The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-09 00:00:00

FROM THE FRENCH PAPERS.

The Sents'nelle de Toulou gives the following ac-
e )unt of the military colony of Ain-Fouka, in the
province of Algiers :—" The colony is well situated
near the sea, and occupies a very favourable position
with respect to fresh water, which is plentiful. Tim-
ber is also abundant. The lamb have been distributed
and are now fit for tillage. Each family is to be
provided with a stone house two stories high, composed
of three rooms and a kitchen, and a garden of
tolerable size, close to the habitation. The whole
colony at present possess a herd of oxen, 400 goats,
and a flock of sheep. The members are subject to a
sort of discipline, a captain commanding them, and the
Colonel of the camp of Fouka having the superintend-
ence of their whole proceedings. The colonists have
each 3,000 fr., and the girls who have consented to
take them for husbands receive each 500 fr. portion.
The Municipal Council of Toulon has voted a sum of
4,000 fr. amongst the twenty young women which the
town may provide. Every year a similar number of
colonists will proceed to France to be married on the
King's birth-day. This colony will become an im-
portant place in a commercial point of view, for
vessels will make it the point of landing for mer-
chandise intended for Milianah and Coleah, it lying
midway between the two places. The ten first mar-
riages of colonists took place at Toulon, nine being
Roman Catholics and the other a Protestant. Others
are to leave Africa for the same purpose, when the
present married couples return to the colony."
An amusing scene was witnessed yesterday before
the Tribunal of Correctional Police. A strong
healthy-looking fellow, named Charnblant, had been
arrested as a vagabond, and having beer. brought be-
fore the Court last week, declared that he had a wife
who, although separated from him, would, if applied
to, engage to provide him with a home. The case
was adjourned to allow for the appearance of the
wife, who yesterday attended, and the following con-
versation took place :—President :—You come to
claim your husband ?—Wife : ,Not I, indeed ; I
should like to see him in prison for the rest of his life.
I must tell you, Sir, that, many years ago, we were
servants together in the family in which I am still
cook, lie spent his wages and my own, and beat me
into the bargain. One fine day he disappeared, and
went to live with another woman, and I had hoped
that I should never again behold his face.—Presi-
dent : But he has told us that when he quitted
you, he made a division of the property
,which
belonged to you in common as man and wife.—
Wife : Did he ? He carried of all the furniture,
and all my effeets, and left me with our three chil-
dren—if that is what he calls a division of property
—The prisoner herc exclaimed—" Anastasia, you en-
joyed my esteem, but you have forfeited it from this
day !" The tribunal sentenced him as a vagabond to
three months' imprisonment and five years' surveillance
of the police.
A few evenings ago, says the National de l' Ouest,
a bright light in the house of M. Albourg, a banker
at Chateaubriand, attracted the attention of the
neighbours. His apartment was entered, and it was
discovered that his papers were burning on the hearth,
and that he was himself lying on the bed, his face
covered with a bolster, and perfectly motionless. On
removing the bolster a horrible spectacle presented it-
self, for M. AlboUrg had been murdered with blows
of a hammer on the head. It is supposed that he was
struck down whilst sitting in his chair, and that the
body was afterwards placed on the bed, and the mur-
der completed. No trace of the murderer has been
as yet discovered.
A violent storm, says the Memorial Agennais, burst
over Lusignan-Petit on the 28th ult. The electric
fluid fell on a windmill near St. Denis, and struck
down the son of the owner and a man-servant. The
former was after much care and violent frictions re-
stored to life, and hopes are entertained of his even-
tual recovery, but the servant was killed instanta-
taneously. The effects of the fluid were curious in
the two cases ; the nails were drawn from the boots
of the son of the miller, and the boots themselves
were torn from his feet, and thrown to a distance of
ten paces. His legs were as if struck with paralysis,
and the colour was like that of a dead body. The
servant's watch was completely perforated in the outer
case, which was of silver, leaving behind a greyish
powder between the two cases, whilst the inner case of
copper remained uninjured, and the movement was
not even stopped. The hair of this man's head was
completely burned off; his feet were sunk into the
ground, apparently in the direction which the electric
fluid had taken.

A species of gourd, known to botanists by the
name of cucurbita leucantha lagenaria, has this year
attained an extraordinary size at the Jardin de Plantes.
This plant, which assumes the form of a bottle pressed
cicsely in at the neck, and swelling out below, is 40
centimetres in diameter, and 60 in height. As it
stilh continues to grow, it is not . improbable that it
may reach half a metre in diameter, and two-thirds
in height.
A letter from Mostaganem, Aug. 24, in the Con-
stitutionnel, has the following :—" General Changar-
nier having learned from spies that Abcbel-Kader had
appeared in the territorl of the Beni-Zug-Zug and
the Djendel, proceeded in haste to meet him. IVe
learn to-day that he fell in with the cavalry of the
Emir in a place callechthe Three Valleys, to the south
of Milianah, and the enemy, surprised by his sud-
den appearance, at once took to flight, leaving be-
hind, to the. mercy of our men, the worst mounted of
their troops, and their camp-equipage. A squadron of
the Ist Chasseurs pursued the enemy, but without
effect. The kalifas of the tribes which the Emir had
visited in the hope of exciting a rising in his favour,
came afterwards to pay their respects to General
Changarnier, and thank him for the aid he had af-
forded. The General assured them that, provided they
remained faithful, they might always reckon on the
same assistance. lle then made them presents in the
name of the Governor-General, and dismissed them.
The General remained in the neighbourhood six days,
living on provisions paid for most scrupulously, and
at last took his departure, escorted by an immense
'number of men and children. It is said that the bat-
talions of the Ist regiment of the line are to pass into
the Algiers division, and that no troops are to replace
them.- Some say that even Toulon is to be their place
of destination. This would be a great error, as thereby
the tribes would be left to the mercy o the En*,

The construction of the public roads is urged on with
activity, and that between Mostaganem and Arzew is
already ih a forward state. We shall soon receive
convoys from Oran hi twelve hours,"