The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-01 00:00:00

The Tiger Slayer ; a Tale of the Indian Desert.
By Gustave Aimard. Ward and Lock.
All tales of Indian life and adventure are founded
on the same basis, and the dramatis personce are
the same individuals appearing under new names.
We always meet with an old experienced backwoods-
man who is rather partial to the redskins,
of one tribe, and entertaining an inveterate hatred
to those of another. There is a sagacious Indian,
who is a friend to the white man, and another
equally sagacious individual of the same genus,
Who looks upon the pale-faces as enemies. The
former possesses all the virtues which can be com•
bined in frail humanity—the latter, all the vices.
There is, of course, a know-nothing greenhorn,
whose education devolves upon the aforesaid back-
woodsman, and in general we meet with a heroine.
"The Tiger Slayer" does not depart from the
custom of its family. We have all the above-
mentioned characters introduced, together with
a few others, but the plot is in the old established
style. The field of operation is in Mexico. The
heroine is beloved by two Europeans and an
Indian chief. The general average of the long
speeches which "swan nothing, faithful promises
which are always broken, and an unlimited amount
of smoking is furnished ; but by way of departing
from the beaten track, and furnishing a little
novelty, M. Aimard makes a bold effort in the
last few pages, and brings his romance to a most
tragic termination. Two of the admirers of the
fair Donna Anita, viz., the Black Bear and the
Tiger Slayer, settle their conflicting claims to her
hand by rolling together over the brink of a bot-
tomless pit ; and the Spanish Count, the last of
the three, in a fit of madness blows out his brains
in the desert. Don Martini, the father of the young
lady, and a few others, are killed by the Indians,
and Donna Anita is so overcome by this wholesale
slaughter that her reason forsakes her, and she
returns to the settlement a confirmed idiot. Such
is the substance of the tale. Some of the inci-
dents are well narrated, and for this class of lite-
rature, which is nene of the most attractive, the
author has made the most of his subject.

TILE WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC

MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON', DEC. 31.
The Royal Mail Company's steamer Seine, Cap-
tain Revett, with the above mails, has arrived ; she
brings 79 passengers.
The Seine brings specie value 1,987,315 dols. ; of
Which about 320,889 dols. is gold bullion, 68,228
dols. gold coin, 1,032,759 dols. silver bullion,
565,439 dols. silver coin, and 11,687 dols. pearls.
The British brig Zehelina, of Sunderland, barque
Abbotts Reading, from Liverpool, and the John
Willis, from Liverpool, had arrived at 'Valparaiso.
The latest intelligence from Lima states that
another attempt on the life of President Castilla
had been frustrated. On the 23d November about
150 men of the 14th Regiment proceeded to the
house of the President, and after overcoming the
usual guard, were on the point of making the general
prisoner, when Col. Noreiga, the commander of the
revolted troops, arrived with the rest of the regi-
tent. Captains Alarco and Aparecio, together with
three others, were shot, and several others wounded.
At Panama the native press had been occupying
Itself with the correspondence of Capt. Millar, of
her Majesty's ship Clio, and the American flag
officer, a misunderstanding having arisen out of
the late disturbance in Panama among the blacks,
when it became necessary to disembark consular
guards from both squadrons.

The civil war in New Grenada still rages. Santa
Martha was attacked by the liberals on the 24th
November, and the bombardment was still going on
Nthen the mail left, but little damage had been done
to the city; and it was believed the attack would
noon cease, as the ammunition of the besiegers was
failing.

Fron Chili news is to the 18th. The political
intelligence is unimportant.

2HE CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 31.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Ceylon, Captain Evans, with the heavy portion of
the above mails, has arrived.
At Alexandria was her Majesty's ship Firefly; at
Malta—the Hibernia, Melpomene, and Victor Em-
Manuel ; at Gibraltar—Argus and gunboat Quail.
The Margarida, from Mazagan, put into Gib-
raltar on the 25th. She reports dreadful weather
on the Barbary coast. The British schooner Gleaner,
had shipped 900 sacks of wheat at Mazagan, when
a squall coming on she capsized. The British
schooner Liverpool, from Lisbon, which had gone
to Mazagan to load grain for England, was lost
between Casabianca and Azamor. Very little grain
I►as coming in from the interior.
The Norwegian brig Balder parted her chains
'When lying off Gibraltar, and came in collision with
the brigantine Sarah, of Jersey, and the British
Schooner Peter and James. The Balder went ashore,
'and the Sarah and Peter and James sustained some
trifling damages. The Mavrocordatos, from Malta
and Carthagena, experienced very severe weather
OR her passage to Gibraltar, where she had put in,
'with cargo shifted and rudder damaged. From
Cape de Gatt to Malaga, she observed upwards of
400 sail westward bound, and about 300 more sail
at anchor on the side of Estepona.
The captain and crew of the British brig Bristol,
at' Falmouth, which foundered in the Bay of
/3is cap on the 9th, had reached Gibraltar in the
nriette Don.

necessary. As so long a time has passed since the first
publication of the series, there will, doubtless, be
many who will be glad to avail themselves of this
fresh opportunity of procuring it, especially as
they are now aware of its extent and variety, and
can depend on the regularity of its appearance.
A guinea a year is the amount of subscrip-
tion, and six volumes are published annually,
therefore moderation of price may be num-
bered among its advantages. We would sug-
gest, as one of the proposed improvements,
that, if the existing arrangements will allow, the
whole :of Scott's poems should be included in the
new edition, Harold the Dauntless having been
omitted in the present series. Many poets, whose 1
writings deserve to be better known than they are,
are included in the list. The volumes before us,
for instance, group together lyrics, songs, and frag-
ments, extending over a period of five centuries,
and including many a well known phrase or hack-
neyed quotation, whose origin those who cite it
might be puzzled to point out. Altogether this is
one of the best and most comprehensive editions of
our national poets that has yet appeared, and one
that can scarcely fail to find favour both with the
,assessors of extensive libraries, and with those
whose means induce them to prefer the gradual
purchase of a lengthened series.