The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-04 00:00:00

India
ters that he is as ignorant of life an- Lidst
jungles as he is of engineering and of her matters.
Young ladies do not ride out in the jungles by
themselves—tigers do not gallop afte r them, and
the charge of shot intended to bring down a bus-
tard is not calculated to knock o'er a full-grown
tiger and leave him dead on the sr.ot ; and, in con-
clusion, Sir Cresswell Cresswell did not dissolve the
matrimonial ties at the period of the Crimean war.
We think that Mr.Ouida had better in future confine
himself to subjectsof a simpler nature, or else put on
a little more steam and try and wri to a burlesque.
He need not doubt his abilities. Let him but give
free vent to his natural feelings, and express his
opinions candidly, with passing comments on engi-
neering and wild sports, and llLis success will be
certain.

('olbian's United Service Magazine.
The United Service of this mon th contains a very
sensible article entitled " Revelei;ions of Dockyard
Extravagance," which the meralpers of the Royal
Commission for investigating the lubj ect, sanctioned
byParliament a short time ago,w do well to study.
The mismanagement and devil-nlay-care system in
which the affairs of our dockyards are conducted
call loudly for reform. The unn ecountable way in
which £5,000,000 sterling have disappeared, with-
out any return, no one knows ho w, and for the loss
of which no one is to blame, and ni ) one is responsible,
is enough to rouse a heavily to xed people to re-
monstrance, especially when they consider that this
£5,000,000 is equivalent to 5d., in the pound in-
come-tax. People grumble and are dissatisfied at
Mr. Gladstone 's imposition of an extra penny,
while five times that amount is squandered away
owing to the absurd forms an d ceremonies in
fashion in our naval yards, and the irresponsibility
of the officials. There is a brief sketch of the
" Spanish War in Morocco." "The Army Medical
Department" is continued, as is aim " The Russian
Account of the Crimean Campaign," which is really
written in a fair spirit, and goes into minute details.
The narrative of a " Trip to the Himalayas" is in-
teresting, the author availing himself of a month's
leave of absence to visit these lofty mountains.
His account of his expedition is straightforward
and simply written, and his extenuation of the
superstitions and prejudices of the natives, as the
following extract will show, proves that he is a
man possessed of very tolerant and sensible
opinions—
" About two p.m., being provided with an intelligent
guide, I set off for the foot of the mountains ; after an hour's
gradual ascent over a wet mossy sward, we came to a chain
of rocky hills, from which the feeders of the great Ganges
rush out in great numbers, all of which uniting within the
distance of a mile or two, expand into an unfordable river. To
bathe in it is esteemed an act of great devotion, and though
the temperature was about the freezing point, the Hindoos
of my party plunged into the sacred stream over head and
ears, though most of them caught severe colds in conse-
quence of their bath.
" On a near approach to the above chain of hills they
were found to be an enormous boulder, or moraine—an ac-
cumulation of immense stones brought down from the over
looking mountains by avalanches, every year adding to
their numbers, and thousands of years enlarging the debris
to the magnitude of the mountain range.
" Treading along to the right, the guide brought us to a
sort of tarpeian rock, called Byrovajamp, from the summit
of which pilgrims were wont to throw themselves as living
sacrifices, thus ending their days by being dashed to pieces.
Such living sacrifices were considered acts of supreme de-
votion, insuring the victim the highest rewards in a future
state of existence.
"From this rock the no less celebrated Valley of the Sha-
dow of Death, called Mahapunt, takes its rise, a long ascend-
ing slope between two rocky precipices, that ends in perpe-
tual snow. According to Hindoo mythology, this Maha-
punt is believed to be the most direct road to the world of
spirits. With the assurance of the most favoured reception
after the journey of this life is over, pilgrims bent upon
sell sacrifice took leave of ther relations, as before an ere
cution • with the resolution of never returning, and the
conviction that if they only persevered long enough, and
far enough, they would be rewarded with a blessed immor-
tality, they entered the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and
eventually perished in the snow.
" Such sacrifices conferred a solemn celebrity upon the
surviving relations of the deceased, perhaps equal in their
own little circle to that of Marcus Curtius himself in the
proud days of ancient Rome. Of late years these human
sacrifices were prohibited by the Company's Government.
under the heaviest penalties to the accomplices; this ordi-
nance has become as obselete as that of Suttee, but tradition
records an incredible destruction of human life in times
long gone by.
" The world will cry out, What an infamous Govern-
ment was that of the old East India Company, that tolera •
tad such enormities so long.! Hew very horrible, indeed :
scream out our very good Christian people. What benighted
ignorance I howls out Exeter Hall ; send out more mis-
sionaries—more Bibles ; drag those heathens from the error
of their ways and convert them by fair means, or by any
means I Every good Christian must congratulate huma-
nity on the suppression of such barbarous rites ; but how-
aver much he may reprobate them, they convey a moral
lesson that may have a good effect on our own more en-
lightened society. Have we, good people, no Byrovajamp
amongst ourselves over which our victims of society are
daily precipitating themselves, to get rid of a life "rendered
too intolerable to be endured ? Have we no Mahapunt up
which our religious devotees clamber in convent chains till
they r erish in the freezing cloisters of monastic life ? Have
we no funeral piles on which our broken-hearted widows
offer themselves up as victims to their deceased husbands'
mal-administration ? Have WA no Jnggernauth cars be-
fore whose wheels our idolatrous daughters prostrate them-
selves and get crushed to death ? Let our fashionable ladies
answer. Is infanticida less known amongst us than it for-
merly was amongst the Rajpoots ? Let our match-making
fathers and mothers answer.
" Let us consult the records of the Coroner's Courts. the
Divorce Courts, the Insolvent Courts, our Courts of inquest
and our Courts of fashion, and we shall find that for one
primitive Hindoo, that sacrificed his life for what he con-
sidered the good of his soul, a hundred of our fellow-
countrymen—aye, and of our fellow-countrywomen, have
fallen victims to their own acts and their own hands."
There are likewise articles on " Our Naval Strength,"
" Modern Artillery and Naval Ports," " The Coast-
guard Service," " Victualling of the Army," and
other subjects.

Colburn's .New Monthly Magazine.
The chances of invasion are discussed at length
in the opening paper of this number. The writer
arrives at the satisfactory conclusion that our Im-
perial ally is a riddle whom he would gladly credit
with honourable sentiments, but whose hereditary
mission is to avenge Waterloo, and who can scarcely
be expected to resign his throne in order to keep
his plighted word to us. We must hope that he
will not be called upon to decide between these
alternatives by the impetuosity and prejudice of his
army. The singular tale of " Little Grand and the
Marchioness" is continued, and another tale of
colonial life, " The Belles of the Island," by Airs.
Bushby, proceeds with interest. Neither of the
fair heroines appear to be very happily situated in
their domestic affairs, and, despite Mrs. Temple's
enthusiasm, the picture of West Indian life is not
very inviting. Sir Nathaniel contributes a second
instalment of his " Nightingale Notes," which like
the first is full of poetical allusion and citation.
For heavier subjects we have an article on Mr.
Trollope's work on " Filippo Strozzi ; a Mstory of
the last days of the old Italian Liberty ;" an ac-
count of the Protestant Church at Metz, and a paper
on Prince Dolgorouski's Russia. The interesting
story of " East Lynne" is continued, and in it Bar-
bara Hare forfeits our respect and her own by a
confession of her love to Mr. Carlyle. The story of
the murder is again narrated, and we suspect that
Lady Isabel's former lover, Captain Levison, will
prove to have been concerned in it. Numerous
poetical contributions appear in this number, among
them a melodious ballad from the pen of J. E. Car-
penter, and a spirited adaptation of a love song
from Horace by W. C. Kent.

Macmillan's Magazine.
A lengthened paper on " The Suffrage" discusses
the vexed question of the Reform Bill in reference
to its probable effect on the working and profes-
sional classes. It is from the pen of the Rev. F. D.
Maurice, whose writings always deserve attention,
although his views are sometimes peculiar.
" Shelley, in Pall-mall," adds another to the numer-
ous essays and articles on the poet's life, which
have only one point in common—each asserting
that the other's facts are incorrect, and conclusions
deceptive. The writer of the paper before
us restricts himself to a narrative of
Shelley's publishing transactions with the
Stockdales of Pall-mall, and quotes many
letters which passed between them. He remarks
that the progress of public opinion respecting
Shelley has resembled the famous variations of the
Moniteur on the occasion of Napoleon's return from
Elba :—" The tiger has' broken loose, the monster
has landed, the traitor is at Grenoble, the enemy
at Lyons, Napoleon is at Fontainebleau, the
iEm
peror is in Paris." Stockdale, it is said, flourshed
in the tigrine era, which accounts for the depre-
catory and defensive tone of his writings on the
subject. " The Ramsgate Lifeboat" is th title of a
very interesting account of a gallant rescue by
some of our brave life-boatmen, written by one who
was then in the locality, and received the details of
the rescue from the men who were engaged in it. The
singular and lengthened poem of " The Sleep of the
Hyacinth" terminates abruptly, the lamented author
having left the manuscript incomplete. " Poet's
Corner, or an English Writer's Touch" is descrip-
tive of the last resting-place of Lawrence Sterne,
who seems likely to be a favourite subject for
periodical writers. "Tom Brown at Oxford" pro-
ceeds with spirit, though with a greater admixture
of sentiment than is common in the lives of Uni-
versity men. A criticism on the Royal Academy
Exhibition posses an opinion on most of the prin-
cipal paintings, and a brief paper on the late affair
between Sir Charles Trevelyan and Mr. Wilson
brings the number to a termination.

The Cornhill Magazine.
The first half-year and the first rolume of the
Cornhill Magazine have come to a prosperous con-
clusion. The success of the new periodical has
been brilliant and unquestioned, and the able editor,
in one of his delightful roundabout papers takes
occasion to discuss " Some late Great Victories,"