took the trail of the
Indians, and followed it as with the scent of bloodhounds.
Every trick known in Indian stratagem was resorted to