The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-07 00:00:00

CATARACTS OF THE NILE.

Extracted from the Original AL S. Journal of J. S. Buck-
ingham, Esq.

DECEMBER 12, 1813.--Descending the
Nile, after penetrating by its stream into Nubia,
we approached the Island of Philoe from the
southward, by a brilliant moon-light, and its
effect was magically picturesque—it was more
than splendid, and bordering on enchantment.
I had lain for hours on my mat, rolled in a rough
burnoose, or Arab cloak, turning in vain to seek
a moment's repose, and suffering the most excru-
ciating torment from the burning inflammation of
my eyes, which had for several days been closed
up by a severe opthalmia. I opened them for
the first time since the commencement of the
attack, upon this scene of magnificence in decay,
and such was the force of the impression which
this inimitable picture made upon my delighted
senses, that I could bear to look upon it steadily
—though before, the faintest ray of light was
agonizing. In thinking of those dear friends at
home who would sympathise equally in my
pleasures and my pains, and listen to the recital
of the one with as strong a degree of interest as
to the other, how did I regret the impossibility
of conveying to them a perfect impression of all
I now saw before me. flow did I lament the
inadequacy of language to tell the sensations
of this solitary hour. I know nothing short of
their presence for which I would have exchanged
them.

We liaci.been,coastipg aloes- a shore as barren
as 'the minds of those who people it, between
mountains whose aspects were as wild and ste-
rile as the inhabitants were destitute and savage ;
and stunned with the discordant yellings of the
harshest boat-songs, which the rocks re-echoed
t‘rom their solitary caves ; when in a moment, as
if by fairy transportation, on turning the sharp
PPgie of the eastern point, Philoe .:as before•tts.
I had heard the crew exclaim, " Shel-
lall ! The Cataract ! The Cataract !" and when
I rose to join in the congratulation on our ar-
rival, the song was ceased, the rowers hung
on their suspended oars, and we glided
down the stream, without a sound, without
a murmur even of its waves to break the
stillness that reigned. The sudden calm
the amazing contrast, the zenith moon, the mid-
night hour, the surrounding scenery amidst
which this enchanting isle was enveloped, all
gave a charm to the picture which no pencil
could pourtray, and which must be witnessed
and felt to be at all conceived. When we had
reached within about two hundred yards of the
southern point, the boat was moored to the shore,
that we might again enjoy its beauties at sunrise ;
and the interval of our stay here, tedious as it
would have been under any other circumstances,
was to me an interval of contemplative pleasure.
The ages of primitive simplicity, the infancy of
art, its meridian perfection, and subsequent de-
cay, seemed to pass before me in review ; and
attractive, by the colossal monuments
though the glory. of Egyptian power is almost
seemed destined to tell the latest remnant
which
bstibly
of posterity the omnipotence of its reign, and by
the indestructibility of its massy works, ensure
immortality of their founders ; though the
thbewilderede faculties of the astonished beholder
compel him to yield a tribute of admiration, yet
it must be confessed their glory is obscured, and
its brilliance tarnished by a conviction of the
Theocratic tyranny by which it must have been
upheld. The question consequently suggests it-
self, what could have been the basis of that re-
ligion, whose chief and ever present deity was
priapus, to whose honour the oldest, the largest,
and the most splendid temples were dedicated ;
iiihose treasures and resources were infinite ;
sanctuaries were dark and mysterious ;
precepts and duties were sacrifices and
offerings ; whose Isis was a young and lovely fe-
wwhho ossee
fe-
male, the typic parent of the Grecian Venus ;
on whose walls the Phallus was constantly re-
presented ; and where the embraces of beauty,
the delicacies of feasts, and the fascinations of
music, were numbered amongst the highest and
most frequently repeated enjoyments. That this
was a popular and powerful religion few would
doubt ; but when we ask whether piety or plea-
sure was its basis, there seems to be but one re-
ply.—.. London Weekly Review.

Thursday, a gentleman, who had a handsome
gold watch upon the race-course, being rather
alarmed for the safety of his property, placed it
beneath the cushion of his carriage. It seems,
however, that some of the " light-fingered gentry"
had observed this caution, and quickly ab-
stracted the prize from its concealment, with
which they made off, thereby creating great
consternation in the mind of the plundered
party, and unusual activity among the police.—
neighbouringnring the day,villa
village to Winchcomb, saw two mena countryman walking from a
of gentlemanly appearance very busy among some
furze bushes, about two miles from the Race
Course, towards which they afterwards returned :
he being curious to ascertain their occupation
there, examined the spot, and found, to his as-
tonishment, a square hole neatly dug, and covered
with turf, in which were a handsome gold watch,
chain, and seals. He immediately repaired to
the races, and published his discovery, which
soon produced the owner, who rewarded him with
five guineas for his honesty.—Bath Chronicle.

NAVAL PRIZE-MONEY.

(From the London Gazette of last night.)

At the Court at St. James's, the 30th day of June, 1827,
present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council ;
Whereas there was this day read at the Board a
memorial from his Royal Highness the Lord High
Admiral, dated the 4th of June instant, in the words
following, viz.: Whereas by various Orders in
Council, dated the seventeenth September one
thousand eight hundred and nineteen, thirty-first
January one thousand eight hundred and twenty-
three, nineteenth January one thousand eight
hundred and twenty.four, twenty-third June one
thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, and second
February one thousand eight hundred and twenty-
five, your Majesty was graciously pleased to
declare and direct in what manner and proportions
the rewards which, under the several Acts of Parlia-
ment at those respective periods in force, were payable
to the officers, petty officers, and seamen of your
Majesty's Navy, and to the officers; non commis-
sioned officers and privates of the Royal Marines,
for the apprehension of persons offending against the
laws for the prevention of smuggling, and also the
rewards of seizures made under the same laws,
should be divided and distributed; and whereas the,
said Acts of Parliaments having since been repealed,
the Orders in Council before mentioned have become
inoperative ; and whereas by an Act, passed in the
6th year of your Majesty's reign, cap. 108, intituled,
" An Act for the prevention of Smuggling," certain
other rewards are established and directed to be paid
and allowed to any officer or other person detaining
any person liable to detention, under that or any.
other Act relating to your Majesty's Revenue of
Customs, and in respect of the produce of seizures
made under such Acts, which rewards respectively
are thereby directed to be paid, divided, and distri-
buted (so far as respects your Majesty's Navy and
Royal Marines) to and amongst the officers, petty
officers, and seamen of your Majesty's Navy, and
the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates
of Royal Marines acting under the orders of the
Lord High Admiral, or any Commissioners for
executing the office of Lord High Admiral, in such
proportions, and according to such rules, regulations,
and orders, as your Majesty shall, by your Order or
Orders in Council, or by your Royal Proclamation
in that behalf, be pleased to direct and appoint : I
beg leave, therefore, most humbly to submit whether

your Majesty will not be graciously pleased to revoke
the several Orders above mentioned, and, by your
Order in Council, to establish, declare, and
direct that from henceforth the several re-

wards which, under the laws now or hereafter to be

in force for the prevention of smuggling, are or shall
be payable to the officers, petty officers, and seamen
of your Majesty's Fleet, and to the officers, non-
commissioned officers, and privates of Royal Marine
acting under my orders, or under the orders of the
Lord High Admiral, or of any Commissioners for
executing the office of Lord High Admiral of your
Majesty's Linked Kingdom for the time being, as
well for the detention of offenders against those
laws, as for seizures made under the same (except
in the several cases cases hereinafter mentioned, as
to those persons stationed and employed on shore in
the prevention of smuggling, and acting under my
orders, or those of the Lord High Admiral, or Com-
missioners as aforesaid, and for which especial pro-
vision is hereinafter proposed to be made) shall be
divided and distributed in the proportions, and ac-
cording to the regulations set forth and expressed in
the following scheme, viz.:—
The amount of such rewards and produce of
seizures so respectively payable as aforesaid to be
divided into eight equal parts.
The captain or captains of any of your Majesty's
ships, and the commander or commanders of any of
your Majesty's ships or sloops of war, or the officer
or officers respectively commanding such ships or
sloops of war, who shall have been actually on board
at the time of any such detention or seizure, shall
have three of the said eighth parts. But in cases
where captains and commanders shall be present to-
gether at any such detention or seizure, the said
three-eighth parts shall be so divided as that the
captain or captains shall receive double the amount
of the share or shares of the commander or com-
manders. And if such ships or sloops shall be un-
der the command of a flag or flags, the flag-officer
or flag-officers so commanding shall have one of the
said three-eighths, and the remaining two-eighths ,
shall be divided in such proportion as that the
captain or captains shall, in like manner, have double
the amount of the share or shares of the commander
or commanders.

The sea lieutenants, captains of marines, and land
forces, serving as marines, and the master on board,
shall have one-eighth part to be equallydivided amongst
them.

The lieutenants and quartermasters of marines,
and lieutenants and ensigns, and quartermasters o
land forces serving as marines, secretaries of admi-
rals or of commodores of the first class (such secre-
taries being present at the seizure), second mas-
ters, chaplains, pursers, surgeons, surgeons' assist.
ants, gunners, boatswains, and carpenters, who shall
be on board, shall have one-eighth part to be equally
divided amongst them.

The first class of petty officers, namely—mates,
midshipmen, masters' assistants, secretaries' clerks,
captains' clerks, schoolmasters, masters at arms, ad-
mirals, coxswains, armourers, caulkers, rope-makers,
sail-makers, gunners' mates, boatswains' mates, car-
penters' mates, ships' corporals, quartermasters,
captains' coxswains, coxswains of the launch, ships'
cooks, captains of the hold, captains of the forecastle.
pilots, serjeants of marines, and land forces if serving
as marines, shall have one-eighth part to be equally
divided amongst them.
The other two eighth parts of the seizure to be
divided into shares and distributed to the persons
composing the remaining part of the crew or crews
in the following proportions, viz. :

The second class of petty, officers, namely, coopers,
armourers' mates, caulkers' mates, sail-makers'
mates, captains of the foretop, captains of the main-
top, captains of the afterguard, captains of the
mast, yeoman of the signals, coxswains of pin-
naces, volunteers of the first and second classes, cor
porals of marines and of land forces if serving a,
marines, four shares each.

To the gunners' crew, carpenters' crew, sail-
makers' crew, coopers' crew, able seamen, yeomer.
of the store-rooms, ordinary seamen, drummers, pri-
vate marines, and other soldiers, if serving as marines,
three shares each.
To the cooks' mates, barbers, landsmen, admirals'
domestics, captains' stewards, pursers' stewards, and
all other ratings not above enumerated, except boys,
together with all passengers and other persons borne
as supernumeraries, and doing duty and assisting oi.
board (excepting officers acting by order, who are t(
receive the share of that rank in which they shall be
acting) two shares each.
And the boys of every description one share each.
Secondly,--In the cases of seizures made by the