Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, February 04, 1858, Image 1
jno. l. miller & co., Proprietors. J An Independent Journal: For the Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. |lewism.gbist, PoMmw.
VOL. 4. YOEKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1858. NO. 5.
Skctcfes of CrabcL
From the London Illustrated News.
LIVINGSTONE'S
TRAVELS IN SOUTH AFRICA,
The fame of Pr. Livingstone preceeded j
the publication of this volume, which will |
largely add to his well-earned reputation.? I
Ou his arrival in England, after an absence j
of sixteen years passed in danger in the pursuit
of the noblest objects, he was honored
with a special meeting of welcome by the
Royal Geographical Society; and publicly
annouuccd his intention of communicating
to the world a narrative of his adventures,
investigations and discoveries. lie has redeemed
his promise in a manner that will
elicit universal admiration. Though modestly
declaiming all literary pretensions, Dr.
T i'i-ini,3tnno Vina rlianlnved the CanabilitieS of
an accomplished writer?his style being'clear
and vigorous, and clear from all meretricious
decoration. But the great charm of the
book, which imparts to it an enduring interest,
is the novelty of the materials of which
it is composed. He has penetrated into regions
on which the foot of the white man
had never before trod ; and beheld flowing
rivers where only sandy deserts were supposed
to exist. Races of men with whom no European
had communicated had been his
friends, companions, and disciples. We consider
this work of such novelty and importance,
both as regards the narrative and the
illustrations, as (by consent of the publisher)
to transfer to our pages a few of the scenes
of vivid interest which Dr. Livingstone has
pictured ; and to quote them with these engravings
his life-like descriptions.
Before entering upon the details of this
volume, it will gratify our readers if we give
a slight sketch of this benefactor of mankind.
He is a nati\e of Scotland, descended from I
a respectable, though not opulent, line of an- j
cestors; one of whoui on his death-bed called
his children around him, and said that he
could not discover a dishonest man among
their forefathers. lie parted from them with
these words, "Be honest." The father of
Dr. Livingstone was a farmer of Ulva; but
the expense of a large family induced him
to remove to the Blantyre cotton factory,
near Glasgow. There his son was placed as
a weaver, at ten years of age; but attended
school where he was taught Latin. At nineteen,
he became a cotton-spinner, and his
wages enabled him to attend a Medical,
Greek, and Divinity class at Glasgow, where
he was subsequently admitted a liceutiatc of
the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons. It
was his intention to have gone to China, but
he was prevented by the opium war. Kinbarking
for Africa in 1840, after a voyage of
three months he reached Cape Town, where
he started for the interior, travelling around
Algoa Bay. From 1840 to 1847, he devoted j
his time to medical and missionary labors,
without cost to the inhabitants. Shortly af- j
ter his arrival in Africa, he determined to
obtain a general knowledge of the language,
and especially of that spoken by the Bcchuans,
called Bakwains, and to make himself'
acquainted with their laws and customs, j
fkntr VioViito n nrl ninrlps nf for which
purpose he secluded himself for sis months, j
** from Kuropeau society. In 1853 he removed j
to the beautiful valley of Mabotsa, selecting j
it as the site of a missionary station,, and j
^ there his first perilous adventure occurred.?
The lions of the neighborhood not only attu/
nd the cattle-pens by night, but the herds ,
in open day. It was known that, if one in !
a troop of these animals is killed, the whole
quit that part of the country. The Doctor j
determined personally to assist the people in i
uiakiug war agaiust the common enemy; j
and the native leader of the party was the I
schoolmasters, named Mcbalwe. The encounter,
in which Dr. Livingstone narrowly j
escaped from death, (which we have illustra-!
ted,) is thus related :
ESCAPE FROM THE LION.
'' Startling aud looking half round, I saw
the lion just in the act of springing upon
mc I was upon a little height; he caught
my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came
to the ground below, together. Growling
horribly, close to my car, he shook me as a
terrier dog does a rat. This shock produced ;
a stupor, similar to that which seems to be j
felt by a mouse, after the first shake of the j
cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in whioh |
there was no sense of pain, nor feeling of j
terror, though quite conscious of all that was J
happening. It was like what patients partially
uuder the influence of chloroform des-;
cribe, who see all the operation, but feel not |
the knife. This singular condition was not j
the result of any mental process. The shake i
annihilated fear, aud allowed no sense of lior-:
ror ia looking around at the beast. This pc- i
culiar state is probably produced in all animals
killed by the caruivora ; and, if so, is
a merciful provision by our benevolent Creator,
forlesseniug the pain of death. Turning
round to relieve myself of the weight,
as he had one paw on the back of my head,
I saw his eyes directed towards Mcbalwe,
who was trying 10 shoot him at a distance of
fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed
fire in both barrels; the lion immediately
left me, and attacking Mebalwc, bit his thigh.
Another man, whose life I had saved, after
he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted
to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe.
He left Mebalwc and caught this man
by the shoulder, but at this moment the bullets
he had received took effect, and he fell
down dead. The whole was the work of a
few minutes, and must have been the paroxysm
of dying rage. In order to take out the
charm for him, the Bakatia on the following
day, made a huge bonfire over the carcass,
which was declared to be that of the largest
lion they had ever seen. Besides crushing
the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth
wounds on the upper part of my arm. A
wound from this animal's tooth, resembles a
gun-shot wound; it is generally followed by
a great deal of sloughiug and discharge, and
pains are felt periodically, ever afterwards.
I had on a tartan jacket on the occasion, and
I believe it wiped all the virus from the
teeth that pierced the flesh, for my two companions
in this affray, have both suffered
from the peculiar pains, while I have escaped
with only the inconvenience of a false joint
in the limb. The man whose shoulder was
wounded, showed lue his wound, actually
burst forth afresh, on the same month of the |
following year. This curious point deserves (
the attention of inquirers."
The chief of the tribe, called Bechuans, :
or Bakwaius, was named Sechele. He was
a very remarkable man, and bad embraced |
christiauity. His father had been murdered }
by his own people, while Sechele was yet a j
child. The friends of the family invited '
Tebituaue, the chief of Makololo, to reinstate
them which he did, and the usurper was put
to death. Sechele afterwards married the
daughters of his three under chiefs, and thus
secured the allegiance of his tribe, but he
became a polygamist before he was a christian.
When Dr. Livingstone made his acquaintance,
Sechele's authority was fully re- j
cognized ; and, as it was the custom of the |
country when a new subject was introduced i
to interrogate the propounderof it, he asked
the teacher if his forefathers knew of a future
judgment, and he answered in the affirmative,
beginning to describe the scene of
the "great white throne, aud Ilim who shall
sit on it, from whose face the heavens and
earth shall flee away on which the chief
said: "Youstartle mc; the words make my
boues to shake ; J have no strength in mc;
but my forefathers were living at the same
time yours were, and how is it they did not
send them word about these terrible things
sooner? Tbey all passed away in darkness,
without knowing whither they were going."
Sechele was an apt scholar, studied diligent*
1 * I 1-J V..t
ly, ana soon acquirea xuuwicuge) uui u?
had a low opinion of the moral power of
truth over his tribe, and proposed to flog
them into Christianity, with whips of rhinoceros
hide, saying that they ought to be only
too bappy to embrace Christianity at his
command. For three years he made a consistent
profession of his faith, but hesitated
to part with his three wives, deeming it ungrateful,
as he owed his power to their fathers.
At length he made up his uiind firmly,
made them presents, and sent them to their
parents, "with intimation that he had no
fault to find with them, but that in parting
with them, he wished to follow the will of
God." He and his children were baptised.
The relations of the wives opposed the new
religion, and both the attendance at school
and church, became greatly diminished. A
very curious dialogue then follows, between
our missionary and a rain-doctor, which arose
from the continued drought. We are
next introduced to a hunting scene The
first is descriptive of the chase, where the
hunters are seen driving into the hopo or
trap; in the second the beasts are entrapped,
and in their confusion and terror, fall an easy
prey to their pursuers :
TIIE llOl'O OR TRAP FOR DRIVING GAME.
"The hopo consists of two hedges in the
r r tr i i __ l ? L J
iorm or a \ , wnicn are very ingn aua ujick.
near the angle. Instead of the hedges being
joined there, they are made to form a laue
about lift)' yards in length, at the extremity
of which a pit is formed six or eight feet
deep, and about twelve or fifteen in breadth
or length. Trunks of trees are laid across
the margins of the pit, and more especially
over that nearest the lane, where the animals
are expected to attempt their escape after
they are in. The trees form an overlapping
border, and render an escape almost impossible.
The whole is carefully decked
with short green rushes, making the pit like
a concealed pit-fall. As the hedges are
frequently about a mile long, and about as
much apart at their extremities, a tribe
making a circle three or four miles round
the country adjacent to the opening, and
gradually closing up, are almost sure to enclose
a large body of game. Driving it up
with shoots to the narrow part of the hopo,
the men throw their javelins into the
affrighted herds, and on the animals rush to
the opening presented at the converging
hedges, and into the pit, till that is full of a
living mass. Some escape by running over
the top of others, as a Smithfield dog does
over the sheep's backs. It is a frightful
sceue. The men, wild with excitement,
spear the lovely animals with mad delight;
others of the poor creatures, borne down by
the weight of their dead and dying companions,
every now and then make the whole
mass heave in their smothering agouics.'
The account given of the Doers ofCashua j
mountains, otherwise named Mugalicsberg,
is highly unfavorable, but we arc cautioned j
not to coufound them with the Cape colon- !
ists, nor to imagine that Boar is synonymous '
! with our word boor ; the term, as used iu j
! Asrica, simply means farmer. These people
i are hostile to missions, and to English law,
which places black and white tucn on terms
: of perfect equality. Among them are En!
glish deserters and men of desperate charact]
er. Whenever they gain the ascendency
! thoy reduce the natives iuto bondage?conj
sidering that good government will always
| enforce compulsory labor. They are desI
cendcd from Dutch and French Ilugucnot
c\
ancestors, claim to be among the chosen,
j and insist that the heathen arc their inheritance,
regarding the colored race as black
j property In 1852 the Boers made war on
the Bokvauis, killed many of the adults,
I and carried off two hundred of our school
! children into slavery. In this foray, Dr.
; Livingstone's house was plundered, hisstock
; of medicines smashed, leaves torn out of
| books in his library, and all his furniture I
j and clothing sold at public auction, to defray
j the cost of this predatory expedition. Our
I missionary has traced this outrage up to its
j true source. 'The Boers resolved to shut
{ up in the interior, and I resolved to open in
' the country.'
Our traveler then proceeded to the Kalahari
desert, of which he gives an interesting
description; minutely noticiug plants and
j animals as he approached its confines. Nor j
is it a useless tract of country, as its name ;
: denotes. Accompanied by Messrs. Oswell I
and Murray, Dr. L., started for the unknown j
; regions on the 1st of June, 1849. All
| round Serotli the country is perfectly flat,
and composed of soft white sand The sky
is cloudless. A bright sunlight glares over
the whole scene, and the clumps of teees aud
bushes are so uniform in size and appearance, 1
that no one can be distinguished from the i
other. It is a remarkable fact that the i
elands, a beautiful variety of antelopes, fed i
around the travelers, where water was inac- I
cessible to them. We here quote from the 1
volume Dr. Livingstone's remarks on this I
curious fact: i
HOTTENTOT WOMEN RETURNING FROM I
TIIE WATER AND MEN ROUND A DEAD 1
IIARTE BEAST. i
'Here, thou-rh the water was perfectly in- i
accessible to elands, large numbers of the 1
fine animals fed around us, and when killed, 1
they were not in good condition, but their
stomachs actually contained considerable of
water. I examined carefully the whole
alimentary canal, in order to see if there
were any peculiarity which might account
for the fact that this animal can subsist for
months together without drinking, but found
nothing. Other animals, such as the du ker,
(Cephalopus mergeDs) or puti, of the
Bcchuanas, the steinbuck (Tragulus rjpestris,)
or puruhuru, the gemsbuck Oayx
capensis) or hukama, and the po cupine
(Hystrix cristata,) are all able to subsist
without water, for many months at a time,
by living ou bulbs and tubers containing
moisture. They have sharpened hoofs, well
adapted for digging, and there is little difficulty
in comprehending their mode of ]
subsistence. Some animals, on the other j
hand, are never seen but in the vicinity of (
water. The presence of the rhinoceros, of
the buffalo and gun (Catoblepas gun,) of the
giraffe, the zebra and pallah (Antelope i
melampus), is always a certain indication of (
water being within a distance of seven or [
eight miles; but one may see hundreds of j
elands (Boselaphus), also springbucks (Ga- ^
zella cuchore) and ostriches, which being t
warranted thereby in iuferring the presence t
of water within thirty or forty miles. In- (
deed, the sleek, fat condition of the eland in 2
such circumstances, would not remove the s
apprehension of perishing by thirst, from (
the mind of even a native. I believe, how- t
ever, that these animals can subsist only }
where there is some moisture in the vegeta- j
i..".u ii? c i c ?c .
LIUU uii wuiuii nicj luuu, IUI in uut jcai ui j
uuusual drought, we saw herds of elands j
and flocks of ostriches, crowding to the ?
Zouga from the desert, and very many of ?
the latter were killed in pitfalls on the bank?. ,
As long as there is any sap in the pasturage, ,
they seldom need water; but should a trav- ,
eler see the 'spoor' of a rhinoceros, or buf- (
falo, or zebra, he would at once follow it up, (
assured that before he had gone many miles, ,
he would certainly reach water.' {
On the 1st of August, 1849, they dis- i
covered Lake Ngami, a f ne sheet of water, 1
the dimensions of which are not accurately i
known. The natives professed to go round i
in three days, travelling at the rate of twen- <
ty-five miles a day, which would give seven- 1
ty-five miles for its circumference; while t
other opinions enlarge it for one hundred
miles. It is shallow, fori subsequently saw ,
a native putting his canoe over seven or |
eight miles of the north-east end ; it can .
never, therefore, be of much value as a ,
commercial highway. The water of the \
lake is perfectly fresh when full, but brack- i
ish when low. In this region are many ,
rivers, whose existence was never suspected ,
in a country supposed to be mere sand. The <
banks of the Zouge are represented as beauti- (
ful, resembling closely many parts of the ]
River Clyde, about Glasgow, and the trees ,
which adorn the banks are magnificent.? j
Here elephants abound, and a new species j
of antelope was discovered. The Zouga ,
contains ten kinds of fish, which the natives
spear with javelins. On the route the trav- ]
elers encountered a most formidable insect <
nailed 'tsetse ' Tt is net mneh larger than <
the common house fly. and is nearly of the j
same brown color as the common honey bee. |
Its peculiar buzz, when once heard, can ]
never be forgotten by the traveler, whose |
meatus of locomotion are domestic animals; t
for it is well known, that the bite of this |
poisonous insect, is certain death to ox, t
horse, and dog. A most remarkable feature |
in the bite of the 'tsetse,' is its perfect <
harmlessness to men and wild animals, and )
even calves, so long as they continue to suck ,
the cow. 1
Dr. Livingstone gives an interesting ac- |
count of the native chief, Sebituane, of ]
whom he speaks as decidedly the best spcimen
of a native chief. I never felt so much
grieved by the loss of a black man before.
It was in Sebituanc's territory that the mag- i
niticent Kiver Zambesi, in the centre of th* j
continent, was discovered. At the period j
of its annual innundation, it rises fully twen- (
ty feet in perpendicular height, and floods (
fifteen or twenty miles adjacent to its banks.
Dispersed through the volume arc interest- c
ing accounts of the the habits of animals,
and, as a specimen, we have our author's
opinion of the character of the lion : |
TIIREK LIONS ATTEMPTING TO DRAG A .
IJUFFALO. s
'Nothing that I ever learned of the lion I
would lead mc to attribute to it either the ?
ferocious or noble character ascribed to it 1
elsewhere. It possesses none of the nobility i
of the Newfoundland or St. Bernard dogs.
With respect to its great strength there can <
be no doubt. The immense masses of mus- y
i eel around its jaws, shoulders and forearms, i
proclaim tremendous force. They would <
seem, however, to be inferior in power, to ?
those of the Indian tiger. Most of those ?
feats of strength that I have seen performed ?
by lions, such as taking away on ox, were I
not carrying but dragging or trailing the f
carcass along the ground ; they have sprung [ ?
on some occasions on the hind quarters of a
horse, but no one has seen them on the with-11
era of a giraffe. They do not mount on the
bind quarters of an eland even, but try to
tear him down with their claws. Messrs.
Oswell and Vardon once saw three lions endeavoring
to drag down a buffalo, and they
were unable to do so for a time, though he
was then mortally wounded by a two-ounce
ball. In general, the lion seizes the animal
he is attacking, by the flauk, no*"* the hind
leg, or by the throat, below the jaw. It is
questionable, whether he ever attempts to
?eize an animal by the withers. The flank is
the most common part of attack, and that is
the part he begins to feast on first. The
natives and lions are very similar in their
tastes, in the selectiou of bites. An eland
may be disemboweled by a lion so completely,
that he scarcely seems cut up at all. ihe
bowels and fatty parts form a full meal for
2ven the largest lion. The jackal comes
sniffling about, and sometimes suffers for
his temerity, by a stroke from the lion's paw,
laying him dead. When gorged, the lion
Falls'fast asleep, and is then easily dispatched.
Hunting a lion with dogs, involve very little
janger, as compared with hunting the Indian
tiger ; because the dogs bring him out
)f cover and make him stand at bay, giving
;he hunter plenty of time for a deliberate
"hot.'
We must hurry on to the Balonda tribes,
vho are real negroes, having much more
vool on their head and bodies than any of
he Bechuana or Kaffir tribes. These
jeople took Dr. Livingstone for a morman,
) account of the straightness of his hair,
rheir chief town in Kabompo, a beautiful
,'alley, through which a rill of water meandirs,
'embowered in banana and other tropical
rees, having a great expansion of leaf.'?
[n this delightful spot the interview took
dace between the mission and Shinte, the
:hief of the Balondas:
RECEPTION OF THE MISSION BY SHINTE.
'We were honored with a grand reception
_1 i _1. t 1 1 ft I
jy oninie aooui eleven o ciock. oanwanza
ilaimed the honor of presenting us Maneuko
>eing slightly indisposed. The native
Portuguese and Mambari went fully armed
with guns in order to give Shinte a salute :
heir drummer and trumpeter making all the
joise that very old instruments would proluce.
Thekotla, or place of audience, was
i hundred yards square, and two graceful
specimens of a species of banana stood near
>ne end; under one of these sat Shinte, on a
hrone covered with a leopard's skin. He
lad on a checked jacket, and a kilt of scarlet
jaize, edged with green ; many strings of
arge beads hung from his neck, and his
imbs were covered with iron and copper
trmlets and bracelets. On his head he wore
i hamlet made of beads, woven neatly together,
and crowned with a great bunch of
*oose feathers. Close to him sat three lads
vith large sheaves of arrows over their shoullers.
When we entered the kotla, the whole
)f Maneuko's party saluted Shinte by clapping
their hands; and Sambanza did obesimce
bj rubbing his chest and arms with
ishes. One of the trees being unoccupied,
[ retreated to it for the sake of the shade, and
uy whole party did the same. We were
low about forty yprJ* from the chief, and
lould see the whole ceremony. The different
sections of the tribe came forward in
:hc same way that he did.
The head man of each making obeisance
with ashes, which he carried with him for
;hc purpose; then came the soldiers, all
irmed to the teeth, running and shouting towards
us, with their faces screwed up so as
:o appear as savage as possible, for the purpose,
I thought, of trying whether they could
aot make us take to our heels. As we did
not, they turned round towards bhtnte, and
saluted him ; then retired. When all had
jome, and were seated, then began the curious
capering usually seen in pichos. A
man starts up. and imitates the most approved
attitudes observed in actual fight?as
if throwing one javelin, receiving another
nn the shield, springing to one side to avoid
\ third, running backwards or forwards,
leaping, <fc. This over, Sambanza and the
spokesman of Nyamoana, stalked backwards
ind forwards in front of Shinte, and gave
forth in a loud voice all they had been able
:o learn, cither from myself or people, or my
history and connection *with the Makololo;
:he return of the captives ; the wish to open
:he country to trade; the Bible as a work
rrom heaven; the white man's desire for the
iribcs to live in peace;?he ought to have
:aught the Makololo that first, Balonda had
jood hearts, and Shinte had neverdone harm
:o any one, he had better receive the white
man well, and send him on his way. Sambanza
was gaily attired, and, besides a profusion
of beads, had a cloth so long that a
boy carried it after him as a train.
Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women,
dothed in their best, which happened to be
i profusion of red baize. The chief wife of
Shinte, one of the Matebele, or Zulus, sat in
iront, with a curious red cap on her head.
Dnrinrr thp infprvnls hetwppn fhp snppnhes.
n r?-----J
:hcse ladies burst forth into a sort of plaintive
ditty ; but it was impossible for any of
as to catch whether it was in praise of the
speaker, of Shinte, or themselves. This
ivas the first time I had ever seen females
present in a public assembly. In the South
(vomcn arc not permitted to enter the kotla;
ind, even when invited to come to a religious
service there, would not enter until ordered
:o do so by the chief; but here they expressed
approbation by clapping their hands, and
aughing to different speakers; and Shinte
'requently turned round and spoke to them.
A party of musicians, consisting of three
irummers and four performers on the piano,
tvent round the kotla several times, regaling
is with their music. The drums are neatly
jarved from the trunk of a tree, and have a
small hole in the side, covered with a bit of
spider's web; the ends are covered with the
skin of an antelope, pegged on; and when
;hey wish to tighten it, they hold it to the
ire, to make it contract; the instruments
tre beaten with the hands."
The enlightened mind of Dr. Livingstone
ecognises the face that commerce must pea
etratc the African continent, and conciliate
the natives, before Christianity can bestow
its blessings upon them. Hence the importance
he justly attaches to his discovery of
the rivers which connect the interior with
the coast. In his last journey, he says : "It
was only now that I apprehended the true
form of the river system and continent. I had
seen the various rivers of this country, the
western side flowing from the subtending
ridges into the centre, and received information
from natives aud Arabs, that most of
the rivers on the eastern side of the same
great region took a somewhat similar course
from an elevated ridge there, and all united
in two main drains, the one flowing North,
and the other South, and that the northern
drain found its way out by the Cogno to the
West, aud southern by the Zambesi to the
East. I was then on the watershed, or highest
point of these two great systems, but still
not more than 4,000 feet above the level of
the sea, and 1,000 feet lower than the western
ridge we had already crossed, yet, instead
of lofty snow clad mountains, appearing
to verify the conjectures of the speculative,
we had extensive plains over which one may
travel a month without seeiog anything higher
than an anthill or a tree."
We have seen how narrowly our adventurous
traveller escaped from the lion in the
early part of his career, and nearly at its
close he was threatened with a watery grave
by the attack of an amphibious monster:
BOAT CAPSIZED BY A HIPPOPOTAMUS ROBBED
OF. HER YOUNG.
"I left Nalieleon the 13th of August, and
when proceeding along the shore at midday,
a hippopotamus struck the canoe with her
forehead, lifting one-half of it quite out of
the water, so as nearly to overturn it. The
force of the butt she gave, tilted Mashauana
out into the river ; the rest of us sprang to
the shore, which was only about ten yards
off. Glancing back, I saw her come to the
surface a short way off, and look to the canoe,
as if to see if she had done much mischief.
It was a female, whose young one had been
speared the day before. No damage was
done, except wetting persons and goods.?
This is so unusual an occuareDce when the
precaution is taken to coast along the shore,
that my men exclaimed, 'Is the beast mad?'
There were eight of us in the canoe at the
time, and the shake it received shows the
immense power of this animal in the water."
g? ?? ????
JfJistcIlaiumts Jeabing
THE HARP OF A THOUSAND STRINGS.
Come generous friends a little while.
And listen to my song,
And though my subject is very great,
My story won't be long.
I'm going to sing about the times,
And several other things?
We'll sing the words and play the tune
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
Religion, Politics and Law,
Arc raging under par,
As seen by microscopic aid,
In pulpit, forum, bar:
A focus brought on either one,
The same result still brings?
A human being playing away
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
The preachers don't as they used to do,
In the good old days gone by;
They used to preach of souls of men,
'Till thev made the women cry ;
But they read their sermons uow-a-days,
And the choir strikes up 'a sing,'
And the folks can't join when the tune is play'd
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
The members don't as they used to do?
Their zeal and love's grown cold ;
They're thinkiug of the corn they've raised,
And how to get more gold.
And though the preacher reads quite well,
Their conscience never stings;
They'd rather steal the crown of gold,
And a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
The politician used to be
A man of some renown ;
Now, a half a dozen wouhl-be-such
Are found in every town;
For when one finds he can make a speech,
Or soar on buzzard's wings,
He mounts a hobby and plays away
r\ _ _ it r - mi. ? .j
UU u narp oi a muusuuu ciruigs.
No matter bow corrupt he is
How oft be turns his coat:
The nominntior sets him right?
He gets the people's vote;
He eats his fill at the public crib,
He drinks at the public springs?
The charm succeeds?he plays so well
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
Then let us take a hasty view
Of Justice and the Bar;
Alas! how quickly we discern,
How altered all things art
The sword and scales are little used,
The culprit seldom swings ;
For gold will make the lawyers play
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
So turn your eyes to every part
Of Uucle Sam's machine,
You'll find a screw that's working loose?
Some place that needs a pin.
But I must end my story now,
Although my muse still brings,
A verse or two for every chord
On a Harp of a Thousand Strings.
SHOWERS OP PISH.
On the night of the 10th and 20th of
June, 1G98, when the summit of a volcano
north of Chiraborazo, on the Andes, fell in,
the surrounding country, to an extent of 43
square miles, was found strewed with fish;
a similar event having occurred seven years
before, after the explosion of the volcano of
Imbabara.
In 1666, a grass-field, in the parish of
Sanstead, near Maidstone, in Kent, was
found covered over with fish, of which about
a bushel were collected. There are no
rivers or fishponds in the neighborhood, and
the place is distant from the sea. The fish
were about the size of a man's little finger,
were like sprats or whitings, and were supposed
to have fallen from a black cloud then
passing over the country, there having Deen
a heavy fall of rain at the time.
In 1825, a shower of herrings is said to
have taken place near Loch Leven in Kinross-shire;
the wind blew from the North
at the time, and probably carried the fish
from the sea across Fife to the place where
they were found. In 1828 a similar fall of
fish ooourred in Ross-shire, 3 miles from the
Frith of Tain.
On the Oth of March, 1830, numbers of
| small herrings were found scattered over the
j fields in the island of Ulva, in Argyleshire,
after a heavy rain. On the 30th of June,
1741, a fish measuring ten inches in length,
with others of a smaller size, fell at Boston,
England; and during a thunder-storm, on
the 8th of July, in the same year, fish and
ice fell together at Derby.
A similar occurrence once happened in
the neighborhood of Paris, where, after a
violent storm over night, the streets were at
dawn covered with fish. It was found that
a fish pond in the neighborhood had been
blown dry.
About 1830, fish fell near Dunkcld, in
Perthshire; and the thing happened some
way from Logierait, on the Tay, where
numbers of parr, about two inches long,
were picked up on an elevated spot, distant
from any lake or river. The falls of fish recorded
as having occurred in India, have
been more frequent and remarkable than
those made mention of at home.
Major Herriot, in his 'Struggles through
Life,' speaks of a shower of fish as having
been experienced during a storm in the Madras
presidency by the troops on their march.
In July, 1824, fish fell at Meerut, on the
of bis Majesty*8 14th, then out at drill, and
were caught in numbers. In July, 1826,
live fish were seen to fall on the grass, at
Moradahad, during a storm. They were of
the common cyprinus, so prevalent in our
Indian waters.
On the 19th of February, 1880, at noon
a heavy fall of fish occurred at the Nokulhatty
Factory, in the Dacca zillah; depositions
on the subject were obtained from
nine different parties. The fish were all
dead; most of them were large; some were
fresh, others rotten and mutilated. They
were seen at first in the sky, with a flock of
birds descending rapidly to the ground.?
There was rain drizzling at the time, but no
storm.
On the 16th and 17th of May, 1833, a
fall of fish occured in the zillah of Futtehpoor,
about three miles north of the Jumna,
after a violent storm of wind and rain. The
fish were from three pounds to a pound and
a half in weight?of the same species as
those found in the tanks in the neighborhood.
They were all dead and dry. A fall of fish
occurred at Bilahabad, during a storm in
May, 1835 j they were of the chowla
species, aud were found dead and dry after
the storm had passed over the district.
On the 20th of September, 1839, after a
smart shower of rain, a quantity of live fish,
about three inches in length, and all of the
same kind, fell on the Sunderbunds, about
twenty miles south of Calcutta. On this
occasion it was remarked that the fish did
not fall here and there irregularly over the
ground, but in a continuous straight line,
not more than a span in breadth. The vast
multitude of fish with which the low
grounds round Bombay are covered, about
a week or ten days after the first burst of
the monsoon, appear to be derived from the
adjoining pools or rivulets and not descend
from the sky. They are not, as far as I
know, found in the higher parts of the
island. I have never seen them, though I
have watched carefully in casks for collecting
water from the roofs of buildings, or
heard of the decks or awning of vessels in
the harbor, where they must have appeared
had they descended from the sky.
One of the most remarkable phenomena
of this kind occurred during a tremendous
deluge of rain, in Kattywar, on the 26th,
of July, 1850 when the ground around
Rajikote was found literally coverred with
fish ; some of them were found on the top
of haystacks, where probably they had been
drifted by the storm. In the course of
twenty-four successive hours, twenty-seven
inches of rain fell; thirty-five fell in twenty-six
hours; seven inches within one hour
and a half, being the heaviest fall on record.
At Poonah, on the 3d of August, 1323, after
a very heavy fall of rain, multitudes of
fish were caught on the ground in the cantoments,
full half a mile from the nearest
stream.
If showers of fish are to be explained on
the assumption that they are carried up by
squalls or violent winds, from rivers or spaces
of water, not far away from the places where
they fall, it would be nothing wonderful
were they seen to descend from the air during
the furious squalls which occasionally
occur in Jnne.?Dr. Buist.
From the Charleston Courier.
Messrs. Editors:?I have heard and read
of much of the extraordinary mildness of
this winter, that I thought I would inquire
of the seniors whether they recollect the
winter of '27?'28. Cold weather was then
almost entirely unknown. The pork of the
upper part of the State was very generally
spoiled by the warmth of the season. A
good country ham of bacon could scarcely
be obtained in the spring of '28. In January,
'28, the usual miry road from Columbia,
via Springhill, Ruffs' and Newberry to
Greenville, was dry and as firm as in summer.
The General Assembly met in January,
'28, (the second Monday,) for the trial of
the impeachment of Judge James. They
remained in session a whole week, with open
doors and windows, without fire.
The cotton in the upper districts came up
in the spring of 1828 from the roots of 1827.
If farmers had been aware of its vitality in
time, they might have raised a crop of Ratoon
cotton. The only severe frost occurred
in April, 1828.
This winter has so far been remarkable.
On the 19th of November, began the only
severe freeze known in the upper oountry.?
It began from a S. W. blow, and continued
from the 19th to the 22d. Since then we
in the upper country have had an old fashioned
Carolina winter. Frost and sunshine,
succeeded by rain, but no freezing, snowing
or sleeting weather, eicept that Greenville
District was visited by a short snow storm
about Christmas.
I see from yesterday's papers that the wild
geese are turning toward their Northern
homes. I doubt not that they are wiser than
we are, and that winter is, comparatively
speaking, ended. To the poor, what a blessing
has been vouchsafed. "God tempers
the wind to the shorn Jamb."
THE REMEMBIIANCERCharleston,
January, 20.
An English View of the Negro.?
The Liverpool Post says there are twenty
times as many "niggers" in Africa as in all
the West India Islands and on the American
continent, and five hundred fold worse.
They are the most miserable of human beings?the
most degraded of men. They
have always been so; the sun for six thousand
years, at least, has looked down upon
and fnnnd them Tint, nnlv nhlnnl- and nnrlo "
J ? v>
but the most debased of slaves. It was not
the white man who did this?the black man
was the tyrant. A transfer to the white man
was bliss; bondage remained?but how different
from chains imposed on them on their
native soil and their original dwelling place.
The Post again asks, "Is there any hope for
the future ?" which it answers, "not if things
are allowed to remain as they are. The aptitude
of the negro for civilization presents
only individual examples; the mass have
been savage. They are now savages in Africa.
There is no use questioning the fact
?it is true. Brought within the control
and influence of the white man, it might be
different?would.be different; but ordinary
means will never overcome obstacles to the
exercise of that influence. Released from
the presence of civilization, the negro will
rf.lonQA infn flio KnrKftrtom nf Viia maa
v,"rv ? "* ...? .?w.
Sugar from tiie New Cane.?The U.
S. Agricultural Society has awarded a large
silver medal to Joseph S. Lovering, of Philadelphia,
for the care with which his experiments
have been made and the samples of
sugar obtained from Chinese sugar cane, .
presented by him. The society, through its I
committee, however, declared that they did
not wish to be understood as certifying that
the manufacture of sugar from the plant in \
the Northern States is as yet demonstrated
to be more profitable than other crops. Mr. \
L's samples were as follows: A sample of
clean brown sugar from that made on an acre
of land which gave 625 j lbs. of sugar and
123} gallons of molasses; a second sample
of brown sugar, very fair, at the rate of
1221-85 lbs. per acre; a third of white sugar,
several degress lighter than what is
known as clayed Havana, equal to No. 1
coffee sugar, and a fourth sample of pure
white crystalized sugar, equal, an Mr. L.
claims, to the best sugars anywhere made.
Private Letters from Europe.?
Private letters received by commercial
houses in Savannah, says the Republican,
from their European correspondents, by the
last steamer, are more favorable than the acoounts
by the mails. They represent that
there will be an early and universal resumption
of work in Manchester, and that yarns
are already, by anticipation, in advance of
Liverpool prices for the raw material. A
preference was also given to nine and twelve
months' paper, showing that money was
entirely easy. This aspect of affairs is highly
encouraging, and should dissipate the
gloom on this side of the water.
The Europa's accounts, arrived since the
above was written, contain nothing to conflict
with the opinion advanced.?Charleston
Courier.
The way they Dispose op the Girls
out West.?The people of New York are
disposing of their surplus female population
by sending young girls out west where they
obtain "places" with farmers and others. A
Mr. Tracy recently arrived at Janesville,
Wisconsin, with a party of these indigent
females, and a local paper called the Independent
thus describes the manner in which
they are disposed of: A charge of ten dollars
was made for each person, the money to
be paid by the employer and deducted from
the future earnings of the young women.?
The Free church was thrown open, the
young women occupying the seats in rows,
some of them crying. Customers then
walked along the range with perfect coolness
examining one by one, and, as they found
one suitable, they planked the cash and carried
off the prize."
Encouraging to Young Men.?Never
content yourself with the idea of having a
common-place wife. You want one who
will stimulate you, stir you up, keep moving,
joke you on your weak points, and make
something of you. Don't be afraid that you
cannot get such a wife. I very well remember
the reply which a gentleman who
happened to combine the qualities of wit
and common-sense, made to a young man
who expressed a fear that a certain young
lady of great beauty and attainments would
dismiss him, if he should become serious.
'My friend,' said the wit, 'infinitely more
beautiful and accomplished woman than she
is, have married infinitely uglier and meaner
men than you are.'?Timothy Titcomh.
<You may do 80 Again.?The following
embraces a very exquisite lesson on gentility.
A gentleman from Boston chanced to
find himself among a little party of ladies,
away down east, last summer, and while in
the enjoyment of some innooent and social
play, he carelessly placed his arm about the
slender waist of as pretty a damsel as Maine
can boast of, when she started and exclaimed:
'Be done sir! don't insult me!' The gentleman
instantly apologized for the seeming
rudeness, assured the half offended fair one
that be did not intend to insult her.
'No,' she replied, archly. 'Well, if you
didn't, you may do so again I
I?* The Bridal Veil originated in the cna
torn of performing the nuptial oeremony under . .
a square piece of cloth, held orer the bride
groom and the bride, to conceal the blushes
of the latter. At the marriage of a widow,
it wae dispensed with.