The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-24 00:00:00

LINGERING SUPERSTITIONS.

A clergyman, in the account of a parish in Orkney,
in Sir John Sinclair's " Statistical Account of Scotland,"
regretted the rapid disappearance of the superstitions
which had such fast hold of the minds cf our forefathers,
such as a belief in witchcraft, and thought that the
French Revolutirn ought to be a warning to us not
lightly to meddle with popular prejudices.
People who live in great cities are apt to undervalue
the inconvenience to which enlightened individuals arc
often exposed from the superstitions still lingering in
remote parts of the country. If a house has anyhow
obtained the reputation of being haunted, it is with
difficulty that a female servant can be induced to pas,
the 'fight in it.
Though the law throughout Europe at this day takes
no cognisance of witchcraft, yet in districts where the
multitude possess power, such as the Forest Cantons of
Switzerland, it was with the utmost difficulty that an end
could be put to punishments for witchcraft. An indivi-
dual was executed fur that crime in one of these cantons,
so late as 1785.

Whoever possesses any knowledge of German litera-
ture, must have read the letters from Johannes Von
Muller, the historian of Switzerland, to Bonstetten, a
Patrician of Berne, published under the title of "Letters
of a young Scholar." Bonstetten was also an author,
arid though less distinguished than his correspondent, was
not without his celebrity. In one of his publications he
gives an account of an excursion of his friend Muller
and himself in the canton of Lucerne. On a beautiful
summer day they were seated before an inn door, under
a shady tree, in one of the most picturesque parts of
Switzerland. Muller, who generally carried a classic in
his pocket, took out a Tacitus, and began to read it aloud.
A monk was preaching to a multitude at some distance,
and all of a sudden Bonstetten perceived the multitude
making hastily towards them. The landlord advised
them to depart with all expedition. They heard the
words g'fi orene uttered loudly. The literal meaning is
frozen persons, but it seems it has the local meaning of
what the Scotch would call uncanny. They were at last
obliged to take to their heels, assisted by a gentletu,n,
who attempted a diversion in their favour, and it was
with the utmost difficulty they succeeded in reaching the
Berne frontier in time to save their lives. Bonstetten
being a man of great consequence, the canton of Berne
made an angry representation to Lucerne against this
outrage, and some proceedings were adopted against the
monk, who was supposed to have excited the multitude
by an appeal to their superstition. Still, though the
two friends escaped with a whole skin, and had the
satisfaction of knowing that the outrage was resented,
we will answer for it that neither of them would ever
afterwards feel so comfortable when admiring a pic-
turesque scene with Swiss peasants in the foreground.
Coleridge in his Autobiography gives an account of
his residence at Stowey, on the south-west coast of Eng-
land. His friend Wordsworth, who had charge of a
pupil of distinction, occupied a respectable mansion at a
short distance from him. Wordsworth was in the habit
of walking in his garden by moonlight, and spouting
poetry. The neighbourhood took alarm, conceiving
Wordsworth to be a most formidable wizard, and the
gentleman from whom the mansion was hired would for
no consideration allow the great poet to continue to oc-
cupy it. It may be questioned whether it would yet be
safe to spout poetry by moonlight in many parts of
England, more especially the west. That there are
wizards in Devonshire who contrive to make a good
thing of it, may be inferred from what occasionally
transpires at assizes. It is very generally reported that,
at Lord John Russell's last election for Devonshire, the
Tories got hold of a celebrated wizard, who at the pre-
ceding election had been on the Reform side, and that
this fellow had influence enough to deter several persons
from voting for his Lordship.
The poetry of superstition is all very ,fine. Sitting
by a good fire on a winter's evening, a German Volks-
marchen by Musaeus may be a great treat ; but it is
quite another thing to come in contact with superstition
in real life, stripped of poetical adornment. A mind
enslaved by degrading superstitions acts in a way often
not a little inconvenient to others. The belief in the
evil eye, which prevails so generally in Italy and the
Levant, has brought many a man into much' trouble.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

ATTEMPTS AT DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA

FE LLX.

The Galway Advertiser of the Bth of August has the
following account of a frustrated expedition of Mr.
Smythe, colonial surveyor :—" Yesterday this indefati-
gable explorer returned from his second expedition to
Cape Otway. His return has been hastened in conse-
quence of the murder of one of his men by the blacks.
After the expedition left the Barwon Heads, about a
month ago, they encountered a succession of westerly
gales, and made several ineffectual attempts to get round
the cape. They at last landed on the eastern side and
encamped, while Mr. Smythe, accompanied by four men,
penetrated to the westward to survey the Eyre River.
Mr. Smythe started on the 25th of July. Proceeding
along the shore they fell in with a tribe of blacks, cc m •
posed of one man, four women, and three boys, all of
whom had been at the tent some days beforp. Mr.
Smythe prevailed on the man and one of the boys
to act as his guide to Gunna-waar, or Eyredale. After
travelling for about three hours, they came to a part of the
country with which Mr. Smythe was familiar, and as he had
no further use for the blacks, he sent them to the tents, first
giving them a supply of tea, and a note to the coxswain,
directing him to give them some flour. Mr. Smythe re-
turned on the evening of the 31st, when he learned that
one of the men, named Conroy, had been barbarously
murdered about 200 yards from the tent, where ho had
gone to cut wood. This happened on Sunday morning
between nine and ten o'clock. The blacks had arrived
at the tent early that morning, and had been supplied
with damper. They then went away along the beach ;
and just previous to the murder they were seen re-
turning, making a great noise. On their again retiring,
the body of the deceased was found by his companions
dreadfully mangled about the head, and life entirely ex-
tinct. A tomahawk was found near the spot, with
which no doubt the blows had been inflicted. The left
jaw was broken, and there were several deep gashes on
the left temple ; there were three deep cuts on the neck
and throat, the clothing had been stripped from the
body and carried off—even the boots wero not left
behind. The body was not mutilated in any
other manner, so that it appears the only ob-
ject of the murderers was to possess themselves
of the clothing worn by the unfortunate man. The
body was buried. After this event, Mr. Smythe finding
his stock of provisions nearly exhausted, deemed it ad-
visable to return. The party, therefore, re-embarked,
and sailed eastward to Loutit Bay (under Plattopped
Point), a well-sheltered harbour, where they beached
their whale-boat, and secured it above high-water mark,
Mr. Smythe determining to make his way to Geelong
by land. It is his intention, we believe, to make a third
excursion to the Cape Otway country as soon as he has
given in his report to Government. Under the circum-
stances of Mr. Smythe's return, he was prevented from
bringing many geological specimens. On one part of
the coast the cliffs are a pure chalk, and he has ascer-
tained that the coal formation extends to the westward
of the Cape, towarda Moonlight Head. In the neigh-
bourhood of Loutit Bay there are immense beds of rot-
tenstone, used for polishing brass, &e. The rivers and
water courses were almost impassable from the floods."