The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-04 00:00:00

DOST MAHOMMED KHAN AT CALCUTTA.

—The Government-house party last night, in honour of
her Majesty's entrance upon her 23d year, went off with
great eclat, and, considering the strong nor-wester, with
something more than the sound of abundance of rain,
was in full force from half-past eight to nine P.M., the
fireworks went off very well too. The ex-Ameer, Post
Mahommed Khan, was of course the grand lion of the
evening. What would my Lady Jersey or my Lady
Londonderry have given for such a lion ? and he bore
the starings and gazings of the multitude with very laud-
able patience and complacency. He sate for some time
with Lord Auckland, in the full enjoyment of the rich
conversational exuberance for which that Nobleman is
eelebrated, and afterwards . seated himself to a quiet
game of chess with the Honourable Miss Eden.. His
gallantry would not permit him to win the first game,
but. he checkmated the lady in the second, after a few
moves. He said that he would have checkmated
old Sale too, out in the KOhistan, if Sekunder Burnes
had not been so active with his money-bags. When
he took Miss Eden's second knight, he observed, with a
smile, that the horsemen of the British were always soon
cleared off the board. " Yes," said Miss Eden, smiling, and
suiting the action to the word, "but we know how to take
your castles."" Ah !" rejoined the Dost good humouredly,
" but if the father had been there instead of the son you
would have heard less about your Ghuznee victory."
The conversation that passed between the ex-Ameer
and the Governor. General was highly interesting. It
related chiefly to the social customs of the British. The
Dost was very eager to know what the gentlemen said
to their 'partners
_between the figures of the dance, and
Captain Nicholson was accordingly ordered to interpr6t,
sotto voce, what was passing between Mr.
Miss —, who happened to be near the Dost, but the
ex-Amneer soon stopped him, observing, " You blame us
Moslems for saying that our women have no souls, and
yet you British talk to your women as though you were
fully convinced of the fact."—Hurkaru, May 25.
GIGANTIC AEOLIAN.—Captain Hans, of
Basle, thus designates an apparatus which, of itself, emits
a variety of tones on a change of weather. Since the
year 1787, he has stretched in his garden fifteen iron
strings, or wires, 320 feet long, at a distance of two
inches one from the other. The largest is two lines in
diameter, the smallest one line, and the intermediate
strings a line and a half. They are placed to the
south, and inclined from 20 to 30 degrees. Their ten-
sion is effected by an apparatus prepared for the occasion.
At every change of weather these resound very forcibly.
Sometimes the sound resembles that of water when
in a state of ebullition ; sometimes that of the Har-
monica ; and at others that of distant chimes, or of
an organ. The invention of this curious machine is
due to Mr. Ventan, provost at Burkill, near Basle.
The following was the occasion of its discovery.
He sometimes amused himself by shooting with a
cross-bow, at a target opposite to his window ; and
in order to withdraw at will the arrow discharged, he
fixed thereto an iron string. He more than once re-
marked, that the string sounded exactly the octave of its
whole length ; and he also found, that all the iron
strings, strung in a direction paralled to the sound, gave
this intonation at each change of the weather. A cop-
per string produced no sound, nor did iron wire when
strung from east to west. M. Dobereiner, of Jena, con-
ceives that the phenomenon just described is the effect
of an electro-magnetic action, and proposes to try if a
copper string might not be rendered sonorous, by placing
its extremities in communication with a powerful elec-
trometer. As a very curious and scientific experiment,
we recommend the trial to such of our readers as have
access to the needful apparatus, as any discovery rela-
tive to the philosophy of sound must be valuable to musi-
cians, considering the very imperfect data they pessess
on the subject.—Musical World.
THE MOON.—M. ititago, the celebtated astro-
nomer, has been giving lectures to crowded audiences
on the nature of the moon. He contends that this planet
is not an inhabited body, and that it is without any kind
of vitality, either animal or vegetable. He denies also
that it has either seas, rivers, or lakes, but admits that it
has mountains and valleys, which, however, he says, are
of primitive formation.
On Monday afternoon a daring robbery was
committed on a Russian gentleman of the name of Kohl-
kott while passing along Cheapside. The gentleman was
standine• at the corner of Friday-street, where several
persons had collected till a cart had passed, when two of
the swell mob managed to rob him of a steel purse, con-
taining 51. 10s. in gold, 'and 13s. 4d. in silver. The
thieves were about to decamp with their booty, when a
person, named Crofton, who witnessed the robbery, in-
formed the gentleman of it, when one of the thieves seeing
they were followed, threw away the purse, which was
picked up by Mr. Crofton, and the fellows were given into
the custody of police constables Webb and Pearson, who
took them to the station-house. As the gentleman could
not speak one word of English, the policeman went with
him to the Ruisian Consul, where he took an oath that
the property was his, and stated that he lodged at the
Hotel de Commerce, near Leicester-square.
THE WEATHER.—Since Thursday last the
weather has been of a favourable kind, and though the
temperature has not been so high as we could wish it at
this important season, we have had an absence of rain
and dry bracing breezes in its stead. Yesterday the sky
was unclouded, and the sun extended its clieerhig in-
fluence in hastening to maturity the crops which so abun-
dantly crown the fields. We regret to observe that the
weather in the south of England has been such, from
the long-continued rains, as to give rise to a feeling of
uneasiness regarding the fate of the growing crops, and
this has brought the speculators more abundantly into
the market than at any former period of the season. On
a review of the accounts from the various parts of the
country, however, we see no just cause for the alarm
which has developed itself. In spite of wire-worm and
rains, it is admitted that the yield, under present cir-
cumstances, promises to be a full average one ; and there
is yet sufficient time for the weather to take up, and per-
mit of a favourable season for harvest, as has been the
case in many similar preceding years. This feeling of
uneasiness has, however, had the effect of advancing the
prices in Mark-lane from 3s. to 4s. per quarter during
the last fortnight, and the tendency of most of the pro-
vincial markets is rather inclining to be upward. .7The
six weeks, or regulating average, is 645. 2d. for wheat,
but the average of the week which has just closed is
665. 3d., showing an advance of 2s. Id. Should this
advance be maintained, therefore, the duty, which is now
22d. 8d , must be reduced in a corresponding ratio. We
observe that already barley harvest has commenced on a
hours.fr Justß osto
as n
small scale in Morayshire.—Glasgow Herald.
The passage from America to this city was
never, we believe, performed in so short a time as by
Dr. M‘Tear, surgeon on board the Britannia, which ar-
rived at Liverpool on Thursday evening. The Britannia
sheto Liverpool rpool
enteringinh
the
nine e
harbour, the Achilles was leaving for Glasgow, when
1)r. WTear sprung from the paddle-box of the one
steamer to the paddle-box of the other, and was
brought to Glasgow, where he arrived on Friday night,
performed
or
andm ed
nineteen hepassage from
—thus making the entire voyage in 10 days and 16
hours.— Glasgow Argus.