The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-15 00:00:00

1856.

TERATURE.

4 Cruzse in the Pae ' ' oc. By a Naval Gllimn
• Edited by Cap:ain Fenton Aylmer. Hurst and
Blacket.
The reader is in doubt, while perusing thec.e
pages, whether he has truth er - fl-tion hefor'e-
him ; that is to say whether the' author's
cruise was on salt water, or in the realms of
fancy. As neither the name of the autho or ship are given, one would lean to the latter con-
clusion
. but on the other hand, the Clever and de-
tailed description given of most of the islands and
ports in the Pacific would seem to indicate a per-
sonal inspection by the author; in either case, the I
result is the same, and wi.:l have before us an irate- I
resting account of San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro,
Buenos Ayres, Valparaiso, Otaheita, and the Sand-
wich Islands, and many other places. The perso-
nal adventures are amusing, and the author does
not fekr to acknowledge his uncomfortable sensa-
tions when out tiger, or more properly, jaguar
hunting in the pampas of South America.
A TIGER HUNT.
" Where is the tiger," demanded Franks.
" There, senhor ' • he is a very devil, and has killed two
men and a hundred cows."
" Well, well, kill him. Lead the way."
The tiger hunters having meantime
made their own in-
quiries took the front rank, each holding a couple of hunt •
ing dogs in a leash. We Englishmen, rifle in hand, rode
after, while the Guarhos followed. Down into the valley
we .scrambled, where, among the rank reeds forming the
bed of a half-dry stream, the tiger was lying. Just as we
reached the thickset the dogs were unloosed, and dashed in
with a chorus of yells, and I, grasping my rifle, felt half-
afraid, and began imagining what my friends would think
if I were slain by a tiger. I had not much time for refleo• tion; a roar, that thrilled through every pulse of my body,
drowned the voice of men and dogs. My horse wheeled like
lightning, unseating me,*and down I came head foremost,
my rifle going off as I fell. I had one glance of the tiger
close beside me, and the reader may believe I was soon on
my legs again, expecting every moment to be in his grip,
to my intense relief ho was gone. Frank hailed me with
a cheer, "Well done, Fritz, you've done what you can
boast of—jumped a tiger in his spring, but follow up, here's
my rifle, you will get a shot at him yet, I'll take
yours and load." I did not stay to ask questions
then, my blood was up, my proximity to the brute
had banished fear ; he was evidently running away
too, so my courage rose in proportion. The hunters
iwere close togethr at one side of a very thick bush,
waitinc, the breaking of the tiger, a proceeding both the
Guarhos and dogs were endeavouring to effect, but whether he
considered it unwise to charge the mob, then a little party
of trained men, or whether it was accidental, I cannot say ;
however, he suddenly bounded out in the opposite direction
to where we stood, dashed straight through the mob, and
seizing a man in his teeth, got into the nearest thicket
before he could be stopped. Quick as lightning a couple of
hunters and dogs, stationed at that side, were at his heels,
and, encumbered as he was, almost immediately closed with
him, one of the men dashing up and burying kis long knife
in his sido. The tiger turned round like a shot, dropping
the body as he did so, and then followed the most wonder-
ful feat I ever saw or heard of. The man was carried off,
though much hurt, and with a broken leg, perfectly con -
scious ;he had never let go his knife, and the beast let
him fall and turned away, the long blade gleamed in the
air, and sunk quivering into the very heart of the tiger.
Without a struggle he rollod heavily over, the blood gush-
ing from his mouth and nostrils, while the gallant fellow
who had given the death-blow rose on one arm, and then
fell fainting upon the body."
The author sometimes overshoots the mark, and it
requires an exertion of credulity on the part of the
reader to believe all that is related ; but this is
generally not his personal experience, but what has
been related to him by others, for the truth of
which he does not hold himself responsible. Attain
some of his quotations from the writings of others
are well selected.

•
CORAL FORMATIONS.
Our readers, says Sir David, no doubt are aware that the
( coral rocks which form islands and reefs, hundreds of
miles in extent, are built by small animals called polypi
that secrete from the lower portions of their body a large
quantity of carbonate of lime, which when diffused aroun
the body and deposited between the folds of its abdominal
coats constitutes a cell or polypidox, or polyghary, into the
hollow :of which the animal can retire. The solid thus
formed is called a coral which represents exactly tke ani-
mal itself. These strong cells are sometimes single and
cupped, ramifying like a tree, and sometimes grouped like
a cauliflower; or, imitating the human brain, the calcareous
cells which they build remain fixed to the rocks in which
they began their hibours. After the animals themselves
are dead, a new set of workmen take their places, and add
a new story to the rising edifice, the same process going on
from generation to generation until the wall reaches the
surface of the ocean, whore it necessarily terminates. The
industrious labourers act as scavengers of the lowest class,
perpetually employed in cleansing the waters of the sea
from impurities which escape even the smallest crustacea,
in the same manner as the inseet tribes, in their various
stages, are destined to find their food, by devouring impu-
rities caused by dead animals and vegetable matter on the
land. Were we to unite in ono mass the immense coral
reefs three hundred miles long, and the numberless coral
islands, some of which are forty to fifty miles in
diameter, and if we add to this all the coraline
limestone and the other formations, whether cal-
careous or silicious, that are the works of insect labour, we
should have an accumulation of solid matter which would
compose a planet or satellite, at least one of the smaller
planets between Mars and Jupiter, and if such a planet
could be constructed, may we not conceive that the solid
materials of a whole system of worlds might have been
formed by the tiny but long-continued labours of beings
that are invisible.
After visiting the Russian station at Petropaulo-
vowsky, we are carried to British Columbia and
Vancover Island. Here the author made some
stay, and has written in consequence at greater
length on the climate, geological formations, and
products of the country. The remarks upon all
subjects are sensible and straightforward, the
writer choosing rather to express his own convic-
tions than caring to please the parties aboxt whom
he writes. His comments upon the Romish priests
in South America are severe in the extreme, but
only express the feeling of abhorrence with which
the immoralities of these reverend gentlemen must
be regarded by all right-minded individuals.

Athletic and Gymnastac Exercises. By John H.
Howard. Illustrated with upwards of 70 En-
gravings. Longman.
Thanks to Mr. Kingsley and his followers the
importance of developing the physical powers, as
well as cultivating the mental faculties,
is now recognised by most of the instruc-
tors of youth ; and since the rapid extension
of the Volunteer movement we are more likely to
devote too much attention to athletic exercises than
too little. The establishment of gymnasiums is of
great advantage to boys, who would be oftener
kept out of mischief if they had some active recrea-
tion upon which to expend their redundant ener-
gies. This little volume will be of great assistance
to all such youthful Spartans ; and if they are
somewhat dismayed by the startling postures re-
presented in the numerous woodcuts, they may be
encouraged by the informatiOn that all the exer-
cises mentioned in this volume have been performed
by Mr. Howard and his pupils. "In France and
Belgium," says the preface, " gymnastic exercises
form a part of the education of youth, and happy is
he who succeeds in achieving any one feat which
leaves him sole master of the gymnasium." Those
of our young compatriots who wish to achieve
similar distinction, and outstrip their competitors,
should study Mr. oward's little manual.

The Journal of Agricuiture. No. 70. Blackwood

and Sons.

This able periodical has several papers of prac-
tical utility. Mr. Robert Scott Burn contributes
some Notes on Novelties ofthe Canterbury Show
of the Royal Agricultural
Agricultural,Society, and continues
his " Notes, chiefly
Tour in Belgium, Holland, taken during
and en the Rhine,
which will be very interesting to the agricul-
turists of this country as they are enabled to com-
pare the various modes of culture in use abroad with
their own systems. The scientific reader will be
more especially attracted by a
paper " On the
quantity of Nitrogen in the Soil at various de
an a title
picle
pis
as found in recent experiments," and by
on Rain and .Meteorology in relation to Agriculture.
The latter paper is very interesting, and after
discussing the variations of temperature to which
we are liable, and the surprising alterations which
some observers predict, it concludes by assuring
the farmers that they may be comforted for that
,
we have enough of moisture in this climate, and
that if a slight change be coming over it, it is in
the right direction— p,,,,8.
that of increasing dryness.
As for any sudden transformation or rapid' trap
sition, the writer discards the sutppaotsihtiaovn
takene an
He
i e.
says with justice, " The changes that
place since the dawn of history are imperceptible ;
thoroughlyl drained,
there seems
so that even with our fields
plough, and deeply stirred by the steammory p
of these
,
no probability that any h
written within some thousanfds of years,
shall have to record that seed time and harvest are
at seasons different from those at which they now
occur." The usual tables of average prices, and the
quarterly summary are given, and the transactions
of the Highland and
Agricultural Society of Scot-
land are reported at length.

The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental
Pathology. Edited by Forbes Winslow, M.D.
New Series. No. 20. Churchill.
This valuable serial contains in the number before
us many papers of interest and importance. Pro-
minent among these is a lengthened article on the
Statistics of Insanity in the United States. It is
reprinted from the " North American Medico-
Chirurgical Review."and is from the pen of Richard
Dunglison, M.D., Physician to the Burd Orphan
Asylum and to the Albion Society. It gives a care-
ful analysis, so far as the statistics will allow, of
the previous condition of the patients, of the re-
spective liability of the trades and professions, of
the influence of moral or physical causes, domestic
conditions, age, disposition, &c. It
this paper that men are more liable to insanity:o:lon
appears than
women, and recover less rapidly.
of married and single patients is
alseber of single
while among the male lunatics
maidm
Theepurroiopus, for
far outweights that of llw ; al229Pg the