THE SOUTHERN COTTON BURNERS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 183, 28 June 1862, Page 5

THE SOUTHERN COTTON BURNERS.

The Richmond JSxamhicr of February 28 reports a meeting of planters iu that city, held on the previous evening, to consider the report of a committee of their number. Resolutions were reported, declaring it to be the imperative duty of the Government of the Confederacy to purchase the whole crops of cotlou and tobacco on hand,in order toctrect their destruction by fire. The Hon. Mr. Marshall made a speech, in which he enlarged on the great straits to which the Confederate cause had been brought. lie said:—

" We live in a world where it is really tho question 'Tobe or not to be?' We are in the midst of a bloody war. We have (o contend against great odds. We have been driven by the blockade to many strange expedients. Men have seized pikes and lances, for want of proper arms, to defend their wives and daughters and mothers. Hitherto the authorities who have had our destiny in charge seem not to have been awake to . the exigency of the times. We Jiavc raised the Merrimac, and clad her in a jacket of iron. Why have we not many such vessels?" After exhorting his audience to fortitude, "he said:— "We come to the cotton question. The last crop is actually rotting unbilled. We have been taught to believe that England and France were dependcut on this staple, and that they would come and get it. Why do they not conic ? I have begun to doubt whether there arc such countries as France and England. The enemy found cotton at Ship Island; some, it is true, they found in flames, but not enough of it. At Florence they went up and look an inconsiderable quantity. No one seemed to think of sotting Jlro to it. At Nashville they will perhaps get 50,000 , bales, and the owner?, to save their property, will have to swear allegiance to that miserable tyrant ' Abe. Lincoln. And presently they will descend the Mississippi with perhaps fifty gunboats, and compel the negroes to load them with cotton, and send it to Europe, and say, We have opened a cottoti p"ort, there is the. evidence. I want us to do something mnnly—something grand. I want the Confederate Government to bay all (he cotton, and, if need be, destroy it. If one of those pillars which support, this' temple were cotton, and the other tobacco, and England, Franco, Russia, and the United States of America, and ourselves depended on them for existence, and it wen: necessary, I would, Samson-like, drag them down, and in one universal ruin overwhelm civilisation. Suppose, as these resolutions propose, the Government buys the cotton and tobacco crops, it is not to be expected that it will soon be able to pay for them. Hardships will 1 e the consequence. Great numbers will suffer. A tax will have to bo imposed. I will suppose that half of the cotton and . tobacco crop has been burned. My cotton has been burned, and I have received seven cents, a - pound from the Government; while my neisih- ■ bor's, whose has not been burnt, has been enhanced double in value. His small crop of cotton would be a fortune, yet who among us would hesitate to apply the torch to it, sooner than it should fall into the hands of the enemy? But, suppose the Government were to buy the whole crop, and determine to burn it —as 1 want them to do—that the world may sec that this little republic, as they may choose to consider us, can strike a blow that will scud consternation through the world, while ,they are talking about conqueritig the republic and hanging the President. I want the Government to come forward and say, " Here is the money for 4,000,000 hales of cotton," and give it to her Commissioners, and say, " Burn it." I want the Government to go in search of the cotton, instead of leaving it to bo captured by iron-nlad steamers. The Government have 2,000,000 bales as a financial measure. " There are some gentlemen present who raise as much as four thousand bales of cotton, and who say they will themselves burn it, indemnity or not, rather than the Yankees shall get possession of it. We shall ruin our own interest by letting this crop lie here, and put another crop upon it. Cotton, instead of being 10 cents., will not command more than three cents. Suppose the blockade were opened now, we could not get it to market by August. The boats which used to transport our cotton are engaged in making war upon us, and some of them have got well pep-^. pered at Fort Donnulson. They urc to-day planting cotton in Texas, and next week they will begin to plant further north. 1 needn't enlarge on this to planters. It is evident to them that there will be two crops on the market before next January. Some will say, we will force England to go to India for cotton. I will say to her, Go! England has spent £350,00.0,000, and gotten Louisiana planters to go to those distant countries, and has been obliged to give it up as a forlorn ■ hope. But suppose England finds other cottou fields, 111 like to know if we can't find other spinners for our crops, and be for ever independent of her. ■ To the west of us are two little countries—China and Japan. In China, they desire to put all their lands in tea, but they fear to discontinue the raising of cotton. If they could get cotton elsewhere, they would put all the land'in tea. Well, then, the best spinners and weavers in Cliinacah.be hired for nine cents a day, and we can get them to spin and weave our cotton long before England can find other cotton fields. China and Japan arc not so distant from us as were we from England when Whitney put the first cotton-gin in operation in Savannah." Governor Moore, of Kentucky, being called on, then addressed the meeting iu a speech advocating the resolutions, which elicited much ap- _ plause. ' . On tho motion of Mr. Edmond Ruffln, the resolutions were then put to the meeting and unanimously adopted.

Snake Story.—The following snake story comes from the Werribee :—" The dry summer appears to have been favorable to the reptile species, if an opinion may be formed from their more numerous appeai-ance during the present than in former seasons. Snakes of various kinds have been seen in most unwelcome numbers along both banks of the-river, to which they had doubtless crawled for the purpose of assuaging their thirst and disporting- themselves in the cooling water. . Several of them have been destroyed in and about the houses of the farmers, one person (Mr. Shaw) having killed three of them near his Jairy. A very large reptile of the brown species was killed the other day in a manner which deserves special mention. A precocious Australian, aged fourteen, being inclined for a bath, had divested himself of all his apparel, save the trousers, and on walking towards the edge of the river with a view of taking off that article of dress preparatory to making the wished-for plunge, he beheld the snake in the act of crawling from the favorite spot. Yonng Australia quietly drew out and opened his pocket-knife,. which he held out as if for the inspection of his enemy, exclaiming,' You or I for it!' Perhaps there are no creatures so apprehensive of danger as snakes, no doubt wisely so arranged by Nature for the benefit of man, and therefore the least noise will cause their instant retreat; and it is_only when assailed or intercepted when making approach to their hole that they exert that tremendous power which has been given them. In this instance, the boy stood betyvecn the snake and ils hole, and as he knew the habits of the reptile lie wisely stepped aside with the view of allowing it to continue its sinuous course. The boy had already made up his mind to a certain procedure in hopes of insuring the snake's death, and the reptile as if divining his thoughts, adopted the only means in its power to counteract the plot organised against its life. Now was seen the " cunnimg of the serpent." As the boy quietly followed the track of the snake, without manifesting a hostile determination, it may be wondered at why it did not speedily get nwny; but - that was no part of its tactics —the object was to leave the boy unacquainted with the hole, and that was just what the lad wanted to know, with what motive"the sequel will tell. Every three or four yards the reptile would turn around in a menacing manner, thrusting out its arrow-like tongue with a rapid motion, with .the intention no doubt of frightening its persistive follower. At last they came in sight of the hole, and with it the decisive moment for action. Arrived at the opening the snake, instead of ' entering, made a rapid movement at the boy, who nimbly jumped back a few paces. Like lightning almost did the reptile turn round and enter its only refuge, but as quickly was his assailant upon him; as half the body had penetrated the hole, the tail was grasped in the left hand of the boy, while his naked foot was firmly planted UDon the body. The courageous lad then applied his knife, which he had held all the time in his right hand, and cut the snake in two - exultingly exclaiming, as he held up that severed part, ' It was you this time !' When rebuked for.his temerity, he retorted, ' I knew he couldn't get back when once he went in," if I caught his tail. He knew it too. And what's more, he; knew that I knew it; and that's why he didn't want me to know where lived.'" — Williamstown Chronicle

EXPLORATION AND SURVEY OF THE NORTH WEST PART OF THE PROVINCE. The following interesting report of the Reconnaissance Survey of the country about the Wanaka anil Hawea Lakes has been handed to us for publication. Sir—l have the honour to advise you of my return from the reconnaissance survey of the Wanaka and Hawea Lakes and the country adjacent to them. Preliminary to a mdre detailed report, which will be forthcoming so soon as the map is completed, it may be well in the meantime to apprise you of the progress made, and the features of the country under consideration. I left Dunedin on the 18th February, and crossed the Clutha on the 27th of the same month. A base line of three miles was then measured on the terrace between the, Wanaka Lake and Cardrona River; from the ends of this base, and with the true bearing brought forward from Lindis Peak, several triangles with sides of from three to six miles were formed—these again, when completed, served in their turn as new bases for other triangles, greater or less according to the position of the mountain peaks. . In this manner about 1000 square miles\of country have been gone over, comprising that part of the Province drained by the rivers flowing into the Wanaka and Hawea'Lakes,'also the country contained between the Clutha and Kawaraw Rivers. The physical aspect of the greater part of this country is wild and broken in the extreme.; the lie is N.N.E. and S.S.W., and is very uniform in the respect that it is river and ridge alternately ; all the leading ridges have their steepest sides towards the west. The streams that take th'eir rise from these ridges all flow eastward to the main rive-s, whose courses are parallel to the' main ridges. The tributaries and smaller rivers have in general no valley—their course for the most pnrt is along a deep gorge formed by the declivities of the opposing mountains. The main rivers, such as the Hunter, which enters at the head of the Hawea Lake—the Makarora and Matukituki rivers of the Wanaka, have vallej's from one to one and a-half miles wide. The shingle bed of the river occupies in general one half of the valley. The mountains rise so very abruptly from the bed of these rivers that their ascent is in many instances impossible, and where possible, an arduous and hazardous work. These sudden elevations give rise to much grand and i impressive scenery. Up the west branch of the Matukituki the glaciers of Mount Aspiring, and of the mountains opposite, pour -down from the precipices which support them many and various forms of the cascade; in some instances the water makes one bound of several hundred feet, ! while at other places it leaps from crag to crag. The character of the river at these falls is in keeping with the scene, for alternately it meanders through a pretty little wooded valley of a mile or so in length, then rushes impetuously down a rapid for another mile, and so on successively for three or four times. This river further attests its glacial origin by being several inches higher in' the evening than what it is in the morning, being more or less according to the higher or lower temperature of the day. Altogether, this is a most i interesting region, for when the ear is not assailed with the noise of falling waters, it hears at frequent intervals the thunder of the ! falling avalanches. . . The highest elevation attained during" the survey was that of Mount Alta. This mountain is situated about five miles north-east of Black Peak, and rises to an elevation of 8000 I fjet. I rom it an extensive prospect is obtained to the north, south, and cast; the view to the west is ' brought up by the Southern Alps, ■whose high peaks, table lands of snow, and glacier ravines, appal the heart with their still, sterile, magnificence. From this and other high elevations, no opening orlow part could be seen to promise a possible route to the west coast. - The traditional Maori track by thehead of the Wanaka and up the valley of the Makarora may, nevertheless, he a reality; if so, the crossing place must be twenty or thirty miles over the boundary on the Canterbury side. My prospect extended beyond this, but of course where the peaks are "in such close proximity as they are there, and the gorges 80 narrow, the eye at that distance insensibly bridges over what may be openings, and sees only a coni'used and preplexing intermixture of black and white mountain?.

It was on the 20th of April when I was at the head of the Wanaka. The Hawea was-still to do, and not knowing what night the snow might be down, I did not devote any time to the finding of a passage; the end of February, or the beginning of March, would he the proper time for making an attempt. My decided conviction is, that no country suitable for pastoral. occupation could he found. Both of the Lakes are of very irregular shape, the Wanaka is especially so; it has several islets scattered over its surface, which, with its many peninsulas and sinuosities, yield to the psi'sing glance,'panoramic views unsurpassed, i tLiuk, by the' far-famed Loch-Lomond, of Scotland. The.length of the Wanaka, from where the Makaroraenters it, till.the issue of the Clutha from it; is about thirty miles, in breadth it is from one. to three miles; The Hawea is twenty miles long, and from one to five in breadth. The ; 61d wash ripple, now : high above the present level of the Lakes, and the terraces of the Glutha Valley are evidences of an epoch, ■when;,Hvhat is now valley, island and peninsula, were-'all;'submerged 'under one grand Lake. How the present. order of things has been brought / about-7—whether.: by an earthquake, formingf'the present narrow •'passage for the Clutha thr'otigK; the Dunstan Mountains, or the slow, but sure, wearing down of the river bed by' its rapid current, or from whatever other cause, will be Ibest determined by the researches !of -the Geological Survey. A similar 'formation of terraces obtains at the Wakatip'and : Teanau Lakes. > . The weather throughout was fine, and appeared to be less liable to sudden change than what; the weather of the Coast Districts gene-rally-is.' .The prevailing wind was from the N7E. -",::. . . -;■ ■ .:,- . , -

The readings of the thermometer and barometer, with the place and date, were tabulated at 6 a.m., and 2 p.m., of each day. These,1 with th%'remarks on the Pastoral and Agricultural capabilities of the country, will be most' appreciable when the map is before you.; ... i I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, James M'Kebbow, i , . District Surveyor^ To J. T. Thomson, Esq., Chief Surveyor. Dune-din, 31st May, 1862.