The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-05 00:00:00

PUNISHMENTS IN ALGERIA.

At Algiers, when any one had to complain of the
Cadi's judgment, or when the adverse party would not
submit to the decision, the complainant went to the
Casbah, seized with both hands a bell-chain hanging at
the gate, and rang with all his might. An officer then
appeared, to whom he related his case. A message was
sent to the Cadi, inquiring into the correctness of the
statement made by the plaintiff, to whom was rendered
whatever justice appeared due to him. On the contrary,
if the plaintiff was found to be in the wrong, he was
bastinadced with some hundred blows on the soles of his
feet, and was besides compelled to undergo all the con-
sequences of the judgment of which• he complained.
When the question related to a criminal affair, the lley
sent the culprit to the aga, who caused the sentence to be
executed forthwith. The punishments inflicted on
criminals were barbarously severe. The slightest offence
against the Government was punished by the bastinado,
which was administered not only on the soles
of the feet, but also on the belly and the
back. From thirty to twelve hundred blows were
given, according to the nature of the offence. Two
men, each armed with a piece of flexible wood, as thick
as an or4ary cane, alternately struck the culprit, who
was laid a sort of bench, with his legs and his arms
tied. Even when the criminal sometimes expired
under this punishment, the executioners continued to
strike, until they had completed the number of blows
specified by the sentence. Persons condemned to death
were decapitated with the axe or the yatagan ; hanged ;
impaled ; burned alive ; or thrown upon great iron hooks
of the gate of Ba-Azoun, on which they remained impaled
for several days, until they died of hunger in the most
horrible suffei logs. M. It-- told me that having once
visited Algiers before the occupation by the French, he
saw a man who had remained alive three days on these
hooks, and that he certainly would have lived longer,
had not a jannissary, either from humanity or to show
his dexterity to the assembled multitude, blown out his
brains with a pistol shot. Sometimes the relatives of
the persons condemned to this horrid punishment gave a
certain sum of money to the executioner to strangle the
victim before he threw him over the wall.—Count St.
Marie's Algeria in 1845.

SURGERY IN ALGEIRA.—Before the arrival of the
French, the natives had no idea of a regular physician,
or a surgeon. All diseases came under the treatment
of the barber, who did not confine himself merely to
bleeding and physicking, but he even amputated limbs.
This operation was performed by a dreadful method,
which is said to be still in practice in different parts of
Asia, and is always followed by the Kabyles. When
an arm is to be cut off, the patient stands upright, with
his arm resting on a flat block of wood, and the barber,
raising a yatagan, with a single stroke, severs the
member from the body. Two assistants then convey
the sufferer to a vessel filled with melted pitch, into
which they dip the arm, at the part where it has been
amputated, to stop the hemorrhage. It is horrible to
imagine the torture which must attend this barbarous
operation.—Count St. Marie's Algeria in 1845.

THE WAR. IN KAFIRLAND.—In consequence of
the war in Kafirland, large quantities of oats are being
shipped from the Ordnance stores within the Tower of
London, to the Cape of Good Hope, for the use of the
English troops, in anticipation of the probable scarcity
in that colony.

BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY .—The twentieth
half-yearly meeting of this company was held on
Thursday, at the White Lion Hotel, Bristol ; James
Gibbs, Esq., in the chair. The income of the line
for the half-year, as stated by the Great Western
Railway Company, to be due to this company, is
46,7631., being 1,8001. more than in the correspond-
ing half of 1845. A dividend was declared of 30s. per
1001. share, being eqttal to 4 per cent. per annum on the
751. paid up ; it wilt be payable tree of income-tax, after
the end of October ; hopes were held out of a better divi-
dend in future. The next dividend will be for the half-year
ending at Christmas, the year being in future to be divided
at Midsummer and Christmas. The chairman stated that
the traffic on the South Devon line, opened since the last
meeting, had exceeded all expectation ; the success of the
atmospheric principle of traction was now placed be-
yond doubt ; the delays that had occurred on the Croy-
don line had only tended to the perfecting of the sys-
tem. The meeting adopted the report, and confirmed
an agreement entered into for vesting in this company
the Taw-Vale Railway and Dock and Railway Exten-
sion from Barnstaple to Crediton, on completion of
the works.

THE HARVEST IN SPAIN.—The Guia del Commercio
of Aug. 26, has the following remarks upon the state of
the harvest this year :—lt says, " The result of the
corn harvest in Spain can now be safely estimated, as
the gathering in of the crop is approaching to an end.
A bad year had long been anticipated in the southern
provinces, from the want of rain, and those fears were
converted into a sad reality, when, to this defect, was
added that of imperfect granulation. The aspect of the
crops had been the most flattering possible in the pro-
vinces
of the north and centre, where the foliage had not
been known to be so great for many years; but the hail-
storms and the excessive heats that have extended to all
parts have caused the damage to be general, so that it
may be said that between night and morning Spain lost
more than a third part of its corn harvest. The stock
on hand from preceding years was nevertheless so large
that the price has scarcely been at all increased in the
corn districts, and the increase has fallen chiefly on the
old wheats, for as to the new wheats they weigh from
four to six pounds less than the other, and consequently
give much less bread." With respect to the olive crop
it says:—" Of the approaching harvest of oil in Spain
it may be said that its state is very little satisfactory,
since, both in Andalusia and Estremadura, in Valencia
and in Arragon, the fruit within sight is very scanty.
La Mancha alone may be excepted from this general
rule."

DISEASE AMONG THE TURNIPS.—We deeply
regret to learn that, in addition to the loss of the potato,
and the partial failure of the bean crop from the same
cause, a somewhat mysterious and destructive disease
has broken out extensively amongst the turnips in East
Lothian, within the last three we-lcs, and which may be
aptly termed " the rot," as it affects the turnip alto-
gether different from the old disease of " finger and
toes." It seems to commence in two ways—one, by a
slightly discoloured brown spot upon the principal fibre,
which gradually spreads upwards, and the other by a
sort of clammy, gummy matter, adhering to the bulb at
the root of the leaf. In both ways the destruction of
the plant is speedy and effectual, becoming in a short
time a mass of rotten putridity. The disease is progress-
ing, but is principally confined to the white turnip,
though not always. We are sorry to learn, also, that
notwithstanding the fine weather, the securing of the
crop goes on very slowly, and that much of the grain is
sprouted (from being cut wet) to a very great degree.—
Edinburgh Witness, Sept. 2.
The Roman Catholic community in Dundee have
purchased the estate of Wellburn, Lochee, for the pur-
pose of erecting on it a school of industry, an orphan
institution, for the benefit of the younger members
belonging to that communion, and a small chapel where
the services of " the church Hill be daily performed.
Besides these, there is to be erected a normal school,
which is to be placed under the superintendence of the
" Christian Brothers." A portion of the ground will be
laid out as a cemetery.—Edinburgh Paper.
No less than five thousand barrels of American
beef have been bought in Liverpool for the Irish war-
_ kets within thy last lyrtnight,—Liverpo9l Paper,