11240, and he had to perform Divine service twice, he experi-
enced less inconvenience from the heat than he had often done
in a crowded church in Scotland. This is owing to the extreme
dryness of the atmosphere, which always enables a person to
endure a greater degree either of heat or cold, than when it is
charged with moisture. In the humid atmosphere of England,
such a degree of heat as that alluded to, would have been most
oppressive, if not intolerable; and hence arises our exceeding
liability to cold and cough, and consumption, which, in an exposure
to all weathers, and even to those sleeping uncovered on the
ground, are unknown in Australia.
"Being situated at the opposite extremity of the globe, its
seasons are nearly the reverse of ours. Our December, January,
and February, is summer there, when the atmosphere, however
heated, only displays its power in spreading luxuriance over the
face of nature, without producing any of its debilitating effects
upon the human frame. The heat only requires to be endured
for a few hours during the day, to be amply compensated for by
the refreshment of the cooling breeze that sets in in the evening.
When it is winter there, it is our June, July, and August, which
is rather a season of rain than of snow, with some slight symptoms
of frost, which speedily disappear before the rays of the rising sun.
Its being situated so much further east than England, equally
affects the relations of time with regard to day and night, as to
summer and winter. The sun rises ten hours later here than it
does there; accordingly, when it is six o'clock in the morning |
here, it is four o'clock in the afternoon with the Australians.
Although this is a real difference, it comes upon the emigrant so
gradually during the voyage, that its very existence is unper-
ceived, and it leads to no practical tendency in its influence upon
the business of life.

"The salubrity of the seasons is evidenced by the health of the inhabitants. They are liable to few diseases; and those which do occur, are represented as in every three instances out of four, the result of moral causes. Excess in the use of animal food, and of ardent spirits, are there, as everywhere else, the great gate-way opened by the hand of man for the entrance of disease and death. Temperance, both in eating and drinking, will be found by the emigrant the most effectual means for the preservation of health; while excessive indulgence, especially in the latter, is more likely than even at home to undermine the constitution, and to blast the prospects with more fearful and fatal rapidity."

Such may be termed a general description of the great island of Australia. But as general descriptions convey, after all, very little information of a specific or particular kind, we shall follow this up by giving some information respecting the colonies of Western and Southern Australia.

THE SERRO OF PASCO OR, SILVER MINES
OF PERU.*

who lives on credit at the next public-house six months of the
year, often gains during the other six from 50 to 200 francs
a day.
The labourers who work the mines have no fixed pay; at the
end of their twelve hours' labour they are permitted to carry away
a capacho full of the ore which is heaped up at the mouth of the
mine, about thirty pounds weight. When the mine is in its or
dinary state, that is producing eight or ten marcs of silver per
caxom (fifty quintals of ore), the workman may reckon on from
three to five reals (from half-a-crown to three shillings.) But
if the veins that are worked become richer, the capacho will
yield him from ten to forty dollars, and this custom has the force
of law. The proprietor of the mine could not, if he would, pay the
workmen regular wages. They will have their capacho of ore,
whether it turn out mere stones or pure silver. This mode of
payment has given rise to a species of exchange of which I have
never met any other example. Every retail shopkeeper is also a
manufacturer of silver ingots. The Indian or the creole, at the
end of his twelve hours' work, brings his apron full of stones to
the public-house. There he drinks brandy, chica, eats a chupé,
chews coca, smokes his cigar, and pays for all with bits of stone.
In like manner he gets all he wants, clothing, firing, &c. Every
shopkeeper, male or female, is consequently obliged to obtain
some knowledge of silver ores, which it takes time and a prac-
tised eye to acquire. Nothing is more common than to see a
fish-woman, seated at the door of her shop, and while superin-
tending the sale of her merchandise, pound up some ore into
powder, knead it up with mercury, wash it, melt it, and finally
reduce it to the state of a silver ingot.

The population of the Serro of Pasco, varies from 10 to 15,000 souls, according to the increase or decrease of the boia, a term used to express the productiveness of the veins of silver. When it is known in the country that the mines of the Serro are in boia, the population increases by a third. Creoles, Indians, runaway sailors, bankrupts, knavish pedlers, assassins, all crowd to have their share of the stream of silver, some to labour, and others to prey upon those who work. Every one is at liberty to assume the heavy hammer and the chisel of the miner. All distinction of caste ceases at the beginning of the first gallery: the white who despises the creole, the creole who robs and beats the Indian, the Indian himself, that poor llama of the white men, all become equal and companions. For twelve hours they are occupied in a stooping posture at the bottom of the pits, the galleries of which are not more than three or four feet high: here they work with their legs plunged in mud, formed by the softened gypsum of the rocks. When they have with difficulty worked a hole about six inches deep, they fill it with powder and spring the mine. The thick and sulphurous smoke has no other issue than the narrow entrance of the gallery some hundreds of paces off; and it often remains condensed and almost immoveable for hours, before it slowly rolls away. The fragments of ore are carried away on the back in the capacho, the bearers being often obliged to creep upon their hands and knees. Every twelve hours the workmen are changed and fresh inen go into the mine. The difference of night and day is not known there; when the grease in the little lamp, which each miner carries in his cap, begins to fail, the hour of repose is known to be near.

This population, who have laboured side by side all the week, yet without meeting, these two relays of men find themselves united, on Sunday, in the churches and public-houses. Not one fails attendance at mass; but this duty of habit and fear accomplished, they scatter themselves among the different cafés and public-houses of the town, and give themselves up to gaming and debauchery, with all the eagerness of men of strong passions and gross and vulgar minds possessed of riches. They are rich, for who would refuse wine and cards to the man who, although without money to-day, is certain to have whole bags full of dollars as soon as the mine shall be in boia? and this may happen at any moment, and then all their debts are honourably paid.

THE Serro of Pasco is a vast plain stretching a league and a half in width, throughout which, wherever you dig, silver is found almost close to the surface. The face of the country presents a cold and melancholy aspect. Small hills divided from each other by frozen lakes, or little plains scantily covered by yellow-green grass, compose the scene. On the highest and largest of these hills, 4397 metres above the level of the sea, a cluster of houses, constructed of wood and stone, are grouped irregularly around the mines, whose principal entrance is frequently in the very middle of the street. Around the mouths of the shafts, stakes and planks are fixed to prevent the earth from falling in. The ore is carried from the mine into the court-yard of some neighbouring house, through the crowds of passengers and long files of mules and llamas, who carry to the Serro everything that is consumed there-wood, charcoal, bread, even straw for the beasts of burden. This necessity for bringing every article of supply from the coast or the interior, gives a very animated and extraordinary appearance to the streets. Every house is a shop, where French and English cloth, Spanish and Swedish iron, These orgies are frequently interrupted or followed by quar silks from India, China, and Lyons, the wines of Madeira andrels, in which the knife is unsparingly used, and here they never Bordeaux, strong rum and brandy, English and Chinese earthen- use to strike twice; they fear revenge; the murdered man is ware, porcelain from Limoges, ironmongery from North America, thrown into one of the mines, always open to receive both dead accordions, musical snuff-boxes; in short everything necessary and living. The abandoned galleries alone are left open, for the for civilised life in this icy climate, and all which can tempt the mines which are worked are closed every Sunday morning. caprices of rich and vulgar parvenus, are to be found. In this Profiting by the absence of the miners, who all, both old and town of gamblers, every one is rich in his turn; the poor creole young, spend Sunday night in drinking or gaming, the huayllaripas introduce themselves into the mine. These are robbers of Translated from the French. metal, the staple of Peru. The creoles follow this trade, which

is very profitable when the mines are in boia. Being themselves, workmen, they well know the richest veins. Saturday evening, towards the end of the hours of labour, they select the blocks of ore they intend to carry away at night, and begin to loosen them with the chisel, without separating them entirely. Frequently one of them conceals himself under a heap of rubbish, and at a later hour opens the door for his companions. The activity of these huayllaripas is so great, that they have frequently each carried off a caxon, weighing fifty quintals, in one night.

The Indians are rarely dangerous huayllaripas; for this trade a greater energy is needed, which is only possessed by the whites or creoles. Once entered, if the doors are closed upon them, if the proprietors get information and arrive with their people, the robbers are pursued and hunted from gallery to gallery. If every means of escape are cut off, a terrible fight ensues; the galleries are so low and narrow that they can only fight one to one, and upon their knees. There is no mercy there; the most skilful or most fortunate plunges his knife in the breast of his opponent, and this duel is ended, only to begin another.

M. K. the prefect of the Serro de Pasco, told me that every Monday morning ten or twelve corpses were taken out of the mines, or the little lakes about the town, and nobody could be found to bear witness against the assassins; for almost all the miners have been murderers, or will be so to-morrow. If a murderer has been taken in the fact, and condemned to death, yet he will escape from justice if he can take refuge in a mine, where he cannot be seized, the authority of the magistrate having no power there. This right of asylum is one of the numerous fueros granted to the miners as encouragements to labour, at the time when the king of Spain claimed the quinto, or fifth part of the net produce of the gold and silver mines. Thus, whilst he was lamenting the disorders of the police in his department, M. K. said he was quite unable to remedy it. In the midst of such an assemblage of people of all nations, it is naturally impossible for social society to exist. The minds of all are too much bent on one idea to permit the entrance of any other. The excitation of wine and play can alone combat the silver-fever which torments them night and day. This atmosphere is so infectious that I have seen French and English merchants, whom I have elsewhere found honest and pacific persons, here so bitten and possessed by this tarantula of silver, that they had not an idea, an exclamation, a smile for aught but silver, silver,

silver!

The different mines, to the number of nine hundred and fiftyeight, which have been worked, belong to companies, or rather te associations formed of three, five, or ten individuals who have united their capitals and their industry for the purpose of working such or such a point of the mountain of Pasco. They are, for the most part, Spanish Americans, Peruvians, Chilians, and Buenos Ayrians. A few foreigners, French, English, and North Americans, who are engaged in those works, enter into societies as mechanics, carpenters, or coopers, but are seldom among the managers. As all who are interested in the concern are on the spot, conducting the works themselves, purchasing their quicksilver and workmen's tools; repairing accidental fallings in; cutting canals when a spring rises in the bottom of the mine; in a word, superintending all the necessary operations with the activity and foresight of principals, they gain from ten to fifty per cent, and they laugh at the discredit thrown, in Europe, on the mines of Peru, as they laughed at the exaggerated hopes of fortune entertained respecting these very mines about ten years ago. In 1824, when free trade was proclaimed and strangers were received in the country, European speculators, especially English, indulged the most chimerical ideas : they saw that under the Spaniards, and with their antiquated method, the mines of Peru yielded annually five or six millions of dollars, and they concluded that the progress of chemistry and mechanics would enable them, if the mines were in their hands, to command a return three or four times as large. They formed numerous companies, the Pasco-Peruvian, the Chilian, and Peruvian, and many others, which ran their course in the London share market.

The management of these undertakings was intrusted to ingenious engineers, practised in the modes of European mining. They knew that a flooded mine must be pumped dry by a steamengine of so many horse power; that large furnaces were necessary to melt the ore; to grind it properly, mills driven by steam, &c. &c. They loaded several vessels with heavy machines which needed such roads as lead to Manchester and Birmingham for their transportation. These vessels arrived at Valparaiso, Co

quimbo, Isley, and Callao, and the machines were deposited upon the quays, where they remained, since it was found impossible to convey them into the interior, on the backs of mules.

at a very high price, persisted in working them according to the The companies, who had bought very poor or worn-out mines, European system; the engineers grew disgusted; the companies would make no more advances, without receiving any returns ; complaints of deception were heard on all sides, and from that time the mines of Peru have fallen into complete discredit in Europe. This opinion is ill founded, since an ordinary mine well worked yields 50 for 100. The richer mines return even 200 and 300 for 100. The Serro of Pasco sends about three millions of dollars to be coined at Lima every year, without reckoning the silver sold in ingots and smuggled out of the country, which may be estimated at one million of dollars. The capital in circulation is two millions of dollars, effective value, and one million in mercantile bills. Thus a capital of three millions produces an annual return of four millions.

TOMB OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN AT INNSPRUCK.

THIS majestic tomb is placed in the middle of the centre aisle, on a platform approached by two or three steps of red marble. On the top of a marble roof, raised over it, kneels a colossal figure, in bronze, of Maximilian, surrounded by four smaller allegorical figures of the same metal. The sides of the tomb are divided into twenty-four compartments, of the finest Carrara marble, (carefully covered from the light of day, and only opened to the curious on the payment of a fee,) on which are represented the most interesting events of the emperor's warlike and most prosperous career. The exquisite workmanship of these tablets, though certainly less in the style of Michael Angelo than of an artist in silver or ivory, is most admirable; and, taken together with the lofty deeds and royal alliances they record, appear to me the most princely decoration for a tomb that I have seen or heard of. The celebrated monument raised to the memory of the first wife of this illustrious prince, Mary of Burgundy, who, with her father, Charles the Bold, lies buried in St. Mary's Church at Bruges, greatly as the twin tombs are admired, is, compared to this, a toy and a trifle.

Each tablet contributing to the splendid biography which the sculptures exhibit, is in size about two feet four inches, by one foot eight; and every object contained in them is in the most perfect proportion, and for the most part in excellent perspective, while the finish of the heads and draperies in the foreground requires a magnifying-glass to do it justice.

But, marvellous as is the elaborate beauty of this work, it is far from being the most remarkable feature of this imperial mausoleum. Ranged in two long lines, as if to guard it, stand twenty-eight colossal statues in bronze, of whom twenty are kings, and dukes, and noble princes, alliances of the house of Hapsburg, and eight, their stately dames, Anything more impressive than the appear ance of these tall dark guardians of the tomb, some clad in regal robes, some cased in armour, and all finished with the greatest skill, it would be difficult to imagine. But to enjoy it to perfection, the church must be empty. When we first entered it, a capuchin monk was preaching to a very crowded audience; and though these sable giants reared themselves above the crowd in such a style that it would require a preacher of no common eloquence to divide attention with them, yet it was only afterwards, when we had the church to ourselves, for the purpose of having the tomb uncovered for us, that they produced their full effect upon the eye and the imagination.

I am conscious that it is a sign of great mental weakness to have a fancy so easily wrought upon; but I declare to you that I almost trembled as I stood before them. Each with most portrait-like individuality of attitude and expression; each solemn, mournful, dignified, and graceful; and all seeming to dilate before your eyes into more than human dimensions, as if framed with miraculous skill to scare intruders, and to be stationed there by some power more than mortal, to keep fitting watch and ward around the mighty dead. They look, believe me, like an eternal procession of mourners, who shall cease not, while earth endures, to gaze on, mourn over, and protect the sacred relics of him who was the glory of their glorious race on earth.

Twenty-three small bronze statue portraits of saints and saintesses, all claiming kindred with the Hapsburg-Austrian line, are placed on high in front of the choir; among which I remarked Saint Richard, King of England.—Vienna and the Austrians, by Mrs. Trollope.

The custom-house is a low shed, or rather lock-up place, for the ware housing of goods; and connected with it is a wooden cage, in which slaves are confined from the time of their arrival from the coast of Africa until they are sold. A sale of these poor creatures takes place every day at sunset, in the public square, where they are knocked down to the highest bidder. The cage is about twenty feet square, and at one time during our short visit, there were no less than one hundred and fifty slaves, men, women, and children, locked up in it! The number imported yearly is estimated at from six to seven thousand. There is an import duty levied upon them, varying from a half-dollar to four dollars a head, depending upon the port in Africa from which they are brought. Some individuals on the island own They as many as two thousand, valued at from three to ten dollars each. work for their masters five days in the week, the other two are devoted to the cultivation of a portion of ground allotted to them for their own maintenance.-Ruschenberger's Narrative.

SIR THOMAS MORE'S FILIAL PIETY.

SIR THOMAS MORE, being Lord Chancellor of England at the same time that his father was a judge of the King's Bench, would always, at his going to Westminster, go first to the King's Bench and ask his blessing before he went to sit as Chancellor.-Baker's Chron.

DESIRE OF IMPORTANCE.

The desire to appear important in the eyes of another is an almost universal passion. The great struggle ought to be to direct this desire of importance to proper objects, to found the claim to distinction on supeAnd what so high as literary riority which is of genuine dignity or use. fame, where it is well deserved?-Sir E. Brydges. WARINESS OF THE GULL. "how keenly and aptly "I have thought it remarkable," says Audubon, Gulls generally discover at once the intentions towards them of individuals of our own species. To the peaceable and industrious fisherman they scarcely pay any regard, whether he drags his heavy net along the shore, or patiently waits until his well-baited hook is gulped below the dancing yet wellanchored bark, over the side of which he leans in constant and anxious expectation. At such a time, indeed, if the fisher has had much success, and his boat displays a good store, gulls will almost assail him like so many beggars, and perhaps receive from him a trifling yet dainty morsel. But, on the opposite side of the bay, see how carefully and suspiciously the same birds are watching every step of the man who, with a long gun held in a trailing position, tries to approach the flock of sleeping widgeons! Why, not one of the gulls will go within three times the range of his murderous engine: and, as if to assure him of their knowledge of his designs, they merely laugh at him from their secure station."

MR. JUSTICE JAMES ALLAN PARK.

The judicial eccentricity of this most worthy man was the theme of much conversation in the legal circles. He was a great stickler for what he called "forensic propriety," and always felt extremely flattered that the Government considered him to be the fittest man to try malefactors. He presided at the trials of Thurtell, Fauntleroy, Corder, and Greenacre. The fact is that he was a pains-taking man, and summed up a case with such extraordinary prolixity, as to lead to the conclusion that he considered the jury mere idiots. From his peculiarities we extract the following:-At Chelmsford Assizes, the under-sheriff thought fit to indulge in a buff-coloured waistcoat. His Lordship eyed him for some time with an angry scowl; at length he could not abstain from "forensic propriety." "Really, sir, I must beg of you to take off that straw-coloured, waistcoat. I cannot sit here, sir, and behold that waistcoat any longer." The sub-sheriff, of course, did as he was bidden. Upon one occasion, a prosecutor appeared before him, to give evidence, who had mustachios. "What are you, sir?" said the judge. "A schoolmaster, my lord," was the reply. "A schoolmaster, sir! How Stand down, sir; dare you come before me with those hairy appendages? I shall not allow you your expenses." Upon another occasion a dog barked in court. "Mr. Under Sheriff, pray, turn that dog out; it is monstrous for a dog to be barking at his Majesty's Judge of Assize." The under sheriff commenced serving an ejectment upon what he considered the canine sinner. "Oh, dear no, sir," said the Learned Judge! "I did not mean to turn out that dog, sir: I have noticed that dog for the last three hours, and it is quite impossible for any dog to behave better: 'tis not that dog, sir." At the Winchester assizes, when Mr. Commissioner Williams was at the bar, that gentleman was leader for the plaintiff in an important case of trespass: he rose to open a very well-digested speech, but was stopped in the very threshold of his exordium by the worthy Judge, who said "I really cannot permit it, Brother Williams; I must maintain the forensic dignity of the bar," The advocate looked unutterable things at his Lordship, and said— "I do not understand you, my Lord." "Oh, yes, you do; you have a most extraordinary wig on; a very extraordinary wig indeed-really I can't permit it. You must change your wig. Such a wig as that is no part of the costume of this bar, as recognised by the jurisprudence of this highly-favoured country."

THE EYE

Martin Luther had such a lion-like vivacity of the eye, that all men were not able to look directly upon him. It is said that there was one sent, who under the pretence of private conference with him should pistol him; but he was courteously received by him, and so confounded by the vigour of his eyes that he left him unhurt-Zuing. Theatr.

66
THE GREAT FATHER" OF THE INDIANS.

The Indians of the United States always give the title of " great father" to the President. This, however, is diplomatic. It is well known that they have a trick of nick-naming the whites, as they do each other, on more primitive principles. Thus, a late delegation, in allusion to the sandy complexion of Mr. Van Buren, have always spoken of him, it is said, as the "Red Fox." The opposition party insist on it they mean more than his beard by this; we cannot, of course, decide, where doctors disagreeAthenæum.

ECONOMY.

Economy is not the "penny wise and pound foolish" policy which some suppose it to be. It is the art of calculation joined to the habit of order, and the power of proportioning our wishes to the means of gratifying them. HOW TO CONSTRUCT A BRIDGE.

The Persian Princes, when in England, were taken to a military show on the Medway, to witness the operation of throwing pontoon-bridges, and the crossing of a body of troops with remarkable rapidity. "Ham-een ust? cen che cheezee ust ?-Is this all? is this what it amounts to ?" was the remark of the elder, when the movement was completed. **" Eh! cheezee pooch ust,-it is a paltry affair," echoed Timour; "we can do at least as well as that in Persia."-" Can you ?" said I; "as how, prince?"-" Why," replied he, "when we have to cross a river with an army, all we do is to kill a thousand sheep or goats, blow up their skins, form them into rafts, covered with branches of trees and earth, and, Bismillah! over we go.”

Of all the descendants of Antigonus, Philip was the only prince who put
his son to death, whereas, in the families of other kings, nothing is more
As for the
common than the murders of sons, and mothers, and wives.
killing of brothers like a postulate in geometry, it was considered as indis
putably necessary to the safety of the reigning prince.-Plutarch

NEWCASTLE SATIRE ON A CONCEITED COLLIER.
My nyem it's Billy Oliver,

Iv Benwell town aw dwell;

An' aw's a cliver chep, aw's shure,
Tho' aw de say't mysel'.

Sic an a cliver chep am aw, am aw, am aw,
Sic an a cliver chep am aw.

There's not a lad iv a' wur wark
Can put or hew wi' me;
Nor not a lad iv Benwell toon
Can coax the lasses see.

Sic an a cliver chep am aw.
When aw gans tiv Newcassel toon,
Aw myeks mysel' sae fine;
Wur neybors stand and stare at me,
An' say, "Eh! what a shine!"
Sic an a cliver chep am aw
An' then aw walks wi' sie an air,
That, if the folks hev eyes,
They a'wis think it's sum great man,
That's cum in i' disguise.

Sic an a cliver chep am aw.

THE EMPEROR SEVERUS.

The Emperor Severus, after many wars, growing old, and upon the point of death, called for an urn, in which (after the ancient manner) the ashes of their burnt bodies were to be bestowed; and, after he had long looked upon it, and held it in his hands, he uttered these words: "Thou," said he, "shalt contain that man whom all the world was too narrow to confine." "Mors sola fatetur

Quantula sint hominum corpuscula." "'Tis only death that tells

How small he is that swells."

THE

PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM SMITH, 113, FLEET STREET.

SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1839.