The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-10 00:00:00

STEAM NAVIGATION IN THE

PACIFIC.

The progress of steam nvigation in the Pacific
Ocean, set on foot by the enterprise of British mer-
chants, and calculated to be of so much service to
this country, is shown in some interesting correspon-
dence lately received. In addition to the coal mines
previously worked, further supplies have been ob.
tamed from the Island of Amortaj ado, where a light-
house is in course of erection. Nothing can be more
likely to promote tranquillity among the republics of
South America than a good system of coasting com-
munication, such as steamers afford. 1
The following letter relates to the discovery of coal
at Santa Clara :
" P.S.N.C. steamer Chile, Guayaquil, N0v.1841.
" TO VINCENTE ROCAFUERTE, ESQ., GOVERNOR, &C.
" Sir,—l have the honour to inform you that after
embarking the lighthouse frames, iron work, lantern,
&c., on a balsa, we took it in tow in the Guayas (a
small steamer intended for navigation of the river of
fiuyaquil), and proceeded to the island of Santa Clara
(or Amortajado), where we arrived on the evening of
Sunday last, and with very great difficulty, owing to
a heavy surf, succeeded in landing everything by
l‘londay night.
" Having superintended laying the foundation,
I proceeded in the Guayas to the Payana Shoals,
leaving the prosecution of the work in the hands of
Captain Rojas and Mr. Girdon ; and during 'Tuesday
laid down a black buoy, bearing a staff and ball,
.f.fteen feet high, off the extremity to the outermost
and most projecting spit, the position of which,
together with that of the lighthouse and the other
buoys, I beg to hand you herewith annexed. We
anchored otf Mr. Cope's house, at Punta Espanola, on
Tuesday evening, completed our water for the use of
the island, and took off the two white buoys left here
by Captain Rojas, in the Diligencia, by midnight.
the following morning I visited the top of the
Cerro Mala, in company with Mr. Cope, to observe
-tile best stations for telegraphs, and to examine the
nature of this part of the island of Puna geologi-
cany ; and from what I saw and examined I am led to
believe that coal exists there. 1 have pointed out to Mr.
pe the spot I consider the most likely to find a
vein, which that gentleman intends searching for
without loss of time. The best places for telegraph
stations I have enumerated in the appendix.
" 1 take this opportunity of stating that I consider
Punta Espanola a place well adapted for steamers or
other Vessels getting supplies of fuel and water, which
are of the best description, and a wharf or mole may
,be easily constructed.
" We left Punta Espanola on Wednesday at two
p.m., and placed one white buoy on the N.E. spit of
the shoal (called in Spanish Bajo Mala), and then
iroceeded to look for the shoal said to exist off Punta
_ krennas, which after much trouble, time, and pa-
t fence, we had the good fortune to find, and laid down
the other white buoy off its S.E. extremity. This is
a very dangerous shoal, and I should strongly recom-
mend that whenever an opportunity offers a balsa
.should be moored on the spot the buoy now occupies,
marrying a light elevated 50 or 60 feet above the
level of the sea, and the buoy removed to the middle
of the Mala Shoal. I should likewise recom-
,-uend that a black buoy should as soon as possible
be• placed on the spit of the shoal lying off the mouth
bt. _Bala° river ; one also on the shoal lying 1
mil's E. of Punta 'Mandinga (or Puna Bluff), which is
sointstimes dry, and another black buoy close to the
west side of the sunken rock laying off Punta Piedra,
which would complete the navigation of this noble
river, and render it safe and secure. Whenever the
trade of the port shall warrant it, a revolving light
on Punta Mandinga (or Puna Bluff) would be very
serviceable to lead vessels up to Puna in the night.
" We returned to the Island of Santa Clara, or
Amortajado, on Thursday morning ; and at five p. m.,
the frames being all up, we had the honour to drink
your Excellency's health, and success to the repub-
of Ecuador; and the flag of the nation being at the
same moment unfurled from the top of the lighthouse
it was immediately saluted by the guns of the schooner
of war Diligencia. The light will be permanently
lit on the Ist of December next.
" As all our energies have been directed to the
erection of the lighthouse, which to carry to the top
of the hill was a work of great labour, no search has
been yet made for the vein of coal or water; but I
beg herewith to hand you further specimens of what
I procured from a stratum of carbonaceous schist last
evening, about 100 feet above the level of the sea ;
and 1 set four men to sink a pique (shaft) before I
came away, in a spot I think likely to strike the vein.
" I have much pleasure in stating that I have re-
ceived ,the greatest assistance from Capt. Doyle,
Capt. Rojas, and Mr. Gordon ; and I have the
himour to be your Excellency's most obedient servant
(Signed) " GEORGE PEACOCK."
To which the subjoined reply was received
(Translation.)

Letter from Dr. Vicente Rocafuerte to George Pea-
cock, Esq., Commander of the steamer Chile, and
Second Superintendent of the Pacific Steam Navi-
gation Company in the Pacific.
" Guayaquil, Nov. 1841.
" Aluch-esteemed Sir,—lt has afforded me great
pleasure to receive the communication you have been
pleased to address to me, under date of the 10th inst.,
furnishing me with a detailed and minute account of
the voyage which, at my suggestion, you had the
goodness to undertake to the island of Amortajado,
lo the purpose of there erecting a lighthouse. In
that voyage you have not only realised but even
..exceeded our most sanguine hopes; for you have
resolved the problem, that on our coast coal
is to be found, being the only obstacle that
timid and unenterprising minds have opposed to
the .successful result of steam navigation in the
Pacific. I give you my most cordial congratulations
for so important a discovery, and, should you have
. ime to explore our territory, I feel assured that your
-ta lent, in conjunction with your enlightened activity,
wia meet with new objects worthy of the considera-
oun of the wise English, and probably conducing
snore to facilitate steam navigation.
The samples of coal you have brought from the
laiarui, and which you have had the polite attention
to send to me, have appeared very excellent to all
those avainted with the matter, who have examined
them ; and as no doubt now exists that this mineral
is to be met with in the island of Amortajado, we
ft. "1 assured that it is also to be found in the adjacent
of. La Puna, and that it will likewise be met
island of Santa Elena, as well as on the
with is.' the
coast of &:713c'e°-
...r n; vself that by following your suggestions
tiatt.
we shall fresh water in the island. The yerba
de
salvage, 0f dye-lichen, you have sent to me is like-
wise of a ver v good quality. With regard to the
-uano, we shall,e;. amine it, and see what it is. At all
*
efro ents, as far as are concerned, it is a new article
mwhich we may derive some commercial adran-

tap's.
_lt is a fortunate circumstance to have discovered
the ooal mine whilst seeking out the most favourable
spot en. erecting a lighthouse ; and this new discovery
eviderray proves the correctness of the calculations
that have served asa basis for executingthe noble and
magnificent undertaking of steam navigation in the
:Pacific, and further contributes to ensure the
11,•ture interests of the Company, and to favour the
gress of commerce and science in general. The
estt, b lishrnent of steam navigat;,on in the Pacific, secure
as it now is, is in effect to have 13;:ought by the route
of the Isti, mus of Panama, Europe anal America close
to each °the:* ; and to have placed the secret treasures
and wonders a nature in this part of the new world
under the view And direct investigation of the savans
of Europe.
" I shall avail myself of all the observations you
have had the goodness to make for the purpose of cor-
recting the defects of the Guayas, and putting her,
s you recommend, in good sailing order, This is
other important service you have rendered us; and
it i I particularly aKreeable to me to acknowledge that,
~to the arrival of the steamer Chile in this river,
vry day that you and Mr. Wheelwright have re-
m wined with us has been marked by some act of public
u :ility---thanks to the talent, zeal, and firmness of
both of you in promoting the advantages of this river
navigation. We shall be indebted to you for the erec-
tion of the lighthouse, the discovery of coal in the
island of Amortajado, the finding of the dye-lichen,
And the guano ; and, in fine, for the new method of
buoys, invented by you for avoiding the river shoals.
"Guided by the purest sentiments of gratitude
towards you, and entertaining ardent wishes for your
individual good fortune, and the prosperity of the
,Pacific Steam Navigation Company, I have the
honour to subscribe myself, your most faithfu ser-
vant and devoted friend,
(Signed) " V. ROCAFITERTE."
In a pecuniary point of view it is satisfactory to
find that the English have not embarked their capital
n promoting steam navigation on the Pacific without
a prospect of a profitable return, which is shown in
' following extract from the log of the -Chile, for
pft -ember, 1841
.‘. Dec. 27th.----Left Callao with 86 passengers, and
35,0c0 dollars.
f.a.th.—At 6 a.m.,, anchored at Pico, landed 33
pmsertg•ers, took on board 56 packages, and sailed
igam at 2 a.m.
•• 30th—At 6 a.m. anchored at Islay, landed 21
.sengers and 165 packages ; took on board 9 pas-
sey';is -era, 150 packages, and 3,000 dollars, and sailed at
pat '•
44 m:st—At 6 a.M. arrived off Arica, landed 8 pas-
sengers And 133 packages; took on board 10 passen-
. 145 packages, and 500 dollars, and sailed at
rat 10 p.m.
an, Ist—At 9 a.m. anchored at Iquique, landed
6 passevrs, 76 package 4, and 14,000 dollars • took
.
bw,i3 passengers, 11 package, and 2,520 dollars,
sage again at noon.
' 2cl.—At 6 a.m. anchored at Cobija, landed 3
Pas-
emters and 101 packages ; took on board 1 package,
sailed again at 1 p.m.
,„1 42
,dollaro, and 3 paasengem ;

" 4th—At 4 a.m. anchored at Copiapo, landed I
passenger, and took on board 17, 8 packages, 8,567
marks of silver, and 1,500- dollars; sailed again at
10 a.m.

"At 6 p.m. anchored at Huasco ; took on board
twenty-one passengers and 2,999 marks of silver ; and
sailed at 9 p.m.
" sth—At 10 a.m. anchored at Coquimbo; landed
four packages ; took on board twelve passengers, 146
packages, and ten tons of coal; and sailed at 10 p.m.
"7th—At 6 a.m. arrived off the Light-house of
Valparaiso, having been eight days at sea, and two
and a half in port.
" 10th—Proceeded to Talcahuano to coal, and re-
turned to Valparaiso on the 17th.
21st—Left Valparaiso at 3 p.m., with fifty-two
passengers, 1,590 packages, thirty tons of coal beyond
what was required for her consumption, a large
quantity of baggage, 30,000 dollars in specie, and
2,000 letters.
" Jan. 22—Arrived at Coquimbo at 2 30 p.m. ;
landed 6 passengers, 5 bales, and 986 dollars; re-
ceived on board 10 passengers, 13 bales, and 6,900
dollars ; left at 5 30 in the evening.
" 23d—At 7 a.m. arrived at Huasco ; landed 19
passengers, 6 bales, and 1,725 dollars, and left at
930 a.m. At 6 p.m. of the same day arrived at Co-
piapo ; landed 18 passengers and 42 packages ; took
on board 2 passengers and 5 packages ; and sailed
again at 9 15 p.m.
" 25th—Arrived at 4 p.m. at Cobija ; landed 1 pas-
senger and 45 bales ; and sailed again at 9 p.m.
" 26th—At 3 p.m. arrived at Iquique ; landed 1
passenger, 69 packages, and 30,940 dollars ; took on
board 2 passengers; and sailed at 5 p.m.
" 27th—At 7 a.m. arrived at Arica, and found the
port blockaded by the Peruvian corvette Yungay,
and were prohibited from approaching the coast, or
landing a single passenger, bale, or letter ; proceeded
for Ylo, and arrived there at 7 30 p.m. ; landed 6
passengers, 319 packages, and 8,620 dollars ; and at
45 a.m. on the 28th continued our voyage.
28th—At 45 minutes past noon arrived at Islay ;
landed 6 passengers and 230 packages ; took on board
41 passengers, 41 packages, and 27,800 dollars ; and
sailed at 8 30 p.m.
" 29th—Saw Port Lomas, but did not communicate.
" 30th—Soon after midnight arrived at Pisco';
took on board 17 passengers and 30 packages, and
sailed at 4 p.m.
" 31st—Arrived at Callao at 8 a.m., and landed 94
passengers.
" The gross receipts of the round voyage, performed
in 35 days including all stoppages, amounted to nearly
18,000 dollars.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH
COUN TIES.

Dr. Fuller's remarks on our English counties,
scattered up and down the pages of his " Worthies,"
are no less quaint than characteristic in their ex-
pression. A few of them brought together may not
prove unamusing to our country friends.
NORTHAMPTONSELRE.—This county has as little
waste ground as any inbEngland, except the Whiter-
ing-heath, which, nevertheless, is a beauty-spot.
Northamptonshire has, therefore, been described as an
apple, without core to cut out, or rind to be peeled
away.
iNTORTHUMBERLAIND.—With regard to buildings,
there are few fabrics here ; the vicinity of the Scots
made them build not for state, but strength. Where-
fore it was the rule with the houses of the gentry to
be " Quot mansions, tot munitiones," as being all
castles, or castle-like.

BRISTOL.—More truly named Bright-Stow, that is,
illustrious, or bright dwelling.
SUFFOLK.—Excellent cheeses are made herein, the
finest of which are very thin, as if intended not for
food, but digestion ; the Cambridge men are fond of
them, and scholars' palates are by no means incompe-
tent judges.
SURREY.—This county has been compared to a
cinnamon tree, whose bark is better than its body ; so
the skirts and borders bounding this shire are rich and
fruitful, whilst the grounds in the interior are rather
barren.

SUSSEX.—The iron of this county formerly made
many great guns : Count Gondomar entreated King
James to let him export them, knowing their excellence.
LINCOLNSHIRE.—This county is, in shape, like a
a bent bow. The sea making the back ; the rivers
Welland and Humber, the two horns of it, while
Trent hangs down from the latter like a broken
string, as being somewhat of the shortest.
WESTMINSTER.—This city was anciently called
Thorney, and afterwards West-minster, for distinction
from St. Paul's, called, in ancient times, East-minster.
NORFOLK.—This county has the most churches
of any in England, amounting to six hundred and
sixty.
RirrLminsuntx.—There is a fable relating to this
county of King Rott, and a conceit that it is named
Rutland from Roet, the French word for a wheel,
its shape being nearly orbicular. Others say it is so
termed, as if Red-land, for a red tincture discolours
the earth, stones, and even the fleeces of the sheep
feeding there.
SOMERSETSIIIRE.—Some say that it derives its
name from its pleasant and equable temperature, and
is so called from its summer-ish nature; but it is named
from Summerton, the most ancient town in the
county. _ _

WiRWICKSHIRE.-It has been said, no less truly
than merrily, of this 4hire, that "it is the heart, but
not the core of England," since it has nothing coarse
or choaky therein.
_ _

WESTMORELAND.—" Here" says the giant Topo-
grapher, " is cold comfort from nature, but somewhat
of warmth from industry. That the land is barren,
is God's pleasure : the people painful, their praise."
WILTSHIRE.---A pleasaut country, and of great
variety. A wise man once said of it, that an ox left
to himself would, of all England, live in the north ;
a sheep in the south ; and a man, in the middle, be-
twixt both.

DEVONSHIRE.-----Of the gentry of this goodly pro-
vince, Queen Elizabeth used to say, " they were all
born courtiers, with a becoming difdence."
ESSEX.—The parts adjoining the sea are called the
" Hundreds of Essex," and are fruitful in cattle. The
wits of the county much astonish strangers with the
stock of poor people in these parts, five hundred cows,
nine hundred sheep, which are, indeed, but five cows
and nine sheep, in this part called " the Hundreds."
BERKSHIRE.— Anciently this county is said to
have borne the name of Barkshire, and was so called
from a stripped or bark-bared oak, to which signal-
place the people repaired in time of trouble to make
their general defence:_.

BEDFORDSHIRE.--The barley of this county has
beyond the memory of man been noted as white,
large, plump, and full of flowers.
BUCK INGIIAMSRIRE.—Buckingham, the chief town,
after which the shire is named, derives itself from
beeches (in the Saxon tongue, buccen), growing
plentifully in this country. One asked, when beech
would make the best timber, meaning what season of
the year was best to cut it down for that purpose : it
was answered that " beech would make the best
timber, when no oak was to be had," a time which
will some day befal us.
CHESHIRE.—Named from its cheeses. Here the
hardiest kine make the tenderest cheese.

CORNWALL.—This county has its name from its
horn-shape, cornu, and from the inhabitants, wall
meaning strangers, for the inhabitants of the county
were so reputed by their neighbours.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE.—Some say that this shire was
anciently the most fruitful portion of all England;
and they say now that such • is the fertility of the soil
near Slimbridge, that in spring-time, let it be bit
bare to the roots, a wand laid there overnight will be
covered with new-grown grass by the morning.
lIERTFORDSHIRE.—This has been accounted the
garden of England for delight, and men commonly
said of it, that such as buy a house in Hertfordshire
pay two years purchase for the air thereof.
KENT.—The chief hop and cherry plantation of
England.
LINCOLNSHIRE.—The clergy were accustomed to
consider that they would have a Lincolnshire church,
as best built, a Lancashire parish, as largest bounded,
and a London audience, as consisting of the most intel-
ligent people.

-- _ _
MATRIMONIAL BALANCE.—AII American Paper
lately related the following anecdote:—" Not long since a
reverend clergyman in Vermont, being apprehensive that the
accumulated weight of snow upon the roof of his barn might
do some damage, was resolved to prevent it, by reason-
ably shovelling it off. He therefore ascended it, having
brat, for fear the snow might all slide off at once,
and himsfeelnif:din
fearing
iisvtthei
still
ftioht:e h i
if: other
eettdoy, . h, to ox
is
wyhi
dear,'
waistr iie
said one end
went , e
tient od
owforek,rob7t,
othffewroepent rthouensdnoywo: poor
riwar
ministerst.No sooner had
andshe dwoennettishiis wife.s,than
delia;:9
in majesty
Ina hung,jes
ty but
sublime, o n thedi
nogtihi
negr aiden isdhun gh danglingi sw
at
Thus on one side of the barn the astounded and confounded
hhei highend
a and
thempa.,7r,infigrl:yc,adoeipivse.—redll e haf rvoemhtandi s
aperilous si
opportunityt uit t i situation." n .
the rope. At that moment, however, a gentleman luckily
accurately, within the last three
'o'f exa-
Tyrone, and Armagh. Wheat, every.
waleinekinsf thdrioeufcliroopust,thperecttoyunties of Antrim, DeTry, Donegal,
il,' elleiljennatg;baani few heads, in ear, have been left at our
,F;ehrewrea,nagis e
office, from the lower ground of Killead, bordering on Lough
Neagh, which is clay ground. The wheat foliage is luxuriant,
and the ground well covered. The Oat crop is very uneven,
partial failures being observable everywhere. This failure is
attributed to the operations of a grub on the young roots. We
planted
have seen many fields re-sown with Italian grass-seeds ; and,
in many instances, late turnips have beets where oats
had been sown. We have heard of failures in the potatoe crop ;
although the early state of the crop will not allow us to pro-
nounce a decided opinion on the subject. Flax,
everywhere,
looks well; and, in Monaghan, great quantities are sown.,_
The Northern Whip ($e fast paper) of Tuesday,
SURRENDER OF A lirsjsAtipe—The extraordinary
scene of a wife surrendering her heakattd to justice took place
in the Hull Police .Court on Monday week, were James 1/11P-
son was charged by Frances, his wife, with being a deserter
from the 17th Foot. The Magistrates refused to take her evi-
dence. Police Inspector Coulham, however, had been in the
same regiment, and knew the primer to be a deserter; he was
therefore detained, and informa.t}op sent to the Horse Guards.
—York Colorant,

INCOME-TAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE Aviv:

SIR— I perceive the Bill for the Income-tax is to
be read a third time on .Monday next. If ever you,
Sir, and other:portions of the public press, deserved
well of the people, it has been in your unwearied and
talented endeavours to rouse them to an opposition of
this pernicious and impolitic tax ; and if ever the
people showed themselves unworthy of their best
friends, and careless of their real interests, it has been
in their apathy to the imposition of this most grievous
burden.

But among the evils which you have proved belong
to this tax, I hardly think you have sufficiently in-
sisted upon the inequality of it. Admitting that it is a
sound principle in all taxation, that every individual
of a nation should in some way or other bear a pro-
portionate share of every tax, what becomes of the
equality and justice of an Income-tax, that falls
upon hardly more than 300,000 persons, not a
seventeenth part of the whole population ? and this is
pretty well confirmed by Sir Robert Peel's declara-
tion, that by his plan of laying on this tax, one-fourth
of the property of the whole empire would be exempt
from the burden.

But the inequality, Sir, is not only in the compa-
ratively small number of the people that must bear
the tax, but in the difference of their circumstances as
regards the application of the national revenue. To
the aristocratic and the upper classes in general, the
army, the navy, and the church, are all open, and
when we consider these departments distribute about
21 millions of money, it is not difficult to perceive how
those classes are preserved from the weight of the
Income-tax, or why they bear the prospect of it with
such meek and becoming fortitude. But upon the
middle classes this tax must fall with merci-
less and unmitigated force. They have no-
where to turn but to their counter and their
counting-house, and these are orbits too mean
and contracted for any of the vast interests
before alluded to, unless by an occasional ec-
centric cause, ever to circulate in. And yet the
tradesmen are in many instances regarding this tax
with complaisance, good easy souls !
" Pleased to the last they crop their flow'ry food,
And lick the hand just raised to shed their blood."
Nor is the evil past here. The Income-tax is ob-
viously meant to prop up monopoly. Not that I con-
sider that to be its real design, but it is certainly one
of its accidental evils. Driven by the stern and ter-
rible necessity of national exigencies, Government
must have abolished monopolies, if only upon the
principle of trying every legitimate means of national
wealth, had not the scheme of an Income-tax been
feasible ; and as the inequality of such a tax is, upon
the grounds I have stated, made tolerable to the up-
per classes, there is great reason to fear that it will be
continued or increased, and thus stave off most suc-
cessfully the general demand for the abolition' of
monopolies.
And what, Sir, will be the effect of this tax when it
comes fiilly into operation ? By sustaining monopo •
lies, it will narrow the source of national wealth,
while by contracting the means of the monied portion
of the community, it will proportionally diminish
trade. 'With two such eating evils, what is to be the
fate of a nation that is propped up under Provi-
dence by the two great pillars of commerce
and Constitution ? The prospect is too terrible to
look upon, and the only question that must occur to
any mind is, for what object could this tax have been
proposed. Some may have a different opinion, but
this is mine. It was proposed for no other purpose
than to divide the people among themselves, and thus
stay the progress of reform. Why was Ireland, in
the first place, carefully exempted from this tax ? Why,
purely to disarm O'Connell and his party; and has not
the plan in that particular answered ? Again, why
were the lower classes altogether exempted ? Why,
to reconcile them to Tory administration, and buy
them off the pursuit of Universal Suffrage. And has
not this end been answered ? Substantially it has.
Their tone against a Conservative Government is
wonderfully lowered, and they are willing to relax
their efforts, provided their burdens are shifted to other
shoulders. But what, Mr. Editor, is going on all this
time ? Why the decay of patriotism, the growth of
selfishness, and the application of a principle of taxa-
tion that is most outrageously unjust. I trust,
therefore, Sir, you will stand your ground to the
last, you will confirm us in the golden
opinions that your conduct has conceived for you, and
you will find some return for your sound and patriotic
views in the universal suffrage of your countrymen.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
May 29.

CAMELS.
(From the Bombay Times.)
We have within the last three months had constant
occasion to notice the enormous difficulty of procuring
camels, at present experienced in Scinde and on the
Sutlej—wherever, in tact, we chance to require their
services in moving our armies. We formerly stated that
the destruction of these invaluable animals, betwixt
November, 1838, and November, 1841, must have
amounted to above 50,000, and we gave the details of
43,400, ascertained to have been destroyed. We observe
it stated by a Peshawur Correspondent of the Delhi
Gazette, that the force under General Pollock will re-
quire a supply of at least 30,000, and he probably is not
greatly above the mark, though we, in our own specula-
tions, have assumed one-third of this to be sufficient for the
present. Thirty thousand camels moving in a single
string—as they must do along "the gallery near Ali
Musjid, similar to the well-known passes of the Simplon,
where a road of 12 feet wide traverses for two miles along
the face of the rock, the lofty mountain rising like a wall
on one 4ide, and a fearful precipice yawning on the
other ;"* or the chasms and defiles of Khoord Caubul—
will form a string of animals 66 miles long. Where they
are to be found in the first place, or how in the second
they are to be protected, it seems impossible to divine ;
but these are not the points on which we are at present
about to enter—General Pollock must see to them.
Camels will carry a load of 4001b5., but that which is
generally imposed on them rarely exceeds 300Ibs. They
are unfit for use until six years old, though of late much
younger animals than this have been pressed into the
service. If a load of above 1001bs. or 1501bs. be im-
posed on them, they are very quickly destroyed. Until
the pressure which has of lute become prevalent began
to be experienced, she camels were rarely used any•
where as beasts of burden. In Scinde and Beloochistan
in particular, no labour of any sort was ever assigned to
them. Of late, they have, like the males, been pressed
into the service ; and mothers with young, or with a
suckling at their side, may now be seen trudging along
with the rest.

We have already extinguished nearly one third of the
male camel population in these parts ; and we are now
ousily engaged in annihilating the hopes of a future
generation. All these things are formidable enough,
and sufficiently fraught with danger in themselves ; but
we have as yet looked to the destruction of these in-
valuable creatures only as mischievous inasmuch as it
annihilates our military carriage, and clogs and arrests
the movements of our armies. But war, however pro-
tracted, must at length have an end. When our armies
retire on India, the drain of camels will cease : the in-
convenience experienced from the difficulty of obtaining
them, now so injurious to our movements, will then
come to a close. But here the evils occasioned by the
mischief already done only begin to be felt. The
camel has been well called the " ship of the desert :"
lie is the only beast of burden who can travel over
the arid tracts which skirt the whole north-west of
India from Goozerat to Delhi. Destroy this means of
conveyance, and no substitute can be found for it.
The merchant navy of the interior is annihilated, and,
unlike the restoration of artificial vehicles, its replace-
ment cannot be accelerated, and must be the work of
time. Thus at once, by our military operations beyond
the Indus, is extinguished the means and the poss;bility
of trafficing in the interior within the Indus. The up-
country merchants cannot purchase from us ; should
they desire to do so, they find that we have stripped
them of the means of carrying their purchases away.
According to Charles Masson's returns ( Times, July 24,
1841), there were 6,500 camel loads of goods annually
imported into Affghanistan from India and the Punjaub
!adore the outbreak of the war. This Commerce must
for the present in a great measure cease, just because we
have destroyed their beasts of burden, by means of which
alone the transport of goods could be effected. But
simultaneously with this we have thrown unbounded
wealth into the hands of the Affghans—riches of which
their wildest imagination never dreamed ; that a
large proportion of this will for the present be
hoarded up, according to immemorial usage, cannot
be disputed. The wants of the Affghans are few and
very simple ; but still such as they are, with the usual
sources of supply cut off from them by the suicidal
hands of those who annihilated, while they pro-
fessed to labour to increase their commercial inter-
course, and, with the means of choosing another mar-
ket, how are we to wonder at the statement of Sir Alex.
Burnes, that the trade of Russia with Central Asia has
doubled within the last two years ? Why, in two years
more, it would be no marvel should it double again. It
will take a generation to draw out from its receptacles
the wealth we have flung around us. We seem now
labouring with all our might to prevent its ever re-
turning to India. Russia never yet produced a states-
ahni(sl sande-.
inlabhoeurresedrsvoicehaards
,Lsoordsystematically
d ‘2lllllf 1 lhyo
• isers have done. If there be wealth, or honour, or
gratitude at the Court of Nicholas, they ought to be
heaped by the hands of the now triumphant Czar, in
boundless profusion, on the heads of those who have
bestowed on him all his victories—who have, of their
own accord, surrendered the armies, the riches, and the
power of India voluntarily into his hands !

* We have employed the words of Captain Havelock, vol.
2, page 183 ; and Hough, and Fane, and 11loorcroft, and the
o►her writers who have traversed the pass, speak in exactly the
same terms of it.

THE BATHING SEASON IN HYDE PARK.—Never
during any previous season has the bathing in the Serpentine
river, Hyde Park, been so numerously attended as during the
present, scarcely less than from 7,000 to 8,000 persons having
for the last three or four days daily immersed themselves, and
so crowded has the water bean, that nothing but the strenous
and unremitting exertions of the boatmen of the Royal Humane
Society has prevented the loss of life. There have, however,
been sevep most narrow escapee from drowning,
At the expiration of two years from the introduc-
tion of the Penny Postage, Mr. Rowland Hill's engagement
with the Government will have expired. That gentleman,
however, will still be retained at his present salary, and will
have apartments fitted up in St. Martin's-le-Grand,