The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

LORD WELLINGTON IN A BASKET.—Lord Wellington
had entered Salamanca with Sir Rowland Hill and our
division, but when he found the right of the army well
on, and everything satisfactory, he started for the left, to
superintend its operations and hasten its movements. In
this rapid journey be crossed the Douro under far more
dangerouweircumataneoe than thuac of the rope Driage at
Alcantara, where I had the honour to meet him; for at
Miranda he ventured into a small basket, bung upon a
rope, stretched from one high rock to another, across on
the boiling stream, and thus, in this giddy seat, 300 feet
above the water, did this fearless man traverse a river,
which has derived the main part of its modern celebrity
from his great deeds upon its banks.—Events of a Mili-
tary Life.

VARIETY OF MEN'S FACES.—The great variety exist-
ing throughout the world of men's faces and voices is an
admirable proof of the wisdom of the Creator of all
things. Had men's faces been cast in the same, or not a
very different mould, their organs of speech would have
sounded nearly the same, and the same exact structure of
muscles and nerves would have given the hand the same
direction in writing. In this case, what confuson, what
disturbance, what mischiefs, would the world have eter-
nally laid under! No security could have been given to
our persons; no certainty, no enjoyment of our posses-
sions ; no distinction between good and bad, between
friends and foes; but all would have been exposed to ma-
lice, fraud, and violence. But now, as it is ordered, every
man's face can distinguish him in the light, and his voice
in the dark ' • his hand-writing can speak for him though
absent, and be his witness, and secure his contracts in
future generations; a manifest as well as admirable
indi-
cation of the divine superintendence and management.—
Derham.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE REGENT'S PARK.—The daily
rations of Jack, the male elephant, kept in the garden of
the Zoological Society of London, and now about thirty
years old, are a truss and a half of hay, forty-two pounds
of Swedish turnips, a mash consisting of three pounds
of boiled rice, a bushel of chaff, and half a bushel of
bran, ten pounds of sea biscuit, a bundle of straw for his
bed, weighing about thirty-six pounds, which he usually
eats by the morning, and thirty-six pails of water. Be-
sides this he collects no small portion of savoury alms
from the public. Formerly his allowance was larger, and
he had oats and wangold-wurzel ; but at that time Sun-
day was a day of fasting with him (as it is still to the
earnivori), only broken by a slight morning meal. Some
four or five years ago he determined to stand this hebdo-
madal privation no longer, and for two or three succes-
sive Sabbath nights he made such a disturbance that the
keepers had small repose. Finding that this hint was
not taken, he went a little further next time, and so be-
stirred himself that, like other agitators who have known
how far to go, he carried his point ; for he made an attack
upon his den with such good will and effect, that they
were fain to get up in the middle of the night to feed him.
Since this demonstration of physical force he has enjoyed
his full meals on Sunday.—New Monthly Magazine.
THE WORLD OF LONDON.—London overflows with
talent. You may compare it for the purpose of illustra-
tion, to one of George Robin's patent filters, into which
pour turbid torrents of Thames water, its sediment, mud,
and dirt, weeds, and rottenness ; straining through the
various strata, its grosser I articles are arrested in their
course, and nothing that is not pure, transparent, and
limpid is transmitted. In the great filter of London life,
conceit, pretension, small provincial abilities, pseudo
talent, soi-disant intellect, are [tried, rejected, flung out
again. True genious is tested by judgment, fastedious-
ness, emulation, difficulty, privation ; and passing through
many ordeals, persevering, makes its way through all ;
and at length, in the fulness of time flows forth, in ack-
nowledged purity and refinement upon the town. There-
is a perpetual onward, upward tendency in the talent, both
high and low. mechanical and intellectual, that abounds in
London : " Emulation hath a thousand sons," who are
ever and always following fast upon your heels. There ;is
no time to daudle or linger on the road, no " stop, and go
on again :" if you step aside to fasten your shoe-tie, your
place is occupied—you are edged off, pushed out of the
main current, and are condemned to circle slowly in the
lazy eddy of some complimentary clique. Thousands are
to be found able and anxious to take your place ; while
hardly one misses you, or turns his bead, to look after
you, should you lose your own ; you live while you labour,
and are no longer remembered than while you are reluc-
tant to repose.—Blackwood
AGRICULTURE.—England presents at this
time a more brilliant example than any age or conntry
has before witnessed of the application, I will not say of
science, for that would not comprehend the idea which I
wish to express, but the application of mind to agriculture.
The practice of agriculture, and the philosophy of agri.
culture, are matters of universal interest. Men of all
t cause,
grades and conditions are labouring in
and are asking for the how, and the why, and thehis great
where-
fore. .The brightest intellects are directing their talents
to agricultural inquiries ; and the humblest in their bumble,
but not inefficient way, are seconding their efforts. So
many minds concentrating their rays upon the same point,
they. must be sure to illuminate with an extraordinary
brilliancy. Agriculture is now getting to be recognised
as the commanding interest of the state ; so it must ever
be-as lying at the foundation of all others. Few persons
are apprised of their obligations to agriculture ; and it is
difficult to estimate the extent of these oblirtions.
E‘ery man's daily bread, his meat, his clothing, his shel-
ter, his luxuries, all come from the earth. The founda-
tion; or, as the French would say, the materiel of all
commerce and manufactures, is agriculture; and its moral
i nfirlen,es are innumerable and most powerful.—Colsnan's
Agricultural Tour.

ANGLING.—We have often tbotight that the amuse-
ment of angling has been too much despised by those who
are not anglers themselves If all the pleasure of the pur-
suit cons sled in dragging a fish to the shore, or in watch-
ing a float, to see it go under water. we rnignt join in the
ridicule which has been bestowed on " the brethren of the
rod and line." The pleasure of anglinz, however, takes
a much wider ranee; and we are convinced that the niera
act of fishing is only a secondary consideration with those
who join with it a fondness for the charms of nature. The
enjoyment of air and exercise, as the angler pursues his
c.:urse through flowery meadows and fields covered with
herds and flocks, Hsu:nit-1.4 to the unseen lark, or watch-
ing the varied movements of the swallows, as they glide
around him in every direction, have charms which add a
relish to has walk, and harmonize with every kindly feel-
ing of his heart. Nor is this all. A reflective angler will
devise many useful lessons of instruction from the visible
objects of creation which surround him ; all of which
serve to prove the infinite perfection and unbounded be-
nevolence of the great Creator.—Jesse's Scenes and Tales.
A COMING STORM.—It was one of those hot, silent
nights when people sit at windows, listening for the thun-
der which they know will shortly break ; when they recal
dismal tales of hurricanes and earthquakes, and of lonely
travellers on open plans, and lonely ships at sea struck by
lightning. *Lightning flashed and quivered on the black
horizon even now ; and hollow murmurings were in the
wind, as though it had been blowing vvhers, the thunder
rolled and still was charged with its exhausted echoes. But
the storm, though gathering swiftly, had not yet come
up ; and the prevailing stillness was the more solemn from
the dull intelligence that seemed to hover in the air of
noise and conflict afar off. It was very dark ; but in the
murky sky there were masses of cloud which shone with
a lurid light, like monstrous heaps of copper that had been
heated in a furnace and were growing cold. These had
been advancing steadily and slowly. but they were now
motionless. or nearly so; and as the carriage clattered
round the corners of the streets, it passed, at every one,
a knot of persons, who had come there—many from their
houses close at hand, without hats—to look up to that
quarter of the sky. Andestow a very few large drops of
rain began to fall. and thunder rumbled in the distance.-..
Marlin Chuzzlewit.
NEWSPAPER WRITING.—It is not so easy to write for
a newspaper as people suppose. A man may be a good
scholar, a profound thinker, and a vigilant observer of
passing events, without being able to write for a news-
paper. -110 power of writing a lead'ng article for a news-
paper isailleret which few possess, and which I have known
many, with all their learning and diligence, unable to ac-
quire. It requires a large amount of information on a
variety of subjects, and a readiness of application that
must never be at fault, or the writer will fail. Few re-
member the editor is always writing against time, and the
inexorable printer must have his copy, so that there is no
time to revise and amend ; but as slip after slip is written,.
the devil snatches it away, and one half is usually set tip
in print before the other half is written. This exacts a
decision of thought and a facility of writing which, like
poetry, seems rather a gift of nature than an acquired fa-
culty. And as to brevity, that is the most difficult task
of all. Diffuseness in a leading article is like water added
to brandy—what it gains in quantity it 1 :quality.
It is comparatively easy to write a long art tto be
Ilk
able on the instant—without previous c ation—
without having time to consult books, or dates, or autho;
rities—to concentrate the pith and marrow of an argument
in a few sentences ; to grasp, as it were intuitively, the
real question at issue, mid to present in a striking point of
view that particular truth or illustration which the public
mind is prepared to receive, and would be disappointed
to miss, is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult ope-
rations of the human mind.—Roweroft's " Man without
a Profession."
THE EMERALD MINES OF PERIL—The singular fact
that a ship is at this moment afloat on salt water at an
elevation of 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
there carrying on a lucrative traffic, is so little known,
that we trust the following brief mention of it will be read
with some interest. In the year 1826, the firm of .Run-
dell and Bridge, of London, having entered upon arrange-
ments for the purchase of the gold mines of Tipuani and
the emerald mines on the river Illimani in Upper Peru,
sent a gentleman of the name of Page as their agent, for
the purpose of effecting the acquisition of this property.
The speculation as regarded the gold mines was tolerably
successful; but the emeralds found at Illimani proved of
inferior quality to those of other parts, excepting in a few
rare instartces. These mines are situated on the borders
of the great salt-water lake of Chuquita, which is two
hundred and forty-eight miles in length, and nearly one
hundred and fifty miles in breadth, and elevated eighteen
thousand feet above the level of the sea, on the Cordillera
of the Andes ; its depth in many parts is such that it
cannot be sounded, and the peculiar blue colour of its
waters resembles that of the sea. There are ocher mining'
establishments in the same vicinity as the Tipuani and
Illimani, belonging to two English gentlemen, General
O'Brien and John Begg,.Esq., who are also part owners
of those above-named. Those of most importance are
the copper mines of Corocoro, and the famous silver
mines of Salceda at Puno. The only vegetable produc-
tions found in this part of these high regions, are a small
red potatoe, called ehusma, and a few plants, one of which
affords a seed, called quinaug, much used by the abori-
gines as an article of food ; but on the eastern side of the
lake, at a place called Copacavana, and in several of the
valleys of Bolivia, there is found an abundance of Indian
corn, barley, potatoes, and a great variety of fruits. The
difficulty of procuring provisions for the considerable
number of Indians who were employed in the mines,
suggested the idea of building a vessel for the purpose of
communicating with the opposite shore of the great lake;
and Mr. Page, General O'Brien, and Mr. Begg, deter-
mined to enter upon the attempt. Mr. Page, who was a
man of enterprise and considerable ability, undertook to
superintend the construction of a brig of 150 tnn. v.....i......_
tie preceecen, In to e first place, to the port of Arica,
where he procured the necessary iron-work, rigging. sails,
cables, and anchors, by purchasing a ship lying in that
port condemned as unseaworthy. These materials be
carried with vast trouble and expense to the mouth of the
river Apolobambo, where he found timber of very fine
quality, nearly resembling English oak (roble). At the
spot where this river falls into
.the lake Mr. Page esta-
blished his dockyard, having engaged a few carpenters
and shipwrights at Arica, and at the end of two years of
indefatigable labour and perseverance, the brig Julia was
launched on the waters of the great lake of Chuquita.
The brig has subsequently become the property of a gen-
tleman of fortune residing at La Paz, and there is perhaps
not a vessel of the same size employed in trade in any
part of the world that brings an equal amount of profit to
her owner. She is chiefly engaged in fulfilling the ori-
ginal object of her construction, that of bringing the agri-
cultural products of the valleys of Bolivia to the rich
mining districts of Puna and Leaves. General O'Brien,
when on his way from Lima to Buenos Ayres, sailed in
her all over the lake, and was nearly lost on the island of
Titicaca, in one of the heaviest gales he had ever encoun-
tered. She was then commanded by a Swede, and was
in every way well found, except that her anchors were
not of sufficient weight, owing to the impracticability of
conveying such as her size required over the mountain
tracks of the Andes. 'Most of these details have been
communicated to us by a gentleman who has resided a
long time at Puno, and who was present when General
Gamarra, President of Peru, effected his escape from
General Salaverri, when only a few hundred yards in ad-
vance of his pursuers, by embarking hurriedly on board
the brig Julia and crossing the lake of Chuquita.—The
Monte Video Britannia.