The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-31 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTET, SUNDAY.—The Earl of Auckland,
G.C.13., First Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr. H. G.
Ward, M.P., official Secretary to the Board, after
spending the evening with Mr. Baring, at Alver-
stoke, on Friday evening, slept at the Railway Hotel,
Gosport, and returned to town by the 8 30 (express)
train.

We beg to inform naval officers resident in the
provinces, that during the ensuing Parliamentary
session, such of them as may be desirous of an audi-
ence of the First Naval Lord, Rear-Admiral J. W.
D. Dundas, 0.13., ALP., should attend at the
Admiralty on the first and third Tuesdays in every
month.

In noticing the rumour relative to the paying off of
the Prince Regent, 92, Captain W. F. Martin, which
was very current after the visit of the Lords of the
Admiralty to that ship on Friday, it was mentioned
merely as a rumour, and considering that her penant
has been flying nearly two months, and that she has
not entered 200 men out of her complement of 820,
there seemed to be some colour for the report. We
have the best authority, however, for stating that she
will not be paid off until she bas served the usual term
of commission. Captain Martain will not take any
but good seamen in the strictest Eerily., and this per-
haps has kept her back in manning and fitting longer
than other ships whose captains have been less parti-
cular in their selection of hands. We hope to see
her in due time manned and ready to do good service,
as she is capable of doing, as one of the heaviest two-
deckers afloat.

Captain Sir Baldwin Walker, to whom is offered
the appointment of surveyor of the navy, is expected
in England from the Pacific, via Panama, by the next
Mexican packet. Mr. Edye, the deputy surveyor,
has been granted the salary of surveyor at the rate
of 1,0001. per annum since the retirement of Sir W.
Symonds.
SIR CHABLIS NAPIER'S SQUADRON.
Extract of a letter :

" The St. Vincent, Howe, Queen, and Canopus
are the only sailing craft attached to Sir Charles
Napier's squadron left in the Tagus. The screw fri-
gate Amphion, 36, the Terrible, Dragon, and Scourge,
from the steam squadron, now here (19th instant).
The Comet has gone to Oporto, where also is the
Jackal.

" The Asia, g 4, Captain Stopford, flag of Rear-
Admiral Phipps Hornby, C. 8., arrived at Lisbon on
the 11th, with her mainyard carried away when off
Usshant. The Canopus gave her mainyard to the
Asia, which enabled her to pursue her voyage to Rio
on the 13th.

" Exercise has recommenced in the squadron. The
Admiral has to a certain extent recovered the shock
caused by the sad intelligence of the loss of the
Avenger and his step-son. Topsail, topgallant, and
royal yards are sent down at sunset, and up again at
eight ; sails are then bent immediately.
" At Oporto all is quiet, but everybody is looking
forward to another outbreak before very long; all the
guns have been removed from Oporto, so that, in the
event of a row, they may not defend themselves as
heretofore.

" The terrible arrived on the 15th."
PROMOTIONS.

JAN. 29.—John Beechervoise, Thomas Drury, Wil-
liam Weeks, John Brown, and William Sparks, gun-
ners, advanced to the first class.

William Deacon, John Devonshire, Edward J.
Humphreys, and William Hull, gunners, advanced
to the seccnd class.

♦PPOINTMENTS.

Second Master—William Greet, to the Hercules.
Clerk—C. W. Motherwell and J. L. Thorne, to the
Crocodile.
Master's Assistant—Robert Forder, to the Star•.
Boatswains—Edward Rouse, to the Prince Regent;
John Turner, confirmed to the Blenheim.
Wilid S.S.W., strong breezes and hazy weather.

The ilereford Times describes a drake with three
legs, to one of which two feet were attached.
The largest forest set apart for red deer which ex•
ists in Scotland is the forest of Atholl, where 100,000
English acres are given up to them.
DEATH OF OTAHEITIAN CHlET.—Prinee Teti, the
fifteenth son of Tati-Vahine, one of the greatest chiefs
of Otabeite, died onWednesday in the hospital of theVal-
de Grace, Psris, in which he had been placed, in conse-
quence of his suffering from a lymphatic disease, called
diathesis tuberculosis, and which it appears was aggra-
vated by his being brought to this climate.

SERIOUS FIRE. NINE HORSES BURNED TO
DEATH.---A letter received on Saturday at the Sun Fire
Office, announces a most serious fire having occurred
on Thursday last at a place called Spittle, near Aber -
gavenny, which destroyed the farming premises of Mr.
Richards. It commenced in the stables, where there
were fourteen valuable horses; five were extricated alive,
but the remaining nine were burned to death. Each
animal was worth forty guineas. How the fire origi-
nated is not stated.

DEATH or ANOTHER GENERAL.—We have to an•
nounce the death of Gen. Frederick Maitland, Colonel
of the 58th Regiment of Foot. This gallant veteran is
one of the family of Lauderdale, the heritable standard-
bearer for Scotland, which has produced so many dis-
tinguished generals and admirals of the army and nary.
He wsts the brother of the present Sir Alexander Mait-
land Gibson, Bart., and fourth son of General the Ho-
nourable Alexander Maitland, fifth son of the sixth Earl
of Lauderdale; was born in 1763, and has died, conse-.
quently, in the 86th year of his age.
EARTHQUAKE AT BATAVlA.—Letters from Batavia
in the island of Java, of the 20th, state that on the 16th,
17th, arid 18th, shocks of earthquake were felt at
Batavia, and in the regencies of Cheribon, Bonjoemak,
Kaddoe, Samarang, and Rambay. The shocks were so
violent as to recal to mind those of 1834. At Batavia
the towers of the church were a good deal shaken, and
that of the town-hall had taken a strong leaning to the
left, whilst a cross in east-icon, which surmounted it,
was overthrown. In the town of Cheribon all the
buildingl3, except the stores, the walls of which are of
great thickness, were so much injured as to threaten
ruin, and oblige the inhabitants to seek refuge in the
plains in the environs. At Palimang the residence of
the governor was thrown down, and all that it contained
destroyed. Forty houses in the Chinese quarter shared
the same fate, and seventeen inhabitants were crushed
to death under the ruins. A great number of sugar and
indigo iminufaetures in the open fields were destroyed.
Intelligenice from all points of new disasters was reach-
ing Batavia, and the greatest alarm prevailed in that
capital.

THE FRENCH IN CHINA.--M. de Montigny, lately
appointed Vice Consul of France at Shangbae, in China,
had forwarded to his Government various interesting
reports on the productions of Indo-China and the islands
of the Indian Sea, which are likely to occupy an im-
portant place in the trade of France with those coun-
tries. The observations of M. de Montigny bore prin-
cipally on the different species of teak on the numerous
applications of the gum known by the name of gutta
percha, and on the many species of flour extracted from
the roots and plants of the above mentioned countries.
Those documents are accompanied with samples carefully
selected, and even sets of the plants, of which M. do
Montigny recommends the cultivation, either in France
or Algeri a.
TEE :Emu IN lIIS NATIVE FOEESTS.—A native
who was walking at my side, and who had accompanied
us all day, stopped suddenly, and, pointing with his
finger, said, " Emu!" About a mile distant across the
prairie we re two of those birds quietly feeding. The
dogs were immediately called together, fresh vigour
seemed to animate the whole party, and we proceeded to
give thane in high spirits. Emus are sometimes shot
with the r ifle, but the leilial mode of obtaining them is
by hunting them with kangaroo dogs. If you happen
to come near enough to them without raising alarm,
they ma y frequently be detained, and even attracted
almost u:p to your stirrup, by whistling. I have known
this to lie repeatedly tried with success. When you
begin to whistle the emu lifts up its head and listens with
attention ; soon, delighted with the sound, he walks
leisurely in the direction from which it comes; then,
perceivin g a human being, he pauses, seems irresolute,
and final ly walks round and round you in circles, gra-
dually lessening, until he approaches within a few yards.
If his cf)nfidence be not repaid with a bullet, he will,
after gratifying his curiosity by a good stare, quietly
walk away through his native woods. Emus are fre-
quently speared by the natives, who, by taking care
to stand stock-still the moment the creature lifts up
its head, 'manage to approach within a few yards of them
while feeiding. Though the savage may have his hand
raised in the act of throwing the spear he remains fixed
in that attitude whilst the emu takes a survey of him.
Perceiving only an object without motion, the bird takes
him for as tree, and continues to graze, falling a victim,
like other innocent things, to a misplaced confidence in
its own security. The emus ran fast, and gave us a
long chase; but at length the headmost dog caught held
of the ex tended flapper of one of the birds, and arrested
its progress; the others, coming up, soon pulled him to
the grour,d, and by the time we reached the spot he was
dead. The feathers from the tail were distributed among
the party, and placed in our caps; and the legs being cut
off, the rest of the bird was abandoned. The legs alone
afford any meat, which is by no means a delicacy, and
resembles coarse beef. —The Bushman.
The trial of Mr. Gutteridge, for libelling the
Bishop of Manchester, will take place at the Warwick
Assizes in the month of March.
The Zeitungshalle of Berlin, of the 26th, announces ,
some [cases of cholera in Upper Silesia, especially at
Ratiboo, Plass, and Leobschitz.
Public prayers have been ordered in all the church