The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-20 00:00:00

ALTERATION IN THE WEST INDIA MAILS

The following notice is exhibited at the General Post-office
and the several branch offices :
" Henceforward the mails for Mexico, Honduras, (Belize)
Chagress, and the Isthmus of Panama, Carthagena, Santa
Martha, Laguayra, and Puerto Cabello, will be made up on
the Ist day of every month as heretofore ; consequently no
mails will be made up on the 15th.
"The mails for the British and foreign possessions in the
West Indies, with the exception of Honduras, as above-
mentioned, will continue to be made up in London as hi-
therto on the Ist and 15th of every month ; except, of course,
when those dates fall on a Sunday ; in this case the mails
will be made up on the following day.

✓"The packets will no longer touch at New Orleans, Sa-
vannah, Charleston, New York, Halifax, Nova Scotia ; Cu-
racoa, Paramaribo, in Surinam ; Maracaibo, Bahia Honda,
San Juan de Nicaragua, Mayaquess, in Porto Rico ; Ponce,
in Porto Rico ; Turk's Island, Cape Nichola Mole, in
Hayti ; and Santa Cruz.

'` On the return voyage the packets will continue to touch
at Bermuda and Fayal, but the schooner between Fayal and
Madeira, announced in the notice of December, 1841, is now
to be discontinued.

" The following is a list of the ports comprised in the
scheme of the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, as now
modified, with the rate of postage chargeable on a letter not
exceeding half an ounce annexed to each place._

" All letters marked * must be pre-paid, else they cannot
be forwarded :

s. d., s. d.
Antigua
Barbados 1 OI dence)
Belize (Honduras).... 1 0 Nevia
Berbice .
*Cape Haytien (Hayti) 1 s*Santa Martha 2 3
*Carthagena. 2 3*San Jaga de Cuba
Chagres
Demerara.
Dominica....
Grenada
*Guadaloupe 1 51 St. Vincent 1 0
*H avan pa 11
lamp 2 3
Jamaica
*Laguyra
*Martinique
Montserrat

REMARKABLE EXHUMATION OF A HUMAN

SKELETON

It may be known to many that Lord Clifford, of Ugbrook,
has ordered a new canal to be cut from a point of the new
road between the village of Kingsteignton and the town of
Newton Abbot. In the course of excavation on the last
day of August, a workman at the depth of 61 fact below the
present surface came in contact with the leg bones of a
human skeleton, that with a little care was completely ex-
humed, and ultimately found nearly perfect. The skeleton
presented itself bending forward in a sitting posture, the
arm bones extended, and on lifting up the latter with the
ribs a metallic band or armlet shining in full refulgence was
thrown out, " hanging upon the arm bone or bones." The
band on being tested was found to be of gold with some i
alloy, the workmanship was rude, and seemed to show t was
not formed by, and did not emanate from, a people highly
civilised. It had neither clasps nor mark of being soldered,
but possessed of elasticity to open, yet rigid enough to keep
close to the arm when the squared ends were brought to
ge
ther. Its breadth is three-eighths of an inch, oval with-
out and flat within, anal both within and withoutit ap-
peared to have some design "chipped" or cut upon it; but
what it is intended to represent cannot, we think, be deci-
phered. To superficial observation the " jewelled, arm"
might lead to the supposition that the remains were those of
a lady of rank ; professional examination, and the more accu-
rate investigation of its anatomical characters, proved it to be
a male skeleton of the middle size, but evidence was also
shown of great muscular power. He appeared to have fallen
in conflict, or soon after some skirmish; the ulna or elbow
bone of the left fore arm being broken obliquely, and the
lower jaw also on the same side showed fracture in two
places about an inch and a half apart, and the central piece
of bone between the fractured parts had been forced in and
was gone. What is remarkable—the articulating processes
of the jaw on that side were perfect, while those on the other-
wise sound or right side of the lower jaw were broken off and
gone, having been apparently fractured in their sockets by
some ponderous blow which had beeo inflicted on one side,
and had acted with great force in an opposite direction.
Until within the last half century the grounds wherein this
skeleton was found were unenclosed, and were called the
Common. Here the Teign once flowed openly, and the sea
occupied that space which alluvial deposit has long since
occupied. Below granitic sand and gravel is a clay bed, and
beneath, the black mud containing marine shells ; and
in the latter accumulation the bones were found, not
rudely cast into a mere pit, but surrounded and roofed
over with alder wood in parallel pieces or rather fragments,
as from the great lapse of time the whole was reduced to a
soft consistence, and could be easily separated into the
smallest fragments, and above these a few rude oblong stones,
water-worn, were removed. The common grass of the field,
which was a bright olive green colour, invested the body,
and to show the extreme care of that investiture, it had all
been. laid smooth and longitudinally as it had been cut, the
fibres parallel with each other. The front of the skull and
ends of the thigh bones pointed to the rising sun, or a point
or two to the southward of the east, and there, with out-
stretched arms, the remains sat like a fire worshipper of the
invokinghen ici
atnh,e sun'sor
pagan
Dane,beams.
le let
tEhaesrt ancientwelco Binrg or
nr
p
antiqua-
ries decide ; certain it is, that in the line of the landing-
place of the cruel Danes, at Teignmouth, these remains were
interred as those of a chief, with consummate art and care.
The teeth were well set, and most of them remained, until
pulled out by the spectator, one by one, to be kept as charms
to prevent tooth-ache in the possessor of such precious relics !
The whole of the teeth were much worn down, and prove
their owner to have attained the age of 50 or GO years.—
West of Enpland Conservative.

PROPAGATION OF POPERY.—The sums extracted by
foreign priests from the wretchedly impoverished inhabitants
of Ireland, for the Romish propaganda, are quite marvellous.
There really ought to be a re-enactment of some of the old
statutes against these cormorant frauds and extortions. We
find the following sum tottle for one month, and that the
dead month of the• year, published in the papers :—" To
total received from Ist August to sth September. £670 17s.
10d," This, together with the repeal extortions and other
such works, is pretty well. The truth is, that Rome gathers
her taxes here now much more boldly than England.—
Londonderry SentiNel.

When Her Majesty and Prince Albert were driving slowly
along the avenue from Dalkeith Palace on Friday, a collier,
with unwashed hands and unshaven chin, approached the
carriage, and extended his hand to Prince Albert, who re-
ceived it with great frankness and shook it heartily. The
collier did not attempt the same liberty with Her Majesty,
probably because he had never shaken hands with a lady in
his life, and was not quite sure of the propriety of beginning
with the Queen ; but he exclaimed " Ye're just the woman
we want." Her Majesty and the Prince laughed heartily at
the occurrence.
The anxiety to get a view of her Majesty was excessive.
At the Castle-gate an elderly woman sprung past the soldiers,
and pressing through the party who had been in attendance
on the Queen in the Castle, and exclaimed most convulsively,
" Oh, will you let me see the Queen ? " A military gentle-
man pushed her back, but she• was not so easily put off ;
again pressing forward, she stood within a yard of the Royal
carriage, and, clasping her hands, cried out, " Hech, Sirs, is
that the Queen? Is that the Queen? Weel ? what have Ino
seen this day ? Eh, but she's a bonnie leddie I " The poor
woman gazed awhile in silent admiration, but was at last forced
to withdraw, much against her will, consoled, however, by
the reflection that she had seen the Queen, and that the
Queen had seen her. _

Decidedly the most conspicuous of all the equipages was a
coach-and-four in flashing flaming scarlet livery, followed by
a chaise and two in the same. Up and down, up and down,
the main streets it drove incessantly on Wednesday and
Thursday. The crowds of pedestrians gazed. " See ! see ! "

cried one in every room, acid there was; rush to the windows
to see. " Who is it? who is it ? " was the question? "It is
the Duke of Hamilton," cried some. But none could tell
surely, and all wished to know. Who is it? It must be
something great, with that red-hot kitchen furnace-coloured
livery. The thing grew to a mystery. We had seen the
equipage for the fifth or sixth time, when as it passed us once
again, we startled our companions by a burst of uncontrollable
laughter. There, in the carriage and four with the scarlet
livery, we saw, not the Duke of Hamilton, but—Provost
Blakie, in a blue coat and brass buttons. This mysterious
equipage was the equipage of the deputation from Aberdeen.

THE FLOATING ISLAND IN DERWENT LAKE

NEAR KESWICK

This most extraordinary phenomenon is situate not far
from Lowdore, at the south-east extremity of the lake, and
a little more than 150 yards from the land, where the depth
of the water does not exceed six feet in a mean state of the
lake.

During the last forty years it has appeared thirteen times.
In the year 1808, from July 20 to the beginning of October
in the same year ; in 1813, from the 7th of September to the
end of October following ; in 1815, from August sto the
end of the month; in 1819, from August 14 to the end of
the same month ; in 1824, from June 21 to the end of Sep-
tember ' • in 1825, it was above the water from the 9th to the
23rd of September; and from the 11th of July to the end of
September in 1826. " The circumstance of its appearing in
three successive years," says Mr. Otley, " may be attributed
to the extraordinary warmth of the season." made its
appearance again on the 10th of June, 1831, and remained
uncovered until the 25th of September. In 1834 and 1835
it was visible for a few weeks in August and September. In
1837 it appeared in July and August. It appeared again on
the 19th July, 1841, and remained till the end of August.
And it made its appearance in the latter end of last or the
beginning of the !present month (September,) but it is not
yet quite so large as on some of the former occasions of its
appearance.
We will not undertake to investigate the great number of
hypotheses which have been advanced relative to the cause
of this singular phenomenon, nor examine into any of the
arguments which have been adduced, but will merely give
the opinion of Mr. Otley, who is well versed in the geological
and meteorological properties of the lake district, who is
resident at Keswick, and who for the last thirty years has
watched with much attention the operation of it. Mr.
Otley says—
" That it generally rises after an interval of a few days,
and after a continuance of fine weather. Its figure and dimen-
sions are variable ; it has sometimes contained about half an
acre of ground, at other times only a few perches ; but ex-
tending in a gradual slope under water, a much greater por-
tion is raised from the bottom than reaches the surface of the
lake. Several large rents or cracks may be seen in the earth
about the place, which appear to have been occasioned by its
stretching to reach the surface. It never rises far above the
level of the lake, but having.once attained the surface. it for
a time fluctuates with the rise and fall of the water, after
which it sinks gradually. When at rest in the bottom of the
lake it has the same appearance as the neighbouring parts,
being covered with the same' vegetation, consisting princi-
pally of litterella lacustris and lobelia dorimanno, inters-
persed with isoetes lacustris, and other plants common in
this and all the neighbouring lakes ;.after remaining some
time above the water, its verdure is improved. For a few
inches in depth it is, composed of ,clayey or earthy matter,
apparently deposited by the water, in which the growing
plants have fixed their roots ; the rest is a congeries of de-
cayed vegetable matter, forming a stratum of lopse peat earth,
about six feet in thickness, which rises from a bed of very
fine soft clay. A considerable quantity of air is contained in
the body of the island, and may be dislodged by probing the
earth with a poll. This air was found by Dr. Balton to con-
sist of equal parts of carbureted hydrogen and azotic gases,
with a little carbonic
Mr. Otley further adds—
" That one material circumstance, has however, generally
escaped observation—namely, that the air to which the rising
of this island has been attributed, is not collected in a body
underneath it, but interspersed through the whole mass.
And the most probable conclusion seems to he, that the air
or gas is generated in the body of the island by decomposition
of the vegetable matter of which it is formed ; and this gas
being produced most copiously, as well as being ratified in
hot weather, the earth at length becomes so much extended
therewith as to render the mass of less weight than an equal
bulk of water. The water then insinuating itself between the
substratum of clay and peat earth forming the island, bears
it to the surface, where it continues for a time, till partly by
escape of the gas, partly by its absorption, and partly by its
condensation consequent on
uall a de y
sinks to its former level,crease of heat, the volume is
reduced, and the earth grad
where it remains till a sufficient accumulation of gas again
renders it buoyant. But as e vegetable matter of which
the island is principally com the vegetable matter of which
the island is 'principallY composed, appears to have been
amassed at a remote period, when the lake was of less depth
than at present, receiving very little addition from the decay
of plants recently gro%in upon the spot, it is reasonable to
suppose that the process of furnishing the gas cannot from
the same materials be continued ad infinitum ; but that
there must be a time when it shall have arrived at its maxi-
mum, after which the eruptions will become less extensive
or less frequent."