A STRANGE ASSEMBLAGE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 158, 2 July 1873, Page 4

A STRANGE ASSEMBLAGE.

„;'""- {Melbourne Argus') • . ;: Of ajitbe "extraordinary spectacles to be met with in the United States, there can be none more extraordinary than that 1 which is presented by the State Legislature of South Carolina, jvhich assembles rat Columbia, The House of Representatives contains 124 members, and of these ? 94 are negroes, mulattoes, quadroons, and octoroons; seven belong to. the class known :y . as ' mean whites ' ; and the remaining ;23 "-■■ ;; -re'pVeßen_t the white population generally. ' l Under a system of proportional representMtion, there would be 54 whites and 70 '< y, blacks.; The.Speaker is a. negro, so is the' r. clerk, and so is the chairman of commit' '.V. tees; while the lustrous nigritude of the chaplain is such as to defy competition. With about half-a-dozen exceptions, these colored gentlemen were formerly slaves, and it does: not appear that any provision • : .''- haß yet been made in committee of supply fortbeestablishinent of one of Rimmel's pcented fountains in the House during the [ } eumm^r months. Some of the negroes are described by a friendly critic as men ' whose costume, usages, language, and deportment are such as would grace the forecastle of a bucaneering vessel; while_ ■ v opposite to the grinnins, chattering, voluble, and grimacing crowd of darkies, sit * the few men,.rajs*t of them white-headed, who represent all that remains of the old /'civilisation of the state.- They accept •their destiny with a, placid stoicism that is almost pathetic, and with a silent . dignity, like that which awed the Gauls *"" -w^hen they broke into the presence of the „, Roman senators. Old in years, broken in fortune, and bankrupt in hope, the planters /of. South Carolina survey the rule of their* /former. slaves with the resignation of men who, having hazarded all and . lost all, refrain alike from useless regrets and im'i. potent reproaches. The New York ' Tribune, which ;has always been the Bteady fciend of the southern slaves,- and "_'. . the implacable enemy of their late masters, thus characterises the black Legislature of this prostrate state:— *' la the place of the old aristocratic society stands the rude form of the most ignorant democracy that .mankind' ever saw invested with : the functions., of government. " It is the dregs of the population habitated in the robes of their." intelligent predecessors, and asserting over them the rule of , ignorance , ; and corruption, through the inexorable • machinery of a majority of numbers. : Is, "'■* is. barbarism overwhelming civilisation by force. It is the 'slave rioting in the halls of his master, and putting that master under his feet." In suchj- an assemblage debate degenerates into noisy riot, and the "mean white" who has any \ % talent for intrigue, and any capacity for manipulating ignorant and credulous, negroes, can command any majority for .■"".any purpose of jobbery and corruption. And ,tKis is the state which, has produced almost as many' orators and statesmen as : that of Virginia! . ,

.People such as are described below ar<e .^numerous enough:——" A farmer subscriber, ■who discontinued his Republican because he could not make it say just such things • as he thought it ought to say, has, we recently expressed considerable: sur- ,-. prise to bis friends thatuhe paper should : keep running — -since be has, withdrawn his patrpnage. -' It was pretty close work /, for a while, we confess; but by omitting to put sugar in our tea, and by buying a y -', cheaper .grade of paper collars and reversing them for the second and third time, t./we^managed.- to :rub along until a new subscriber came and took the place of our respected but disgruntled friend — and : / then Richard was himself again. Nothing .but rigid economy will carry one over .:{ such a calamity as the loss of such a sub- :"'% scriber. : The Scientific American describes a '•i strange fertiliser. At Stratlord Ct;, where ■mosguitos are as thick as a fogj lives an Tankee, so they say— believe it ' who fmay — who puts these insects to a . profitable usp. ...He has invented a large : scoop-net, covered with lace, which is put in motion by a wind-mill, water-power, or stpam. The lower part -"■;' of the scoop is. placed in wafer, the upppr half moves through the atmosphere, and at each rotation draws an immense number of the\ ' equitors" down into ihewater, where they drown and siuk to the bottom. Every revolution of the net draws in an ounce of mosquitoes, or a ton : for 32.000 turns of the machine. The mosquitoes thus collected make a splendid manure for the land, worth 45 dols. a -■■V''ton."- " '•••.■.-...-'• ' ; \ A Mob of Sharks. -rA corespondent ' of Land and footer says : — An interesting incident I will "relate, concerning ', sharks. In 1859 I visited the spot near . Kawaihae, on Hawaii, one of the Sand- ■ wich Islands, where the lava poured into the sea, after, running 60 miles down the mountain from the mouth of the volcanic crater. We went down in a whaleboat, and as we approached the spot in the night the effect of the great masses of redhot lava flowing into the sea, hissing, J seething, and bubbling like a million of ! steam-engines blowing off steam, was

startling and most. fearful. But something more fearful still met our gaze. It was a sight of — well I do not exaggerate in eaying tens of thousands— of immense sharks as thick as they could swim, close in alongside the rocks, and seemingly comfortable and happy, and intent only on their own situation. Some of the wretches were nearly twenty feet -long, and there they went continually rolling over and mixing in with each other; indeed, a horrible and disgusting mass. Suddenly vone of the ladies put out her hand and found the water was very warm, and co we paddled oft without stopping to investigate the shark question any further. It may have been the warmth of the water that attracted them, . perhaps its sulphurous fumes. They were not there in search of food; at ail events, did not seem to be eating, only playing about and ci joying themselves. I hope never to see such a dreadful Bight again. It seemed a fearful dream. Te an old -sailor, the sight of a single shark is unpleasant, so just think of this horrid mass of sharks ! On our passage down we noticed the sea full of small dead fish floating upon the surface, which we attributed to some sub-marine effect of the volcanic action which had broken out only a few days previously.