The Sun.
London, England, 1823-08-07 00:00:00

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ECLIPSE t4O49QN qn.sgavap CALcfrWA. •
T,he gpodstown of, Calcutta (other. places may
speak_ for themselves) Was amused on nutty
night, 26th January, with a remarkable celestial
phenomenon,' tt,hich deserves
,at least, a paktitiir
notice in a dailyitiurnit, if it were only tore.
mark the.different sensations caused by the, same
event in different minds according to preconceiv-
ed notions. About lutifrpait nine in the evening,
persons within doors, not prepared by the pre-
dictions of Calcutta philosophers, or the esti:ono.'
niters of Nuddea, for any great event, were stir-
prised at the rising din of tom-toms, and the
jingling of,ghpon-ghrood, mixed with the anxious
bum of human voices• which -filled the nocturnal
air. The wise were ready to suspect that the
serpent who supports the ,world, according'to
fabulous belief of the superstitious liindoo, was
shifting the load off his weary bead, w hich caused
the astonished earth to tremble; hut, on inquiry,
it appeared that the vengeful Ballot) was threat-
ening to swallow the fair round rnootr because. of
the sins of matt. The pious If indoor were there-
fore bestirring the_selves mightily to frighten
away the hideous mdemon, who appeared to have
applied his voracious teeth to the lower limb of
the yellow 'queen of heaven; nor did, they ne-
glect to appease his wrath by' opening Aqir nig-
gard hearts to charitable deeds, in the' hope that
this fear-extorted charity would cover a multi-
tude of sins. Notwithstanding ail these pious
works to deter the moon's consumploo, the vin-
dictive Rahoo peasevered in his musty meal,
and in the course of about an hour the labouring
orb was only dimly seen through his skim:), •skies,
somewhat like a, juggler holding a, burning
candle in his mouth, while its rays shine faintly
through his lantern jaws. The devout Hindoos
then repaired to the purifying streams of the sa-
cred Gauges to perforth ablutions, and atone for
the heinous offences that had thus drawn down
upon them, as they supposed, the frowns of of-
fended heaven ; while females carefully abstained
from food and sleep till the ominous sign was
past. The more ignorant part of the moosul-
manna in Bengal are said to combine various 'fa-
bles of a differeut kind with eclipses of the moon,
some attributing them to the wrath of the deity;
others imagining that she is arrested for debt by
an inexorable muhajun ; but the latter notion is
so frivolous that it does not deserve to rank among
the dreams of astrology. The less superstitious
moosulmauns ascribe the obscuration of the lu-
minary to the-intervention of some Baud, or cor-
ner of the zodia between it and the light of the
sun. A t the time of the greatest obscuration, the
shadow of the earth was distinctly- visible oo the
moon's disk, leaving a small luminous ring sur-
rounding it, and the elliptical shape of the sha-
dow clearly sheeted the spherodieni form of the
terrestrial globe, which hr.' been ascertained to
be oblate"at the poles.----(- fkagat Pape, )

Extract: from the Journal of the Bev. Alexander I•s'y vie, of
Surat r-. Sept. I, 11122. Preached in one br our native school-
rooms. On my arrival, found only our native schoolmasters, the
native readers, and a few school children assertible& being seat-
ed; I desired the reader to begin, which he immediately did, and
rend three chapters of Osterrald's abridged History Of the Bible,
Ithith we translated and printed for the ilornba7 district Com-
mittee of the Christian Knowledge Society, with a number' of
which the society has kindly supplied us. The reader made
several remarks ray. he went on ; one was, that it was a little
book full of ueeful instruction ; we had in it the histerrof the
whole word of Cod, from the beginping. to the present tiditi, in
a small compass. In the: true Asiatte style he excluitised,
" Moat excellent ! a little book, but full of wise andlood
information."

•
•
I concluded the service by
_prayer, and gave away about
twenty parts of The Googuratee New Testament.
Before going to worship, 1 was visted by a M 417. otned4n, who
said he had heard of my giving away books among the people ;
and there was a report that 1,200 Hintlaos had become Chris-
tians. I said. 1 had not heard any such report: And I Mourn-
ed it was false ; but why should the people riot become
Christiana? He said; • If they do become C bristains,
how are they to-obtain >k livelihood?" I said, just as they had
done formerly " The kingdom of Gott was not meat and
drink," &c. He acknowledged all this; but said, that if we
could give the 'people a living, there Was no doubt hitt that
some thousands would embrace Christianity. I told him that
such converts would not be worth having ; we did not wish to
make people Christians in this way, nor by force, as MainimCd
had done. Thiele were the means petiole 'Used to propagate'
false religions, but truth required no such means. He appear-
ed to think all this very good, and said that converts from eon-
vietion were the only right ones.

NV rt Tito re are K i ngS"---:Say .4 h u
" who go to far no other reason Than that they may 'ivftb,
greater, ease establish despotic authority at borne. For in tin
of peace, the power of Parliainents, the dignity of AtOntra4l,
the vigour of the laws, are great impediment% to a Ptuice w:.
wishes to exercise arbitrary Tower. liat When once p Wart is
undertaken., the chief management of affairn devolves .triein
few, the Itlinisters of Executive Governrnen!„ who, for de ge-
neral iafety, assume the privilege of efindutting every thing tic-
ebrilink to their own humour, deManding unlimited tOnfidente.
The li9nces favourites are all exulted tb places of honenr and.
rofit. Those wham he dislikes are turned out ati4 neglected
Now, the time of war, in the time for rai4ing ati inneh money
upon the perrplr an thedespet's heait can wish. ''shdrt, twin
-
the the time of, Ia the time at they feel theinselvtitlenpOls in very
deed and truth, not h name only, bp tkspoxs with at
reance. hi the. mean while the grandees 'play lite an' tiro.
tber'ehanilw, till they have eaten' np the wretottiittneePto rent
and branch. Do you. think that Men Of /WO 444g4,4400:004r9V0
be backward to lielze Arid the slightest occasion !lir war, spin.
crative, sa fiat:ering to'avarice and vanitk.o'.-Thia above- W`3,4
written more than tare hundred ybarr ago,. will ecae nny it
in not applicable to the events of late , years 1.. s • •

. ~
A,cc341E,t4.3•4 IVI: 1311.11,ifiSakfr,.7j:Iii to t 1;9
o'clock yesterday none of the bodies tv.i4 been t;04.-.11: of the me.
tents at Billingsgate ri ' b'ut one twin has fortunately been vs...
triested ,franv ii itttlAatiria .in witicht t eosit-ic'tlionght ink.
.possible (bat life yhouhl ltAwY been 0 long
,Rre4tgyett, 1/4
failing, his tae scent wits ',dapped by, the projecting .t tries: or
two vosSebi; between, which he conti:vseet tia,el7' ;,,,,,,tgyd, set
pure on 14,,t)0,i,h, wio , 09,0 duke, be cal no,. at iiiolitto it
In alevelidiettlar Aitistaion,' (listing e.tfttral hotty.,,, ,Ad pm,.
I Ciently laud" to be beaid fl:tfio liTi'lc w iEt ilirr deli the i,'Et; 4.
a the vrotiii, VII tieing taken-up; tie etirittlistriea ~f,,,„.i,t4ei..
' able /rain in rlie *beet ;-,ltut the itkittiy he hats" aostained :.:k earn.,
parativily incongiderable.
. , Airport 4 of Ao upeatiing description A. re in dr -
Ottlation in liourallath nitetits iricinity, eattise to rho sup.,
'rb,ll ' !ate a the . Indintly a •the ' Reb., *ills* -i itatite .hantid,
siti.tatoin thatittret t, who is repostoi to. hovq.bionvmura,,,d..
An inyestigation is ,stout to borate/id into inward:l.
, n li- .

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