The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

THE BOMBAY MAIL.

The Overland Mail has arrived, bringing the fol-
lowing dates :—Caleutta, Jan. 23d ; Bombay, Jan.
28th.

Telegraphic news received in London on Monday
has anticipated the principal items of intelligence
brought by this mail. The subjoined details con-
cerning the reported probability that the treaty of
peace concluded with the Bhooteas may prove abor-
tive, are extracted from the Times of India, of
January 28th

It is very certain that the guns have not yet been
returned, although previous reports stated that they
had already been received at Dewangiri. The Goo-
roo Lama, who has returned from an unsuccessful
mission to Toungsoo Penlow, states that that chief-
tain positively refuses to give up the guns or to have
anything more to do with the British. Toungsoo is
said to be taking active measures to strengthen his
position against our forces, and against the Bhooteas,
should they attempt to force him to comply with
the terms of the treaty. A number of strong
stockades have been built by him along the road
to Toungsoo, and some 3,000 men posted in such
positions as to offer effectual resistance should an
advance upon his capital be attempted by the Bri-
tish. Not a few of the native prisoners have been
returned, and more are daily expected. Though
they give heartrending accounts of the sufferings
and cruelties to which they have been subjected
they look none the worse, but are healthy and well
conditioned. Our regiments on the frontier are,
unfortunately, not in a very cheering state. Ma-
laria is very prevalent, and scarcely a day passes
without some deaths occurring among them. The
commissariat seems partly to have broken down,
chiefly from the mortality among the mules and tat-
toes comprising the train. This does not of course
in any way improve the condition of .the army.
Seeing that matters are in this state, it seems more
probable that Bhootan will be evacuated by our
troops sooner or later than that a cantonment
should be formed at Dewangiri, or a force pushed
on into the interior, to impress the barbarians with
a sense of our superiority.
On the 23d of January the Governor of Bom-
bay received the following despatches relating to
the threatening disturbances on the north-western
frontiers from Colonel Breecher, Punjaub frontier,
who reports :
Force has broken up. The Brigadier General
has left for Peshawur. We have destroyed the
three offending villages of the Upper Loudkhar
Valley. The head men are all in confinement.
They came in before the troops marched for Mur-
dan. The Khans of the three independent villages
of Pullee, Sharkhana, and Khormundy, beyond the
Frontier, in the Burrh of Swat, have come in and
apologised, and returned the money taken from our
subjects. The Mullick, our subject who was im-
prisoned, having been released, not a shot has been
fired. Not a man of Swat or Bonair appeared or
took part. The Akhoond of Swat refused to aid
the Independent Khans.

OBITUARY.—Capt. Edmund King, Sind Horse ;
Edward K. Lidderdale, Esq., Bombay Civil Service;
Ensign Karnel, 7th Fusiliers; Lieut. G. I. Alleyne,
13th Native Infantry ; Dr. Halleur, late Professor
in the Presidency College, Calcutta; Dr. Adair,
Medical Superintendent Indo-European Telegraph
Establishments.

HEALTH OF THE METROPOLIS•

(From the Registrar-General's Weekly Report.)

In the week that ended on Saturday, February 17,
the births registered in London and twelve other
large towns of the United Kingdom were 4,459 ;
the deaths registered, 3,301. The annual rate of
mortality was 28 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,069 boys and 1,024
girls, in all 2,093 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of ten years,
1856-65, the average number, corrected for increase
of population, was 2,132.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,365. It was the seventh week in the year;
and the average number of deaths for that week is,
with correction for increase of population, 1,467.
The true number was 100 deaths less than that ob-
tained by calculation.
Typhus was fatal in 65 cases, whooping-cough in
56, scarlatina in 36, measles in 30, small-pox in 25,
diarrhoea in 24. Six children died of whooping-
cough in the Hackney-road sub-district, 4 in that
of Peckham. Bronchitis and pneumonia continue
on the decline ; there were 131 deaths in the week
from the former, and 59 from the latter. To
phthisis 170 deaths were referred.
On the 7th inst., at 2, Pembroke-street, Islington,
the wife of a cabman, aged 28 years, died of "cholera
morbus after eating fish."—lnquest.
On the 11th inst., at 31, Broad-street, Golden-
square, a milkwoman, aged about 60 years, died of
" exhaustion from extreme cold, and want of suffi-
cient food ; found insensible, and died in a few
minutes."

The following three deaths by carriage accidents
in the streets were registered in the week :—A car-
man, aged 50 years, run over by a cart; died on the
7th February in University College Hospital. The
wife of a courier, aged 76 years, run over in the
Euston-road ; died on the 3d February. A cabman,
aged 66 years, fell from a cab ; died on the Bth
February in the Royal Free Hospital.
The annual rate of mortality last week was 23 per
1,000 in London, 28 in Edinburgh, and 29 in Dub-
lin ; 27 in Bristol, 32 in Birmingham, 44 in Liver-
pool, 34 in Manchester, 31 in Salford, 31 iu Shef-
field, 38 in Leeds, 26 in Hull, 31 in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and 30 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna was
44 per 1,000 during the week ending the 10th inst.,
when the temperature was 1.0 deg. Fahrenheit
lower than in the same week in London, where the
rate was 22 per 1,000.
Fever continues very fatal in Leeds and Salford.
In the latter borough the insufficiency of accommo-
diation for receiving into the union workhouse all
the fever patients requiring admittance has drawn
the attention of the guardians of the.poor and other
local officers to the excessive prevalence of this dis-
ease. The return for last week from Liverpool shows
408 deaths, an increase of 61 upon those returned
in the previous week ; they include 42 from typhus,
17 from whooping-cough, 14 from scarlatina, and
25 inquest cases.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.342 in.
The barometric pressure fell to 28.48 in. on Sunday,
and rose to 29.85 in. on Saturday. The mean tem-
perature of the air in the week was 38.9 deg., which
is 0.6 deg. above the average of the same week in 50
years (as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The ther-
mometer fell below the freezing point of water on
three nights, and on two other nights was below 34
deg. The difference between the mean dew-point
temperature and air temperature was 4.3 deg. The
mean degree of humidity of the air was 85, complete
saturation being represented by 100, which point
was almost attained on Friday. The wind blew
generally . from the south-west and north-west.
There was rain to the amount of 1.79 in., nearly all
of which fell on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.

SECESSION OF A CLERGYMAN.—The Ipswich Ex-
press of yesterday states that the Rev. P. Gurdon, of
Oxford University, vicar of Assington, near Sudbury, has
intimated to his parishioners his intention of resigning his
living, with a view to joi4a the communion of the church
of Rome. It is a family living, worth about £5OO a year.
CUTTING DOWN TREES FOR PIKE-HANDLES.--Re-
cently some young ash trees were cut down in a
plantation belonging to a man named Kilbride, at Cappagh-
white, in which village, as stated in our last, some freshly
manufactured pikeheads had been discovered. A notice was
posted in the plantation to tho effect that if the owner
would not mention anything about the matter, ho would
ere long be rewarded by the perpetrators of this outrage,
who, there is every reason to believe, are connected in some
way with the Fenian conspiracy.—Clonntel Chronicle.
AN EXTINCT GIGANTIC NEW ZEALAND BIRD.—
Tho fossil remains of a gigantic bird, estimated to have
stood 25 feet high, have been discovered in some beds of
limestone at Nelson, in New Zealand. The remains con-
sist of a head minus the lower jaw, the dimensions of
which are 3 feet 4 inches by 1 foot 10 inches ; the orbit of
the eye measured 4} inches by 2i inches ; also a body
minus the neck ; the thorax is highly developed but rather
flat, the tail long, and body bulky; the wings, which are
well defined, are large and close to the body, and are sepa-
rated by a saddle or cradle very graceful in form ; the fea-
thers covering the body are of a large size and lying close.
---Ausera(fan Paper.