The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-25 00:00:00

DISCO V.E.RY OF GOLD IN AFItl

Dr. Mauch:a German traveller, who has recently-- re-
tamed to Potchefstroom, the capital of the South African
Republic, a community founded by exterprising Boers—
farinera of African birth, but Dutch extraction—from the
Cape Colony, reports that in the territory known as " Mose-
likatse's country," a district lying northward of the Orange
Free State, and extending towards, if not to, the equator,
extensive goldfields have been discovered. Specimens of
the quartz have been forwarded to Port Elizabeth (Algoa
Bay), in the Cape Colony, and there tested by Mr. John
Leslie, who found, after applying nitric acid to it, that no
change was produced, but on applying nitro-hydrochloric
acid the metal became dissolved. It was then diluted
with water, and tested by the re-agent, protochloride of
tin, when immediately was produced the purple of
" Cassius," which is a conclusive proof of gold. In order
to convince Mr. Jones of the proof of the test, Mr. Leslie
applied four drops of the same acid to a sovereign, when
the result was precisely the same. The following quota-
tations are from Herr Mauch's letter to Mr. Jones. Under
date, Potchefstroom, 2nd December, 1867, Mr. Mauch
writes as follows :—" Just returned from a second trip in
Moselikatse's country. I give you short notice that I
have been very successful in finding gold, not in small,
scarcely visible specks, but in great veins of quartz, e.,
goldfields, one of them more than sixty miles long, the other
about twenty miles broad, besides numerous small parallel
veins. I will send you one or two specimens by the next oppor-
tunity." On the 16th of the same month, Mr. Mauch again
writes to Mr. C. T. Jones in the following terms :—" I have
the honour to send you two specimens of gold quartz ;
they are poor, but it is to be kept in mind that I never
had the time to set to work with pickaxe, spade, or
other tool ; they may serve, therefore, as proofs of the
existence of gold. A full description of the various
gold veins and fields I have to deliver to the Ger-
man Geographichal Society, which will publish it in
their periodicals. If I remember right, I stated to
you in my last letter that I could point out more than
thirty different places, where I got some speci-
mens out ; in fact, the fields will prove richer than
may be expected. I take the liberty to send my own spe-
cimens round by Natal to you, and to be put to my other
collection, which is in your hands, as Mr. Forssman says."
These are the specimens just received by Mr. Jones, and
which have been tested with the result stated. A writer
from Potchefstroom says of Herr Mauch "He has just
returned from a long tour in the interior, and being a
man in whose veracity everyone has implicit reliance, the
information he has brought is generally received as bond
fide. I have myself seen and spoken to him, and gather that
he has found two rich goldfields, the one about sixty miles
in length, and the other about twenty miles broad, length
uncertain. About sixty specimens of the gold are on their
way here ; one he has brought with him, and presented to
Mr. Forssman of this place, and I regret that I have not
time before the closing of the post to go and see it. Mr.
Mauch says the climate in the region of the goldfields is
healthy. One thing is certain, that before possession can
be taken of them the native tribes inhabiting the country
will have to be subdued, and this will be no easy task, as
they are both warlike and powerful."

The wife of Lord Justice Selwyn has not long survived
the high honour conferred upon her husband in his eleva-
tion to the bench. Lady Selwyn was taken suddenly ill
last week, and died on Sunday, at the town residence
of the learned judge, 37, Eaton-square. She was the fifth
daughter of Mr. J. G. Ravenshaw, and was married to the
present Lord Justice of Appeal in 1856.
Amid the interest excited by the Irish debate, by the
possibility of a Ministerial crisis, and by the reawakened
hopes of the speedy return of the First Lord of the
Treasury to official life, all the morning papers turn aside,
doubtless for the last time, to devote a parting leader to
the temporal affairs of the Rev. Benjamin Speke, rector
of Dowlish Wake, Ilminster, and enjoying a com.
fortablo income of £430 per annum. The Times
takes credit to itself for having endeavoured to allay
the public alarm three or four weeks ago, by suggesting
that, after all, Mr. Speke might have escaped for a time from
society, and was enjoying himself in a manner peduliar to
himself. At the same time it strongly condemns the rev.
gentleman's conduct in having so long remained silent while
his fate was a subject of speculation in every household in
the kingdom. The Post does not see how the matter can be
withdrawn from publicity until a full explanation of Mr.
Speke's absence has been furnished.

The Daily News cannot imagine any man of common
feeling being indifferent to the interest which the public
have taken in this case. Sir. Speke must have withdrawn
beyond the reach of newspapers altogether not to be
aware of the advertisements for his recovery, and the
letters and leading articles in the newspapers, and many
other signs of the concern which the public felt for his
safety and welfare. His silence under these circum-
stances is most extraordinary, and is perhaps unaccount-
able, except upon the supposition that the rev, gentleman
has been suffering under a sudden and temporary loss of

gyAzry.
~mtr.

HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Feb. 24.

".11.c Queel went out this morning, accompanied
by Princess Beatrice, and attended by the Duchess
of Athole and Miss Macgregor.
Prince Leopold went out, attended by Mr. Duck-
worth.

Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
drove out attended by the Countess of Morton.

['he Prince of Wities drove out, attended by

Keppel.
LYcEUM TM:ATI:E.—Their Royal Highnegses the
Prince and Princass of Wales and suite visited thii theatre
last evening to witness the performance of Mr. Bandmann
in the play of " Nareisse."

Prince and Princess Christian, Prince Arthur,
and Princess Henrietta of Schleswig Holstein, with their
suite, attended Divine service in Windsor Park Chapel on
Sunday morning. Their royal highnesses attended ser-
vice in St. George's Chapel in the afternoon.
The Earl Dclewarr is much better. The noble
earl and countess are still staying at Knole, near Seven-
oaks.

The Earl and Countess of Sandwich do not come
to town for the season till after Easter.

LITERATURE.

Lord Falconberg's Heir. By Charles Clarke. Two
Vols. Chapman and Hall:
Captain Harold Falcon, the hero of this story,
turns out to be, after all, the Heir of Lord Falconberg
That he should ever become so, appears at the out-
set to be in the highest degree improbable. There
are four lives between him and the chance of his
accession to the peerage on the death of his uncle,
Lord Falcanberg—namely, the lives of his cousins—
Lord Hawkestone and Lord llawkestone's three
younger brothers. These three latter, however, are
conveniently cleared out of the way at one fell swoop,
the Hon. Jervoise and the other two being tied toge-
ther with cords, as is the wont on the Swiss moun-
tains, and—so tied together —slip and get swallowed
up in a crevasse. As to Lord Hawkestone himself, he
proves to be consumptive—sickens, fades away,
and at last expires. Harold, by that time the Heir
Presumptive, eventually succeels the old Earl, his
uncle —having almost simultaneously married
his fair cousin, the Lady Helen. Before all this
has been accomplished, however, the principal cha-
racter in the story—meaning Harold—passes through
a terrible interval of suspense and tribulation.
Connected with this period of anxiety, only too in-
timately, are Herr Bernard Jansen, the " Giant"
wood carver, and his pretty daughter, the Fraulein
Maynart, otherwise popularly known as Peggy
Jansen. The latter, we cannot help thinking, be-
haves very shamefully, though the author appa-
rently holds her in a manner guiltless. The fact
being, nevertheless, that she is knowingly guilty of
bigamy, and that she allows her second husband—
and therefore who is in point of fact no husband
of her's at all—to remain for several
years under the (happily for him) false
impression that he is her legally espoused husband.
How the eclaircissement is brought about, and the
Scotch marriage of that wretchedly selfish vaga-
bond George. Fellowes, otherwise George Fal-
con, is eventually revealed—we may leave
Mr. Clarke to tell his own readers in his own
way. Passages there are in the book that are ex -
cellent as incidents in a sporting novel of the first
class. For instance, there is a steeplechase, in which
Harold rides the winner—a theme often before
treated by writers of ability, but never dilated upon
more brilliantly than by the author of " Lord Falcon-
berg's Heir." Other passages there are that might have
been penned by the writer of " Mr. Soapy Sponge"
et hoc genus oinne. Instance this all that relates
to Sir Samuel Cripplegate—the vulgarity of whom
and of whose surroundings is so intensely and
uncompromisingly vulgar ! Whenever Charles
Clarke gets among gentlemen, however, he is at his
best—no matter whether it be in the' drawing-
room or the stable, at the river-side or iu
the billiard-room. Harold himself is a fine
specimen of the " genus"—so, too, is Lord
Ilawkestone. 'When we are with them we
are more gratified than at any other portions of the
narrative. The earlier or college scenes are, upon
the whole, the least satisfactory in the whole work.
We are especially delighted whenever we can escape
from the associations of that intolerable fe.lovr
George Falcon, in comparison with whom Sir
Samuel Cripplegate is a Bayard, a D'Orsay, and a
Nash rolled into one. The story, as a specimen of
your genuine Sporting Novel, is a success above
the average.

NAVAL AND MILITARY IN7ELLIGENCE.

A special order has been received by the heads of
departments at Woolwich, by request of Sir Stafford
Northcote, Secretary-of State for India, demanding
a supplementary number of military stores for the
use of the Abyssinian expedition, to consist of about
300 sets of mule harness, 200 Maltese store carts,
extra shafts and wheels for the mountain steel guns,
in command of Lieut.-Col. Milward, the whole to
be completed and in readiness for shipment within
11 days. A portion of the order, having been com-
pleted some time ago, was ready for despatch
when the order was countermanded. These cases
were conveyed in Phillips's barges to the India
Docks, and were taken on board the transport ves-
sel on Sunday.
Yetterday the following troops embarked at
Gravesend on board the charteredtroopship Isabella,
for conveyance to Bermuda :—One staff sergeant
and one man of the Royal Artillery ; one non-com-
missioned officer and 28 sappers of the Royal En-
gineers ; 35 non-commissioned officers and men of

•
the 61st Regiment; 10 men of the Commissariat
Staff Corps ; and two men of the Army Hospital
Corps ; together with the following officers :—Capt.
H. A. Tracy, Royal Artillery ; Captain E. S. Tyler,
Royal Engineers ; Ensign A. E. Wilby, 61st Regi-
ment; Purveyor E. Goodrich and Staff Surgeon
D. A. Leslie, M.D., in medical charge. The em-
barcations were effected under the superintendence
of Brigade-Major W. W. Lynch and the officers of
the Quartermaster General Department at Chat-
ham, and the Isabella will be inspected this morn-
ing by Major General F. Murray, previously to
taking her departure from the Thames.
The troops doingduty at Upnor Castle, Chatham,
for the protection of the stores of gunpowder and
ammunition deposited in the powder magazines
have been augmented by a party of 90 non-com-
missioned officers and men, selected from the de-
pots comprising the corps attached to the Ist depot
battalion. The following officers arc attached for
duty with the detachment :--Captain C. J. V.
Clarkson, 30th Regiment ; Lieutenant J. 11. Pit-
field, 29th Regiment; and Ensign W. • 11. Marsh,
Ist battalion of the 2d Royals.
Capt. R. Cartwright has been posted to the Ist
battalion of the 15th Regiment, at Chatham garri-
son on his promotion.
The iron screw steam troop ship Urgent, 4, Capt.
Samuel H. Henderson, from the West Indies,
arrived iu Plymouth Sound yesterday. She lab
Port Royal January 25 ; Bermuda, February 2
and Fayal, February 17. She brings about 300
invalids from the Pacific and West India stations
in medical charge of Staff Assistant-Surgeon Doran.
Among her passengers arc Mr. E. Blewett, late
paymaster of the PII,Tbe, invalided ; Mr. Bone, late
paymaster of the Terror ; Melsrs. Brickdaie, iNfe:-
:ey, and Nichol from the Aboukir; Captain and
Alrs. Browning, Ensign Campbell, 81th ; Lieute-
aant Davis, 61st ; Lieutenant Pelean, Royal E 01.2).
leers, and Mrs. Pelcan ; Mr. Langdon, and
Body. The Urgent experienced head winds nilo
ilia weather during the passage home. The Phal°
-was on the eve of departure from Jamaica for Car;
Gliagena, in the Bights. The Constance and Terr°
were at Bermuda.

In consequence of tho Reduction in Dray,llorninia;
Pure Teas are supplied EIGHITENCE per lb. COArf
f.hrough their 2,50 Agents—confectioners in London, 4°_,
theinists in every town. Sold in Packets at 2s.
3s. 43., and :3,. Bd. per lb. Genuine Packets haYa tl3 I`—‘
porters' Signature.