The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-14 00:00:00

INDIAN REVELRY.

A number of these Indians, who drink at two
fountains, had just been visiting the English agents
at Romaine Island, on lake Huron ; and among the
presents distributed among them they had received
some barrels of whiskey. This was soon circulated
through the encampment, almost every member of
which soon became violently heated and maddened
by it.

It is the usual practice of the female Indians,
when they see intoxication in their own tent, or in
the camp, to preserve to themselves the strictest so-
briety, that they may be enabled to prevent or miti-
gate the frequently dreadful consequences of intern-
, temperance in the men. But, on this occasion, the
women were more completely inebriated than the
men, and with the exception of a few young per-
sons, all were plmaged in the most frightful state of
intoxication.

The hell of Virgil and of Dante, or even that
painted by Orcagna, at St. Maria Novella, in Flo-
rence, in a style so deeply impressive, are only faint
sketches in comparison with that full display of ter-
ror and death presented in the tragedy now acted :
a tragedy exhibiting in all their horrors the Bac-
chantes, the Furies, the Eumenides, Medusa, and
all'the monsters of history or fiction.
Hatred, jealousy, long-standing quarrels, mortal
antipathies, all the ferocious passions, were in most
exasperated excitement and conflict. The shrieks
of the women and children, mingled with the yells
of these cannibal's, and the bayings of dogs, added
the tortures of hearing to all the agonies which ap-
palled the sight.
Standing on a mound of earth with my cutlass
in my girdle, my gun in my hand, and my sword
half unsheathed at my side, I remained a spectator
of this awful scene, watchful and motionless. I was
often menaced, but never answered except by an
expressive silence, which most unequivocally de-
clared that I was ready to rush on the first who
should dare to become my assailant. My Bois brae
had concealed himself, and I had great difficulty in
rallying him to my side, where he at length appeared
to feel more confidence and security than elsewhere;
for he became convinced that there was a greater
probability of escaping the threatened catastrophe
by courage and resolution than by indecision and
terror.

But it became necessary for me, for a few mo-
ments, to quit my intrenchment. The life of the
chief, Cloudy Weather, was in danger. I was his
host, and he was the father of the beautiful Woos-
eita, who, by giving me timely notice, in two instan-
ces, of plots forming for my destruction, and thus
kindling into stronger power the fierce and mena-
cing expression of my countenance, had been twice
my preserver. I darted forward with her and my
Bois brulj, who now became a hero, and we saved
him by disarming of their knives the two assassins
who had attacked him, and against whom,
merely with a small piece of wood, ho defen-
ded himself like a lion. We pushed him
into his tent, and committed him to the care of
a warrior chief, one of his intimate friends, who was
enjoined to protect him and prevent his going out.
He found, however, a knife, which had been con-
cealed; and whether from that impulse natural to
Indians, which often occasions them in their pas-
sion to make a victim of the first man they meet,
or whether through real mistake, he rushed on his
friend and stabbed him with repeated thrusts : we,
however, returned instantly at the call of Woascita,
and fortunately in time to prevent the completion of
murder.

The son of the wounded savage, about eighteen
years of age, entered the tent, and surveying with an
expression of terrific dignity the assassin of his
parent, with heroic self-possession thus addressed
him:--" Thou hast stabbed my father—thy own
friend—l ought to avenge him, and I leould do it—
but thou wouldest not have done this, hadst thou
sot been intoxicated—l pardon thee." In this young
Indian, the son of Bear's-heart, I perceived Rome
and Greece united. He was the hero of the
day. lie was not only able to resist the temp-
tation of liquor so exceedingly attractive to
Indians, but he contributed greatly to mitigate
the effects of its deadly influence. I • embraced
him with sentiments such as these savage people
had never before excited in me. The noble conduct
of this young matt is also one of those circumstances
which infuse such contradictions into the character
of Indians, and almost preclude the power of defining
them. In order to testify my admiration of his con-
duct, I gave him a liberal quantity of powder, the
most valuable present that, situated as I was, I could
possibly bestow upon him. 1 would have conferred
on him an empire, had I been able ; but my desti-
tution was even greater than his own.'—Beltrarni's
Travel:.

M. CIIAMPOLLION, jun., of Paris, the cele-
brated Oriental scholar, and able decypherer of the hyero-
glyphics of Egypt, was elected, on the Ist instant, an ho-
norary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

" This barge in all respects, except breadth of
beam, and machinery, resembles the finest you ever
saw. It certainly exceeds every thing I have ever
yet seen, in all that enters into the composition of
safety and comfort. It is towed by the Co»zmerec,
an unusually fine steam-boat, and of great power.—
The connection is by means of two pieces of timber,
sonic six feet long. TheSe are fastened to either
side of the bow of the barge, and uniting in the form
of a pair of compasses, the upper or joint part receives
a bolt of iron, which rises out of the stern of the
Commerce. The correcting parts work on swivels,
hence none of the motion of the steam-boat is com-
municated to the barge. Communication is had be-
tween the two by means of a moveable platform some
two and a half feet wide, with hand-rails on either
side. Openings are made in the stern of the Com-
merce, and in the bow of the barge, in which this
platform rests. Some of the advantages which the
barge possesses over the steam boat are, in the se-
curity from the effects of a burst boiler—freedom
from heat and steam, from the smell of grease mid
the kitchen, and front the jar occasioned by the ma-
chinery, the whole barge being set apart for eating,
sleeping, and walking. The cabin in which we dine
is below, and is the same in which the gentleman
sleep ; and 180 persons can sit down at once, and
each have elbow-room sufficient for all the pur-
poses of figuring with the knife and fork in all
the graces of which these two instruments
are susceptible. At the termination of this im-
mouse dining apartment, and towards tho bow is a
bar sumptuously supplied with all that can be de-
sired by the most fastidious or thirsty. The births
occupy the entire sides of this vast room; these are
curtained, and in such a way as to afford retirement
in dressing and undressing—there being brass rods
on which the curtains are projected, and these arc
thrown out at night. In the day the curtains hang
close to the births, as usual. Nat above this are
the ladies' cabin and apartrnents—state rooms ra-
ther, furnished in the most splendid style, and in
which a lady has all the retirement and comfort,
which the delicacy of her sex requires. Over the
bar, and upon this middle apartment or tier, is an
apartment where the gentlemen dress, shave, and
read. All around this second story, it being, I
should judge, not over two-thirds the width of the
boat, and resting on the middle of the deck, is afine
walk, with settees, where you can sit or lounge when
you please. Then comes, and over all, the grand
promenade, with an awning, when the sun or rains
requires it, over the whole."

ACCIDENT AT THE THAMES TUNNEL,

(From a Sunday Paper. )

At six o'clock on Saturday morning, the nigh,
" gang " left their work, and were succeeded by the
day men, cons►st►ng of 130 excavators. Mr. Brunel,
jun. was present when the relief took place, and was
giving directions to the workmen at the moment
when the melancholy accident happened. Mr.
Brunel, jun. was at box No. 1, in which two work-
men, named Ball and Collins, were employed, and
he remarked that the water drained through the
soil at the shield much more rapidly than it had done
for soma time. The soil appeared, which for some
days had been strong and clayey, much looser, and
water and sand poured through the left of the box,
but not in such quantities as to create a supposition
that the evil could not be soon remedied. Mr.
Brunel, jun., at about half an hour past six o'clock,
was standing in box No. 1, when several hundred
weight of mud was forced into the tunnel through
the left corner of No. 1 shield. The boxes No. 1
and 2, which had been in a very precarious state,
had yielded to the pressure of the high tides of the
season, and permitted the influx of the river.

The water rushed with such extreme velocity,
that the force of the air threw one man upon his back
on the stage, and extinguished the gas. At one pe-
riod about eighteen men were all immersed in the
water, besides Mr. Brunel, jun,; and that gentleman
and twelve of the men, after being repeatedly driven
against the wood-work, and severely bruised, were
taken out at the shaft nearly insensible.
Mr. Brunel, jun., was knocked down with Ball
and Collins, and at the same instant Jephtha Cooke,
who was a bottom box-man, in attempting to escape,
got behind the rush of water, which cut off his re-
treat, and he perished. Ball, Collins, and Cooke,
were destroyed almost instantaneously. The rush
was so violent as to destroy the lower part of the
staircase by which the labourers ascended and de-
scended, so that it was utterly impossible for them
to save themselves. Three other men, we lament to
state, hare also perished.

Mr. Brunel, jun., was brought out with his ankle
much injured in his exertions to save the unfortu-
nate man.. He gives the following account of the
melancholy event :—He was at work with the men
in the first box, about 595 fed under the river, when
all of a sudden the earth broke in, as he then sup-
posed, through a hole not more than six inches ; but
such was the velocity with which it came in, that
three men were struck down. He instantly jumped
off the stage, upon which he was standing, and
attempted to make his way to the shaft, but turned
back again in hopes of saving the unfortunate men
he had left behind ; but finding all attempts imprac-
ticable, he swam to the shaft, and effected his
escape with the injury above stated.
The water immediately rose to the height of high
water in the tunnel, and the works of course are
stopped. Mr. Brunel, sen. was at Rotherhithe
when we left : the river had been examine], and the
hole discovered. It is not so large as the hole
caused by the former accident. Orders were sent
for the diving-bell to be brought to the spot, and
also for a supply of a large quantity of bags of clay.
The following are the names of those whose bodies
arc now in the water inside the tunnel :
Thomas Ball, leaving a wife; John Collins, leav-
ing a wife and two children ; Thomas Evans, and W.
Seton, single men ; Jephtha Cooke, 'Ravin, six chil-
dren orphans ; and John Long, leaving a wife.
bodies cannot be brought out till some portion of the,
water is drawn off. A meeting of the Director' °l
the Thames Tunnel Company took place on Satur-
day afternoon, which was attended by the 111"srs.
Brunel, who reported the extent of the viischlef, and
the time and expence which would be Incurred in
pie,
a time,
remedying the same. This disaster' fo
drove Mr. Brunel to a state of frentY• fie, how-
ever, has no doubt of ultimate 0'55"
The following letter was o„ Saturday laid befort
the Directors of the Thames Tunnel Company,
which had been written 17.9 Mr. -Prune!, jun., when
suffering under great bodily pain
Saturday Morning, Jan. 12.
" I had been in the frames (shield) with the workinei,
throughout the night, having taken my station there sl
10 o'clock. During the workings, through the night,
symptoms of insecurity appeared. At six o'clock
morning (the usual time for shifting the wen), a fresh set,

Mr. Gravat went down at three o'clock yelterday
morning in the West India Dock diving-boll, to
examine the extent of the opening, but from un-
fortunate combination of circumstances, was unable
to reach the precise spot which he was anxious to
attain.

Last evening at-five o'clock, it being then low
water, another descent was made by Mr. Graem,
and he then minutely examined the orifice, which
he found to be of an oblong shape, extending from
West to East, and in length about seven feet. It is
quite perpendicular, and the grcund on either side
sound, indeed so muck so . that notwithstand-
ing the strong current that must of course have
accompanied the influx, it still remains unbroken.—
Every exertion is making to remedy what has taken
place. Bags of clay are prepared and about to be
dropped down. The smaller raft prepared on the
last calamity is now brought directly over the ape"-
ture,and a hole of corresponding size made through
it, by which the filling will be completed. There
is no doubt as to the ultimate success of this grand
undertaking, if there be but funds to meet the ne-
cessary expenditure. Yesterday, though Sunday,
the workmen were all busy. The shaft throughout
the day was repeatedly dragged for the bodies o
those unfortunate men who are missing. None o
them were found; and, ac is probable, none will be
until the aperture is stopped, and the water pumped
out. The report of the chain of the diving-bell
tn•eaking is false.
_ _

Some weeks since an incident occurred at tiv:.
Thames Tunnel which excited great consternation.
In the course of the night Mr. Brunel, jun., and
some others engaged in superintending the work,
were alarmed by a voice from the farthest part of the
excavation, exclaiming, " The water ! the water !
Wedges and straw here!" This was followed by
a dead silence.. Those in attendance were at first
paralysed by an apprehension that the men who were
known to be at the spot from whence the voice
was heard, had been overwhelmed by some dis-
aster. Young Mr. Brunel, however, boldly pushed
forward with others,to ascertain what had happened,
when they were overjoyed to find the men fast asleep
and all safe. They had fallen to sleep fro►:► fatigue,
and one of them made the exclamation when under
the influence of a dream that the water was break-
ing in.

C