The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-07-07 00:00:00

ure or commerc

upportable beat

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In the sandy plains
Is to loe their way

y gives way before want of

23, a transport, carrying

•ed and twenty strong,
soldiers got on

re unable to fit,il their
:y w,re met by a num-

food, who tad been sent
but already one hundred
died of thirst and wear--
n the fellowing day.
arid deserts, de-
to the strongest
the btd of a
the

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greater part of th
creased by the shif

in many instances dry durir

traveller's danger is m-
ature cf the sand, which the wind
ls, and in columns eighty to one
e medanos are another strarge
angerous wilds. They are sand-
escent. ten or twenty fret high,
. Their base is moveable, and
a tolerably strong wind, they wander

;h. TI
n of thpce d

raisPs in enormous Cl(
hundred feet
Tih(

the form of a- c

h a sharp crest

when impelled
ov

rt ; the smaller ones, more easily
ng the large. The Ltter, however, after
the current of air from reaching the for-
mer—take the wind out of their sails, it may be said—
and then run over and crush them, themselves breaking
tip at the same time. In afew hours, what was previously
a level, ;s Wien covered with ranges of hillocks, hindering
a view of the horizon, and bewildering the most cape-
riomed wonderers through these perilous regions.—yon
Tschudi's Travels in Peru.

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK AS A POLITICIAN.—Having
once accepted the honourable but onerous task, from that
hour he devoted himself to it, body and mind. No exer-
tion, no application was considered by him too great, if
the result of it would be to render him more fit for his
task. Had the question in dispute been more of a mere
party question—had it, for instance, ben such a question
as that of Emancipation, where appeals to political honour
and denunciations of ministerial treachery would have
formed the staple of the speeches to be delivered, and
when the tactics of management would be almost confined
to mere resistance, the sudden acceptance of the leader-
ship would not have involved so much mental responsi-
bility. But in the case in question, the position of a new
leader was quite different. The combined knowledge of
the statesman and the political economist had to be
brought to hear on a question aboundiog in statistics of
the most varied kind, statistics varying with almost every
week ; and this in the face of watchful and able opponents
on both sides of the House, as well those who had been
engaged during their pubic life in assailing the positions
to be taken up, as those who, having all alone defended
them, now suddenly abandon them, and, knowing their
weak points, turned that knowledge to advantage. To fill
such a post, then, was no slight undertaking for a man
like Lord George Bentinck, bred, as he says, a soldier,
who was an active politician only in what he is pleased to
call, in modesty of spirit, the " humblest office which a
political man can fill," and who for so many years bad
turned almost his whole attention to other and less digni-
fied pursuits. His success was signal. The first speech
of any importance he made on the corn question appeared
on the face of the report to be a failure. In the House it
was no such thin... The noble lord hod an (+yet in pro-
tracting his speech, and to accomplish that he sacrificed
some of its power and effect. He did not rise till a late
hour, and then continued speaking so long a time that the
House grew impatient, and much confusion prevailed to-
wards the close of his address. But in those parts of it
which were heard, and which, in fact, contained the real
pith of his argument, such a striking acquaintance with
the complex and extensive facts, and such a power of ar-
gument, were exhibited, that the noble lord, prolix as he
was, made a very deep impression on the House. His very
next speech, made under more favourable circumstances,
confirmed it ; Lord George displayed so accurate and
complete a knowledge of his subject, that even detraction
was silent. Opponents were as ready as his own sup-
porters to admire his displays. They knew from expe-
rience what an amount of application must have been given
in order to enable him to obtain so thorough a mastery
on so difficult a subject. Lorl George 13entinck, as may
be supposed, has not attained, or even approximated to,
perfection as an orator. He was too much preoccupied
with his subject to be able to strike any new style of
oratory for himself ; it was enough to be able to aeliver
his speech with an average ability. So he trusted to old,
time-honoured forms in action, intonation, and delivery—
forms long since abandoned by all but a few members of
either House, and which, like cast-off habits, have travel-
led down through different classes till they now dignify
and embellish that kind of eloquence which one hears after
dinner at the London Tavern. It is singular to notice how
the infusion of the popular and mercantile element into
the representative system has affected the oratory as well
as the opinions and votes in parliament. Until within the
last twenty years or so, gentlemen intended for public life
were regularly trained for public speaking ; a course under
the elocution master was deemed essential to an aspirant
for honours. The consequence was, that the general
characteristics of public speakers were very similar. A
tediously slow delivery, extreme pomposity. verbosity and
monotony, action in what has been termed the " pump-
handle" style, marked them all, and may still be found in
great perfection in many whose old-fashioned oratory
defies and survives innovation. The crowning virtue of
this style in the eyes of its professors seems to be to end
every sentence intended to be emphatic with a sudden
jerk and a twang. Lord George Bentinck fell naturally
into this style when he first began his recent opposition ;
but conflict and the influence of example have altered his
style, even in this brief space of time. But even to that
which he gradually abandoned his aristocratic bearing
gave a kind of characteristic interest well adapted to the
subject matter on which Lis speeches were delivered.
Taken as a whole, bearing in mind the noble descent of
the speaker, his whole aspect so essentially aristocratic,
his speeches were emphatically a protest from the living
representative of a post generation of statesmen, and a
code of political morality long since abandoned, against a
new race of statesmen, untried for good, but convicted of

evil. But for some time past Lord Georee Bentinck has
adapted his style much more to the modern tastes of the
House of Commons. He speaks with more brevity and
more to the point, and has got rid of an unpleasant drawl-
ing tone and a habit of hesitation. Fewer statistics and
more argument charactetise politico-economicspeeches,
while his purely party or personal• speeches exhibit a power

and vigour not displayed in his earlier efforts. In his per-
sonal attacks en Sir Robert Peel he allowed the warmth
and sincerity of his feelings to carry him further than has
been usual in what Mr. Disraeli called these mealy-
mouthed" days; but then it should he remembered that

he believes Sir Robert Peel to have acted with political
unfairness towards one for whom Lord George entertained
the most ardent aff.ction and respect, and that all men
are not so constituted as to be able to treat politics as a
mere game, in which only a kind of sham feeling is to be
allowed to intermingle. Apart from the propriety of these
attacks, the energy and debating power they exhibited
spew that the noble lord can be, when aroused, a dange-
rous antagonist. We have spoken of his elevation as be-
ing an accident of the Anti-Corn-law agitation. Certainly
but for the effect of that agitation he would have conti-
nued a silent member of the House of Commons. It took
much to arouse him from his indolence and tempt him
(corn his retirement; but, having been once set in mo-
tion, we should be tempted to predict that he will hereafter

take a diAinguidled pn,ition in political affairs,—Frazer,

PERUVIAS CARNIVALS.—" Lima," says the Spanish
proverb, " is a heaven to women, a purgatory to hus-
bands, and a hell to jackasses." The latter unfortunate
beasts being infamously used by the negroes, who, espe-
cially the liberated ones, are the most cruel and vicious
race in Peru. In this latter category must be included
the Zambos and Chinos, half-casts between negroes and
mulattos, and negroes and Indians. We turn a few pages
and come to the carnival; during which, judging from
the account before us, we should imagine that Lima be.
came a hell not only to ill-treated donkeys, but to man,
woman, and child. The chief sport of that festive season
consists in sprinkling people with water, concerning the
purity of which the sprinklers are by no means fastidious.
From nearly every balcony, liquids of the most various
and unsavoury description are rained down upon the
passers by ; at the street corners stand negroes, who
seize upon all who are not of their own caste, and roll
them in the gutter, unless they prefer paying a certain
ransom, in which case they get off with a trifling baptism
of dirty water. Troops of young men force their way
into the houses of their acquaintances, and attack the
ladies. First, they sprinkle them with scented water, but
when that is expended, the pump, and even worse, is had
recourse to, and the sport becomes brutality. The ladies,
with their clothes dripping wet, are chased from room to
room, become heated, and are frequently rendered dan-
gerously ill. Diseases of the lungs, and other rheumatic
complaints, are the invariable consequences of the carni-
val, to whose barbarous celebration many fall victims.
Besides this, every year murders occur out of revenge for
this brutal treatment. One favourite trick is to fill a sack
with fragments of glass and earthenware, and fasten it to
the balcony by a cord, the length of which is so calcu-

lated that, when let down, the sack hangs at about seven
feet from the ground. The sack is kept on the balcony
till somebody passes, and is then suddenly thrown out,
but, thanks to the cord, remains at a safe distance above
the heads of those below. Although it is tolerably well
known that in most streets there is at least one of these
infernal machines, yet the sudden shock and alarm are so
great, that persons have been known to fall down senseless
on the spot. Horses are thus made to shy violently, and
frequently throw their riders. The practice is each year
forbidden by the police, but the prohibition is disregarded.
—Blackwood.
AUSTRALIAN MODE OF DISPOSING OF THEIR DEAD.
—Hurrying on with a still favourable tide, but at a rate
much too slow for our impatience, we passed two other
small grassy islets, and a third was before us. The eastern
bank had become steep, overhanging, and clothed with a
mass of luxuriant creepers ; whilst, on the opposite side,
was a low woody palcii, partly immersed by the hake-like

. .
grassy water of the river, into which one slender tree
dipped its feathery crest, appearing, like mother Nar-
cisus, to admire its own beauty in the stream. In front
the eye could penetrate far down the reach, hemmed in as
it was by trees, that elm.tered thick on the water's brink.
To the right was what might he called an open glade ; in
the midst of it rose a tree, the branches of which were

laden with a most singular-looking buildle, or roll of
pieces of wood. Struck with its appearance, we rested on
our oars to cb=ervt it, but scarcely had we done so, when
from a point higher up, that appeared to 3ivide the river
into two branches, rose a thick volume of smoke, that
soon filled the air, as if a huge black cloud had lighted
in that direction. We endeavoured to proceed in order
to satisfy nor curiosity, but a rocky ledge, extending
across the river, arrested our further progress at this time
of the tide. Landi:,g accordingly, I advanced for nearer
inspection towards the huge bundle of sticks before men-
tioned. It seemed almost like the nest of some new bird,
and greatly excited my curiosity. As I approached, a most
unpleasant smell assailed me, and, on climbing up to

examine it narrowly, I found that it contained the decay-
;».-, hod,/ of a native. Within the outer covering of sticks

was one of net, with an inner one of the bark of the
papyrus-tree, enveloping the corpse. According to the
singular practice of uncivilised people of providing for the
wants of thosa who have nothing more to do with earthly
things, some weapons were deposited with the deceased
in this novel kind of mortuary habitation, and a little
beyond was a rill of water. There was a loneliness in the
spot perfectly in keeping with the feelings this strange
discovery naturally called forth ; and, from the few recent
signs of the natives, it would appear that here, as in other
parts of the continent, spots where the dead lie are kept
sacred. Some dark brown and black hawks were perched
on the trees near, looking like so many mutes stationed to
show respect to the departed ; but their intentions were
of a different cbarac!er, as they were waiting, I imagine,
for some friendly gust of wind to shake off the covering of
the deceased. While we were making these observations
the conflagration on the point above continued to rage
with great fury, and 1 have no doubt it was kindled in
order to attract our attention and prevent us from visiting
the sacred spot. Though we saw not the form of a living
being, I am persuaded that the eyes of the natives were
upon us, and that our every movement was watched. The
method they adopted to lure us away from the neighbour-
hood of the dead was simple and !Ingenious, and might
have proved successful had not the interposing ledge of
rocks prevented our further progress. To effect their
purpose they must have burned up a very large space as
the smoke that arose obscured all that quarter of the
heavens. We observed also that the ground about the
burial-tree had been submitted to the flames, is if to keep
away the few kangaroos that visit this spot—Captain
Stokes's " Discoveries in Australia."

PERUVIAN MODE OP APPLYING GUANO.—Opposite
to the ports of Pisco and Chincha, lie a number of small
islands, noted for their large deposits of guano, or huanu,
as Dr. Tschudi corrects the orthography of the word.
I The doctor gives some very interesting particulars con-
cerning this efficacious manure, which, although but re-
cently adopted in Europe,l appears to have been used in
Peru as far back as the time of the first Incas. The
Peruvians use it chiefly for the maize and potato fields ;
their manner of employing it is peculiar, and but li Ile
known in Europe. A few weeks after the seeds have be-
gun to germinate, a small hole is made beside each plant,
filled with huanu, and covered up with earth. Twelve or
fifteen hours later, the whole field is laid under water, and
left so for a few hours. The effect of the process is
incredibly rapid. In a very few days, the plants attain
double their previous height. When the operation is
repeated, but with a smaller quantity of the huanu. the
farmer may reckon upon a crop at least threefold that
which he would obtain from an unmanured soil. Of the
white huanu, which is much stronger than the dark-
coloured, less must be used, and the field must be watered
sooner. and for a longer time, or the roots will be destroy_
ed. When the land is tolerably good, seven hundred and
fifty to nine hundred pounds of huanu are reckoned suffi-
cient for a surface of fourteen thousand square feet; with
poor soil, a thousand to twelve hundred pounds are re-
quired.— VonTschudes Travels in Peru.
FEMALE LIFE IN GERMANY.—The only recreation in
which she ever indulges is an occasional drive or ball :
for the later amusement there is at Heidelberg every fa-
cility. There are three species of balls—the "Burger
Venrein," or the association of citizens ; the " Harmo-
nic," so called, we presume, from the harmonizing effect
of its society—and the " Museum," 'Phial is a spacious
building, containing several fins hell and concert rooms
and an excellent table d'hote. This establishment pos-
sesses, also, the additional advantage of a capital news.
room, where all the leading continental as well as English
journals are taken, and amongst the latter, is our friend
Mr. Punch. For a very trifling annual subscription, any
one may become a member of this society, and besides
access to the balls, concerts, news-room, &c., he has the
" entre" to a magnificent library, which is stored with
authors in all languages, and amongst the collection,
strange to say, is a capital selection of some of our best
English law books. There is a ball or a concert given at
these rooms at least once a month, and the society fre-
quenting them is considered the most aristocratic of the
town. To the Harmonie, however, all sorts and condi-
tions of men and women repair; we have seen a grafine
er countess and a laundry maid dancing in the same set ;
a crown prince and a he :d waiter vis-a-vis—but in Ger-
many this is thought nothing of, and the people who thus
attain a temporary elevation, never venture to presume
on it—but the instant the ball or festivity is over, return to
their respective positions, the waiter and the laundry maid
resolve themselves into their original elements, and the
next day you will see him whom you met on the previous
night, arrayed in all the gorgeousness of blue coat and
snowy vest, attired in his accustomed jacket and trousers,
of that extraordinary cut by which the German " kelner"
is distinguished, waiting with meekness beside some so-
litary guest who is eating his breakfast in the coffee room
of the hotel: or the lady whom you beheld in all the
maiden simplicity of' white muslin, and "aperient" dia-
monds, carrying away a huge pail of water upon her head,
which she has with much labour just extracted from the
adjoining pump.—Sketches of Burschen Life.

EARTHQUAKES IN LIMA.—" The city of earthquakes,"
would be a far more appropriate name for Lima than the
city of the kings. On an average of years, five-and-forty
shocks are annually felt, most of which occur in the latter
half of October, in November, December, January, May,
and June. January is the worst month, during which, in
many years, scarcely a day passes without convulsions of
this kind. The terrible earthquakes that play such havoc
with the city come at intervals of forty to sixty years.
Since the west coast of South America was known to Eu-
ropeans, the following are the dates :-1586, 1630, 1687,
1713, 1746, 1806; always two in a century. It is greatly
to be feared that ten more years will not elapse without
Lima being visited by another of those awful calamities.
Dr. Tschudi gives a brief account of the earthquake of
1746. It was on the 28th of October, St. Simon and St.
Jude's day, that at 31 minutes past 10 p.m., the earth
shock with a fearful bellowing noise, and, in an instant,
the whole of Lima was a heap of ruins. Noise, earth-
quake, and destruction were all the affair of one moment.
The few buildings whose strength resisted the first shock
were thrown down by a regular horizontal motion of the
earth, which succeeded it and lasted four minutes. Out
of more than three thousand houses, only twenty-one re-
mained uninjured. Nearly all the public buildings were
overthrown. At the port of Callao the destruction was
even more complete; for scarcely was the earthquake
over, when the sea arose with a mighty rushing sound,
and swallowed up both town and inhabitants. In an
instant, five thousand human beings became the prey of
the waters. The Spanish corvette San Fermin, which
lay at anchor in the harbour, was hurled far over the walls
of the fortress, and stranded at more than five hundred
y ar

from the shore. A cross marks the place where she
struck. Three heavily.laden merchantmen met the same
fate, and nineteen other vessels foundered. The town
had disappeared, and travell, rs have related how, even
now, when the sky is bright and the sea still, the houses
and churches may be dimly seen through the transparent
waters. Such a tale as this is scarce worth refuting,
seeing that the houses were overturned by the earthquake
before they were overwhelmed by the sea, whose action
must long since hare destroyed their every vestige. But
the old sailors along that coast love to tell how, on certain
days, the people are seen sitting at the doors of their
houses, and standing about in the streets, and how, in the
silent watches of the night, a cock has been heard to
crow from out the depths of the sea.—Von Tschucles
Travels in Peru.

AN INCIDENT OF THE WARS OF WILLIAM AND ,1
JAMES.—WhiIe Jeremiah Tisdel thus railed and cursed
in hoarse accents, as he burrowed with his crooked fin-
gers among the upturned earth, he might not inappositely
have presented to the fancy of the spectator the image of
a famished ghoul cowering over some open grave, and
searching for the fragments of his unclean feast. " Gone,
gone, gone," he cried, in a voice of almost childish rage
and grief, as he sat down upon the cold earth beside the
spot, and smote his clenched hands sometimes upon his
breast and sometimes upon the dull soil, until gradually
this frantic energy of woe subsided into a sullen, black
moroseness, from which, however, after the lapse of some
ten minutes, he on a sudden started up. " Aye, aye," he
exclaimed, with a new and fierce interest, " let's see how
Deveril has fared." With this exclamation, be hurried
toward the ruined walls; the lower windows had all been
secured with iron bars, which had of course survived the
flames, and now showed in sharp black lines against the
grey light of morning which streamed through the build-
ing. Passing the clrner of the still reeking ruin, Tisdal
stopped short, with a shuddering ejaculation which had a
strange mixture of joy and horror in its intonation.
" Then it is done !—ha, ha !—the hunter caught in his own
toils, the robber bereft of his spoil, the murderer of his
precious life." The spectacle which elicited these words
was one of sufficient horror. Through the bars of a
window, within a few yards of which the speaker stood,
were thrust the knee and the head of a figure, whose es-
cape had been rendered impracticable by two transverse
bars which, deeply sunk in the side walls, secured the
rest. The head, and one arm and shoulder, as well as
one knee, were thrust through the iron stanchions, and
all was black and shrunk, the clothes burned entirely
away, and the body roasted and shrivelled to a horrible
tenuity ; the lies dried up and drawn. so that the white
teeth grinned and glittered in hideous mockery, and thus
the whole form, arrested in the very attitude of frenzied
and desperate exertion, showed more like the hideous,
blackened effigy of some grinning ape, than anything hu-
man. With a horrible and icy fascination, old Tisdal
gazed upon this appalling spectacle, till it almost seemed,
to his distempered fancy, that the fiendish grinning thing
was greeting him " with mop and mow," as the coal-
black, shrunken mask, with its shining white tows of
teeth, set off by the hideous grotesqueness of its attitude,
met, and appeared to return his fixed and thrilling gaze.
" Deveril ! Deveril! muttered the puritan, scarce daring
to speak above his breath, as he drew back a little ; for
though he knew it was but fancy, the light curling smoke
rising between him and that fearful object, gave to it an
appearance of motion, which enhanced the horrible effect
of the spectacle upon his imagination. " Deveril ! De-
veril s—this is horrible ! Who could have thought he'd

have struggled so hard? Why did they not pike him ?

Flow could they let him roast ? It was frightful !"
With a violent effort Tisdal turned, and two steps placed
the corner of the building between him and that terrible
object. A strange feeling, sometimes almost bordering
upon a gush of tenderness, came upon him as he conti-
nued—" Deveril! Deveril ! poor Deveril ! it was dread-
ful ! it was frightful !—he was my staunch companion in
evil days. Oh, Deveril ! Deveril !—he saved my life once
—why did I forget Blackheath ? Oh, Deveril, was it for
this you saved it? Oh, my God ! that I could call him
hack !—or—or at least that he had died elsewhere, and an
easier death ! lle was my comrade—m.y comrade—when
no one else would consort with me! Is he dead ?—is he
quite—quite dead ? If he had but life enough left to for-
give me !—oh, that he had but life enough to forgive me !"
tiThusnhge,dreadful
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afiu king,w
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eth a n
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returned
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the bars themselves, stood still the awful, monkey-like
figure, black and grinning as ever. 1.1 Deveril! Deveril !
—old boy, Deveril!" cred his former associate, almost
frantically ; but the sounds echoed unheesied through the
empty walls, and the thin vapour curled, undisturbed by
breath or movement, like the smoke of his torment for
ever ascending about and above the sooty, grinning effigy,
" Deveril! Deveril! is there any life in you? Old fellow,
it's I—it's Tindal—burnt brandy ! Oh, God ! Deveril !
Deveril ! won't you answer Captain Gordon? It's I—l
—it's brother Snap ! Oh, Deveril, my boy, you saved
me—you saved me—l know it—l remember that night.
Speak, old boy, one word. I think you moved !—you
did move !" Tisdal distractedly snatched up a long
charred joist, which lay among the smouldering rubbish,
and, stretching across the smoking embers and ashes, he,
with the end of it, pushed the ghastly figure. The effect
was horrible ; for though the pressure was but light, the
grinning head separated from the body, and rolled, amid
a cloud of dust, towards Tisdal's feet, while the body
dropped back into the ashes and rubbish within the walls,
leaving but the blackened arm still clinging and sticking
to the bars. If the frightful apparition had spontaneously
sprung from its position, and leaping at the throat of its
betrayer, Tisdal could hardly have felt a pang of terror
wiider than the paroxysm which froze him, as he saw the
head of his victim thus rolling and plunging through the
ashes, towards his feet. At length, relieved by some-
thing between a sigh and a shudder, and trembling so vi-
olently that his legs could scarcely bear him, ne managed
to withdraw as far as the low fence which enclosed the
little paddock, within which had stood the mansion of
Drumguntiiol, now but a scorched and smoking ruin, and
seating himself upon the low grassy bank, be strove to re-
collect his scattered wits, and to quiet his terrible agita-
tion.—Fortunes of Turlogh O'Brien.