HOLMAN THE BLIND TRAVELLER.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 235, 30 August 1848, Page 4

HOLMAN THE BLIND TRAVELLER.

Many foreigners persisted in asserting th»t Mr. ■ ITo'man wns not blind. Nothing; could induce them to I believe to the contiary. They could not comprehend i 3iow any one could travel about the world who was .blind, and were more incredulous than those who questioned the man who was bom blind, and received his sight by the Gscafc Physician making day and anoint- j ing his eyes. Tn Russia, the police swore Ilolman ! £ou!d sec, and was an English spy, which wns sufficiently charnctei istic of a nation of police and spieo. They set spies to watch our intrepid countryman as a j spy. Dm Mr, fiolman vindicated his character. In- I deed he is not si man to be daunted by Russian, or any ether spies or police — neither will he suffer any imposition, even in the least things. He understands and maintains his rights as inflexibly as if he could see, and "knew everything going on around him. We made a sea voyage together. One day the Maltese sailors came to me and said — " You gentlemen very rich gentlemen, will give us your mattiasses when you airive at JMalta— won't you ?" " What 1 what ! what's that ?" -cried llolinnn to me—" that's cool — I warrant you if *hp fallows come to me with such impudence, I'll knock them overboard l" Our blind traveller made a voyage from Malta to Naples with afiiendof mine— the steamer was overtaken by a stoim, and all were sick but Mr. Holman nud my friend. The Captain came down to dine, nnd found no one at table hut Holtuan and his companion. "Ah I" taid thu Fronch Captain — " It's alwayt so; there are but two English passengers, and you ure both leady and up for diuuer.'' " Yes," replied Holman. our port is on the high seas." Indeed, Holrrun is always at home in a gale of wind. When the Captain had finished and gone on deck to look at the weather, Holman suid to my friend — " Now, T., lash clown my chair, make it mug and fust, and bring the wines within my reach, jou know WB ate not fresh- water snilors,' 1 Mr. T. baid to him. whispering—" How astonished all the pasoengeis are to tec us, and especially you, eat and think this w»y in a stotm !" " Poor f'ooia !" returned Holman, "they don't know I have sailed iouiiO the wo. ld. But do you bring the wine near, and sec my chair is all snug." This, in fact, is the only way a blind traveller can get through the world. He must ace to himself, and Holman knows how to look after himself — if not by hit awn eyes, at any rate with the eyes of others. As illustrative of hie peculiar and increased power of hearing, with a farther perfection of his other senses, lie said to me one duy when I called upon him— 14 Ah, ah ! l have got a droll fellow here for a servant. He ia nearly ninety yeavg of age, and was cook to two or three Grand Masters of the Knights of Malta. He is, nevertheless, so nimble, that he dances about like a page of twelve years old. But he's a dirty, sneaking little rascal. I hear him peeping over the window, looking *t me. He thinks I can't hear him and smell him — but 1 can hear him and smell him all over the place /'• I h^e mentioned the blind traveller's writing appaTatus, and I have in my possession a very legible letter, •written to me by him, after we had the first time separated in. our travels. I saw him last at the Royal Society's soirees, and spoke to him without mentioning mv nr^ae. Three yean had now elapsed but he immediately recognized my voice— and he can recognize tue voices of people atter fifteen or twenty years. But ot course, be does not always enjoy the same health of tody, nor the same active exercise of tho mind. He complained to me, that often, when first waking in the niorting, he forgot in what pait of the world lie was. And this is not surprising— for we travellers, with our sight and eye-balls open to the day, often waken in the morning, and aie some time before we can recollect at what stage of our journey we are. I conclude with a motto from one of his published volumesSightless, to gee, and judge through judgment's eyes, To make four senses do the work of five, To arm the mind for hopeful enterpiize, Are lights to him who doth in darkness live.

¥iling NE"WsrArEns. — One of the many things which I have to regret, when I review my past life, is, that I did not, irom my cailiest youth, at least as soon as I was able to do it, take and preserve— l believe the technical woid is " file"— some good newspaper. How interesting would it be now foi a sex agenarian to look into the papers which lie read when he was twelve or sixteen or twenty years old ! How many events would this call to mind which he has entirely forgotton ! How many interesting associations and feelings would it revive I What a view would it give of past years ! What knowledge would it piescrve in assisting the memory ! And how many valued pm poses of a literary kind, even might it be rendered subservient! How much do I wish that I could look into such a record when composing ill is shoit aiticle I But newspapers are quite diffcient things now irom what they were sixty or seventy yeais ago. They arc unspeakably more interesting, and valuable, in this respect (I belieye in many others) these times are better than the former. Formerly the editors of newspjpeis were obliged to strain their wits and exhaust their means in order to obtain matter to fill their pages. Now, the gieat difficulty is to insert all the valuable inteiesting materials that are poured upon them from every pail of the world, and from exery gi dde and phase of society. Now newspapers contain many of the best thoughts of the most highly gifted men, on the* most momentous subjects and their reports and statements are fur more accurate then they formerly were or could be. They have lepudiated the chaiacter of lying they once had, and have become records ol truth.— Cot respondent of the British Banner. Extraordinary and lloitaißLD Discovery IN WIUTECIIAPISL,— A MURDKItEtt'S DeN.— About twelvemouths ago, the parochial surveyori of "Whitechapel, condemned several houses in Tewkcsburycouit, High-street, as being from age and decay dangerous and unfit for habitation. Thepreinisei having passed into a speculative builder's hands, their demolition, has revealed some more fearful testimony of the spot having at some period been the scene of horrid tragedies. The locality in question is known to antiquaries as the spot whereon stood Tewkesbury church, but of late years has been better known to the polite as one of the worst harbours of crimes in the metropolis ; indeed, so intricate were the premises and villainous the colon i o ts, that once in its precincts the refugee, be he murderer, burglar, smasher, or thief, could safely baffle the pursuit of the officers of justice The recent discoveries at once explain how thit, has been effectpd. In pulling down one of Ihe moit noto* riuu« of the dwelling the labourers discovered a cellei, in digging up which the skeletoni ot children and adults were found j in this celler they nt last came to ■what appeared, at lirst sight to be, a cesspool, but what is now found to be the entrance of a subterraneous passage, of sufficient diamiter for ingieis or egress of adults, but where this leads, or rather terminates, ii at present undiscovered, as the work of demolition u not sufficiently advanctil for the exploration ot the mystesipuspit; in this horrid place the labourers found the Lodies of two fine fellows, in a good state of preserva* two, attired in the garb o{ sailors, standing upright in

the soil, their appearance giving eveiy indication of their having been the victims of a cruel mnrdei. Sickening as the above details are we would willing , if it weie only for the credit of human nature, be spar d ohronicl'mtr the srqncl. for nftcr the lal ourers had dug out the b 1 di- f, it appears a couni.il oft ,eir companiins was called, the isi>u« of which was the bodies were stripped, hacked to pieces with spades and picks, and and the mangled remains caited to dstant receptacles for the depo'it oftheii rubbish. The only excuse, if any excuse can '>c entertained for so great a violation of 'decency and frustution of justice, would appear to be that if the affair got lo the knowlpdqe of the coroner as witnesses they would lose their lime and pay at the inquest. The genet al rumour, and Unit if correct may define the right cause of ilv outr.igc, is that the fellows disposed of the clothes, and a watch which they found on the persons of the deceased. TU« affair is being dilligcntly invested by Mackintosh, fIS H., an intelligent and shrewd officer, but it may be readily conceived he is engaged in a difficult task, for even if he did succeed in gathering the hones of the unfortunate Bailors, all evidence of identity is destroyed ; it is, however, to be hoped that some of the mechanics engaged at the time upon the works will come forward and assist the constable in the horrible, mysteiious, and disgraceful affair, as it is needles to state he enn {jet no intoimation from the liiisli labourers, who have so brutally frustrated the ends of justice. Beside the discovery above mentioned, we have ascertained that numerous secret recesses found in the building brought to light traces of iniquity in the shape of silver spoons and other valuable property ; it is to be hoped that ihe fuither exploiation of the subterraneous den will not be left to the barbarians who have commented it, but that if the parochial authorities refuse, the police at least will explore into what one would be led to expect, as likely to bring to light evidences of a harrowing discription. JJ New Era in Steam Navigation. — In the Wash- j ing ton Union of January 5, is a lonp report from a botrd of professional ent>ineers and other*, appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to test an important improvement in the construction of naval steam engines, the invention of Cap'ain Ericsson. There appears to be an apparatus called an evaporator, and another a condensor conveniently arranged amidit the machinery, •o as to occupy very little space. By this the steam, after performing its work, is converted into water and forced back into the boiler, again and again taking the same routine. The whole is said to be complete and perfect, and the following results attained : — 1. A steamer may go to sea and complete her voyage with- ] out ever having one particle of salt water in her boiler, if she will begin it with fresh water. 2. She need not carry any tanks oi ncsa water, but can make it from the lea at will, tht» s»ving the space for fuel. S. Besides the supply for the boiler and culinary purposes, enough fresh water can be made to allow each sailor a bath every day, the supply may be to amp'e. 4. The fires need never be extinguished to relieve the boilers of salt or mud, as neither salt or mud will ever get in.— thus saving fuel. 5 . The boiler will require little or no watching— being once arranged the machinery wado the rest, and keep up the exact supply of pure will ter. 6. A boiler at sea, eipecially in the Gulf of Mexico, will last two or three times as long as at present, as no impurities will be admitted there, any more th»n on the lakes. 7. Nearly one-fifth of the fuel will be saved, as the heat will act on the plates and fiuei, free of incrustations from silt or mud, and the water from tbecondentor, while very hot, will be pumped into th* boiler. 8. A low pressure engine will answer on the Mississippi and Misiouri, no well as on streams of clear water, as the muddy water will be evaporated, the vapor recondenscd and forced into the boilers as clear as crystal. 9. The awful bursting of boilers so often occurring on the Western wateri, may be arrested in toto, as the saving of fuel, and the equal adaptation ot the low pressure engine will induce ita substitution in lieu of the powder magazines, as the engines now in use may i be called. 10. The oil used around the piston of the cylinder, and the ruit on the boiler, may impart a littld of their taste at first to the steam and water— but a very simple filter will make it as pure as when distille.) in the chemist's laboratory. — Sydney Shipping Gazeajo Tne Natal estimate! were biought foiwaid ou Monday, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Ward, who moved for a grant of £1,470,000, to defray the expeuce of an additional force of 43,uQ0 men, including Beamen, boys, and marines, for the naval service. Whatever necessity may be pleaded lor economy and retrenchment in ordinary times, and this is an argument which cannot be too urgently pressed upon the attention at the Government at all titneß, yet there are limits to the maxim, there are seasons when retrenchment would be unwise, and when economy would weaken our national defences, and strengthen the hands of the enemy. In such an emergency we live at present. The peace that has for more than thirty years reigned «11 over Europe is now, to every appearance, rapidly drawing to a conclusion. Elements are at work, both at home and on the Continent, that ore darkening over the whole political horizon, and may, on the slightest occasion, burst out into a revolutionary hurricane, sweeping everything before it. It is not a moment like this, and with such threatening prospects around us, that any proposition should be listened to for reducing our national defences. There are legislators, however, men like Mr. Joseph Hume, Mr. It Cobden, and Fiiend Bright, who see matters with other eyes than common statesmen, who will persuade us, that in the midst of danger, we are safe, and that the warlike demonstrations we see preparing in France have the most amicable intentions, and mean nothing more than the arming of four hundred thousand peaceable citizens ! In this belief, Mr. Hume moved that the 43,000 seamen should be reduced to 36,000, aud he was backed by Mr. Cobden id a rambling speech about docks, and ships, and bomb-shells, which the House could scarcely listen to with patience. Mr. Hume'a motion was rejected by the overwhelming majority of 347 against 38, a result whioh at least demonstrates the weakness of the economists, if it docs not convince them of their folly. No public man has, in so short a time, fallgn into such depth of contempt as Mr. Cobden. His election vra» the effect o< accident, the momentary growth of agitation and spurious praise and no sooner has the bubble burst than the hejnp of the League descends to his level, where he might rest in unenviable obscurity did not his vanity prompt him to seek every opportunity of making himself ridiculous, as he certainly did on Monday night, when he scouted the notion that our commerce wanted protection, and denounced our ships of war as useless becaute they brought uo additional customers to buy out manufactures ! The ArENGßit.— Court Martial.— A Court Martial assembled on the 31st of January, on board the Trafalgar, to try Lieutenant Rooke, and the survivors of the Avenger, for the lost of that ship on the Sorella Rocks, off Galita, on the night of the 20th December, 1847. The Court lasted two days, The following sentence was read by the officiating Judge Advocate :— The Court, after having the narrative^)! Lieutcn. Nt Rooke read, and the evidence adduced, are of opinion that the Avenger was wrecked on a reef of rocki, about ten o'clock on the evening of the 20th December last, but there is not sufficient cause shown in the evidence to account for the accident, too blame is attached to Lieutenant Rooke, or the other prisoners, and they are

fully acquitted. The Court consider the conduct of Lieutenant Kool»e to have been proper in loweiing the cu'tcr, as he wa» acting in obedient c to orders rived" Tin 1 Court consider the conduct of Lieutennnt Rookc' n laying off the ship to save the lives of any who might seek safety, and his perseAering efforts for the same object, in returning to the vessel from Tunis, to have been ntOßt praiseworthy and humane. The Couit cannot separate without expressing their warm approbation of the conduct of Mr. Lircom, throughout the trying scene. The Court waimly eulogise the humanity of the Arabs, who assisted the sufleiera on thair reaching land. The Court havo very considerable doubts if the Avenger had the Admiralty Charts of the Mediterranean on board. The Court fully and entirftly acquit the prisoners. The President culling Lieutenant Francis ttooke, thus addressed him—" Lieutenant Rookc, It is needless for m.« to ninlie any comment, after the t-xpicsion of the opinion of the Court you have just hen id read, and I have tin 1 greatest pleasure 3 returning yon your sword.— Sydney Snipping Gazette.