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ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

We seldom reflect enough how much we m England owe, not only to our insular position which has kept us free from invasion, but to our freedom,from close personal concert in continental wars. We have had far too much to do with them ; we feel that, to our sorrow, every time the taxgatherer comes ro mti, and Mr Gladstone feels it every time he performs one of his grand financial feats ; but we have scarcely ever been interested in them at first hand. War with us has never been engrossing enough to hinder , us from cultivating the arts of peace. The best soil in Europe (for, on the whole, we have the smallest proportion of utterly unimprovable land of any European country), the richest, stores of mineral wealth, and time and opportunity to use them— these have been onr advantages. Look, on the other hand, at the Continent during the half century ending wi'h Waterloo— towns taken, trade paralysed or killed outright, countries ravaged, above all, men drawn off in far too large a per-centage from peaceful occupations. We too had armies, but only large. enough to wia renown, and keep ourselves in practice, and support oar position among the nations. We have always managed ,to do a good deal of fighting by deputy. Subsidising Austrians or Russians, even though it does make the taxes heaver, is far' less destructive to a nation than sweeping off the best of the population bv wholesale conscriptions. A people does not soon recover such a terrible drain; it is just the case of a man who has had a waiting fever. They tell us that, in some parts of Germany, the people are st'll feeling the effects of the Thirty Years' "yy ar . — Dickens's " All the JTear Round." A ship called the Brothers' Pride, belonging to Messrs Fernie Brothers, and commanded by Captain Paynter, arrived in Queenstown from Callao, which place she left early in September. Amongst the crew shipped at Callao was a man named Cole; man, a native of Passage. About two days after the Brothers' Pride sailed from port, Coleman mysteriously disappeared. He was searched for in every part of the vessel, even to where the cargo, Avhich was composed of guano, was stowed, but nowhere could he be found. Repeated quests for the missing man was made, but with the like result. It was then thought that he had fallen overlioard, and he was entered in the log-book as dead,, and his clothes and other effects were set up to auction, and knocked down to the highest bidder. The vessel made a fdir passage, and sighted Cork harbour on Saturdiy morning, eighty days after she had left Callao. Whilst preparations were being made to cast anchor, a human face, to the consternation of the sailors, appeared above the hold, then the entire body, and the apparition advanced towards the men, and said, " I may as well give you a pull, boys." As soon as the salors recovered from their momentary alarm the} r recognised in the apparition their long lost comrade, Coleman, looking very dirty, no doubt, but not otherwise the worse for his long incarceration. He had been eighty days concealed in the hold of the vessel amongst bags of guano. How he managed to subsist, or on what he did subsist, is a matter of mysterj', rendered greater by the fact that the crew were rather short ot provisions for part of the voyage. He was brought on shore and given into custody of the police, to await whatever proceedings Captain Paynter may bring against him. The '• Glasaow Herald" describes a deplorable accident which occurred on the Clyde, at the Broomielaw, on 30th November. A ferry-boat with, besides the ferryman, 21 persons on board, most of them employed in the neighboring factories, who were returning home from work, left the stairs at the foot of Clyde-street about six o'clock, for the south side of the river. So far as at present known, there do not seem to have been any females among the passengers, the greater proportion of the freight consisting, we are told, of working men. The river, in consequence of the l-ecent rains, was running in heavy flood, and the tide was about one-third ebb. A minute or two before the boat put out from the stairs, the steamer Inveraray Castle had passed the place on the way up to her berth. Whether from the disturbance of the water caused by the steamer, or from whatever other cause, the boat had scarcely reached mid-channel when she was overtaken by a heavy wave. The ferry-man and others called to the mm who was pulling, " Steady, steady," but the next minute the wave had struck the boat, and dashed over her gunwale, leaving her half filled with water, and, at the same time, causing her to roll violently. The passengers were thrown into the utmost consternation, and, as usual in such cases, instead of sitting still, many of them made a sudden movement to one side of the boat. Presently another wave came over the gunwale, which, owing to the irregular movement of the passengers, was probably lower than it might otherwise have been, and the boat heeled over to the port side and turned bottom upwards. Several of the passengers, on seeing the boat beginning to sink, jumped into the water and struck out for the north shore. The others were submerged when the boat rolled over, several of them being, no doubt, carried under her, and thus placed in the most unfavorable circumstances for escape. As for the boat, she did not sink, but turned right over and floated bottom upwards down the stream, with several persons clinging to her keel and gunwale. The cries of the unfortunate people immediately attracted attention on shore, and on board of the vessels lying at the adjoining berths. Several boats put off to render assistance, but the swamped boat had floated out of sight, and none of the unhappy passengers could be seen in the water. Four men mananed to swim ashore. The swamped boat was floating down the river with several persons clinging to her bottom. As she neared the Hydepurk-street Ferry, about 200 yards below Clyde-street, the cries of the unfortunate people attracted .the attention of one of the ferrymen, who immediately pulled in the direction from whence the sounds proceeded. He presently fell in with the boat, and found three men holding on by her keel, and one beneath immersed in the water, and convulsively clutching the gunwale. Of the former three, two betook themselves homewards, immediately on being landed, without their names being ascertained. The third also appeared to be little the worse, and was sent home. The poor fellow who was holding on by the gunwale turned out to be a blockmaker, named John Kane, about 50yeirs of age. When taken ashore he was quite unconscious. Having been conveyed to the Clyde Police Office, he gradually recovered, under the treatment of Dr Milner, and he then expressed a wi«h, which was backed by his wife, that he should be taken home. He was accordingly removed about eight o'clock in a cab. After reaching home, be exclaimed to his wife, " I'm dying," and presently commenced vomiting blood. From this time he gradually sank, and died about nine o'clock. The unfortunate man appeared to have been indelicate health. In all,,fifteen persons are Relieved to have perished. — Subsequent accounts make it appear that there were no less than, twenty-seven persons on board the boat (or two more than she was autholised to carry), of whom 2U perished. The " Monitour" says : — f'A British agent, a Mr ' Hassam,' has reached the French settlement at Massouah, on the Red Sea, whence he was to proceed to Gondar in charge of an autograph letter from her Britannic Majesty, courteously declining the matrimonial , overtures of his Abyasinian Highness King Theodore, who, it is to be hoped, will thereon .release from captivity Mr Cameron, kept] there as" a'hostage pending the delivery of a formal reply to his proposal."

William King, botswain, the only survivor of the William Hutt (s.s.), Valiant, from Snnderland for London, which foundered in St Nicholas' Gat, on the morning of Thursday, the 24th Nov., makes the following statement: — "Left Sunderland on Tuesday evening, the 22nd Nov., at halfpast nine o'clock, for London. Had a fine passage to the*Ne\varp. Hounded the Newarp at a quarter past twelve o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 24th, the weather still very fine. Then went below and turned in, and at about half-past three was aroused by the sea unshipping the bogie funnel, and the water coming in. Turned out, and with five others, who were also below, commenced to put on our clothes. While we were doing so, one of the seamen on deck called us to come on deck, and when we got there we were quite surprised to see how the ship was laboring and the sea washing on board of her. In a few minutes she shipped a very heavy sea right over her bow, taking away the tank from the mainmast, the gangway bulwark, and the bunker lid. Mr Small, the second engineer, then called out that the water was pouring down the engineroom, and we endeavored to put on the bunker lid by slackening a man down with a rope. Seeing the ship was overpressed with canvas, Captain Valiant attempted to shorten sail, and then endeavored to put the ship on the other tack. He succeeded in doing so, but shipped a great deal of water. During this time the wheel chains broke, and I went forward to secure the forecastle hatch, and on coming back I saw the ship was lying in an awkward position. I met the second mate (Alfred Ruffies) and asked him what was the matter. He told me the wheel chains had broken. I said that was a bad job. I asked him if any preparations had been made for the boats. He told me that he did not know. I told him it was quite time somebody did know. I then went down to the forecastle and, brought up twent-one or twenty-two thowls for the longboat, and put a bucket in her to bail her out in case the sea should board her. During this time I thought I would see if the cork wasin the boat, but I little suspected that our time was so short, for in a moment or so a tremendous sea broke over the ship on the port bow, filling the longboat, breaking the fore gripes, heaving me out of the boat, and washing me overboard. When I rose to the surface, I found a boat's chock and an oar under my left arm, and saw the ship going down under me, and foundering. Tn sinking, her foretopsail brace got over my shoulder, and I endeavored to hold on by the chock of the boat with one hand, and to push the brace clear with the other, so as to avoid being dragged down with the sinking ship. I succeeded in clearing the brace, and as the ship went down I heard my messmates give a terrible shriek. As the water reached the engine-room and put out the fires I noticed the light smoke coming out of the funnel. I saw nothing more of the steamer, but various spars and buckets from from the wreck floated about me for ten minutes. I heard the boy of the ship moaning close to me. I think he was floating on some pieces of spar, but it was so dark that I could not see him. He drove about for fifteen or twenty minutes, and, missing his cry, supposed he was drowned. I afterwards drove about with both arms resting on the boat-chock for full an hour, at times on the top of the sea, so that I could see Lowestoft lights, and sometimes the sea washing over me four or five feet. When the sea struck the chock it slewed round with me underneath the water and bruised me very much. When I catne to the top of the water, I turned my head round to the eastward to look for daylight. In turning my head I saw a smack's light about fifty yards from me, which I hailed, but not answering me the first time, I hailed again, which they answered, and I sang out, 'For God's sake save me.' They at once hove the smack up, and she dropped alongside of me, placed a spar in my hand, and all hands jumped to the side to help me in, and I then lost my senses. I was taken, on board the smack, which was the Telegram, Partridge master, of Greenwich, bound to London, with fish, and was treated with great kindness by the captain and crew. I was landed at Harwich on Sunday, and provided for by the agent of the Shipwrecked Mariner's Society, and sent up to London on Monday. The crew of the William Hutt were sixteen all told. She had sixteen hundred tons of coal on board, and was in good trim, the ship being bolder out of the water than usual. As far as can be ascertained there are thirty-two children left orphans." It is the general belief, confirmed* by experience, that mountain air is purer than that of the plain, and the air of the plain than that of marshes and populous cities. The purest air is that . which contains only oxygen, azote, and watery vapour. The higher you climb the mountain, the further you leave the plain behind you, the purer is the air. The invigorating qualities of mountain air are accounted for by the full dose of oxygen and the smaller charge of carbonic acid which it holds. It is an undoubted fact that the liberal oxygenation of the blood sustains bodily and mental energy. So long as they can breathe freely, horses and hares run fast without being distressed. In ill ventilated school-rooms and hospitals, attention necessarily flags, and cures are difficult to be effected. It is not the pupils and teachers, nor the doctors and nurses who are in the fault, but the chimneys, doors, and windows. At the end of a ten hour's walk over the Wengern Alp, by going up-hill very slowly and breathing the exhilarating air freely, I have felt no fatigue whatever, only a little stiffness in the legs next day. In the highlands of Scotland, I have wandered among the hills all day without refreshment, and have returned to a late dinner, less fatigued than when I started : entirely owing to the air. Perhaps the lesser proportion of carbon in the air may be one cause of the dwarf and stunted stature of Alpine plants in general. Last year, I brought home a miniature house-leek, gathered at the foot of Jungfrau's glaciers, and planted it in a pot. In the somewhat hypercarbonated atmosphere of a small country town, it has attained to thrice the size of any wild specimen of the species that I could find. And it cannot be the watering which has done it ; for it is less regularly and constantly supplied with moisture than in its native locality. On the other hand, pear-trees are notorious for thriftiness and robust health in the smoky air of towns. — Dicken's " All the Year Round." At the last sittings of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, Dr Berthe sent in a paper on the relative advantages of morphine and codeine, two of the principal alkaloids of opium. Confirming M. Claude Bernard's expirments, Dr Berthe states that, as a sedative, codeine is far superior to morphine, since it never causes a heavy and disturbed slumber, nor prespiration or eruptions on the skin, and never disturbs the digestive functions. Hence it is peculiarly adapted to cases of painful nevrosis of the stomach, in which "it is even more efficacious than belladonna. But its greatest virtue is that of producing a calm -and invigorating sleep in bronchitis, rheumatism and even cancer. On Thursday week, when Lord Caith ness's steam plough was in operation, an old woman in Canisbay was asked whether she intended going to Phillip's Mains to see the work going on. "Xa, na," waa the rejoiuder; " turn thou away my sight and eyes from viewing vanity." In the London Sheriffs' Court, on Saturday, t defendant pleaded bankruptcy against an action foj the recovery of some money on a promissory note —-His Honor : M How much property did you give up?"— Jones: " AH I had."- Hia Honor "Well, how much was that ? >1 -^-Jonea :' "'Six' pence."

The Formation of Ice in the Sea.— M. Edlund has contributed a memoir on this subject to " PoggendorfTs Annalen" (1864, No.3), of which we give a few notes ; — 1. The maximum of the density of sea water is below the freezing point. 2. It can be cooled several degrees below the freezing point, and 'yet be in a state ot equilibrium less unstable than pure water cooled down to below zero. A moderate agitation is not sufficient to congeal it; there' must be brisk agitation and contact with ice already formed. From these two properties results the possibility of a distribution of temperatures, so that the lower strata of the sea may be much colder than the superficial strata; and hence, under the influence of prolonged cooling, an accidental agitation may pioduce ice at the bottom of the sea. The ice thus formed may be analogus to the ice which is formed in water frozen below zero — i. e., constitute a kind of liquid mass, containing solid icy needles. After attaining the surface this liquid mass "may retain its character for some time in spite of the motion of the waves, which may not sensibly change the relative position of the contiguous molecules ; but under the influence of another movement, for example, near the coast, the mass may at least assume a solid form. M. Edlund confirms his views on the subject by statements obtained from the inhabitants of the coasts of Sweden, Korway, and the isles in the Baltic. The discovery of flint implements and weapons in great numbers near Mainto'non, in the departof the Eureet 'Loire, has been reported to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, by M. liourdran. A space more than a square kilometre, between the aqueduct of Louis XlV. and the railway, is literally covered with debris belonging. to the "sWne age,'' consisting of the heada of lances nnd javejines/* knives, hatchets, &'c, giving abundant evidence of' the work of huma'n hands, and of" the actujal e~xlsten'c& "of aVestablislmaent for the manufacture of th$8e weapons, whjlch are described^ remarkable'fo^ their size and finish^' ' '~ " ' '• '

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NOT18650302.2.26

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

North Otago Times, Volume IV, Issue 54, 2 March 1865, Page 1 (Supplement)

Word count
Tapeke kupu
3,131

ENGLISH EXTRACTS. North Otago Times, Volume IV, Issue 54, 2 March 1865, Page 1 (Supplement)

ENGLISH EXTRACTS. North Otago Times, Volume IV, Issue 54, 2 March 1865, Page 1 (Supplement)

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