Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-05-15

Extract Of letter to house in New York dated Ponc
porto Rco,) 18th April, 1896
Gentlemen-We have noticed in a New York
paper (the Gazette of 25th March,) report
made by Capt. M-ralative to pirates, which
we must say is exaggerated. We have no GER
tain knowledge of any piratical vessel abou,
this Island, or that has been for months past.
There is government schr. cruizing the whole
time on the south side of this Island, and she is
now in this port, and goes out and in every few
days.
You are awart that reports of the kind made
by Capt NJ. are detrimental to the trade Of this
place, and tend to enhance the rate of insurance.
His statement must have been made upon
pogue reports in circulation at the time Of his
leavi6g, bat which have excited much dissatis-
factiSh here. The authorities are very viglant
in their measures towards the suppression Of
piracy.
We are, very respectfully, your obd't serv'ts
I. DAVIDSON & CO.
This is only one Of hundred similar reports
all equally unfoundetl-the truth is, such is the
horror Of pirates, pretty natural one We adj
NIT, that almost any low black looking vessel
seen along the shores of the w. India islands,
and whose course is not exactly such as the
apprehensive party thinks it ought to be, is al
once set down for, and reported as: pirate
This does harm, for the same reason that the
cry Of wolftoo often repeated, PROVED. fatal TO
the boy in the fable. .7me1lcan.
Travellers speak with rapture Of the effects
produced by spring in high attitudes Captain
Franklin, who spent the first winter Of his ex-
petition TO the Polar seas, about ten degrees
north of us, describes the changes produced
during the las, week of May as almost miracu-
lous. The earth, on one day white with the
SHOWS Of winter, on the next is brown with the
fallen leaves of the last year; on the third green
withstrawberry plants and the bursting buds
of@ gooseberry; and ir few days more is
spangled with flowers of almost every hue, the
golden potentilla, the snow-white chokeberry
and the blushing wild rose Moralizing in the
pure spirit Of that true philosophy which the
contemplation Of such scene is calculated 10
inspire, he remarks that I" the gifts Of nature
are disrgarded and undervalued till they are
Withdrawn, and in the hideous regions Of the
arctic zone, she would make convert of him,
for whom the gardens Of Europe had no charms,
or the mild beauties of sou'A b cline had
bloomed in vain
1t is difficult for us who reside in this happy
climate TO conceive the intensity OF that inter-
est, which the inhabitants of more inhospita-
BILE ones, take in the progress OF vegetation
Capt. Lyon, speaking Of the i'll success a,,end
ing the efforts 10 raise few vegetables in hot
bed frames, placed on the sunny slope OF bill
at some distance from the ship, in which, "by
dnt Of coaXing, mustard and peas, two inches
high, and radishes the thickness Of threads"
crowned their endeavors, says, nevertheless
the gardens answered an excellent purpose, by
making many OF our people walk 10 observe
their nroeress, who otherwise would have taken
no exercise. 1t is also well knVwu that the
most devoted enthusiasts in the science, have
been northern and Alpine botansts.
"Sal down the Tigris, or up the Nile" says
German writer, "travel the deserts Of Irak, or
the delicious plains Of Syria; seek the valleys
of Hajaz, or the delightful solitudes of Yaman
every where you will meet professional story.
tclers, in listening to whose tales the people
find their greatest amusement They are to be
seen in the tent Of the Bedouin and the hut of
the Fallah; in the village cofee-houses. as well
as those Of Bagdad, Damascus and Cairo
When the intense hca! Of noon compels the ira
weller to stop on his journey, and interrupts the
transactions Of business, the people of the ca
ravan, and the crowd Of the bazaar, gather to-
gether beneath spreading tree or in coffee
house. to listen with attentive ears 10 the story
teller, who for hours will astonish and delight
them, and then in the most interesting part
break of, to take up the tale again in the cool
of the evening. Even then he does not always
finish his narrative, but often defers the end of
it until the morning; when, instead of indulg-
ing his audience with the catastrophe, he will
begin new story. In the great towns these
story-tellers form particular corporation; and
like every other trade, are under the govern.
ment Of their own shaIkh."
SPANISH LADIES.
The dress Of the Spanish lady is remarkably
elegant: and generally adorns very perfect
shape. Black i, the universally color, and the
robe is most tasteiully worked and vandyked. A
mantilla, veil Of black silk or lace, and some
times Of white lace, is thrown over the head,
and leaving the face uncovered, fails gracefully
over the head and shoulders, and is confined at
the waist by the arms Of the wearer They are