Star.
London, England, 1830-07-02 00:00:00

SCINTILLA.

VEGETA/ILE Exile the north of F:
an excellent extract of the herbs used in soups and broths is
by boiling them slowly, with a sufficient quantity of salt,
afterwards evaporating the fluid. A little of this extract,
solved with gum arable, in hot water, is said to make
soup.

A few days ago, an agent for the Russian Govern-
ment left Hull for St. Petasburgh, with some beautiful
which he had purchased for the Emperor. Three of them
£1,400.

Baron Ferusac states that there are in Paris 500
persons who subsist chiefly on bread, and that an increase in
of this article, at the rate of one halfpenny per day, makes
once in the year of 9,125,000 francs.

A new game was introduced by some of the low black•
legs who attended at the late Ascot meeting, called "
Races." It consists of a race by as many balls of as
as there are players, the black one belonging to the keeper
table, which, some how or other, of course contrives to be
to reach the goal oftener than any of the rest.

SUPERSTITION.-It has been reported to his Dat
that one of the palaces, at the ancient Tartar capital, M
injured by time, and leaks during heavy rains. Repairs are there.
fore determined on but previously, the Imperial Astronomers are
requested to ascertain whether or not next year will be a lucky time
to undertake the repairs. If not; they must be deferred.—A Charm,
to be recited to Budha's mother : " Nan mo sat to nan San maon,
san po to ke to nan," ecc.—These sounds are as unintelligible to the
native Chinese, as to the English reader. But if any monk, or nun,.
shall repeat this Toloncking 800,000 times ; all the crimes they may
have committed uninterruptedly, through interminable past ages,
shall be annihilated, and leave no remnant. Wherever the devout
monk or nun may be, they shall have direct intercourse with Budha.
All supplies of wealth shall be completely according to their wishes.
In every future life, they shall be in the priesthood, maintainers of
the pure laws of Poosat, and for ever have a place in the human
heaven, never falling down to a lower grade of existence, but shall
be upheld and protected by the power of all the heavens.—ln do.
made life, thoae who will repeat this charm 100,000 or 700,000
times, shall never meet with any calamity, sickness, or vexation,
but in all they do, shall enjoy harmony and peace ; in their dreams
shall see Budha, nd all, even their most enormous crimes, shall be
completely annihilated, &c.

CHINESE SAYINGS.HO who mentally is not quick-
cored, and shisrp.sighitd, is unit foir a /Ling ; and he who cannot
be both blind and dsqf, when occasion requires, is unfit for public
business.—He who would farm, must seek a robust slave-man • and
be who would weave silk, must find a strong slave-woman ; this is
domestic econom.—ln national affairs, when about to declare war,
no monarch should consult with a (Pih meen shoo sang) white-faced
bookworm.

11. Kings x. 7th, " And they slew seventy persons,
and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to Jehu at Jesreel."—
This disgusting mode of gratifying a despot's revenge is still pie.
tised in China. From the most distant parts of the Empire, the
heads of traitors and rebels are sent to the Monarch. And the end
designed by hanging a whole dead body in iron chains formerly prac-
tised in England, is attempted in Ch, by suspending the crimi-
nal's head in a basket, or cage r the cage is made of wooden bars,
just large enough to contain the horrifying spectacle of a human
head severed from the body, corrupting, or corrupted. Official
people are deputed after execution, to carry these displays of severe
justice, to the place where the crime It hich induced the punishment,
was committed, and they are there hung up to be a warning to
others.

DIALECTS OF CIIINA.---In an empire so large, every
province of which is equal to a little kingdom, it Is natural to ex..
pent a variety of dialects. In this part of China, we meet with
three that are spoken extensively ; the Mandarin, the Canton, and
:the Fokien dialects. The Mandarin is the language of the Court,
of Goverament'officers, and of the learned, throughout the Empire.
llt is spoken by the people generally, in Peking, in Nanking, in
I It T.nen uen, and other provinces. There are considerable varieties
.in it. The reigning family of Tartan have introduced a Tartar.
Chinese pronunciation. They use eh soft fot k, so as to make the
;name of the capital of China Peiching, and sometimes Peitaing, in.
'stead of Pekin, or Peking. And there is a sort of cockney slang
(spoken by all those who inhabit the metropolis, which is imitated
Iby. the fashionable throughout the empire.—The Fukien dialect, or
that•spoken by the inhabitants of Fokien province, and by most of
the settlers on Java, and in the straits of Malacca, is very peculiar.
They not only pronounce the Chinese characters differently from
the Mandarin tongue, but have a number of peculiar words and
phrases. Mr. 3lediturst, an English missionary on Java, who
speaks Chinese admirably, has written a Dictionary of this dialect,
which the late Sir Stamford Raffles intended to have printed at the
Singapore Institution. But his death, and the consequent failure
of the Institution, has put an end to that design.—The Canton dia-
lect, or that of the province in which we live, differs from the Man.
darin chiefly in a different pronunciation of the sane words or cha-
racters. There are also some local phrases and idioms, but the
Canton dialect approaches nearer to the general language of the
empire than the Fokien.—The people who come mostly to contact
with Europeans speak only the Carton dialect; and should Doctor
Morrison succeed in reducing the (`anton dialect to writing, which
he is attempting in an alphabetic Dictionary, to be printed. in Ro.
man letters at the Honourable Companz's press, the acquisition of
it will become comparatively easy. }or the names of places in
China and Tartary, the spelling of D'Anville and Du Halde had
probably better be retained. But in the province of Canton, the
names of places, in the common dialect of the neighbourhood;
seems best.—Cartion liegiaer.