The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-15 00:00:00

THE PRINCE AND 711 E ABORIGINES.

The Duke of Edinburgh, in the course of his visit
to South Australia, went up to the Lakes. On his
way, passing by Point Sturt, two or three miles
brought the steamers to the landing place coiled
Macbeth. It is a station of the Hon. J. Baker, on
the peninsula, between Lake Albert and the
Cooong. Some time before reaching this the tents
which had been erected ashore for the use of the
party were observable, and on reaching still nearer
a crowd of blacks, with a number of white people,
also were clearly discernible. The steamers having
been stopped, his royal highness and party put off
from the Queen, and were taken to the
landing by the crew of the steamer, who
were in uniform. As soon as the boat touched the
shore, three thundering cheers were given by the
blacks—cheers which for heartiness excelled even
the hearty cheers which had welcomed his Royal
Highness elsewhere. The Prince landed, and walked
up the avenue which had been formed by about 400
blacks. One native bore a Union Jack, and a
second a banner with the words " Point Macleay,"
and " Peace" with an emblem of peace, and
.also
the sentence, " Welcome to our Country." At the
top of the avenue a black fellow stood with a red,
white, and blue flag, bearing the inscription,
" Goolwa black fellow big one glad see im Queen
picaninny." His Royal ,Highness walked up to
the tents, before which he watched the dancing and
antics of the natives. The blacks were then all
mustered for the presentation of au address to his
Royal Highness. A native named George Pan-
toni, from the Point Macleay Institution, came
forward, and read the following address, cor-
rectly, but in a very low voice :—" To his Royal
Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Your Royal
Highness,—We, who are young men belonging
to all the Lake tribes of natives, are glad to tell
you our joy at seeing you in this our country. Our
old men bow to your Royal Highness the coroboree,
or, as we call it, singbaliu, such as our fathers used
to have before the white men came here. But we
do not wish you to think that we are wild blacks,
because such a sight is shown to you. For seven
years our tribes on this peninsula have had a
Christian teacher. Nearly 100 native children
have been taught in school. Every Sunday more
than 50 of us meet together to pray to the same
God and hear of the same Jesus as your Royal
Highness does. Some have given up native customs
and become real Christians, and many others are
learning the way. Many of us get an honest
living by working like white people. We have
often been told about the Queen, your mother,
and we hope and pray that God will always
bless her ; and may Ilis blessing rest upon her
children, especially yourself ; and may He take
care of you till you see your mother's face in
England again." His Royal Highness promised to
write a reply and send it to Mr. Taplin, who
was present. Night was now coming on, and
every one seemed anxious to select a tent and make
sure of a comfortable night under cover. The na-
tives were accordingly sent away to their camps, a
little way off, and the party who had accompanied
the Prince were busily engaged in collecting their
" traps" and depositing them in the tents. Supper
concluded, a start was made to see the grand coro-
boree, any description of which would fail to con-
vey an idea of its character to the reader's mind.
We can only give a notion of the way in which it
was managed, but a coroboree must be seen for a
proper conception to be formed of it. About 30 or
40 women are seated, and beat time with wonderful
precision on a cushion or rug before them, keeping
up a monotonous " yah-yah, yah-yah," increasing
i❑ earnestness as the excitement heightened. On
the arrival of the Prince at the camp about thirty
of the Point Macleay men—naked, except from the
waist, and painted in the most singular and gro-
tesque manner—were lying down as if dead. After
one or two manoeuvres with their legs they all sprang
up, and then the real dancing began. Most of tl e
natives had waddies, spears, boomerangs, and other
warlike implements, and kept up a sort of monoto-
nous song, ending now and again with a whoop.
The night was too light—it being full moon—to see
the coroboree, with all the unearthly effect which a
dark night gives to it, but enough was seen to give
his Royal Highness an idea of the mysterious and
fiendish dance. The several tribes of blacks amal-
gamated for this coroboree, and Mr. E. B. Scott,
the Protector of Aborigines, made all the arrange-
ments for the grand assembly, and there was a
darkie as M.C. The Prince continued at the na-
tives' camp till 11 o'clock, when he and the rest of
the party left, but before leaving the blacks piled a
number of their implements before him as gifts from
them. During the evening rounds of cheers were
given at intervals on a signal from the TvI.C., and as
a return compliment the Duke sent for his piper,
Farquharson, who played the pipes, much to the
astonishment of the natives. —South Australian
Advertiser.

A court-martial was held onTuesday on board the
Mersey at Cork, on Captain -Morrell and Lieut. Browne,
of the Research, for running the vessel on Daunt's rock:
Evidence was giving showing that the steamer struck not
the rock, but the wreck of the City of New York, which
was not officially noticed on the chart. The defence was
that the Research, having secret orders to watch certain
suspicious vessels, was pursuing the American bark
Alaska, and seeing her so near the land, and apprehending
a landing, bore down upon her, and had to approach the
rock nearer than it otherwise would. The Court did not
consider the charge of neglect proved, and acquitted the
officers.

TELEGRAPHS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.—It may
bo interesting to our readers to know the total length,
approximately at least, of the telegraphic lines throughout
the world, and tho proportion which exists in each of the
several countries in which this agency of correspondence
has been adopted. The total length of telegraphic lines in
the world is 178,086 miles. In 1866 there wero in Germany
28,347 miles of telegraphs ; in Russia, 22,992 ; in France,
18,694 ; in Great Britain and Ireland, 16,297 ; in Tut key,
8,665; in Italy, 8,216; in Sweden, 3,507; in Belgium,
1,089; in Switzerland, 2,160; in Canada, 5,050; and iu
the United States, 52,957. Besides these, there are the
two Atlantic cables, which measure 4,369 English, or 3,755
nautical, miles. The total length of the other submarine
cables is nearly 6,000 miles. One of the most marvellous
examples of the value of telegraphic communication was
afforded on the recent occasion of Mr. Gladstone's tour.
The addresses delivered at Southport and Orinskirk con-
tained 16,882 words. The report of the speeches reached
Liverpool by train at 11.25 p.m. The transmission to
London by telegraph began at 11.30 p.m., and was com-
pleted at I.4o—that is to say, in little more than two hours.
The last slips were delivered at the offices of the daily
papers before 2.30. Mr. Gladstone's speech on the follow-
ing day at Oldham contained 30,745 words, and was trans-
mitted with corresponding rapidity.

WILD FOWL.—During the winter months our
lakes and estuaries are visited by innumerable quantities
of ducks and geese, which are driven by stress of weather
from their feeding places in Norway, Sweden, and the
north of Europe, and aro included by the unscientific
sportsman under the general denomination of water fowl,
many hundreds of which are every year taken in decoys,
or slaughtered by the discharge of a pound of shot from a
swivel gun by au individual calling himself a sportsman.
Among the vast quantities thus taken, it is highly pro-
bable that many of the rarer species pass unnoticed along
with the general mass. This suggestion is further
strengthened by the frequency with which Leadonhall, or
other of oar largo game markets, is given as the locality
from which the majority of our rarer species of water-fowl
are obtained, not unfrequently minus the head, or some
other important organ ; it being the general custom of our
game dealers, whenever they meet with an individual pre-
senting any peculiarities, in shape of plumage, which pre-
vents its being classed under the general head of " teal"
or "mallard," to remove the abnormal part, and they con-
sider themselves fortunate if they succeed in disposing of
it to some inexperienced purchaser. With fishmongers
the reverse is the case; whenever a rare or curious looking
fish is received it immediately occupies a commanding
position on the marble slab, probably for the combined
purpose of attracting the attention of Mr. Frank Buckland,
or eons other uaturalist or epicure.—Land and Water.