The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-27 00:00:00

out animation. The shares chiefly in demand have
been Prince of Wales, Chiverton Moor, Chiverton,
West Chiverton, East Russell, and Great South
Tolgus. Annexed are the latest current quota-
tions :

East earn Brea, 2f 21 ; Chiverton Moor, 51 51; Chontales
Gold, 81 E ; Clifford Amalgamated, 51 6 ; East Basset, 10
12 ; East Caradon, 4f 5 ; East Lovell, ; East Russell,
28s 30s; Frontino and Bolivia Gold, 173 Od 195 ; Great
Laney, 17 171 ; Great Retallick, ; Great Wh al Vor,
—; Marks Valley, --; North Crofty, 2} 21; North
Treskerby, 29s 31s Od ; Prince of Wales, 48s Gd 503; West
Basset, 21 2f ; South Caradon —; South Frances, 23s 25e;
Tincroft, 13 13f ; West Caradon, 10 11; West Chiver-
ton, 66 68 ; West Seton, ; Whea: Basset, ;
Wheal Grenville, 233 255; Wheal Chiverton, 5 5} ;
Wheal Seton, 82 85 ; Great South Tolgus, 203 22s fid ;
East Gunnis Lake and South Bedford, --s —s ; East
Wheal Grenville, 23s 23s ; Wheal B3.sset, —; West
Frances, —; Wheal Buller, 16 18.

BRITISH FITNDS.-CLOSING PRICES.
GOVERNMENT FUNDS.

3 per Cent. Consols
Do. Account,
3 per Cont. Reduced 921 i
Now 3 per Cent 921: 1 f
New 21 per Cent. Jan. 1894 —
Do. 5 per Cent...) an. 1873.. —
4,nnuities, 80 yrs, expire sth Jan., 1880.
Do. for 30 yrs, expire sth April 1885 —
Do (Red Sea Televaph), Aug,., 1908 —
E cchcquer Bills, £l,OOO, 2 &21 per Ct 2B 5 pin
Do £5OO 25 9 pin
Do. £lOO & .£2OO 25 9 pin
Bank of England Stock, 41 per Cent 240 1
Do. Account
INDIAN GOVERNMENT SECURITIES.
Indian stock, 101 per Cent., April 1874 —
Do. Account

Do. 5 per Cent. July, 1.880
Do. 4 per Cent., Oct. 1888
Do. Certificates —
Do. Enfaced Paper 4 per Cent —
Do. 5 per Cent., Jan. 1872
Do. 54 per Cent., May 1879 lOB4
Do. 5 per Cent., Rup. Deb., 1872 —
Do. do. 1877 —
Do. do. 1882 —
Do Deb., 5 per Cent., Aug. 1873 ...., lO5 4
Do. Bonds, 5 per Cent., £l,000
Do. under £1,000
FOREIGN FUNDS—CLOSING PRICES.
Argentine Republic, 6 per Cent —
Austrian Bonds, 5 per Cent. 1859
Brazilian 5 per bent 694
Do. 44 per Cent., 1852-58-60
Do. 1863
Do. 5 per Cent., 1865
Do Account —
Do. £lOO Bonds —
Buenos Ayres 6 per Cent —
Do 2 per Cent. (Deferred 3 per Cent.)
C iba, 6 per Cent.
C.Alian 6 per Cent —
Do. 44 per Cent —
00. 6 per Cent, B
Do., 1867
Do., 7 per Cent., 1866
Do., Scrip' £32 paid
C ,' Illbia,), 6 per Cont.
thnisli, 3 p3r Cent., 1825
D nubiau Principalities, 7 per Cent —

Do 8 per Cent., 1867
Eluador New Consolidated, 1 pbr Cent... 12}
olgyptiar, 7 per Cent
)0. Se: odd Issue
D .t 5,0 Bonds
Do. .£IOC Bonds
1864
!)o. 1.5 .4 Bonds
Do. £lOO Bonds • •••
aa,) w • : 93 21
Greek, 5 per Cent., 1824-5, ex Coups

,io. Account
D.,. Coupons
Do. Account
G-tiaten:aia a per Cent . —
11'.:1u 5 per ('c 1., 1.865
Do. Account . —
Do. Maremmana liaiway —
Nl.,xicai; '; per Cent,
Ditto for Account
Lin. 1864 —
..'o 6 per Cont. Anglo-French —
..:ontevidoau i'; per Gent .. —
q oorish imperial 5 per Cent
New Granada —
Do 3 per Can —
Do. Deferred
De Laud Warrants (Hectares)
Peravian 5 per Cent. 1865
Do Account —
Do 4i per Cent. (Uribarren)
Du 44 per Cont., 1862
Do Account
P ,a•taguese 3 per Ct., 1853, '6, '7, '9,'60,'2,';, 391 I
titssittn 5 per Cent., 1822, £ St B6;
Do 4i per Cent. 1850
Do 4A per Cent., 1860
Do 3 per Cent., 1859
Do 5 per Cent., 1662
Do. Anglo-Dutch, 1861, £lOO Bonds Bl I
Do. do. £B4 15s. do.
Do., 1866, £lOO 80nd5.....
Do. do. £B4 15s. do B4 3i
Ss, •dutiau, 5 per Cent —
Spanish 3 per Can
Do A.ccf.,unt,
Do New Deferroa ...., ....
Do Account
Do Passive 26 5I I
Do Account
Do Corn. Cert. of Coul.. not funded
Do Account
Turkish 6 per Cent., 1854
Do Account
Do 6 per Cent. 1858 59;
Do Account

Do £lOO Bonds
Do 6 per Cent., 1862 6ll
Do Account
Do £lOO Bonds 621 2
Do. 1863
Do 5 per Cent., 1865 33 3
Do Account
Do 6 per Cent., 1865
Do 4 per Cent., Guaranteed
Venezuela, 3 per Cent.
D.) Account
Do 6 per Cent., 1862
Do 6 per Cent. 1864
Dividends on the above payable in London.
French Rentes, 3 per Cent., Ex. 25f. —
Italian 5 per Cent. 1831, Ex. 251.
Do. Account
THREE O'CLOCK.
Consols, Money! 92f
Do. Account

COPPER IN NATAL--We are indebted to Mr.
Crowder for a description of the interesting discoveries at
the Ifumi of ancient native smelting places and appliances.
Short galleries or tunnels had been made into the lode at
various points, and at the nearest point where water was
available are certain singular basins and channels cut out
in the surface of a huge flat rock. This rock is about two
feet under the surface of the ground. The first basin
examined was small and shallow, and had probably been
used to pound the ore in, for near it was found a
round stone, such as might be used as a pestle. Close to
this basin is a larger and deeper one, such as might be used
for washing the pounded ore, and this was probably its use,
for a channel, afterwards dividing into two, leads from it
to the edge of the rock. In another part of the rock is a
deep cavity, about lft. in diameter at its mouth, 18in. at
its widest part, and 2ft. 9in. deep, narrowing from its
middle downwards, and having very much the
shape of a huge sodawater bottle. This cavity
had probably been used by these ancient Caffre miners
as the crucible in which to smelt the pounded ore,
which by washing had previously been freed from value-
less earths. That it had been used as a crucible is likely,
for it has two cracks in it, possibly caused by the applica-
tion of heat; indeed it is difficult to understand how other-
wise they could have been caused. Now that this rock has
been expoaed, the Caffres of the neighbourhood—being per-
fectly satisfied that it was where the ore was smelted—
state that they know where holes exist in rocks which must
formerly have been used as moulds in casting those copper
balls worn round the waist by natives within the memory
of the first white people who came to Natal. Mr. Kirkman
is of opinion that some of the lesser holes may have been
used for casting copper beads such as the girls in the
Zulu country now fasten their petticoats with. At
the bottom of one or two of these rude cupolas there are
holes throug which the blast has been applied. The sur-
rounding rock is similar to what has been brought to Dur-
ban, and contains in small quantity the green carbonate
of copper. That richer ore than this had been obtained
le evident, for Mr. Cato picked up some fragments of a
different character—heavier and richer—containing seve-
ral of the salts of copper. These fragments of richer ore
show signs of ancient fracture, and that they have not
been recently broken out of the matrix. In Zululand,
not far from the great fork of the Tugela, a tribe of
aboriginal smelters still abide—people who were spared
by Chaka on account of their knowledge of mining
processes. But in all probability the art, so far as
atal is concerned, died with the old race of natives
swept away by the pitiless invaders from the northward,
Wo have referred more than once to the quaint but enter-
taining logs or diaries kept in connection with the voyages
from the Cape to Natal of the Dutch vessels Centaur and
Noord. The first of these ships were sent in search of the
crow of the wrecked bark Stavanisse, cast ashore close to
Durban in 1687. The expedition started in Jan., 1688, and
lasted nearly a year. It succeeded in rescuing 19 of the
shipwrecked mariners, to whom we are indebted for the first
description given of this colony. From this source we learn
that the natives then residing here were numerous, but that
they differed in many respects from the present race. But
the only point of difference we have now to deal with is the
fact that copper was then in general use—that it was an
article of barter and a medium of exchange amongst them.
So valuable was the metal considered, and so plentiful were
cattle in those days, that an arm ring would purchase 1 or 2
oxen. Clearly, however, it was worked: and as the travels
and observations of the sailors did not extend beyond the
coast districts, it is more than probable that these traces at
the Ifumi are vestiges of works carried on in those early
times. And thus, after a lapse of nearly two centuries,
these buried evidences of savage industry have turned up iu
verification of a discovery which bids fair to be of great
value and significance. For it is obvious that if these
savages could with their simple tools find ore rich enough
to smelt in their rude lash's); there must be far richer de-
posits obtainable by civilised resources at a greater depth.
—Natal Mcrcury.

riGEFEILEN S.IIARIVA
great Eastern, E. Counties Ex., No. 2, 73
LINES LEASED AT FIXED RENTALS.
Lancaster and Carlisle, 2OBi

FO REIGN &AIL %VA
San Paulo, litn., gua. 6 per cent., 17
South Austrian and Lombardo Venetian, 13;

FQILEIGN kb.
Chontales Gold and Silver Mining, lira., 3j
Lion Pedro, Nun h Del Rey, 2i
St John del Rey, ltra „671

BANIt h.
Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China. HI
Colonial, 37i
Consolidated, lira.,
Imperial Ottoman. 9 5-16
London and Brazilian, lim., 15
London and County,
Ditto, new, 26}
London and vb estminater, 681
Ditto, Scrip. 37i
National Provincial of England,
Ditto, d and 3d issue, 381
Oriental Bank Corporation. X2l
Provincial Banking Corporation, lim., 31
Union of Australia, 51

MISCELLANZO
Anglo American Telegraph, 19
Atlantic Telegraph, 43
Dit.o, 8 p6r omit., 881
Berlin Water Works, 11w., 13f
City Offices, lira., 6
Commercial Union, Insurance, 4
Credit roncier of Englano, lira.. 3} 3-16
Crystal Palace,
Ditto, Preference. 00
Egyptian ti per Cent, Viceroy Loan, gua. by Egyp. Govt.
Ditto, Scrip, 4 4
Peninsula and Oriental Steam,
Ditto, new, 1867, bt
Thames and Mersey Marine, Insurance, lira., 41
Viceroy of Egypt (Mortgage) Loan, 72 a

The Earl and Countess of Warwick and family
intend to winter in Nice, and will probably make a tour
iu Italy afterwards. The noble earl and countess do not
propose returning home till after Easter.

Viscount and Viscountess Amberley are expected
home from their tour in the United States early in March.
TERRIFIC GAS EXPLOSIOW.—On Wednesday
night about 10 o'clock there was a tremendous explosion
of gas in the dwelling-house of Mr. Samuel French, 46,
Exmouth-street, late Holmes street, Stepney. There was
an escape of gas in the back parlour, and Mr. French went
into the apartment with a lighted candle. A loud report
followed, the front door was blown off the hinges into the
street, nearly every pane of glass in the windows smashed,
a panel of the shutter covering the front window shat-
tered, and the back of the house blown out. Mr. French,
who is upwards of 60 years of age, was seriously injured
by the explosion, and his face and head were scorched.
Great fears are entertained that the calamity will prove
fatal. He has been in the service of Giesler and Co.,
the wino merchants, in Feuchurch-street, for 35 years.