The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-29 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

CHALK AND COAL FIRES.—The practical utility of
chalk as an article of fuel has been tested within the last
fortnight, according to a Salisbury paper, and with the
most satisfactory results. Surrounded with coal, it gives
a strong heat, Lend a clear fire, at half the usual expense ;
so that to the poor in the chalk districts it must be an in-
valuable boon.—The Builder.
A SABBATH IN NEW ZEALAND.—A small bell was
struck outside the building, and it was an interesting
sight to watch the effect it had upon the dwellers of the
pah : one by one, they came out of their houses, or
crossed the little stiles dividing one court-yard from
another, and, wrapping their mats and blankets around
them, slowly and silently wended their way to the place
of worship. On entering, each individual squatted upon
the ground, which was strewn with reeds, and, with their
faces buried in their blankets, they appeared to be en-
gaged in prayer; they then opened their Maori Testa-
ments, and a native teacher commenced the sacred
service. It would have been a lesson to some of our
thoughtless and fashionable congregations, to witness the
devout and serious aspect and demeanour of these tattooed
men, who, without the assistance of a European. were
performing Christian worship with decorous simplicity
and reverential feeling.—Angas' Savage Life and Scenes.
A RIGHTEOUS DECISION.—SOHIe time ago, poor fu-
gitive escaped from Maryland, and, hotly followed by the
pursuer, on his way to safety beneath the broad flag of old
England, in Canada,was overtaken and seized in Vermont.
The abolitionists instantly got out a habeas corpus, and
carried all parties before court, to see what warrant they
had to arrest any man in Vermont, who had committed
no crime. Three judges were on the bench, two of them
young and energetic, one aged and feeble. who came to
his seat by the habit of years, but seldom spoke, his eyes
being dim and his strength abated. The counsel spoke—
the defence wished to know why the man was held in cus-
tody. The lawyer for the slaveholder rose to reply, and
said he should move the offender was guilty of a breach of
the laws of Maryland State; he was a slave, and bad
stolen himself. The other lawyer then said be should re-
quire proof that he was a slave. The slave-owner then
stood up and held forth a document ; this, he said, is a
bill of sale, made in my favour, for this man, signed by
his original owner. Then the old judge rose to his feet,
and with a voice of thunder, strangely loud for one so old,
demanded, " Who signed it sir?" " John Williams,"

replied the astonished owner." " Take it away ! take it
away !" said the old man, raising his hands to Heaven,
" It is not valid, sir ; it is falsely signed, sir ; it is a blas-
phemous forgery ; none can sign that bill of sale but God
Almighty." The court was electrified ; the slaveholder
slunk out, and Vermont awakened like a sleeper, gave
twenty thousand abolition votes at the election.—Extract
of a letter from Troy, State of New York, Oct. 1846.
THE STORY OF CANUTE AND HIS COURTIERS.—
NEW VERSION.—One day, when in the plenitude of his
power, he caused the throne to be removed from the
throne-room and erected, during low tide, on the sea-
shore. Having taken his seat, surrounded by his cour-
tiers, he issued a proclomation to the ocean, forbidding it
to rise, and commanding it not on any account to leave
its bed until his permission for It to get up was graciously
awarded. The courtiers backed the Royal edict, and en-
couraged with the grossest adulation this first great prac-
tical attempt to prove that Britannia rules. Such a rule,
however, was soon proved to be nothing better than a
rule nisi, which it is impossible to make absolute when
opposed by Neptune's irresistible motion of course.
Every wave of Canute's sceptre was answered by a wave
from the sea, and the courtiers, who were already up to
their ankles in salt water, began to fear that they should
soon be pickled in the foaming brine. At length the
monarch himself found his footstool disposed to go on
swimmingly of its own accord, and there was every pros-
pect that the whole party would undergo the ceremony of
an immediate investiture of the bath. The sovereign,
who was very lightly shod, soon found that his pumps
were not capable of getting rid of the water, which was
now rising very rapidly. Having sat with his feet in the
sea for a few minutes, and not relishing the slight speci-
men of hydropathic tteatment he had endured, he jumped
suddenly up, and began to abuse his courtiers for the
mess into which be had been betrayed by their out-
rageous flattery !—A'Becket's Comic History of England.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN CANOES.—The neighbourhood
of the police-house is the grand rendezvous of the Lower
Murray natives; and owing to the judicious treatment
they have received—kindness and protection, blended with
the strictest discipline—they are generally peaceable and
harmless. The mounted police are regarded by the natives
as belonging to the highest order of white men ; and, in-
deed, -Olen first seen by the tribes higher up the Murray,
they were supposed to form part of the horses on which
they rode, and were regarded with terror as fearful cen-
taurs. Three or four native boys were sitting round one
of their small fires, outside the hut, roasting a sheep's
foot in the embers, and besmearing their bodies with some
of its fat. These little creatures all in a state of nudity,
fetch wood and water, go after the horses, and make
themselves generally useful about the station. The men
were out fishing in their canoes, and the women and girls
being busily employed in gathering bulrush-root for sup-
per, they did not arrive at their fires until after sunset. I
crossed the river in one of the canoes; which are made
merely of a sheet of bark from the blue gum-tree, warped
up at the sides by the application of moisture and fire, and
stopped at the endslwith strong clay. They are paddled
by means of along spear. having a_sharoene garoo-
none axed at one end, tors pearing nab. The spear is held
in both hands, and the paddler wields it standing; preser-
ving the most delicate balance, which a breath of wind is
sufficient to upset. Daring cold weather a fire is invaria-

bly carried in the canoe, raised on a small platform of
clay, supported by wet seeds and mud ; and by these fires
they frequently cook a portion of their fish whilst on the
water. Two, or, at the most, three individuals, can he
conveyed in these .rail shells of bark.—Angas's Savage
Life and Scenes.
MARRIAGE CEREMONY IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND.
—The day of marriage has always been, and it is to be
hoped, in spite of disconsolate old maids and love-crossed
bachelors, will ever continue to be, a time of festivity.
Among the rustics in Cumberland it glides away amidst
music, dancing, and revelry. Early in the morning the
bridegroom, attended by his friends on horseback, pro-
ceeds in a gallop to the house of his bride's father. Hav-
ing alighted, he salutes her, and then the company break-
fast together. The repast concluded, the whole company
depart in cavalcade order towards the church, accom-
panied by a fiddler, who plays a succession of tunes appro-
priate to the occasion. Immediately after the performance
of the ceremony, the company retire to a neighbouring
alehouse, and many a flowing bumper of home-brewed is
quaffed to the health of the happy pair. Animated with
this earthly nectar, they set off at full speed towards the
future residence of the bride, where a handkerchief is pre-
sented to the first who arrives. In some of the country
villages in the county of Durham, after the connubial knot
is tied, a ribbon is proposed for contention, either for a
foot or a horse.race,—supposed to be a delicate substitu-
tion for the bride's garter, which used to be taken off
while she knelt at the altar; and the practice being anti-
cipated, the garter was generally found to do credit to her
taste and skill in needlework. In Craven, where this sin-
gular sport also prevails, whoever first reaches the bride's
habitation is ushered into the bridal chamber, and, after
having performed the ceremony of turning down the bed-
clothes, returns, carrying in his hand a tankard of warm
ale, previously prepared, to meet the bride, to whom he
triumphantly offers his humble beverage, and by whom,
in return, he is presented with the ribbon, as the honour-
able reward of his victory. Another ancient marriage
ceremony of the same sort, still observed in the remote
parts of Northumberland, is that of riding for the kail,
where the party after kissing the bride, set off at full speed
on horseback to the bridegroom's house, the winner of
the race receiving the kail, or dish of spice broth, as the
chief prize.—Brockett's North Country Dialects and
Customs.
PEKING AND ITS PALACES.—The northern division of
Peking consists of three inclosures, one within another,
each surrounded by its own wall. The first contains
the imperial palace and the abodes of the different mem-
bers of the imperial household ; the second was designed
for the residence of the officers of the court, but is now
occupied by Chinese merchants ; the third consists of the
space inclosed by the outer wails, and was formerly inha-
bited by Tartars, but is now in the possession of Chinese
shopkeepers and traders. The first inclosure (" forbidden
city") is the most splendid and important part of Peking.
It is situated nearly in the centre of the northern division
of the tits?. It is an oblong parallelogram about two
i miles in circumference, and enclosed by a wall nearly
thirty feet high. This wall is built of polished red brick,
surrounded by a ditch lined with hewn stone, and covered
with varnished tiles of a brilliant yellow, which gives it
the appearance, when seen under the rays of the sun, of
being covered with a roof of gold. The interior of this
inclosure is occupied by a suite of court-yards and apart-
ments, which it is said, for beauty and splendour, can-
not be surpassed. It is divided into three parts, the
eastern, middle, and western. The middle division con-
tains the imperial buildings, which are subdivided into
several distinct palaces. The gates and halls are thus
described •—l. 7'he Meridian Gate! Before this gate'on
the E. is a lunar dial, and on the W. a solar, and in the
tower above it a large bell and gong. All public officers
enter and leave the palace by the eastern avenue; none
but the princes of the imperial blood are permitted to pass
the western, and none but the emperor the southern
avenue. At this gate are distributed the presents to sit.
bassies ; and all war captives are here received by his
Majesty in person.-2. The Gate of Peace has five
avenues, and is a superb building of white marble. The
height of the basement is twenty feet, and the whole
edifice one hundred and ten. The ascent to it is by five

" Those who fear sinister results from the free sale of flights of forty steps each, and it is highly ornamented
land may be assured that, far from endangering British with tripods and other figures in bronze. Here, on all the
connexion, the increase of proprietors interested in pre- holidays and on the anniversary of the emperor's birth-
serving order would be its best guarantee, and the conti- day, he receives the congratulations of his officers, who
nent offers many examples of the happy co-existence of
monarchy with a great subdivision of land." prostrate themselves to the earth before him, and strike
the ground with their foreheads. 3. The Hall of Perfect.
Peace. Here the emperor comes to examine the ample_
Rowland Bradshaw, or the Way to Fame. London : ments prepared for the annual ceremony of ploughing.
Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, Paternoster-row. 4. The Hall of Secure Peace; in this the emperor gives
• We have before us the first three numbers of a new a banquet to his foreign guests on new years day. 5.
work, under the above title, now publishing by a towns- The Tranquil Palace of Heaven, i.e., of the emperor.
man, the author of Raby Rattler, with illustrations, This is a private retreat, to which no one can approach
also by a townsman, Mr. S. P. Fletcher. The work is without special permission. This palace is described by
dedicated to the young men of England ; and the object the Russians, who have had many opportunities of seeing
of the writer appears to be to trace the career of a young it, as " the loftiest, richest, and most magnificent of all
man of education and talent, thrown as an apprentice the palaces." On each side of the tower is a large copper
amongst a class of men and youths, most of them his vessel, in which incense is burnt night and day. 6. The
inferiors in every acquirement, but his superiors in Palace of the Earth's Repos-, i. e., of the empres.s,whrh
wealth. The scene of the opening number is laid is said to be very beautiful ; adjoining this is the imperial
in the town of Fleigh—we presume Leigh—and gives an flower garden, which is laid cut in walks for her majesty,
accurate and racy description of a state of society and of who being a Tartar, has not adopted the Chinese custom
practices, once the characteristics of certain parts of Lan- of crippling her feet, and therefore is said to enjoy herself
cashire, but which the advancing education of the present in what is called " Earth's Repose." In this garden is a
day is fast rendering obsolete. We refer to the system of
library, said to contain a collection of all the books pub-
" trotting" and practical joking, of which Bolton was for- lished in China.—Montgomery Martin's " China."