the comforts of the females while on board. They were plentifully supplied with port wine and sago, excellent beef, pork, and biscuit; even mustard, salt, vinegar, needles, thread, &c. were not forgotten. On landing they procured the best fresh beef at 14d. per Ib. Government willingly supplies you at 6d. per head, namely, 1lb. of bread, and 4lb. of beef, per day.

Provisions of every kind are amazingly cheap; there is a great want of waggons, and it is strongly recommended that they should be brought out from England, as on landing teams of oxen are procured at an easy rate, and you get out on your journey immediately. Followers of heads of parties are each, at the expiration of five years, allowed thirty acres of cultivated land, and, by a praiseworthy arrangement of Government, a man dying in his servitude can bequeath to his family or friend such proportion of land as he is entitled to, for which reason most of the settlers make their will on landing. General Donkin, the Governor of the Cape, paid the greatest attention to his countrymen. A premium of 100 guineas is announced for the farm that sends the first marketable produce of its land to the Cape. Though the Dutch boors are illiterate, they are good-natured: as an instance, we understand that the wife of a Dutch farmer seeming anxious for an indifferent gold watch, it was presented to her; and next day a beautiful team of sixteen oxen, neatly yoked,

was sent as a return.

"The allotments of land are well wooded and watered, and, being principally on the banks of the Great Fish River, plenty of fish is easily obtained; game in abundance, particularly a species of grouse. The Dutch farmers are particularly civil and accommodating to the new-comers on their journey. The distance of the settlement from the coast is about 200 miles; this journey is performed in waggons with teams of 16 bullocks, and these, with the conductors, are procured of the Dutch boors at an easy rate. The Dutch farmers observe, what they can raise by industry, so can the new-comers. They raise corn of every description; potatoes bountifully; tobacco thrives well; the wine they make on their estates is most excellent, and sold at the rate of 54d. per bottle. They laughingly observe, that more Cape-wine is sold in the year by many hogsheads than is made in the whole colony. Many of the estates produce four crops in

FRANCE.

the year, particularly in those parts which can at pleasure be inundated; these inundations answer all the purposes of the best manure, and the crops are prodigious."

Diseases of the Ear.Mr. Curtis will commence his next Course of Lectures on the Anatomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the Ear, and on the Medical Treatment of the Deaf and Dumb, early in October, at the Royal Dispensary for Diseases of the Ear.

RURAL ECONOMY,

Cattle Distemper.-A valued correspondent communicates to us the success of a remedy recommended in our tenth volume, p. 352, for the fatal inflammatory distemper arising from long-continued drought; and favours us with a more explicit detail of the process by which a number of valuable calves were recently saved, as follows:For a calf three months old, allow the bulk of two pigeons'-eggs of saltpetre dissolved in half an English pint of water, to which add a table-spoonful of vinegar, and a tablespoonful of fresh barley-meal. Mix all well together, and adding a fresh pint of warm water, put the whole ingredients into a common bottle, which, with the half-pint of water first used, will be nearly filled. Shake the bottle well, and pour the contents slowly into the throat of the calf: let him rest an hour, and then apply friction to his skin with a hard brush, continuing then to stimulate circulation in all his body and limbs a full quarter of an hour. If he appears inclined, let him rest another hour; and then, if the weather is hot, drive him into the sea; or if the situation is inland, plunge him in a lake or river. If the season is cool, it will suffice to give exercise by driving the creature rather smartly for half an hour. It must also have three times, daily, a wineglassful of a strong infusion prepared from aromatic herbs, either wormwood, angelica, rosemary, mint, rue, sage, or juniper berries. The infusion to be put into a bottle, with a tea-spoonful of strong vinegar. The nitre, as first mentioned, is to be administered twice a day; and the friction and exercise to follow each dose as already described. Observe the calf is not to suck, or to have feeding-milk for two hours after taking medicine, and it must have rest after this nourishment. It is hardly necessary to explain that the time for taking milk, or exercise, or medicine, should be arranged so as to make the intervals regular and proportionate.

A curious pamphlet has recently been published in Paris, entitled "Forgery of English Bank Notes." It reveals a crime, connected with the despotism of Napoleon, of so odious a nature that his warmest partizans will not surely attempt to justify it. M. Castel, the author of the pamphlet, es tablished himself at Hamburgh, with the

French army, in the year 1810, and was employed to build sloops of war for the Imperial government, At the beginning of the year 1812, General Saunier, who then held a command in Hamburgh, requested M. Castel to procure him money for English bank notes to the amount of 5000l. Castel, having occasion to travel to the Hans Towns, paid away some of the notes, amounting to

about 20001.

These notes, however, on being remitted to England, were discovered to be forged, and M. Castel was obliged to indemnify the persons to whom he had paid them. In the meanwhile General Saunier having set out for Russia, he had no means of making any demand on him. With regard to the other notes, which still remained in the hands of Castel, he received orders from d'Aubignos, director of the police at Hamburgh, to deliver them up to him, which he dit. Forged English bank notes, however, still continued to be circulated in the north of Germany. In the year 1813 an insurrection broke out in Hamburgh, and Castel was obliged to fly to France. No sooner had he reached Paris, than he received a summons from the police. He confesses that he was at first so

much alarmed that he dared not obey the summons; but a second order forced him to appear. Instead, however, of the rigid interrogatory which he says he dreaded, though he cannot tell why, he found a divisional officer, who politely addressed him as follows: "You will render the minister and me a most essential service, by stating exactly what sum you paid to General Saunier in exchange for the London bank notes." These words revived the spirits of poor Castel, who was almost dead with alarm. He gave the information that was required, taking care not to mention that the notes had been discovered to be forged, and that he had been obliged to pay the amountsuch, he declares, was the terror with which Buonaparte's police inspired him. There is, however, reason to suppose that it was not fear alone that withheld him from speaking out: he probably wished to avoid being compromised in an affair, with the secret of which he was apparently acquainted, though in his pamphlet he positively affirms the contrary. He asserts that his dread of the Imperial police took such an effect on his mind, that he lost the use of his reason, and was treated as a lunatic for several months. During his mental disorder, he fancied he saw the officers of the police, with Savary at their head, passing under his window, to be led to execution. He called them swindlers, and ordered them to deliver up his bank notes. On his recovery the Imperial government no longer existed. The Royal authority had assumed its place. The unfortunate merchant then resumed his courage, and on making some inquiries respecting the origin of the bank notes, he discovered a secret which, had it not been for the change of government, would in all probability never have been made known.

Under the Imperial regime a secret printing-office was established on the Boulevard Mont Parnasse, in Paris. It was conducted by a man, who is now one of the richest printers in Paris, and it was under the immediate direction of Savary, the minister of

police. All that was done in this printingoffice is not known, but it is certain that the workmen, who did not themselves know what they were doing, were employed in forging Bank of England notes. Buonaparte had conceived this odious plan of circulating forged notes, in order to enrich himself, whilst he would at the same time ruin the trade and the Bank of England. He never bestowed a thought on the immorality of the action, or its destructive effects on the whole commercial world. It is a singular circumstance, that the inferior police had no knowledge of the printing-establishment which was under the controul of the high police; and one day the agents of the Paris prefect of police were on the point of forcing an entrance into the printing-office. A few powerful words, however, induced them immediately to depart. An agent of the high police had been sent to Hamburgh to circulate forged notes to the amount of 30,000l. The director-general of the police of that city, who had not been made acquainted with the secret, arrested the agent, and sent him to Paris; but, on his arrival there, he was immediately restored to liberty. Another agent was dispatched to England in the summer of 1911; he was accompanied by a Hamburgh Jew. They visited London under the pretence of commercial business, and they circulated the forged notes which they brought with them. The fraud, however, was speedily detected, and measures were adopted for tracing the notes. The agent of the French police escaped, but the Jew was taken, found guilty, and hanged. The French agent, on landing in France, was suspected and put under arrest by the authorities on the coast; but no sooner was his name known in Paris than orders were

immediately issued for his release. By way of reward, Savary appointed him to be contractor for the public gaming-houses.

After the restoration, some communication on the subject of these forgeries took place between the English and the French government. The Count de Blacas summoned Savary, and interrogated him respecting the business. It appears, from Castel's pamphlet, that Savary confessed the whole, observing that he had merely executed a measure of state, which his sovereign had ordered. M. Castel however adds, that Savary kept possession of the engraved copperplates from which the notes were produced; and that in 1815, during the hundred days, and even since the battle of Waterloo, new notes have been printed from them, which are now in circulation, to the ruin of trade. Such is the substance of M. Castel's memoire. The accusations he prefers against Savary and the other agents of Buonaparte's police, are of the most odious description; but he relates facts so circumstantially, and quotes names and dates with so much correctness, that he has evidently been very careful in collecting his information.

None

of the p

persons, thus accused have yet thought proper to publish a word in their own defence,

ing,

foermans joy beb ory Telegraph, for public use. A speculatist has suggested the impolicy of confining the use of the telegraph to governments: observ18, that the postage of letters was first employed by princes and governors, but to doubt of its infinite benefits when extended to the public at large, is impossible. He says, Governments at this time restrict to them. selves the exclusive employment of this in strument of communication; but hereafter it will be applied to individual and private concerns, and will add to the facility and the multiplicity of communications and exchanges, which are the first cause of all social advantages, in like manner as high roads, navigable canals, stage-coaches, ships and passage-boats, post-horses, and postage of letters, writing, printing, coinage, bills of exchange, lithography, &c. Not only governments and sovereigns are interested in promoting a multiplicity of discoveries, which they enjoy in the first instance, and the glory of which reflects on them; but they are also interested in placing them within reach of the public, in rendering them more numerous and more familiar. They themselves derive from them greater ad. vantages; they give birth to new inventions, of to improvements and perfectings of others, of which themselves (governments) are again the first to profit. A more general investigation of any implement, made by a greater number of ingenious men, and more openly than before, greatly advances the art or the science in which it is employed.

The Cadastre imperfect: Experientia docet.The French have lately ventured to complain, in somewhat severe terms, of the famous Cadastre, brought to perfection, as was supposed, under Napoleon. They observe that "The Cadastre of France was conceived in a too complicated system. It is impossible to obtain exact information on the simple declarations of local authorities: an estimate of population, indeed, or of extent, or some approach to the value of property, may be procured, but that is by no means sufficient to insure equity in the collection of an impost. It is confessed, that much pains and many precautions have been taken to execute plans of the smallest properties, to state the diverse kinds of their productions, and to determine, according to a classification agreed on, the value of each piece of land, considering the culture in which it is employed; nevertheless, amidst these proceedings to approximate truth as closely as possible, the bases of the calculations are absolutely insufficient: 1st, because the same species of culture does not universally afford the same product. 2dly, Because the species of culture, being changed on the same lands, the proportions of increase and value change also. 3dly, Because the mutations of property, and the alteraNEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 80.

tions of boundaries, incessantly decasinie modifications, which render new declarations necessary, the former being no longer apes plicable. To be correct, the Cadastre shouldi be renewed every ten years at the farthesti It is necessary to take the points of observa tion much higher to establish more generab principles of valuation; to found them on a liberal comparison of the same agricultural productions in different departments; to in-} clude in the estimate the difficulty.or the facility of carriage, of bringing them to market, and of obtaining payment.":

.

We shall readily be believed when we say, that these elements of calculation would have found but little favour in the adminis tration of Buonaparte; and that they will be found extremely difficult to reduce to prac tice under the Bourbons. But it must be supposed that all these, with many other circumstances which belong to each estate, and to every field of each estate, have been duly and closely considered between a landlord and his tenant in the determination * of the rent; which also has been calculated on an average or rather on various averages-as of the number of years--the course of seasons-the occurrence of accidents? the parochial charges, duties demandable, &c. &c., all of which affect the fair bargain between the proprietor and the in-comer. On the rent, then, justly estimated, the tax for public service may be laid; and thus every farmer may take his own place on the territorial Cadastre; while every landlord may assure himself that his property is not marked by any of those heavier taxes which may render his estate less valuable than those of his neighbours around him.

Ecclesiastical Establishment. It is cal- « culated that there are at present in France 2849 curates, 22,244 temporary cu-rates, 5301 vicars, 1462 regular priests, and 873 almoners of colleges and hospitals.c The number of priests regularly officiating, including those who do not receive pay from the treasury, amounts to 36,185. 1 1361 French priests died in the year 1819% and in the same year there were 1401 ordi nations. There are 106 female congrega i tions, possessing altogether 1721 establishe ments, which contain 11,752 sisters. It is estimated that these charitable women administer relief to nearly 69,000 sick persons, and gratuitously instruct 63,000 poor children.

Jeanne d'Arc,-The works which have been undertaken at Domremy, for repairing the house of Jeanne d'Arc, erecting a monument to her memory, and establishing a school for the instruction of female children, are proceeding with great activity. In front of the house in which the heroine was born, a neat and simple edifice has been raised. An avenue separates the building into two grand compartments, one of which is set i aside for the school, and the other for the governess's apartments. The avenue leads VOL. XIV. 2 U

to a court-yard, and on the left is the old door of the house of the Maid of Orleans, with its curious bas reliefs. Fragments of wood, stone, and other relics of the age of Jeanne d'Arc, are deposited in the principal chamber of the house. Fronting the new edifice is a square, in the centre of which a statue is to be raised to her honour.

The subscriptions for a monument to the Duke of Berri, amount to nearly 4000l.

Prevalent disposition to suicide.—The Continent has affected to consider Britain as the seat of suicide; and not a few facetic have been sported on the supposed disposition of the natives of our island to seek refuge in an unknown world from troubles felt in this; especially from that most discontented condition, too often attendant on too extensive capabilities of enjoyment-ennui. We recollect one, in the form of an epitaph, which, said the wits of Paris, might serve for constant application on the grave-stones of London:

Ci git Jean Ros-bif, ecuyer,

Qui se pendit pour se desennuyer. But, certainly, at this moment, the number of Suicides in the city of London, notwithstanding the glooms and the fogs of the climate, bears no proportion to that of Paris: the year 1819 counted no less than three hundred and seventy-six instances of disastrous self-destruction. To what this may be owing is not unworthy the consideration of the statesman as well as of the philanthropist; perhaps, we ought also to add, of the truly religious mind, as well as of the mere worldling, or man of pleasure; for, it will be recollected, that this refers to the gay capital of the Grande Nation.

During the year 1819 the number of deaths in Paris, was 22,137; the births were 23,263.

ITALY.

The new gallery which the Pope has added to the Capitol, in the Conservatori Palace, is just finished. It is to contain busts and other monuments, to the memory of Italians who have distinguished themselves in the arts and sciences. The gallery has been open for public inspection since the 22d instant: it is divided according to classes and ages. In the principal room there is a bust of the Pope, by Canova, beneath which is a Latin inscription. The same room also contains a bust of Raphael,

which has been removed from the Rotunda.

GERMANY.

An extraordinary phenomenon was lately observed at Augsburg. At day-break two luminous bodies appeared on each side of the sun. The sun itself was surrounded by a brilliant circle not entirely closed. In the evening, from 58 minutes after six to within 17 minutes of seven, the ground was covered with transparent dew; and after sunset a thick fog arose.

Beavers in Europe.-There exists at this time, in Bohemia, in the lordship of Wettingau, the domain of Prince Schwartzenberg, a colony of beavers, settled on the river Goldbach; the industry of these yields in nothing to that of their brethren which inhabit the great rivers and lakes of North America. The abundance of willows which adorns the banks of this river, furnishes them with both food and dwelling: in summer they eat the leaves, and in winter the branches.

That the beaver was formerly an inhabitant of Europe, appears evidently, from the numerous traces of beaver dams which are still remaining in various parts. It has long been questioned, whether the original race was extinct in Germany; as appearances of their excursions were noticeable from time to time; but our authority for the present article does not go so far as to determine that these on the estate of Prince Schwartzenberg are of the indigenous breed: they may be modern importations; like those of the late Sir Joseph Banks into England, where they are novelties, although they were anciently even numerous in our island; and some of their constructions still remain. The creature is well known in the Welch language, under the name of "the fish-tail animal," a very descriptive appellation: many astounding tales of other times announce its wonderful powers and properties; and it still forms the crest of an ancient coat of arms. The animals common to America and to Europe are so few, that every instance capable of verification becomes interesting to the naturalist, and not less to the philosophical historian, as evincing the connection and communication between the old and the new continent, in ages past.

GREECE.

Hospitable Institution.-The labours, the attentions, and the hazards of the monks of St. Bernard, who inhabit the highest regions of the Alps, are well known, nor can any considerate person, whether or not he has been assisted by their exertions and hospitality, withhold the praise due to that compassionate fraternity. But it is not so well known that a similar institution exists among the defiles of Mount Olympus; or, at least, an institution that has in view

the same purposes, and employs the same means. It is maintained by five villages, the inhabitants of which pay no kind of tax; but are bound to give their assistance to all travellers who cross the mountains; and to serve them as guides. They discharge this honourable task, with the greatest alacrity and good management: and like the benevolent religious already alluded to, they employ the sagacity of dogs, to discover travellers who may have been so unfortunate as to be buried beneath the snow."

NEW INVENTIONS.

Improved Tracing Paper.-The paper generally used for the purpose of tracing, is either bank-post, or silver paper, made transparent with drying or nut oil mixed with turpentine; but this paper, after having been thus made but a short time, becomes extremely yellow, much less transparent, and very offensive to the smell-nor is the tracing paper usually sold by the stationers of a much better quality, and the price is enormous. The French tracing paper has also a yellow, or rather a green, tint, and being of an oily nature, it cannot be marked upon but with ink, which has been previously mixed with prepared gall. By the following process, a correspondent has made excellent tracing paper:-Dissolve (in a tea-cup, or the like) two ounces of Canada balsam, with two ounces of spirits of wine; by adding a little of the latter at a time, and by being frequently stirred, it will, in a few hours, become in a fluid state, but will assume a curd-like appearance; put this in a large size vial, then add two ounces of spirits of turpentine, shake it often, and in a few hours it will be fit for use; when used, pour out the varnish into a saucer, and having the silver paper placed smoothly, take a flat camel's hair varnish brush, and pass over every part; when one side is done, turn over the sheet of paper, and with the same brush, without any varnish, pass over every part of the other side; then hang the paper on a line for drying, which will be very ..quickly. It is necessary to have several

sheets of paper placed on each other, as the varnish which passes through the upper sheet will help to varnish the next. The quantity of varnish which I have here stated, will cover half a quire of silver paper.

Damps. Among the remedies for damps, one person recommends a sheet of lead a little above the surface of the ground, between the layers of brick in house-building; and another, whalebone between the soles of our shoes. Both, it seems, are specifics against the ascent of damps to our dwellings

or persons.

Lithography.-Mr. J. Ruthven, of Edinburgh, has at last succeeded in constructing a press on the principle of his patent, that answers most perfectly for printing from stone. It is free from the disadvantages that have hitherto attended lithographic presses, and promises to render the art very generally adopted throughout England. Any degree of pressure is at once brought to bear on the stone by means of the lever. The roller is found to clear the stone from the printingink at each impression, and the labour of winding the bed through is much less than by the method hitherto used. By this machine a greater number of impressions may also be obtained in a day than formerly. One of them has been for some time at work at the Lithographic Establishment of Mr. Charles M. Willich, No. 6, Dartmouth-street, Westminster; where it may be seen by the admirers of this interesting art. The press, of which a representation is annexed, has also the advantage of being equally applicable to copper-plate printing.