The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-28 00:00:00

week from Palermo. The Neapolitan Government
had decided that merchandise embarked shall not
pay any other duties. on being again landed in
Porto Franco.

GARIBALDI'S FLEET.
GENOA, JUNE 25.

I think you may like to know that a steamer, of
800 tons and 300-horse power, which arrived this
morning at Genoa, has been sold to Garibaldi for
460,000 f. It belongs to a French company, and is
called the Provence, a. screw. This is the fourth
steamer bought by Garibaldi. The others are the
Amsterdam, Helvetic, and Belzunee, besidee two
tugs.

THE CAPE MAIL.

PLYMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.

The Dane, Captain Hoffman, with the above
mail, arrived here this evening.. She brings 52
passengers and a full cargo.
Her dates are—Cape,. May 22; St. Helena,
June 1; and Ascension, June 5.

Much gratification was expressed at the Cape at
the coming return of Sir George Grey and the ex-
pected visit of Prince Alfred. Preparations were
being made to give the Prince a right loyal wel-
come.

Government affairs were much neglected, and
were left to stand over until the return of the Go-

vernor.

A parliamentary finance committee had been ap-
pointed to consider whether the government of the
colony can be carried on with the present revenue.
Some method of direct taxation was expected.

A motion had been made in the House of Assem-
bly for instituting a responsible Government. The
dissolution of the house was expected to take place
at the close of tho session.

A census was ordered to be taken in March, 1861.
The schedules contain 74 distinct queries, one of
which is—flow many pigs have you
The Convict Exclusion Bill had passed both
houses. The subject of more frequent mails to Eng-
land had been brought before Parliament.. A fort-
nightly mail was wanted.
All the Paarl district canteens had been shut up
to prevent drunkenness.
The population on the Kaffir border was very
unsettled.

A Dutch Reform Church conference on doctrinal
subjects had been held. The Church of England
financial question was still unsettled. Major
General Bolton was dead.

Business was very dull, and no speculation was
going forward. The rate of discount had not ad-
vanced. The Bank was allowing 5 per cent, inte-
rest on deposits. _

White wine was quoted £10; Pontac, £l3;
sweet wine, £lB ; brandy, £24. Wool, unwashed,
lid. to is.; washed, is. 6d. to 10d. Nothing of
importance from the Orange Free State.

AMERICA.

SOUTHAMPTON, THURSDAY.

The Hamburg American Company's screw
steamer SaTonia, Captain Elhers, which left New
York on the 15th instant, has arrived here. She
brings 244 passengers, and 300,000 dolls. in specie,
of which 277,870 dols. are for England ; the re-
mainder is for Hamburg. _ _

On the 27th, twenty miles south•cast of the
Lizard, she spoke the American ship Rhine, of
New York.

The news brought by the Savonia has been an•
icipated.

LITERATURE.
-
Only a Woman. A Story in Neutral Tint. By
Captain Labcelles Wraxall. 3 vols. Hurst and
Blackctt.

This is a most peculiar story, and it certainly
affords ample scope for curiosity and novelty, but
at the same time it is not a probable one. Allow-
ing for the events to occur, the particulars arc too
strangely worked out, and the character of Jessie
is not natural. Sir Norton Folgate is the best per-
son met with, but he is early removed from the
scene. He is upright and straightforward, which
are qualities that the other dramatis personce are
lamentably deficient in, Herbert Leigh himself
is a despicable character, and his conduct towards
Jessie is disgraceful to a man possessed of any feeling
of justice, putting aside all ideas of generosity. To
leave a young woman on the other side of the
world to contend for herself, and to plunge reck-
lessly into all sorts of pleasures and dissipations,
was bad enough ; but to contract a second marriage
without being more sure of the death of his first
wife was most unfeeling. Jessie, however, stops all
sympathy by her strange conduct ; it is hardly
likely that she would have concealed herself while
her husband was being married in her presence.
The motive of revenge that prompted her to such
a course was something so intense and dreadful
that really one cares very little afterwards as to
what suffering she underwent, Alice is really to
be pitied, she was betrayed on all sides, and her
gentle nature was ill fitted to cope with the dreadful
struggles she had to go through. Far happier would
she have been had they left her in the retirement
of the convent where she had taken shelter on her
father's death, but the absurd fancies of her sister
Blanche caused her to be dragged into the midst of
a cruel world again. The subjects introduced into
these pages are most painful, but it must be ad-
mitted that the exciting passages are narrated with
force and earnestness, and the hours of wrechedness
that were alternately gone through by the guilty
couple, Herbert and Jessie, are life-like in the ex-
treme. It is not satisfactory, however, to note how
at the conclusion things seemed in a manner
smoothed over, for the way in which they had gone
on dicl not give any such promise of after happiness, as
we are led to believe was their portion when we take
leave of them. Mistakes of a grave nature, errors
that arc very serious may be committed, but it is
another thing to plan deliberate sin like Herbert
(lid, and to indulge] dreams of revenge and ideas
of horror, such as Jessie revelled in till she seemed
possessed of an evil spirit. The friends of Herbert,
Bertie Dymocke, and Doctor Jones are refreshing
to meet with in their honourable and honest life
after the mingled confusion of craft and misery that
we are introduced to. Bad as Blanche is, it must
be agreed that Harriett, the other sister, is the
worst by far ; there is nothing more calculated to
create mischief and misery in the world than a
person acting as she did. Such a course und(r-
mines the strongest social foundations, and destroys
the surest prospect of happiness in the homes where
the destroyer enters. Gerald Folgate is a striking
instance of the misery that a prolonged course of
gambling is sure to result in. Some of the scenes
of the plots and counterplots of the conspiratoss
against each other are most vividly depicted, as
there is enough of exciting matter in these volumes
to ensure for them attention, even when the general
tenor of their narrative may not be appreciated.

A Summer Ramble in the Himalayas. Hurst and

Blackett.

Although the author has not •ehosen to disclose
his name, the fact of this work being edited by Mr.
Wilson, better known to the public under his nom
de plume of " Mountaineer," is a sufficient guarantee
for the merit of the production. The author is an
officer in her Majesty's service, and rather a sports-
man for pleasure than a man devoted exclusively
to that avocation ; in fact, he does not pretend to
belong to the school of Gerard or Cumming, but he
makes up for his want of ardour in field sports by
his vivid descriptions of scenery and the customs
and manners of the hill tribes :
" On reaching a little rivulet at the foot of the steep hill
With a small l
we had come down, I halted to rest a`little, and the _l stick
men had
a smoke out of a rather primitive pipe.
they made a hole in the ground some inches_ deep,t ymade
widen-
ing it a little at the top. A space from
Intothis he
the former
another, slanting to the bottom of the first.
the orifice of the
they dropped a small ball of grass, rolled up,
tobacco. Putting their closed hands overit. and over it the
What various
other, they inhaled the smokethrtregh
narcotic weed."
methods are pursued in imbibingla
s become a profession,
Now that gold diggipits
new rush on the banks
we may any day look
and has its representatfr:r
aim all classes of society,
ges, gold being daily obtained by the
the bed of
of the Gan
the washin
This gold deposit rs , . from pa-
river.
natives in small quantities. from
which must ultimately be discovered at a
strange fancy which. people have
wrconrtkie•cde.fs,
the dangerous is well shown I'n the , • folLwing
for
extract : The
~ At one village I delayed the camp half the day to wit-
ness an extraordinary performance which deserves describ-
ing detail. It consisted of a man slidino• down a rope
ing in .
nearly half a mile in length, which is called inucal parlance
a ~ burt." The rope extended from an eminence on the
hill side above the village, over a ravine and down to a
green knoll in the fields below, and was drawn as tight as
several hundred men with their united strength could effect
They had just finished stretching it when we arrived, and I
could scarcely believe a man was actually going to slide