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New Zealand Mail, Issue 16, 13 May 1871, Page 8

A Petrified Body. —The body of a lad, aged five years, son of J. M. Brown, formerly olerk of Treadwell & Co, who died January 30tb, 1858, says the Marysville “Standard” of the 11th inst., was disinterred a few days ago for the purpose of sending it to an uncle of the deceased (the father and mother being dead). The coffin being very heavy, the lid was broken open in lifting it from the grave, when the body was discovered to be in a remarkable state of petrifaction. The head, face, neck, ears, and bands all remained intact. One eye was as natural as when first closed, with the eyelashes undecayed. The hair of the head was also long and firmly attached, Our sextons, who have disinterred many bodies, remark the case as singular and unprecedented. The body is shipped by the Governor Dana to-day to P. Craig & r Co, undertakers, San Francisco.

Paris Prices During the Siege. —The prices of the necessaries of life during the siege of Paris have an historical interest of their own. The following can be relied on bb the market value during the hardest time, the English pound being taken as the standard: —Bread and biscuits, Is 3d; rice, la 8d ; sugar, Is 8d j cheese, 25s ; fresh butter, £2 8s 4d; olive oil, £1 4s 2d ; ham, £2 ; salt pork, £1; dog’s flesh, German sausage ox horse flesh and brawn of the same, 6s 8d; a fowl, £2 ss; a turkey, £5 ; a goose, £6; a duck, £1 15s j a hare, £3 6s; a cat, £1; an egg, 2s 6d ; a rat, the same ; a tin of sardines, 13s; a rook, ss; a sparrow, lOd j cabbages and cauliflowers, 12s 6d each; turnips and carrots, 2s each ; a bushel of potatoes, £2 ; a hundredweight of coal, 12s 6d ; of wood, 10s, and everything else in proportion. Large fortunes have been made, it is said, out of the very rich and luxurious, by those who managed to conceal provisions.