The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-06-04 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

FRENCH VANITY.—A very worthy agent sent to Texas,
some years ago, by the French government, planned an
excursion after Buffalo, directly into the hunting-grounds
of the Camanches, to be accompanied only by two of his
friends with servants. On being told of the certainty that
be would be killed, her confidently remarked that he
should carry the flag of France with him—the Camanches
would never dare insult that I—Kendall's Narrative.

CAPTURING WILD HORSES.—The Indians and Mexi-
cans have a way of capturing mustangs (wild horses) by
running up on their fleetest and most untiring horses, and
noosing them with the lariat. The white hunters have
also a method, which is often successful, of taking the
wild horses. It is called creasing, and is done by shoot-
ing them with a rifle ball upon particular cord or tendon
in the neck, immediately under tl.e mane. If the ball
takes effect precisely in the right spot, the animal falls be-
numbed, and without the power to move for several mi-
nutes, when he is easily secured. Should it strike too
low, the horse is still able to run off, but eventually dies.
—Kendall's Narrative of the Santa Fe Expedition.

EASTERN POLITENESS. —An English gentleman is
walking in the streets of Damascus, when up comes a re-
spectable-looking Turk, and slaps him on the breast; the
Englishman, not knowing what to make of this, stares at
the Turk, who seems quite disappointed at not receiving a
return in kind for his civility. In the end it turns out that
the blow was not meant for a❑ invitation to a pugilistic
set-to, but as a friendly token of recognition, such as is
very common throughout the East. Again, a traveller
riding towards the ruins of Caesarea, sees two Arabs ad-
vancing in the opposite direction, mounted on very fine
horses. As soon as they catch sight of him they raise
their long spears in the air, and shouting " Yullah !" dash
at him full tilt : he halts ; they circle round him at once,
then wish him a happy journey, and ride on their way.—
Library of Travel.
CHINESE ICE HOUSES.—The ice-houses around Ning-
po, and especially on the banks of the river between that
city and Chinhae, are beyond calculation. They are built
above the ground, and generally upon a platform of earth
raised so as to be above the level of the surrounding fields.
Upon such a mound a bamboo frame is thrown which is
well and closely thatched with paddy straw. The ice is
collected in tanks or ponds which the proprietors of the
ice-houses take care to keep duly filled with water during
the winter season. When the ice is of sufficient thickness,
they collect it ; and, as it is brought in, each layer is
covered with dry straw, and in this manner the ice is pre-
served during the whole summer. Each house has its
oven drain to draw off the water caused by the melting
house. The article is not used in Ningpo for private
consumption, but solely es an anticeptic for flesh and fish
during the heats of summer. The inhabitants know noth-
ing of the mode of cooling their liquid, except as they
have observed foreigners use it for that purpose, and then
they are very willing to retail it to them at the rate of
about eighty to one hundred cash per bucket, a charge by
no means excessive during the dog days, In places like
Foochow-foo, the seat of Chinese luxury, ice is occasio-
nally used to cool frui s, sweetmeats, &c.—Friend of
China.

ARABIAN TALE .—Subterranean streams are common
in Syria, as in ma-ay other limestone regions, and there is
no end to the tales related of them by the natives. As
Lamartine was riding in Antilebanon, an Arab guide, who
was trudging by his side, pointed out to him a distant
lake, and told him the following story :—" Once upon a
time there was a herdsman who tended the she-camels of
a village situated on the borders of yonder lake, in a lonely
tract of this lofty mountain. One day, when watering the
herd, he perceived that the water of the lake escaped by a
subterranean issue, and this he closed up with a large stone,
but let his s.aff fall in while doing so. Some time after
this a river dried up in a province of Persia. The Sultan,
seeing his dominions threatened with famine for want of
water to irrigate the land, consulted the sages of tl44e em-
pire, and, in accordance with their advice, sent emissaries
into all the neighbouring realms to discover how the source
of his river had been diverted or dried up. These envoys
carried with them the herdsman's staff, which was hurried
away by the torrent : when they arrived in Damascus the
herdsman happened to be there, and, recognising his
own staff, he perceived that his lake was the source of the
lost river, and that the wealth and the existence of a
whoie people were in his hands. What will the Sultan
do for the man who will restore him his lost river ?' said
he to the envoys. He will give him,' they replied, his
daughter and the half of his kingdom.' Go in peace,
then,' rejoined the herdsman ; and before you reach
home, the river shall again water Persia, and rejoice the
heart of the Sultan.' rhen going up the mountain, he
removed the great stone; the waters returned to their old
course, and once more filled the bed of the river. The
Sultan sent fresh envoys with his daughter to the fortu-
nate herdsman, and bestowed on him half his provinces.' "
—Library of Travel.

A FORTUNE ACQUIRED BY DRESSING SALAD.—In
passing throw h Cologne I met a Breton gentleman, who
made a good thing of it by becoming a traiteur. I might
multiply examples of this kind to an indefinite extent;
but I prefer relating, as more singular, the history of a
Frenchman who acquired a fortune in London by his cle-
verness in making a salad. He was a Limousin, and, if
n,y memory serves me rightly, called himself D'Aubignac
or D'Albignac. Though his means were very small sub-
sequent to his emigration, he happened to dine, one day,
at one of the most famous taverns of London. Whilst
he was in the act of finishing a slice of juicy beef, five or
six young men, of the first families, were regaling them-
selves at a neighbouring table. One among them stood
up, and, addressing the Frenchman in a polite tone, said,
" Sir, it is a general opinion that your nation excels in the
art of making a salad, would you have the goodness to fa-
vour us by mixing one for us?" D'Albinac, after some
hesitation, consented, asked for the necessary materals,
and, having taken pains to mix a perfect salad, had the
good fortune to succeed. While the salad was in process
of mixing, lie candidly answered all questions addressed
to him on his situation and prospects, stated he was an
emigrant, and confessed, not without a slight blush, that
he received pecuniary aid from the British government.
It was this avowal, doubtless, which induced one of the
young men to slip into his hand a five-pound note, which,
after a slight resistance, he accepted. He gave the young
men his address, and, some t.meaf ervvards, was not a
little surprised to receive a letter, in which he was asked,
in the politest terms, to come and dress a salad in one of
the best houses in Grosvenor-square. D'Albignac, who
began to have a distant glimmering of durable advantage,
did not hesitate an instant, and arrived punctually, forti-
fied with some new ingredients destined to add new relish
to his mixture. He had the good fortune to succeed a
second time, and received, on this occasion, such a sum
as
he could not have refused without injuring himself in
more ways than one. This second success made more
noise than the first, so that the reputation of the emigrant
quickly extended. He soon became known as the
fashionable salad maker; and, in a country so much led
by fashion, all that was elegant in the capital of
i thethree
kingdoms would have a salad made by him. D'Albgnac,
like a man of sense, profited be- his poularity. He soon
sported a vehicle in order the more readily to transport
him from place to place, together with a livery servant,
carrying in a mahogany case every thing necessary, such
as differently perfumed vinegars, oils with or without the
taste of fruit, soy, caviar, truffles, anchovies, ketchup
gravy, and some yokes of eggs. Subsequently, he caused
similar cases to he manufactured, which he furnished and
sold by hundreds. By degrees the salad dresser realized
a fortune of 80,000 f. with which he ultimately returned to
France.—Classiques de la Table.

THE BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—In the Mercury of the 31st ult., appears the re-
port of the proceedings of the Birkenhead Commissioners
at their meeting held on Tuesday last. Mr. William
Jackson, the acting chairman, in the course of the obser-
vations he volunteered on the subject of the " Monk's
Ferry Bill," after complaining " that it was rather grie-
vous to find that any individual in Birkenhead who had
been benefitted by the improvements which had been
going forward, should so far aid and abet the Corporation
as to sign a petition against the bill ;" and exonerating
Mr. Edward Willoughby, (for which gracious act of ie.
demnity the exculpated petitioner is, as in duty bound,
no doubt, most profoundly grateful,) continues—" he was
indeed surprised when he found such men as Mr. Hughes,
with several others, who had profited by the public im-
provements which had been made, puffing the township
to the unnecessary additional expense in obtaining a mea-
sure so useful. What would be their reasons he knew
not, but at the same time it was right the township should
know who the individuals were. Mr. Bentham rose
" to express his astonishment that his colleague should
wonder at any thing that that n'entleman did." He sub-
sequently said, " I think the individual in question is like
some others who long to do something to make themselves
known. He concurred with the chairman that the names
of the oppositionists should be known." I beg your par-
don for annoying you with this lengthy quotation. In my
own defence I am warranted in conducting my own case
in my own way.
What may be the exact nature of the motives which
have actuated Mr. Jackson to drag me from the privacy
I court, into the van of the body of the subscribers by
whom the obnoxious petition was signed ; although I am
not perhaps at a loss to imagine it ; I will not stop to
analyze. If it were his intention to mark and ticket and
push me forth, as the victim at whose " devoted head"
the fierceness of the indignation of the promoters of the
" Monk's Ferry Bill" should be hurled, I can a' sure
him that his motive is as paltry as his design will be fruit-
less. A residence of sixteen years in Birkenhead so far
fortifies the in depending upon the character I have
maintained, and the connection I have formed, that
I am emboldened to despise the terrorless threats " of
the little tyrant of the fields" whom I have had
the temerity to withstand. There is a circumstance
connected with the meeting of the commissioners at
which this unprovoked outrage was hazarded, which I
cannot forbear to notice. Mr. Jackscn is a liberal. In
the course of the day on the evening of which he perpe-
trated this attack, he had been, no doubt, engaged in ex-
erting his influence to secure the return of Mr. William
Brown, the " free-trade candidate," for the Southern
Division of Lancashire. Stung with disappointment, and
exhausted with the fatigues of an anxious canvass, he
still continues to muster up sufficient energy to perpetrate,
on a board from whose councils political discussion should
be expelled, a gratuitous attack upon an obscure indivi-
dual, " the head and front of whose offending" was simply
this—that " not having the fear of Jackson before his
eyes." he had dared to exercise that prerogative for the
possession of which Mr. Jackson, the canvasser, con=
tended, and which Mr. Jackson, the chairman, forbids an
opponent to enjoy. I merely protested against the inflic-
tion of a measure which my extended experience as a re-
sident of Birkenhead convinced me would be not merely
useless but actually mischievous. In maintaining this
opinion I was not singular.
I, with others, have been guilty of the high crime and
misdemeanour of questioning the policy of projectors,
whose scheme I practically know will be futile—and that
I have presumed to doubt the assumed patriotism of cer-
taM parties who are loud and lusty in self-laudations.
As to assertions of " Friend Christopher Bentham,"
I am happy that I can afford to treat them with a recep-
tion with which he was never yet known to greet friend or
foe—that is, laughter.
I am content to reside in my own locality without as-
piring to,the notoriety which, although I do not court it,
that distinguished brother of the " non-invading order"
is determined to thrust upon me. He himself, " Friend
Christopher," is confessedly a notorious man ; but rather
than I would seek that particular sort of distinction which
in a long career he has contrived to attain, I would sink
myself into the insignificance of any of the unbought tea-
chests harmlessly deposited upon Christopher's shelves.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
ROBERT HUGHES.
Birkenhead, June 1et,1844.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.