MISCELLANEA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 121, 26 September 1846, Page 3

MISCELLANEA.

Famine and Fever in the West. — The Galway Vindicator contains the following appalling statements :—": — " Galway, April 22. — Our columns this day bear fearful and most painful evidence to the rapid progress of destitution, and, we regret to add, of disease, in various districts of this county. In Aran, fever has manifested itself with unusual vigour, while the accounts from Annadown, Gort, and Garomna, with the contiguous districts of Killeen and Lettermullin, where, we have it upou undoubted authority, about three hundred families are subsisting at this moment upon shell-fish and sea-weed, and the remainder of the population hastening fast to the necessity of availing themselves of this last deplorable expedient to maintain famished existence, add terribly to the catalogue of universal privation. It is impossible to contemplate these things without horror and feaiful anticipations of what hunger will force the people to attempt unless immediate relief is extended. The government talk of throwing them upon the benevolence of their landlords and of the Relief Committees ; but, gracious God ! what is to become of the creatures'who have no landlords resident among them, in their present awful exigencies, to represent their condition to the government? The land is left untilled in whole districts, because the people are compelled to live upon the seed. We are not drawing upon imagination in representing these things ; alas ! the stern realities of the present awful circumstances of the people we feel we cannot adequately describe."

Eruption of Mount Hecla. — A letter from Copenhagen, of the 17th April, says : — | " The" packet which arrived yesterday from j Reikavik, in Iceland, has brought ns letters from town of the Bth March (four days later), which gives curious details respecting the malady under which the cattle were suffering, from having eaten grass, &c, covered with the ashes vomited by Mount Hecla. ' I'hese

ashes act more particularly on the bones of the animals which have swallowed them. Thus, on the bones of the leei there are formed, in less than 24 hours, osseous excrescencies, of an oblong form, which gradually assume so formidable a development that they prevent the beasts from walking ; the same phenomenon is then manifested in the lower jaw, which is at the same time enlarged, and extends in all directions so considerably that it eventually splits in several places ; whilst on the teeth of the upper jaw 1 there is formed a species of osseous ' needles, very long and pointed, which take root in the lower jaw, and even traverse it, — a phase of the malady which always determines a fatal issue. As high winds had prevailed for some time the volcanic ashes were scattered throughout the island, and a great number of cattle, especially oxen, cows, and sheep, had perished. If the eruptions of Hecla ' v say the letters from Reikavik) are prolonged for two months more, all the rural proprietors who have not enough hay to feed their herds, — and the majority are in this situation, — will be obliged to slaughter their cattle, or to abandon them to certain death on: the pastures thus poisoned by the volcanic ashes. The eruption of Mount Hecla was extremely violent. The flames which issued from the three great craters attained a height of 14,400 feet, and their breadth exceeded the greatest breadth of the river Picersen, the most considerable river in Iceland. The lava had already formed lofty mountains, and amongst the masses of pumicestone vomited by the volcano, and which have been -found at a distance of four miles (a French league and a half), there were some which weighed half a ton (480 kilogrammes French). By the eruption of Hecla, the enormous quantities of snow and ice which had accumulated for several years on the sides of that mountain have been melted, and partly fallen into the river Ragen, which has overflowed its banks several times. The waters of that river, which runs almost at the foot of Mount Hecla, and which receives a large portion of the lava, were so hot that eveiy day they cast upon the banks numbers of dead trout, almost half-baked ! Every night vivid streaks of the aurora borealis illumed the sky."

Egypt. — Sir John Pirie, of London, had an interview, in February last, up the Nile, with his Highness Meberaet Ali, concerning the transit question. This gentelman, it appears, has come out to Egypt for the benefit of his health, and has been deputed by the Oriental Company, of which he is a director, to negociate; if possible, some arrangement for the better ordering of the passage through Egypt to India. The terms of the overtures submitted have- not yet transpired ; but wellinfoimed parties here are sanguine that an understanding will be come to with this government calculated to place this question on a footing of permanency and efficiency. The Pacha entertained Sir John and Lady Pirie and party at dinner on board his steam yatcht "in the river. — Letter from Cairo.

Algiers. — The Semaphore de Mai settles of the 4th April brings intelligence from Algiers of the Ist. "We have," it says, " received by the Pharnmond steamer an account of a very serious engagement between our troops and the Arabs, the particulars of which had not yet reached the Algiers journals. That engagement had taken place between the column of General Cavaignac and a large native force, six leagues to the north-west of Tlemcen. General Cavaignac had received in that town a' sort of challenge, forwarded to him by a new Kali fa, anxious to try his strength with him. That Kalifa appointed for the General and his column tht day and place of the encounter. O,n the 23rd of March, the day fixed in the challenge, General Cavaignac marched out with a corps of cavalry and his column to the ground,' where the enemy was drawn up awaiting his arrival. The" Arabs appeared to be upwards of 3,000 in number, 1,200 horsemen, and 2,000 infantry." The engagement soon commenced, and lasted two hours'. The Arabs fought with great determination, but, once broken, they took to flight, leaving 200 killed on the field. We are said to have experienced some loss ; a chief of battalion and several officers were among the dead. It appears that Marshal Bugeaud considered the affair as extremely important; since he 'immediately despatched an officer<-bf tlie staff, Captain Pourcet, in the Pharamond, with an account of the engagement to the Minister of War. This intelligence was brought to Algiers on the 31st, in the evening by the packet Tartate, which left Oran on the 29th. —S.M. Herald.

Teaching in the East. — One of the young pashas being backward rather in his education, and anxious to learn mathematics and the elegant deportment of civilized life, sent to England for a tutor. I have heard he was a Cambridge man, and hid learned both algebra and politeness under the .Rev. Dr. Whizzle of JJ — — Cdllege. One ! day< when Mr. ' MacWhirter, B. A., was walkit/g in Shoubra gardens, with his Highness the young Bluebeard Pasha, "inducting him into

the usages of polished society, and favouring him with reminiscences of Trumpington, there came up a poor fellah, who flung himself at the foot of young, Bluebeard, and calling for justice in a loud and pathetic voice, and holding out a petition, besought his Highness to cast a gracious eye upon the same, and see that his slave had justice done him. Bluebeard Pasha was so deeply engaged aud interested by his respected tutor's conversation, that he told the poor fellah to go to the deuce, and resumed the discourse which his ill-timed outcry for justice had interrupted. But the unlucky wight of a fellah was pushed by bis evil destiny, and thought he would make yet another application. So he took a short cut down one of the garden lanes, and as the Prince and the Rev. Mr. MacWhirter, his tutor, came along once more, engaged in pleasant disquisition, behold the fellah was once more in their way, kneeling at the august Bluebeard's feet, yelling out for justice as before, and thrusting his petition into the Royal face. When the Prince's conversation was thus interrupted a second time, his Royal patience and clemency were at end; ' Man !' said he, * once before I bade thee not to pester me with thy clamour, and lo I you have disobeyed me —take the consequences of disobedience to a prince, and thy blood be on thine own head.' So saying, he drew out a pistol, and blew out the brains of that fellah, so that he never bawled out for justice any more. The Rev, Mr, MacWhkter was astonished at this sudden mode of proceeding. * Gracious Prince V said he,' w<e do not shoot an undergraduate, at Cambridge, even for walking over a college grass-plot; let me suggest to your Royal Highness, that this method of ridding yourself of a poor devil's importunities is such as we should consider abrupt and almost cruel in Europe. Let me beg of you to moderate jour Royal impetuosity for the future; and, as your Highness' tutor, entreat you to be a little less prodigal of your powder and shot.' ' O Mollah!' said his Highness, here interrupting his governor's affectionate appeal, ' You are good to talk about Trumpington and the Pons Asinorum ; but if you interfere with the course of justice in any way, or present me from shooting any dog of an Arab who snarls at my heels, I have another pistol; and by the beard of the Prophet! a bullet for you too.' So saying, he pulled out the weapon with such a terrific and significant glance at the Rev. Mr. MacWhirter, that that gentleman wished himself back in his combination room again; and is by this time, let us hope, safely housed there. —Titmarsh.

The War on th* Sotxxj. —The following interesting letter has been received in Dublin from Ensign Alexander, the son of Colonel Alexander, who was severely wounded in the late engagements with the Sikhs :—: — " Camp, somewhere near Ferozepore, on the banks of a ' nullah' (river), Jan. 2,1846. "My dearest Uncle, —Before this letter reaches its destination, you will, no doubt, have seen and read the Governor-General's despatch containing an account of the two actions fought —one on the 18th of December, and the other on the 21st and 22nd of the same month, also, a list of the killed and wounded: and, amongst the latter, you will see flourishing my father's and my own name; but, when you see them, be not alarmed, for we are both, thank God, doing well; and, what's more, you will not only see us mentioned amongst the killed and wounded, but, I hope, amongst the gallant and brave. One thing I can safely say, that we have neither of us disgraced the family, nor the Irish blood flowing within us. I suppose you would like to hear my account of the battle; well, as much of it as I saw you shall have. In your last letter to me (received yesterday) you advised me to offer my services as a cavalry volunteer, should there be war with the Punjaub. You will oe surprised to hear that I offered myself, more than a fortnight ago, and was accepted, and made Acting Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier Gough on the spot, who commanded the 2nd Brigade of Cavalry, consisting of the Governor-General's body guard and the sth Regiment of Light Cavalry. I thought myself one of the luckiest dogs on the face of the earth, and all I wished for was, a fight' that day —just that I might have an opportunity of showing the Brigadier what sort of' fellow he had for an aide-de-camp. By Jove! Uncle, I had scarcely expressed the wish when a letter came to say, that the Sikbs were in force not far a-head. The order was immediately given to advance in line, draw swords, and load pistols ; and we advanced in a most 1 beautiful line : horse artillery and cavalry to-; gether; the infantry in the rear a good dis-< tance. Well, we advanced in this way for; many miles, and, at last, teeing no enemy, j the order was given to halt, at a place called j Moodkee, and mark out the ground for the 'camp, which' was done in a short time; and soon afterwards, we found ourselves seated j around a table in the open air, eating and) drinking away at a splendid lunch, or tiffin 1 (as they call it in this country). But • sot- !

dier's life is so uncertain, you don't know what a minute may bring forth. There we were (eight of us) seated round this table, talking, laughing, eating and drinking — little thinking what was in store for us. We had been in this way for about half an hour, when, all of a sudden, one of the officers jumped up and said — * Do you hear the assembly sounding?' We were on our feet in half-a-second, and soon after every man was on horseback. I took up my post close to the Brigadier, and followed him wherever he went. The order was given — ' 2nd Brigade, form line and advance ; the enemy are within a mile of you !' The gallant young fellows of the sth gave a cheer — enough to do one's heart good who heard it — and advanced steadily. We had proceeded about three-quarters of a mile from the camp, when we beard a bang and a whiz, and then another and another in rapid succession ; our artillery came up in the mean time, and began firing at theirs. The cavalry were drawn up in line behind the artillery, and every now and then a round shot from the enemy's guns came into our ranks. The infantry had not come up at this time. An oider came from the chief, telling the cavalry to go at a smart trot, and turn the left flank of the enemy. At this time I was not with the Brigadier, he having sent me to the camp to tell the 4th Lancers to come up at a gallop and join the rest of the cavalry. When I returned, I found the cavalry moving round the flank, and I was obliged to go at a good gallop to overtake the Brigadier. Whilst passing the sth, a round shot came whiz close to me, and entered their ranks — that was the first shot that took effect that day ; it broke two of the horses' legs, and that was the last I saw of the sth Light Cavalry. Her Majesty's 3rd Dragoons were leading, followed by the 2nd Brigade, and also by the 4th Lancers. We had gone in this way for a mile, when the dragoons a-head of us gave a cheer : they had just got a glimpse of the enemy. We took up their cheer — had scarcely commenced, when aa order was given — ' Body-guard, right wheel. 1 I turned round to see what was the meaning of the order, and the first thing that caught my eye was a body of the Sikh cavalry among a lot of bushes. A great number of the body-guard men did not hear the order, and followed the 3rd Dragoons. We managed, however, to get about forty of them together, and went at the enemy in sections of I threes — not being able to form line and charge, on account of the bushes. The cheer I told you of before that the 3rd Dragoons gave, raised my Irish spirits to such a pitch, that I said to myself — * Now, then, for the honour of Old Erin !' and in another minute I found myself in the middle of the Sikhs. I was surrounded by four of these blackguards, all cutting and slashing at me with their swords, and, to make bad worse, I lost both my stirrups ; there was not a man of the body-guard near me at the time ; it was a dreadful situation to be in, certainly ; and the only thing left was to make a last effort, which I did by digging both my heels into the sides of my little horse, and giving one or two jolly cuts with my sword, which cleared the way for me. I soon found myself amongst the body-guard again, with only a slight wound in my thigh. Not long after this we were at them again, and I got a shot right through the muscle of my right arm, and another a little higher up, which went through my coat and my shirt, but never touched my skin. Was not that a narrow escape ? Four officers out of six were wounded that evening ; I mean those of the bodyguard. Well, after fighting for some time, we (40 of us) gave about 200 Sikhs as good a licking as ever they had got. But, if those fellows had fought as well at the end as they did at the commencement, they would have cut every one of us up ; for we are no match for them in hand-to-hand work. They use their swords and manage their horses a great deal better than we do ; and they proved it that evening. Two of the officers had their reins cut ; a fellow tried that at mine, but missed, and caught my horse such a cut behind the ear. " The battle of Moodkee, I see, has taken up a whole sheet of paper. I must, therefore cut it short ; but before doing so, I must tell you something of my father, and the narrow escape he had that evening. My dad, with his regiment, lost sight of the brigade soon after we made the move round the enemy's flank. The dust and smoke was so great that you could not see your hand before you. Had it not been for that, the sth would have been up with us when we attacked those fellows in the bushes, and the consequence would ha ee been that they would all have been butchered, and very likely we should not have been so severely cut up. When my governor found himself all alone with his regiment, he was rather puzzled what to do ; but rather than stand still, he moved on with his regiment towards some dust he saw in the distance, not knowing whether it was the enemy or ourselves that was kicking it up, and caring very little which —but on he went. After ten minutes 9 cantering, he was astonished to hear Yak men cheer-

ing, and asked them why they did so ? They said they saw the Sikhs a-head. He had not time to give them an order ; for no sooner had they commenced cheering than his horse — a brute he gave 1,000 rupees for only a week before — took to its heels, and rushed off right into the middle of the enemy's infantry. Not a man of the sth went after him, though they would follow him to the , if they had orders ; but they were obliged to keep to their ranks. The Sikhs fired volley ,after volley at him ; but, by some luck or other, he went right through their ranks without getting a hit. * He was a long time riding alone by himself, and at last he came up with the Com-mander-in-chief, Sir R. Sale, and the 31st Queen's. He was talking to Sir R. Sale when he was shot, and, at the same time, my governor was bit by some grape shot in the left arm, and had his sword broken over his head ; and an hour or two after the fighting was over, we all returned to camp, and had a splendid dinner. Now, then, Uncle, I must hurry over the account of the next action, which lasted twenty-four hours — the Waterloo of India. We had two days given us after the Moodkee affair to rest our limbs and bury our dead. On the morning of the 21st we marched at sunset in battle array — the infantry leading, followed by artillery, protected by cavalry. We marched about twelve miles when the halt was sounded. We dismounted, and had something to eat. We had about a quarter of an hour's rest, when we were on the move again towards the enemy's entrenched camp, which was distant about two miles. In a short time we were within gunshot of it. The halt again sounded, and the Governor-General, Com-mander-in-Chief, and all the general officers, held a consultation, whether we should attack them at once, or wait until the following morning. Sir Hugh Go ugh was for attacking them at once, and it was given in his favour ; so, at three o'clock, our heavy guns opened upon their camp. There was a heavy fire kept up from both sides. At last, we managed to set fire to their camp. Our infantry made three or four charges at their batteries, and succeeded in driving the fellows away from ! their guns, and spiking them ; but they could get no further than the guns. The enemy's infantry fought beautifully. I don't mean to say they could lick ours ; but they blew hundreds of our poor fellows up by springing mines, and then coming down in numbers, and firing at us with their matchlocks. It was about nine o'clock when our infantry retired from the camp. I was at that time with the sth Cavalry, talking to my father, when a round shot came right between us both, and killed a trooper and horse behind us. By Jove ! Uncle, I shall never forget that as long as I live ; the whiz that that ball made was ringing in my ears for an hour afterwards. I We bivouacked for that night close to the \ enemy's camp, and they amused themselves I by firing at us with their big guns the whole night. At daybreak on the morning of the 22nd, we went at them again, and drove thpm out of their entrenchments at one o'clock. The Governor-General sent for the sth Cavalry, and ordered it to go a-head four miles to see if the Sikhs had gone off. We had scarcely gone a mile when the blackguards came down on us again. That was the critical moment ; the fate of India was at stake ; it was a regular case of fight or die, and the former we did in style. At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 22nd, the fate of India was decided, and the most bloody battle ever fought in this quarter of the world finished. At five o'clock that evening we went to Ferozepore, and bivouacked that night. The next morning I went and got my wounds dressed, and lucky for me I did. The first thing the doctor said, when he saw my arm, was — ' It's lucky for you, my fine young man, you showed me your arm to-day; had you been another day without getting it dressed, the chances are you would have lost the use of it altogother. Now take my advice, and stay quiet for a few days, and have it dressed regularly.' I took his advice, and now my arm is getting on beautifully. My governor's arm is now quite well. I don't want more interest at head quarters than I have got. I have got a good name amongst all the people at bead quarters, and that's all I require ; and another thing is, I have to thank no one but myself. What can I want more than that, Uncle ? A good name is a great thing for a . young fellow to begin life with. — Best love to all, and believe me ever to remain your affectionate nephew, " Augustus H. Alexander."