The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-15 00:00:00

TEE GAIRSOPPA FALLS, NEAR
HONO.R_E.

It is curious that a fall six times the depth of
Niagara should remain almost unknown. From
the village of Gairsoppa, reached by a river of the
same name, the writer was carried for twelve miles
up the Malimuneh Pass, and reached the Falls at
Bungalow about three and a half hours after leav-
ing the top of the Pass :
"An amphitheatre of woods, and a river, about
500 yards wide, rushing and boiling to a certain
point, where it is lost in a perpetual mist and in an
unceasing deafening roar, must first be 'imagined.
Leaving the Bungalow on the Madras side of
the river, and descending to a position below
the river level, you work your way care-
fully and tediously over slippery rocks, until
you reach a point, where a rock about twice
the size of a man's body, juts out over a precipice.
Resting flat upon this rock, and looking over it, you
see directly before you two out of the four principal
Falls ' • these two are called the Great Fall' and
the Rocket.' The one contains a large body of
water, the main body of the river, perhaps 50 yards
across, which falls massively and apparently slug-
gishly into the chasm below, and the other contains
a smaller body of water, which shoots out in suc-
cessive sprays over successive points of rocks, till it
falls into the same chasm. This chasm is at least
900 feet in depth, six times the depth of the Niagara
Falls, which are about 150 ft, and perhaps a quarter
to half a mile in width. These are the first two
falls to be visited. 'then move a little below your
first .position, and you will observe first a turgid
boiling body of water of greater volume than the
Rocket Fall, rushing and steaming down into the
same chasm, this is the third fall the Roarer ;' and

then carrying your eye a little further down you
will observe another fall, the loveliest, softest, and
most graceful of all, being a broad expanse of shallow
water falling like transparent silver lace over a
smooth surface of polished rock into this same chasm;
this is La Dame Blanche,' and the White Lady of
Avenel could not have been more graceful and e tte-
real, But do not confine yourself to any one place in
order to view these falls ; scramble everywhere you
can, and get as many views as you can of them, and
you will be unable to decide upon which is the most
beautiful, And do you want to have a faint idea of
the depth of the chasm into which these glorious
waters fall? Take out your watch and drop as
large a piece of rock as you can hold from your
viewing place, it will be several seconds before
you even lose sight of the piece of rock, and then
even it will not have reached the water at the foot
of the chasm, it will only have been lost to human
sight; or watch the blue pigeons, wheeling and
circling in and out the Great Fall within the
chasm and looking like sparrows in size in the
depths beneath you. But you have yet only seen
one, and that not perhaps the loveliest, and at least
not the most comprehensive view of the falls. You
must proceed two miles up the river above the falls
and cross over at a ferry, where the waters are stilll
and smooth as glass and sluggish as a Hollander,
and proceed to the Mysore side of the falls, walk-
ing first to a point where you will see them all at
a glance and then descending as near as you can to
the foot of these, to be drenched by the spray,
deafened by the noise and awe-struck by the gran-
deur of the scene and by the visible presence of the
Creator of it, in the perpetual rainbow of many and
brilliant hues which span the foot of the chasm."

2 liß SP./ISIS)" ,4 R3ll' 111 00 CC

A letter from an officer of General Echague's
corps d'armee gives the following details of the en-
gagement of the 25th :—At five in the morning,
four companies of the regiment of Madrid Chasseurs
marched towards Sierra de Bullone to reconnoitre.
Suddenly upwards of 500 Moors were seen rapidlthers,
o y
advancing. These were followecr soon by
and altogether they amounted to 4,000. The
Spaniards immediately fired, causing great havoc
among-the enemy ; but, seeing that they were com-
ing with great alacrity, Echagie ordered an attack
with the bayonet, when the army divided
themselves into two bodies, one to resist the charge
of the Spanish infantry, the other to attack the re-
doubt that had been built a few hours before. The
first body was completely routed by the charge of
the Castilian Chasseurs, and fled in confusion to
wards the mountains. The other body was more
numerous, and their fire was concentrated excl
sively on the defenders of the redoubt. Echagae
ordered a square to be formed ; and, at the impetu-
ous charge of the Moors, the soldiers of the square
retired. The enemy, imagining that they were flying,
rushed impetuously against the square, which, opene
ing itself of a sudden, disclosed a battery. Mor
than 200 Moors perished. Another division came
then, and prevented the Moors from escaping. The
fight became a horrible butchery ; the Moore threw
away their muskets and fought with their peculiar
long daggers, called " gumias." The Spanish sol-
diers found themselves quite at home in this sort uf
struggle. They also threw away their rifles spa
seized their navajas. Nothing could equal the fort
city of the combatants. My friend says it is qui
impossible to form an adequate idea of this fight-
One Spanish soldier slew three Moors with hi°
knife, aid yet he had his face dreadfully cut by the
gumias. Many had their entrails hanging on their
legs, and went on more fiercely than ever. Not a
shot was then to be heard. Spanish artillerrall'
chasseurs, and even officers were fighting knife,
hand. 200 Moors were killed in this savage combs'
and nearly 1,000 fearfully wounded. The SOIIII3II
loss was also very great.

THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
place, R. R. Wygram Crawford, Esq., ill
Yesterday a meeting of the above society took
the ellt4r"
The paper read was " On the Great Eastern, il-h
ete
Wm. Hawes. The author began by giving a s
of the rise and progress of ocean steam noigatio.o_•
He could not say when Mr. Brunel first adopted tn:
idea of building so large a ship, but there Was the
doubt it had long occupied his mind, and that
Ina
exact mode of carrying it out was gradually ma-
exact
tured as he built the Great Western, designed ia
1835, and the Great Britain, designed in 1842' 0
1851 he designed the Great Eastern. in the tly
former his leading idea had been to improve, e_Y:
shortening and rendering more certain the corarr_r
nication between America and England. The aulTf...
gave some account of the assistance afforded to 01;‘,
Brunel by Mr. Scott Russell,
have had special reference to the particulatellr
of
to be adopted, on which subject his opinion.to di-
great value. After giving some details of the
the
mensions and general construction of the ship, de
author alluded to some observations that been ma,uo
relative to the want of provision for warming 1".0
saloons on her passage to America, in referenc at.l,
which appeared
colas
which he urged the fact the vessel was built for IS
Indian trade, and in his opinion it was verYtillisto
to be regretted that the concessions to other interde.
than those of the shareholders, and perhaPs the at.
sire of exhibiting this great work to our Ti:ans,_..„
lantic friends, should have been allowed to deTel.
her departure on the voyage for which she Ivae,;aii
signed, for which she was fitted, and fr° (12
which
alone any commercial results to the comPutlY liar
be realised. He drew attention to the ujiii,
possessed, which had been so r
elements of strength and safety' 'which the rtea
emarknbly tetized
by the recent accident ; the advantages B%rvw,
by the combination of the paddle and the se
with other v
ed•
and her steadiness when compared
sels. He thought we might fairly expect a We_
with a °you:it
of 15 knots an hour would be attained,
paratively small consumption of coal, for our 19.1-gro
passenger ships averaged 11 knots, with a. Hors
power of 1 to 3 or 4 tons of burthen, una, ;00
Great Eastern to run 15 knots had but 1 WC).4
power to 81- tons burthen. The comfort to .1).--;
sengers would necessarily be much greater, r:lsr.
amongst other causes, to her much greater se' to
ness. In conclusion, Hawes drew ettenti°ll: -
the national importance of this great undertalgl;
Both the present short routes to India eeuldA r
stopped or materially endangered by Franc.: (1)11
other Powers—the charges for passengers -,elis
very high, and the discomfort very great, vi, '../er
he thought, with the Great Eastern, a much le" -t
rate would be remunerative. He had no doubt tpclati,
other vessels of the same class would be built, Wao
her power and speed were fully proved; end it svco
impossible to calculate what an element of
it
and defence, what new sources of wealth v for
thus be opened to us. The great ship would dotoo
India and Australia that which the Great too
in 1838, did for America, viz., reduce the distance
. between these great colonies and dependeeeit to
England, to the increased security of the eMP"';eB,
the promotion of arts, manufactures, and eotailn,eool
and to the advancement of civilisation an
government all over the world. nn ev
A discussion 11a
ensued in which Captain c„,,nago
son, Messrs. Davis, J. G. P 1" rith, L. S. "
'srs.
R. Scott, J. Topham, and thin Chairman, tc"