NEW SOUTH WALES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 601, 7 August 1858, Page 4

NEW SOUTH WALES.

i Deeadftji. Stats of; the. Overland Couijtut TO; gentlemaii iii Maitland has furnished the ,' Northern Times' with the following letter.received from Wagga Wagga, dated July sth.-igiving: details of-the state ot' the country :-—" You cannot form any idea of the present state of thd country. I have tiavelled 350 miles that look like a perfect desert, and not in a single instance could I get a mouthful of grass for my horses. I have had a great many cows die,,but only ten bullocks, and have been partiehlary fortunate with my horses, having twenty left out of twenty-six; the six died from sheer starvation. Since I left Dubbo I have passed eleven lots of cattle, and their losses have been fearful, and in no single instance had any of the men a horse to ride. Isawonegentleman from New; England whostarted with 700 head of store cattle, arid on the Lachlah all he had was 130—-the remainder haying all died; he had lost the whole 6f his horses. Another gentleman, who: had started from Darling1 Downs with 1400 - head of store cattle, had nearly 1000 left, but had; lost1 26 horses out of 27; lie worked his dray a considerable part of the way.with one hoi'sein the shaft and an old bullock leading. .1; have seen ,50 head of cattle sticking in- asmall-waterhole, and I could see others laying dead for some distance around it When at Dubbo' I was told that two hundred* and twenty-two tKoiisan A sheep had passed from January Ist to .June 15th to Victoria. From' what t I have seen I am quite sure there will be a loss.of : <to per cent, in driving cattle overland this year. On" a station on the .Lachlan a stockman came to Hie. hut to ask a helpmate to walk back withhim and help to get a beast in to kill. Neither had a horse to ride. I.was told by a settler1 on the Lachlari that at Christmas his horses were all fat, but now they are so poor that they are not able to come into the yard, and are "dying off. If; his- hard work indeed to trot oh foot round cattle' night and day, and travel forty miles without a drink even of Jmuddy: water, yet ihany/have had to do as much. In fact the whole country is'as baiuof grass as the "streets of Maitla.nd. I am told, however, that from here to the Murray (2^o miles) therpXsplenty of grass. --.It will be impossible to bring down cattle for some months. Should you see any one who is thinking of starting for Melbourne give them a friendly warning." . ■■• ■-;.; ■•'■•■■.•■ ■■• ■'■■ •' -- , -.'" ... : Discoveuy of Coppeu Oee.—There is a report in 33eechw,orth of the discovery of a lodo of "copper ore within five miles of the town. It is represented to us as having been_ opened at a considerable depth, but not having seen any specimens, we are unable to say more concerning the discovery. If the load thus opened,

„n v e a productive one in quantity, and the Kineral realise a tolerable percentage of .copper, S re are good reasons for hoping that a specuSlon in it would be profitable. Wood is Wiful for a furnace, and water-power can be Ud in certain localities without much expense ov trouble, and th6ugh wages are high, when Pompared wtth the rates paid m the old country thedisproportion, together with tta.expense of SrWe, would be borne by a mineral of high nercentage; in Cornwall is not more than seven lev cent°—Ovens Constitution. ..,-'■ ....■; ._ ■•- Chinese Bubi ax.—A Chinaman having died on the Hth July, about fifty ,<>£>. his countrymen attended his burial on the following day behind Yates's public-house. : The. coffin was, as may be supposed, a capacious one, for, in addition to the corpse dressed in his best clothing with hat'and boots on, it contained several pounds of boiled rice, a few; slices of; bacon, a pair of chopsticks, one dozen eggs; boiled hard, eJa-Meen yards of new calico to make a tent, and some • cash, i There ■ were three ; principal attendants, appatently relatives of the. deceased ; they said their frieud had gone to Honkong, and that he would require .the tent, clothing, provisions, and money on-the road. The survivors would not allow the grave to be dug more than eighteen inches.deep, as:they said, if the poor fellow was buried too deeply it would hinder him from commencing his journey, i On the margin of the grave. were : placed three teacups, -each containing a teaspoonful.of brandy and a teas'pqonfuTof strong, tea,! the chief-atten-dant three times making the circuit of the grave and each time spilling; a small portion on thA earth. Three .dozen, sperm candles were lighted^ and stuck round, the grave, about, one foot of earth thrown : on the coffin, and a ; lew-words repeated over .the corpse, informing,him'of> the comforts provided, for him, and wishipg him a pleaeant journey. The.pi-ocession.now returned to the tent 1 itely inhabited by the deceased, which they immediately burnt, together with his blankets, pick,; shovel, prospecting-dish/and other articles,.' and, striking the .other tents of the eneampmenty removed ihem : higher' up, away from the dreaded spot. "No sooiie'r were the Chinese out of. sight of the grave, than a young scamp of a boy rushed at the candles left burning on the sp^ot, blew them but, and bolted with the lot:' These are strange doings in a Christian country: what a pity it is that no instructors 'are* :appoirited: to teach them the folly of such absurd superstition.—? Herald's Correspondent atironbarTc? Diggings.\^ New Race ;6f' Aboeigi:nals.—Gold DiscpyEK'Y.—Some' tiine;siiice a .paragraph appeared in the 'Empire'relative to the discovery, in the" far interior* of a new race of blacks, "who had no wool on the top of 'their ho ads; inthe place where; the ■. wool;, ought tovgrow." The account of this most extraordinary arrangement has been corroborated by an; eyerwitness-r-a^Mr. Thompson, who is at present residing at Mr. Whittaker'sinn,EastMaitlaiid, who has just arrived from the vicinity where these, funny aboriginals rnralise. : They are of a copper colour, and are tall and athletic, much; superior in every respect to : thei'r darker-skinned brethren..: The women are -a'so;, said io havei rnoi'e claims to beauty. They, however,: are also deficient of what.is generally acknowledged to be "the glory of a woman:"" ''■ Mr. Thompson, jt appears was at .camp,on the Upper Balbnrie, with others, on ground hitherto untrodden by;a white man, when he was surprised by a visit from these bald-pated copper-coloured • beings. They appeared to have friendly' intentions, and as noth-, ing was noticed in their conduct of'-ati aggres-> sive nature, a conversation by signs and nods' ensued. After a while a sovereign was shewn them, when one of them; picking up a stone, pointed with his finger'to the far west, and intimated that stones of a similar description to the sovereign were to be picked up on the ground, in masses as large as the stone he held. The place was understood to be some hundred miles further in the interior, .but they their intention of bringing, some of these stones at their next visit. Mr. Thompson intends to return again to the Balonne, and to await their arrival. If this story be true, the age of'wonders truly has not ceased.';' The incredulous may, by a visit to; Mr. .Whittaker's, hear the particulars as we have described them:— Malt-, land Mercury, Ju1y'..3... . . ,