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

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Portuguese 3 per Ct., 1853, '6, '7, 391 1
Russian 5 per Cent., 1822, £ St, 864
Do 4k per Cent. 1850
Do 4f per Cent., 1860
Do 3 per Cent., 1859
Do 5 per Cent., 1862
Do. Anglo-Dutcb, 1861, £lOO Bonds Bl
Do. do. £Bl los. do B4
Do., 1866, £lOO Bonds... . . B7l
Do. do. £34 las. do B4 31
S&••,ittlian, 5 pnr Cent
Spanish 3 per Cen
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Do New Deferreu ......... •••-•
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Do Passive 26 51
Do Acc. ant
Do Com. Cert. of Cou:. not funded
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Turkish 6 per Cent., 1851
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Do 6 per Cent. 1858
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Do £lOO Bonds
Do 6 per Cent., 1862 •••
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Do .£IOC Bonds 621
Do. 1863
Do 5 per gent., 1865 33 1 1
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Do 6 per Cent., 1865
Da 4 per Cent., Guaranteed
Venezuela, 3 per Cont.
D., Account
Do 6 per Cent., 1862
Do 6 per Cant. 1864
_Dividends on the above payable in limed°,
French Rentos, 3 per Cent.. Ex. 2M.
Italian 5 per Cent. 1831, Ex. 251.

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'TWO O'CLOCK.
Consols, Money' _o9
A 2
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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 mi ners
as the crucible in which to smelt the pounded ore,
which by washing bad previously been freed from value-
less earths. That it had been used as a crucible is likely,
for it Las 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 expend, 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. Tho 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
Is 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 knowlodge 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 in
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 fashion, there must be far richer de-
posits obtainable by civilised resources at a greater depth.
—Natal Mercury.