A GHASTLY CARGO.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1009, 8 December 1881, Page 4

A GHASTLY CARGO.

A strange and revolting scene witnessed at one o± the docks of Bristol. Is thus described and commented on in the London Chronicle of September 14th : —Had such proceedings as those to which we refer taken place in the Solomon Island, where the remains of human beings ■ are regarded as in no way more sacred than those of cattle, we should still have spoken strongly in condemnation of the practice. As it is we can find no words sufficiently forcible to express abhorance of what is now reported to be going on at one of the chief ports of England. An Austrian vessel is at the present moment discharging 300 tons of human bones. This cargo is said to have been shipped at Rodosto and Constantinople, and it is believed, according to two different accounts, to consist mainly of the remains of the defenders of Plevna. The hair still adheres to some of the skulls, and many limbs, remaining complete in all the joints, are to be seen rattling into the tubs in which they are lifted from the hold of the vessel. Pieces of Turkish pipes, horses hoofs and loose shoes, with fragments of artillery gear, have already shown that these human remains are those of persons who have fallen in battle at no distant period. Indeed, it may safely be assumed that they are the bones of many of the soldiers who were killed during the late RussoTurkish war. The object with which they have been brought to this country will easily be surmised. They will be used to enrich the soil of English farmers. Such are the “ base uses ” to which the boues are put of those who

have, perhaps, sought “ the bubble reputation in the cannon’s mouth.