A TALE OF HORROR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 46, 8 January 1862, Page 2

A TALE OF HORROR.

Mr. , (we shall call him Mr. Vellum,) of Melbourne, is'blessed with the friendship of Mr. , (we shall call him Mr. Stockwhip—whose cattle station is not a hundred miles from Eclraca. Stockwhip is in the habit of sending down tongues, potted-butter, rolled-beef; and fifty other little upcountry niceties to his town friends as presents. On Tuesday last arrived at Vellum's office a goodsized keg, the address card in the usual;wellknown handwriting. It was late in the afternoon inst about time to start for Paradise Villa, South Yiirra ; the gift was saftly stowed in the buggy, and off Vellum started with the treasure ; while tea was getting ready the keg was opened. " How heavy is it," says one. What on earth can ■he have sent this time," says another. Speculation was not allayed when the lid was prized open, and only dry salt presented to view. " Dive deeper, was the order of Paterfamilias, "there must be something else in it." The salt was carefully removed and with considerable difficulty, something bulky was dragged out, of indefinite shape and texture. "Perhaps it's a Murraycod," said one of the iuveniles. " Seems to be some preparation ot pork, remarked Vellum ; " however, let's have some fried for tea and see how it eats." Fried a slice or two of it : everybody tasted, but nobody liked it ;it was horribly tough. " Perhaps we don t know how to cook it properly, suppose we try it tomorrow for breakfast ;" stewed it was, and certainly it tasted a little more savoury, but still tough. The proper mode of cooking it had evidentlvnotvet been bit upon -, a piece was ordered to be'boiled for dinner, and Vellum started for the day's business in Chancery-lane. There was the usual pile of letters to open, but one m Stockwhip's handwriting had the preference, and here it j s << Dear- , the scourge has reached us at last Two of my finest bullocks were found dead in tiie paddock yesterday morning and on being opened the indications of pleura-pneumonia were uumistakcable. The left lung of one of them Dr. h ere says' is the most perfect specimen of diseased structure he ever saw. I want Dr. Macadam and Mr. Miscamble to sec it, anil therefore I send it _. to— : — you packed ——■> in salt." Vellum's eyes began to swim. He did not dine at home that day,— Geelong Advertiser,

The following ingenious anagram appeared in the Liverpool Albion of Sept. 30 : — Tiic Autocrat of Russia, remembering his Crimea, Has written Brother Jonathan a glorious idea; That "Peace" is to the world at large its only panacea; Alas! hesee3 "Ambiuca" herself is—"A Crimea."

Chinese Witnesses. —The usual difficulties in" administering a binding oath to Chinese witnesses, has recurred during these quarterly sessions. Yesterday a Chinaman, Ah Hung, was put into the box and the old question of swearing liim satisfactorily had to be settled. This time ■His Honor dispensed with the vesta match, and swore him on the Bible, after putting to him, through the interpreter, some such catechism as the following : —Q. Are you a Christian ? No ; I am a miner. Q. Do you believe in God—a Supreme Being—a great Father ; and do you worship him ? . A. I believe in the Great Joss, and burn inseuce to him. Q. What will become of you after death, if you do not speak tho truth? A. If I speak false ■ I shall go to hell. Ah Hung appeared, so far as could be judged from the aspect of the stolid features peculiar to his race, to be both amused and surprised at this instructive style of interrogation. But the court did not accept it as of much value, for His Honor ended by saying to the interpreter—" Tell him if he does not speak the truth he will be punished on the roads before death." This threat made Ah Hung look serious, and he meekly kissed the book by way of assent to the authority of the threatener.— Ovens Constitution.

African Explorations.—The African travellers who are penetrating the interior of this southern part of the continent now form a considerable body ; and the difficulties that are existing are almost insuperable. Drought in the land, sickness in the cattle, and the tsetse combined, form a barrier to progress just now- which is almost beyond description, and men intimately acquainted with the tribes of our sub-tropical regions who have gone in from the west coast are compelled to remain seaward of the Great Lake. E. Chapman, and C^ Green, Dr. Holderi, and others, have for months been waiting fora change of the elements and, the return of health of their oxen and horses, to be up and hunting over new tracts of territory. Dr. Holderi has, we learn by very late advices, set out for the river Cunene ; Chapman is inch by inch endeavouring to get on towards the Zambezi; the brothers Green are well engaged northward in elephant shooting. Anderson is travelling southward with cattle for the Cape market, Kackham died of dysentery in the wilderness after more than a month's illness, at a place named Omuto Ondjo ; Baines has arrived at Wai which Bay from the Cape, well prepared for his overland journey with Chapman to the Zambezi; the Livingstone expedition have not communicated with the Cape since the departure of the Cambrian. Of the Helmore mission party, the liev. Mr. Price has returned to civilization, having struck across the interior from Lake N'Gami past Kuruman, and thence to Hope Town, having the children of the deceased Mr. arid Mrß. Helmore with him. Messrs. Oakes, Phillips, Forbes, and Dr. Pinching, four gentlemen from Natal, have set out via Potchefstrum, also for the banks of the Zambezi • and they were soon to be followed by another party. By the Koyal Mail steamer Norman, a party consisting of the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Burrup, Dr. Dickenson, A. Clark and J. Blair, mechanics, and Jessie Lennox, a female servant, arrived from England* to join the Oxford and Cambridge University Zambezi Mission, but they have not yet been able toiproceed to their destination. They are still in Cape Town, awaiting the return of the best season for arriving in the Mozambique* and ascending the great east African river.— Cape Monitor.

Jan. 8, 1862.