The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-01-27 00:00:00

" The Cowie for iv:lsiest HA4IIPDEN fell 1* the Field, Asti SIDNEY died on the Scaffold!"

CUSTOSI-fiZrAll, Idth J. 1111/IQ.
F R HALF,
(By Order of the lion, the Commissioners of his Majeetsa
Customs). on THCRBD.IIi. the 47th. and FRIDAV,
the Whit instant. at One o.Clock in theaftentoon preeisel).
'tithe Commerrial Kale Rooms, Mincing Ulm.
Fr HE ft/Bowing 00008 for Exportatioo:—Ta-
J. phocs, mace, sugar. sugar candy, tamarinds, succades,
proserred ginger, and 411 t.

fess that I couhl scarcely believe it ; bin what I have
bjust stated is 'a fact, which I witnessed twice on the
ask.: of the Ituarapiehe, where I encamped five days
fOr the express purpose of seri ug those organized troops
pan. I have met on the shores of the Orinoco herds of
fifty to a hundred wild oxen. A chief always marched
at the head, and another at the rear of these.

The people of the country have assured me that the
wild agues, when they travel, observe the save discip-
line as the horses; but the mules, though they also lire
in troops, are continually fighting with each other, and
it has rot lteaa observed that they have any chief. They,
however, matte at the appearance of a common enemy,
sad display still more trick and address than the horses,
in avoiding the snares which arelaid for catching them,
and also for eleaping when taken.
Thetrareliet meets with a tnelaneholv picture of the
abandateed profligacy and dis silting hipocrisy. of the
Spanish ittneTitiOs p . A great trade ts„ how-
ever. carried on in the Bulls and Indulgencies, which
are annually seat to Spanish America. The titles of
these hulls are " Hull of the Living," " Bull of the
Dead,'"` Hull of the IVliite Meats and Eggs," " Bull of
l'omptisition," all of which are said to possess miraculous
properties. and are sold at various prices, according
to the rank of the purchaser, from fifteen dollars to a
shilling.

" The Ball of the Lining.—The fortunate possessor
of the Bull of the Livisig, if he had murdered ins father,
mother, and children, if he were guilty of incest and of
crimes the most outrageous to natnre, has only to seek
a priest, who, at the sight of this miracnlous paper,
cannot refuse him absolution; st hen suddenly he be-
comes reconciled to heaven, aml his conscience remains
as tranqail, as far removed front remorse, as that of
CLesar Borgia, when, furnished with the previous abso-
lution given to him by his father, he departed on an ex-
cursion to assassinate or poison some prince of his tittle.
Blasphemies against tiu 1, atheism, the. are also par-
doned in those wLo buy this Bull. There is but one
crime (without doubt the worst of all crime.), ineredm
lity in the oracles of the Vatican, vulgarly called he-
resy, which resists their power. •
g• lie who buys the Bull of. the Living enjoys the in-
estimable advantage, in a hot climate, of bring able to
hear the masses which are said every :lay in these coun-
tries, oar I before sun-rise ; to have it celebrated at
bie •wa home when the church of his parish is inter-
dicted; to be buried in consecrated ground, if the
ehurch-yard is interdicted ; to ea: meat on fast-days,
and all the meals required by the appetite on days of
abstinence; sa:isog some excelstiaos, which the pre-
sent Pope has cosuulandeJ, by his hulls of January I,

" 'At Mill of Me Matt—After the still of the
Living, naturally comes that of the Dead. It is a real
passport, by virtue of Which a soul govs direct to
Isoares, without having been purified by the fire and
other torments of purgatory. its soon as a 111.111 dies, a
relation or friend irises to a priest to buy a Hull, on
which fa written the iwime of iliadlweeasecl ; and at that
iwitiasil Isis goal Aim, -as pies as that of am Atortl, to ,
the asylum of the blessed. The wealthy, and persons
iolatqprircutnatawv, pay site reels for t(is Bull, about
hanta•crown ; and the poor, two reap and - .
" I have more than once heard the poor in this
country lament, and utter the most frightful shrieks, at
the death of their relations : the grief for their loss was
trifling, iu comparison with that kit by knowing they
were in purgatory, from the want of lid:: trifling sum
for delivering them. They run about in every direc-
t' , begging elms with tears, In the hope of procuring
as much money as may enable them to buy Bulls for
releasing the souls of ihrZr relations from purgatory. I
have more than once had the happiness of calming their
grief; relieving a soul from that state, contributing
to the comforts of a Spanish priest, owl of attracting
to myself a thoussud benedictions, fur a quarter of a
dollar.

" White:Neel aid Eggs.—.lll the world
knows that arsenic is not more injurious to the body
thartTgs and milk to the soul during Lent ; but as
there are stomachs which, in that ' • of abatiuence,
cannot do without milk and eggs, the Roman church
dippebses with its observance tu persons who buy this
Ball. It has, in its kindness, established four rates, by
which all the faithful, poor, or rich, may profit by this
indulgence. The greatest personages pay sic dollars
each, the second class three dollars, the th►rd class one
'dollar and a half, and the poor three reals.

" The Bull of ComposUion.—Of all possible Bolls,
this is without doubt the most wonderful, and that of
which the mural results are the most evident. Pope
Aleueder ti. was very worthy of being time author of
it; but that which I cannot comprehend is, that. II a said
Pope having had virtuous and enlightened pontiffs for
his successors, they did net desist from sending such
a Hull to America. So muds do men stick& for their
authority and wealth, whatever may have been their
origin
" Persons who are little versed in these matters will
ind a difficulty in believing that this Roll has the virtue
of reminds& the robber, or limper of the property of
others, the "legitimate proprietor. The author of the
Hull had stipulated as a condition in it, that the thief
should aot ticaow the person he bad robbed; thus, a
i pickpocket, who in a crowd steals a watch or a pnrse,
hr who robs ou the highway or in a house, becomes le-
gitimate proprietor of what he has stolen, provided he
knows not whom be has plundered."

The Creoles of Venezuela are said to be honest and in-
dustriconi. and very strict in their moral and domestic
*sties. The women make good wives and mothers, sod
infidelity is very rare among them.
In an account of the Natural History of Venezuela,
M. laivsysse thus notices the boa eonsrriNor:—
••
There are three species of boa : I saw one of fifteen
to nineteen feet in length, and some have been st.en un
the continent forty-five legit long. That which is most
remarkable in this gigantic reptile is the m.nner in
which it &roars the fowls and quadrupeds that fall, as
it may be said, into his sphere of enchantment. When
a bee, plateds,poeo. or fawn, passes near the boa, the
bird or M i anila s immediately seized with convulsions;
it relive Its feathers ur bristles its hair, and stands still,
withent attempting to fly, intiktbis slow and enormous
reptile seises it by the Lead. The serpent then emits a
whitish and viscous slime on the body of its rictisa, and
swallows it slowly at its leisure. If the prey he SlNOP-
what large, the monster doubles itself up, contracts its
lengthyaad becomes the thicker as it is fall. It is then
eddied M repose to digest the food, or rather becnnoe
it ia tuo,fail to be able to mere or crawl. When in this
matt, a.ahild, who was not frightened at Its Wilmot"
appearance, inighticill it with a stick, or rut it in pieces
with a its tint, as I hat: seen dune by the young Indians

PRICE :7D•

and neuron, who would, on such occasions, appear de-
lighted at vanquishing tbc monster."
In the island of Tnnidad there is a vary remarkable
Asphaltum Lake, about half a league in length, and the
same in breadth. situated near the sea, and elevated
eighty feet above its level:—
" Here the coast presents a confused mixture of
tnarly earths (which marl is argillaceoes), impregnated
with asphaltum. An excellent limpid and running;
water is found in the crevices of the asphaltum, as far As
six feet deep, in which there is a great quantity of small
fish. All these crevices, called funnels, incline to a
conic form. The bottoms of some are so liqoid,
that when poles are thrust into them they disappear.
The people who inhabit the neighbourhood assured toe
that, leaving put marks on the pieces of wood thrust
into the funnels, they found them again, a few days af-
terwards, on the sea-shore. I saw several pieces of wood
in the lake, completely changed into bi•utnen. In one
of the funnels I foam( the trunk odeallarge tree, which
perfectly retained its round shape. I caused it to be
; when it eras observed to be completely impreg-
nated with petroleum. •
" I have also seen the same phenomenon in the pro-
vinces of New Barcelona aml i-uniana, near the Lake of
Cariaco. and various parts of those regious where the
currents of the sea have formed large masses of vege-
table substances.

" There is no 'phenomena which offers more variety
and mobility than the surface of the Asphaltum Lake.
Ilere are seen groups of shrubs; there tuft of mild
pine-apples and aloes. Aiming those shrubs and flowers
.warms of magnifieent botteriltes and brilliant humming-
birds seek their food, enlivening a scene which, if it
were deprived of animals and vegetable', would present
an exact image of Tartarus. 11' here an islet of several •
feet diameter had been area in the evening, there is
often nothing to he found the next morning but a gulpf.,
in which it has been swallowed up; whilst en the soli;
of it has arisen another island, that will soon he cot et el
With vegetation."

AMERICAN PAPERS.
T.
NATCHITOCHES, Nov. 3.—Nine o'clock Buil socenin;
we received the uews of the arrival of 21/00 Spaniard:
on the bunks of the Sabine (all mounted), anal within
50 utiles of us ; they have driven all before them on their
march from St. Antonio, and burnt all the villages; they
have driven the remainder of the Republicaus in all di-
' rectiuns, and have put several to death. Iloilo ral 1 .on•r
has with risk got clear with his family, hut the t um-
hander at this place has orders to send him, ire-at:phi.
Ito Washington, by direction of the President. We do •
not know where this will end ; we have hut fifty soldier,
at this port ; they have got one family from %rw Ifork
just settled here.
tort•ciiv, Übe. 13.—Captain C. left Tonga Bay
Septenilwr I. The i• der of that place told hies
that on the 29th of Angatst a Patriot squadron of one
ship, a sloop of war, anol a brig, had sailed against
Payta, taken it, and burnt the town ; that the Patriot •
arm! had taken the city of Milan, and a number of
small towns near it, in one of which they had put every
wale inhabitant to the sword ; and were in full inareft
against Valdevia.—Lord Cochrane had again sailei
with a squatturn hgaitost Lima.
IN coot:Rom nee. 44.
A Message was received from the President, relative
to the true intent Uhl meaning of the Act of last Sessioe,
entitled an Act, in addition to the Acts prohibiting the
Stave Trade, 24 to the duties of the agents to be ap-
pointed on the coast of Africa. The President state-,
that no seizure of slave rowels has yet been made h', our
cruisers: that it has been divided to send a public • topd
to the coast of Melva, with two agents, who will tak •
with then: tools and other it:Tien:cots, necessary to form
a colony on the roast of Africa, for the purpose of ame-
liorating their condition, and where slaves may be sent
who may be fonnol on hoard of American ships, tiulating
the laws of the con•itry.
(Fit.o2l TII6 NATIONAL INTILLIGENCIR.) .
(lIT ArTIIONITT.) —Notice has beeu revolved tts.
Department of the State from Baron !Beek
t barge d'AM'airen from Sweden, that Henry Aga%
F.sq. has been discharged from his office as Consul I -
Sweden and Noivrav, at the port of Baltimore.
It is said the Colombo.' new 74, is to doub t 'ape
Horn. Commodore Braittbrid conosii r. She
is consith•reil one of the figeZ r the :treat..
Orders 18;0 heen sent to Chart ton to van) site mili-
tary firer there to Amelia Island, supposed •it be for
:lash sea the Floridas. •