The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-20 00:00:00

SPEXTANTES.

The vast ossuary into which we now entered was
formed in the following manner :—ln 1781 intra-
mural interments were discontinued in Paris by an
order in council, and the old churchyard of the
Innocents was first c!eared ; other burial-places
followed, and were closed and cleared in their
turn. Respect for the dead is one of the most
deeply rooted of the religious feelings of the French
people, as every one who has visited the cemetery
of Pdra la Chaise knows, and as recent debates in
the Senate, on the proposed removal of part of the
cemetery of Montmartre, prove. A Frenchman
who neglects to visit the tomb of his parents, and
at least once a Year to decorate it with wreaths, is
very ill thought of ; and the utilitarians in France
have not been successful in demonstrating to
their countrymen that old churchyards are
but quarries of phosphate of lime. The bones
were carefully removed at the end of last century
,from the closed Parisian churchyards t night,

c__-

PRICE.... 4d.
STAMPED 5d

in long trains of funeral cars hung with black, ac-
companied by priests bearing wax torches, and
chanting the litanies of the dead. The old quar-
ries were found by the Parisians the most conve-
nient place in the neighbourhood for preserving
and protecting from desecration the retna,ips of
their forefathers, and a portion of the subterranean
labyrinth was solemnly consecrated to be used as a
cemetery. In a garden of the Rue de la Toinbe
Issoire a shaft had been sunk into the catacombs.
here the long processions halted, the carts were
backed, tilted, and their contents shot down the
shaft. This work cmtinuel at intervals during
many nights.

In 1810 and the following years, after the resto-
ration of Clitistian worship in France, the cata-
combs were surveyed, pillars were built, aul drains
made to carry off the water. The bones were
carefully arranged along the walls of the
vaults, keeping distinct the cemeteries from
which they were originally brought. The skulls
form three rows in most places; the space
between them is filled by the large arm and leg
bones, carefully piled; the ribs, vertebras, and all
the smaller bones fill in promiscuous heaps the
space left between the rows of skulls and the rock.
In many of the recesses or chapels which we passed
the workmen employed in arranging these ghastly
objects have indulged their sense for the beautiful,
and have built up ornamental and varied designs
with the horrid fragments at their disposal. In-
scriptions on stone indicate the cemeteries from
which the remains have come. All human bones
brought to light by the actual rebuilding of Parisi
are conveyed to the catacombs. The most recent
additions appear to have been contributed in 1861 -
by the cemetery of Vaugirard. At equal dis-*
tances stone tablets are set up, with inscribed
sentences on life, death, and eternity selected from
Holy IVrit, Thomas 4 ICempis, Seneca, and the
Latin authors, from Lamartine, Delille, from Ducis,
and even inferior poets. My wish to copy some of
them was somewhat uncivilly interrupted by one of
the surveyors telling me that we could not pass the
whole day underground. On one of the principa
pillars are carved the words—MEMENTO . QUIA
PULVIS . ES. And on a well which occupies appa-
rently the centre of the labyrinth--SICUT . UNDA .
DIES . NOSTRI . FLUXERUNT. The concentrated
light of all our candles failed to reveal the unhappy
gold fish which are said to enliven its waters. A
collection of diseased bones, which are kept sepa-
rate, would be of more use to suffering humanity
in the glass cases of a pathological museum than in
these inaccessible recesses.

It is impossible to refrain from the thought that
among the rows of skulls which grin down upon us
from right and left as we pass along, some must
have belonged to the most eminent men in France
and adorned the salons of Paris by the brains which
they once contained ! To heighten our interest we
were told by one of the inspectors that the skull of
Louis Philippe Egalite was undoubtedly among
those which had been brought from the churchyard
of the Rue de la Ville l'Eveque. No doubt an ex-
perienced phrenologist would confidently point it
out. It is computed that about three millions of
skulls, if not more, adorn the walls of the catacombs
of Paris. To us the dark galleries through which
we wandered seemed to form an intricate labyrinth,
but, somehow or other, they led us back to the black
gate by which we had entered. IV e passed about
twohours among the shades below, and were heartily
glad to see the daylight again.

On Monday the Lords of the Admiralty reviewed

the :Royal Marines in the Brickfield to the east-
ward of the Devonport defences. Their Lordships
were accompanied by Major-General Spencer, the
commander of the forces in the west, and by Ad-
miral Drummond. The number of Marines present
was 672 rank and file, under Col.-Commandant
William Francis Foote, 16 captains, 32 lieutenants,
two adjutants, &c. After their Lordships had com-
pleted their duties at the Royal Marine Barracks,
they proceeded to the Royal William Victualling-
yard, where they were received by Superintendent
Tatham, the Master Attendant, W. T. Wheeler ;
Mr. Jamieson, storekeeper, and the other officers.
The accounts having been examined, and the stores,
bakery, &c., inspected, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander
Milne, K.C.8., and his colleagues, went to the
Royal Naval Hospital, and being attended by In-
spector-Gen. Dr. Davidson, C. 8., and his staff,
passed through several of the wards, stores, &c.
They then visited the Royal Albert Hospital, Devon-
port, a public building maintained by subscriptions.
Here Mr. T. Woollcombe, chairman, and Captains
Edye and Batman attended their Lordships in their
minute survey of the lock ward, supported in part
by Government aid. The cleanly condition of the
entire establishment appeared to elicit the appro-
bation of the visitors. The members of the Board
were then conveyed in their steam-yacht, the En-
chantress, to the iron armour-plated screw steam-
ship, Northumberland, 26, Captain Roderick Dew,
C. 8., in Hanioaze. They dined with Port-Ad-
miral Sir William H. Martin, K.C.8., at Mount
Wise, and in the evening patronised the ball at
Pearse's Royal Hotel, Plymouth, in aid of the
British Female Orphan Asylum. Yesterday the
Lords of the Admiralty concluded their annual in-
spection at Devonport by visiting the remainder of
the ships of war in port. In consequence of the
absence of the First Lord there will be no levee.

Brigandage seems to be now becoming almost
as formidable in Hungary as in Southern Italy.
The papers give alarming accounts of the depreda-
tions of banditti in various parts of the country,
and especially of the feats of the brigand chief
named Youhash, who is the terror of the district
of Somogyi. Wonderful stories are related of this
chief's reckless courage. Once he kept a patrol of
soldiers at bay for more than an hour by shooting
at them from the window of a country inn, where
he had taken refuge, every now and then throwing
them a bottle of wine "to keep up their spirits."
At last the soldiers threatened to set fire to the
building, upon which he said he would come out.
He kept his word, but rushed out at them so sud-
denly that before they could seize him he escaped
into an adjoining wood. Shortly after a Jew
came to the patrol complaining that Youhash had
just robbed him. The soldiers hastened to the
spot, but as they were passing through the wood
they were shot down one by one by Youhash, who
was lying there in ambush, and only one or two of
them escaped. On another occasion he attacked
a gamekeeper, and robbed him of his gun, but re-
turned it a few days after with a letter, in which
he said he had since provided himself with plenty
of arms, and he feared the gamekeeper might be
mourning the loss of his favourite weapon.
General de Moltke, who is at the head of the
Prussian general staff, accompanied by a numerous
suite of officers, has recently visited the scenes of
the several battles Uettingen, Hammelburg, and
Kissingen. Among other innovations in the Prus-
sian military organisation, which have been sug-
gested by the experience of the campaign of 1866,
is the incorporation of the camp suttlers and vivan-
dieres into a regularly organised body.
The Sappho, owned by Messrs. C. and R. Poillon,
of the New York Club, started on a voyage across the
ocean to Cowes, England, on Wednesday, July 29. She
is 125 feet in length, 26.8 feet beam, 11 feet deep, and about
300 tons burden. The object of her owners in sending her
to England is to find a purchaser; if unsuccessful in this
attempt in Eurcpe, the yacht will bo sent to San Francisco.
Captain Thomas P. Baldwin takes her across. The
Sappho is valued at $40,000. .

AM. •
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drive of between nine and ton millions of logs safely in the
boom. Sixty-Ave man were 79 days in getting them
through from Lake Umbagog, and the last logs were passed
over the rocks just one hour before the river became too
low to admit of passage. This is the greatest log driving
the State of Maine can boast.
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NORWICH, iVEMSDAT.
To the British AsiOciation the lines have often fallen:in
pleasant places, but the sojourn of the savants in this "city
In an orchard"seems likelyto prove exceptionallyagreeable,
Beautiful for situation, replete with antiquities,
succesi=
fully engaged in modern manufactures, the seat of a
bishopric, and possessed of a cultivated society, Norwich
Is a place peculiarly suitable for the entertainment of a
learned body such as that commencing its 38th annual
meeting here to-night. This could hardly have been
said of it once, if there was any foundation for
the quaint apostrophe of Bale : " 0 citio of
England, whose glory standeth more in bellie
chere than in serche of wisdome. God bye !"---which
seethe to imply that the inhabitants were devoted
with an undue measure of enthusiasm to the duties of the
trencher. Sauntering through the streets, and not be-
holding even in the far distance so much as a ghost of a
wave, it is hard to believe that the capital of East Anglia
was once a fishing town. Yet such was actually the case,
until the arm of the sea which ran up to it got inconti-
nently choked, and henceforth confined all the bloaters to
Yarmouth. If lam rightly informed, there is an official
entry extant providing for the payment of the ground rent
of the monastery of St. Edmundsbury, on the site of which
now stands the church of St. Edmund, in a given number
of lasts of herrings. It need hardly be said that the name
of the city is essentially Saxon, Norwich being a contrac-
tion of north-wic, a northern fortress or town, and the
curious medley which the place presents in its architecture
shews that it was a constant bone of contention between„
the Saxons and the Danes. If we are to believe the old
distich familiar to all who have visited Norfolk—
" Caistor was a city when Norwich was none,
And Norwich was built of Caistor stone "
we most assume that the city sprang from the decay of
the Vents Icenorum of the Romans, on the site
of which stands the present village of Caistor. The
historical associations of Norwich are numerous. Amongst
the most carious of these is the one relating to Henry I.
That monarch, being short of cash on the eve of a trip to,
France, used this city as a pawnshop, actually depositing
the crown jewels, including the crown, with the mayor
and corporation, as security for the advance of the neces-
sary funds. I believe 2,000 marks represented the sum
the king obtained, the jewels being worth 8,000 marks;-
and the corporation had absolute power of sale in case the
loan was not punctually returned.

In all my experience of strange cities, I never met with
one whose geography was half so aggravating as this.
In a walk of a quarter of a mile the unwary visitor is,
deluded at least a dozen times to turn from the straight
road into what look undeniably like short cuts to the goal
he desires to reach, only to find that he is landed in what
they call here " plains "—large open spaces, many of them
containing gardens—which lead him nowhere. The only
thing at all counterbalancing this annoyance is the dis•
covery of little nests of quaint buildings which
look as if they had been transported bodily from
some old Flemish town. The castle and the cathedral—.
about which more in another letter—are, fortunately, two
conspicuous landmarks, serving in some sort as the direc.
tion-posts to the traveller ; but even with these aids he is
a wise man who shall be able to find his way easily about
Norwich before he has lived there a month. Apropos of
the castle may be mentioned a curious fact. Next door to
the building there used to stand a public-house kept
by one of the officials, and here, the day before their execu•
tion, condemned criminals were allowed to exhibit them.
selves at so much per head, the money thus received being
expended in providing them with their final meal !
The arrangements for the accommodation of the Associa-
tion appear to be admirable. Several improvements are ob.
servable in the reception-room, the chief of which is that
the business connected with the issue of tickets and
the supply of information is carried on In an
apartment separate from that devoted to the
visitors for the purposes of reading and writing. The post

office which is always opened in the reception-room is this

year made available, not only for letters stamped with her
Majesty's likeness, but also for communication between
the members and associates. A large number of these have
already arrived, and, to be candid, the people of Norwich

seemed quite prepared to receive them, if charging double
prices for beds and provisions could be taken as any

It is a source of

regret that the president of the Royal Geographical
... . _ _

Society, who is always secure of a warm welcome in
whatever section he appears, will not be present this year.
Sir Roderick is, I am told, in Switzerland, not being in
very good health. It has been hinted, but I attach little
importance to the suggestion, that he does not care to
meet Professor Sedgwick. A deputation has arrived from
Edinburgh, to urge the claims of that city upon the
council as the place of meeting in 1870. This is the first
time that the Scottish capital has made an overture
of its hospitality to the association. Its great rival
is Liverpool. Next year Exeter or Plymouth will receive
the Association. To which the honour will be accorded
will be decided on the last day of the present meeting.
This morning the General Committee and the Committee
of Sections met for the transaction of routine business in
Bt. Peter's Hall. The inaugural address of Dr. Hooker,
the president, is looked forward to with unusual interest.
Dr. Hooker is the director of the Royal Gardens, Kew.
He was at one time a surgeon on board one of
her Majesty's vessels, and has been a great traveller. His
paper on "Insular Flowers," read at Nottingham the year
before last, leads the members to expect great things from
the new president this evening. The address will be
delivered at 8 o'clock in the Drill Hall. In addition to
the usual work of the sections and the two inevitable
soil-6es, the committee have arranged for two evening
addresses—one on Friday by Mr. Fergusson, F.R.S., on
" The Arclueology of Early Buddhist Monuments ;" and
one on Monday evening by Dr. Odling on " Reverse
Chemical Actions." Arrangements have also been com-
pleted for excursions to Cromer, Lynn, Hunstanton,
Walsinghain, Holkham, and Yarmouth. With great
courtesy Mr. R. J. H. Harvey, M.P. and Lady Harvey
have invited all ladies and gentlemen holding Association
tickets to a dijeuner at Crown Point, in the Wbittingham
Grounds, a delightful spot a short distance from the city.
Mr. Harvey will convey his guests thither by steamer. It
will thus be seen that a busy week is before the Associa-
tion.