The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-30 00:00:00

reckon on a far larger circle of "friends" than ever
acknowledged him while trotting after his master's
cart from Edinburgh to llowgate.

The Gorillq 'bolters. By R. M. Ballantyne,
ant her of "The Fur Traders," "The Coral
Islands," &e. Nelson and Sons.
An author often experiences difficulty in finding
a fresh subject to found a tale. The Crimean war
and the Indian mutiny, if disastrous to the country,
were a God-send to the novelist. Mr. Ballantyne
has certainly hit upon something new, so far as
fiction is concerned, and yet the subject is one
which some months back excited universal interest.
Until the revelations made by M. de Chaillu, the
manners and customs of the inhabitants of Central
Africa, and its zoological and vegetable produc-
tions were but matters of conjecture or vague
report to the civilised world. The en-
terprising Frenchman lifted the veil and
disclosed not an arid desert but a fertile country a
wild, ferocious, but friendly people, and it is to this
newly explored country that the author sends these
adventurous youths to seek for Gorillas, sport and
danger. It is Lot to be expected the: in a tale the
locality to which it relates being comparatively un•
known, and therefore presenting such a wide field
for the range of fancy, that the author should be
very particnlar as to the correctness of his statemens,
indeed M. de Chaillu's work is the only authority
which can be referred to with confidence, and Mr.
Ballantyne does not hesitate to interpolate whole
passages from it, so that in so far as animal life is
concerned the reader may rely on tolerable accuracy.
The story is simple, being simply the narration of
wonderful adventures by three young adventurers
who seek the land of the Gorilla and the cannibal
The hero or narrator of the tale iscoutinually meet-
ing with accidents by not knowing how to hold his
gun; a rather serious failing we should think in a
country

" Where at each step the stranger fear to wake
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake ;
Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,
And savage men more murd'rous still than they."
They, however, succeed in their desire, and kill
gorillas, elephants and game of all sorts, and if the
modus operandi be not quite en regle. the excitement
of an engagement, whether with a wild beast or a
wild man, is well maintained. The characteristics
of the three hunters are well defined, and a fund of
amusement is to be gathered from many of the
laughatle incidents which are continually to be met
with throughout the valume. There are several
well-executed engravings scattered through the.
work.

Songs and Tunes for Education. Edited by John
Curwen. Wood and Co., Paternoster-row.
This little book is excellently adapted for the
use of schools where the great advantages of cul-
tivating the musical faculty are rightly appre-
ciated. This is the pianoforte edition of a work of
which there has already been a tonic sol-fa edition
in twelve numbers. A separate volume, contain-
ing the words alone, has also appeared, which we
are not surprised at, seeing the excellence ( f the
selection. The harmonies are by James Turin,
organist of Westminster Abbey, which vouches for
their merit. We should imagine that this little
volume would be a great acquisition to families
where several younger members can join in sing-
ing tunes. But though simplicity has been a
primary object, both words and music are often of a
high class. Some of the ballads are within the
comprehension of very young children, while others
may point a moral to the teachers themselves. We
quote as a favourable sample the following bright
and charming little song :
Away with needless sorrow,
Though trouble may befall,
A brighter day to-morrow
May shine upon us all.
We still may march together
When rain is falling fast,
And wet and windy weather
Will turn to fair at last.
We cannot tell the reason
For all the clouds we see,
Yet every tine and seaQon
Must wisely order'd be.
Let us but do our duty
In sunshine and in rain,
And Heaven, all bright with beauty,
Will bring us joy again.
Though evening skies should lower,
The morning may be fine ;
For He who sands the shower
Can cause His sun to shine.
Then away, &c.

_HEROIC CONDUCT OF TWO SEAMEN

OF H.M.S. EMERALD.

An inquest was held on Friday afternoon at the
Royal Naval Hospital, Stonehouse, before Mr. Allan
B. Bone, county coroner, to inquire into the circum-
stances attending the death of Frederick Parfit, who
died from suffocation on Wednesday night last.
From the evidence of the severa 1 witnesses belong-
ing to H.M.S. Emerald, namely—William Duncan,
William Paget, -- Winnacott, John Pickets, and
James Boys, it appears that the deceased, who was
generally a sober man, shortly after seven o'clock,
on Wednesday evening last, left his mess to go into
the head, but the head being full he turned back
again and went into the fore chains on the starboard
side. Duncan, soon after the deceased went into

the fore chains, heard a splash in the water, and he
immediately called out " a man overboard." Paget
being on the main deck and hearing the cry of " a
man overboard," ran to the gangway and jumped
overboard, a height of about 20 feet. The night
was very dark, and Paget had to swim several
yards before he got to the deceased, and when he
got to him be found Winnacott had hold of him, but
the deceased was under the water. Paget lifted him
up, and he and Winnacott swam to the cutter with
the deceased. They got the deceased into the cut-
ter and took him on board the ship, and he was
taken into the cockpit and the surgeon sent for.
The caroner, in addressing Paget and Winnacott
said—l confess I feel that the thanks of
every .person who have any feeling of
humanity =about them are due to you, and I
have much pleasure in thus publicly
~?xpressing
my highest approbation Of ~.our `very noble
conduct. I think it is highly to be.systu6ifea-,-
AO I should not do justice Tri+iiiiiinings if I
did not make this expression to both of you. John
Coffin, the surgeon of the Emerald, said—On Wed-
nesday evening last he was in the gun room at
dinner, when he heard the cry of " Man overboard,"
and he was told by the first lieutenant that the
man was being brought down to the cockpit. He
then went down to the cockpit, where he saw the
deceased lying on the cockpit deck. The men
were removing the wet clothes which he had on,
and he had the deceased wrapped up in blankets
and placed in a cot, and he attended to the deceased
to give him such restoratives as were necessary.
About nine o'clock the same night he left him. The
deceased was then breathing regularly, and the
skin bad beeline of its natural temperature. About
an hour afterwards he saw the deceased again, who
was then going an very well, breathing natural,
pulse regular, and his skin natural. The deceased
was not sensible, but was like a man asleep.
Shortly after that he went to bed, and he had only
been there about three quarters of an hour when
he was called by an assistant-surgeon, whom he
had left with deceased. He went to the deceased
and found him lying on the deck of the cockpit, and
his breathing had ceased. He found the mouth,
nostrils, and gullet full of vomited matters, such as
large pieces of meat and other food. He postulated
th

edeceased, and used what was called " The Mar-
shal Hail Method of Resuscitation," but without
effect, and the deceased exhibited no sympton of life.
He believed the deceased died from suffocation, caused
by the blocking up of the air passages by vomited
food. He believed that the immersion in the water
would not have caused the deceased's death. When
he came down the last time to the cockpit he saw
vomited matters on the deck, and he also saw the
deceased's mouth and nose full of the same sort of
material, and his eyes were shut. He was consci-
ous of a spirituous smell in what the deceased had
expelled from his stomach. The jury returned a
verdict that the deceased died from the blocking up
of the air passages by vomited food, and attaching
no kind of blame to any one. The jury also ex-
pressed their admiration of Paget's and Winnacott's
noble conduct, for the way in w hich they had exerted
themselves to save the life of a fellow creature.
There was a sovereign due to the surgeon for his
attendance at the inquest; but Mr. Coffin declined
to take it, and desired that it should be shared be-
tween Paget and Winnacott.— Western Morning
News.

RUMOURED SEIZURE OF A STEAMER AT QUEENS-
TOWN.—LivERPoot, Saturday.—lt is rumoured here that
one of the large steamers which sail between Liverpool and
New York has been seized by the authorities at Queens-
town, on the ground that she had on board a quantity of
rifles and other contraband of war for the United States
GoVernment.