Calcutta.

GOVERNMENT GENERAL

ORDERS.

ESTATES OF DECEASED OFFICERS.

Fort William, May 13, 1825.-It is hereby directed, that no property connected with the estates of deceased officers, &c. of the hon. Company's service shall be disposed of by private sale, without special permission obtained for the purpose through the military department, when no will has been found, or from the executor, when there is one, to the estate. In the latter case, the amount proceeds are still answerable for regimental debts, and are not to be paid over till all such are satisfied.

VACANCIES IN THE SENIOR LIST.

Fort William, June 10, 1825.-The right hon. the Governor General in Council has much satisfaction in publishing, for the information of the armies of India, the following paragraph of a separate letter, from the hon, the Court of Directors in the military department, bearing date the 2d Feb. last.

Para. 1. "Having taken into our consideration the situation in which certain officers in our service will be placed, by the stop put to promotion consequent on casualties on the senior lists, as directed in our military letter of the 25th Nov. 1822. (Para. 112), we have resolved to allow all vacancies which shall occur on those lists at the several presidencies, in the first two years after the introduction of the new arrangements, to be filled up as formerly,

so that instead of barring promotion from casualties occurring on those lists after the 1st of May 1824, such bar shall not operate until the 1st May 1826. We desire it, however, to be distinctly understood, that the indulgence which we have now authorized, shall on no account be allowed to extend beyond the period we have specified."

ADDITIONAL PAY TO ASSIST. SURGEONS.

Fort William, June 10, 1825. The right hon. the Governor General in Council is pleased, under instructions from the. hon. the Court of Directors, to direct, that all assistant surgeons on the Bengal establishment, nominated for 1822 and previous seasons, shall receive the additional pay of one rupee a day as heretofore. Those appointed after the season 1822, will draw pay and allowances agreeably to the table published in G. O. of 12th Aug. last.

Asiatic Journ. VOL. XXI. No. 121.

Fort William, June 24, 1825.-With advertence to the allowance of one rupee a day additional pay granted to the assistant surgeons on the Bengal establishment, nominated for 1822 and previous seasons, as published in G. O. of 10th inst., the Governor General in Council is pleased to direct, that all assistant surgeons in H. M.'s regiments who arrived in Bengal on or before the 31st Dec. 1823, be considered entitled to a similar indulgence.

NEW ARRANGEMENT OF THE ARTILLERY.

Fort William, June 24, 1825.- With a view to place the artillery, as far as is prac'ticable at present, on the establishment prescribed by the bon. the Court of Directors, as published to the army in G. O. of 6th May 1824, the Governor General in Council is pleased to direct, that the following arrangements shall have effect from the 1st proximo.

The Horse Artillery will be formed into three brigades, as follows:

1st Brigade, Head-Quarters, Cawnpore. 1st Troop, the present 1st troop (European), now at Rangoon.

2d Troop, the (8th) or newly-formed troop (European), now at Cawnpore. 3d-Troop (European) to be raised hereafter.

4th Troop (Native), the 4th troop, now at Neemuch.

2d Brigade, Head-Quarters, Meerut. 1st Troop, the present 2d troop (European), now at Meerut.

2d Troop, the present 7th troop (European), half at Meerut, and half at Ran

goon.

3d Troop (European) to be raised hereafter.

4th Troop, the present 5th (native) troop.

3d Brigade, Head-Quarters, Meerut. 1st Troop, the present 3d troop (European), at Meerut. 2d Troop Sto be raised 3d Troop hereafter 4th Troop, the present 6th (native) troop, at Meerut.

1}(European).

:

date than the period of the Portuguese being in possession of the place. The ruins of the fort built by them, a light. house on an isolated rock in the harbour, and one or two inferior buildings, are all that remain of this people. The reservoirs near the spring, from whence water is conveyed in the common aqueduct of India over the island, are worthy of notice, as well as a mosque, which appears ancient. It is situated a short distance within the date grove, and is a handsome structure; the form is quadrangular, and at each side is a minaret of an elegant and airy form; the doorways have Moorish arches, without ornament, and the exterior of the building quite plain there are no other architectural remains worthy of note. On several of the reefs off the harbour, and even in from two to five fathoms in the sea, is exhibited the singular phenomenon of fresh-water springs, which are perennial, and from which the natives contiguous procure their supply of water; this is done by diving, and holding a mussick near the aperture, the flow of water from which is so strong as to prevent the salt from mixing with it. The harbour, which has plenty of water for large vessels, is formed between an extensive assemblage of reefs to the westward and northward, and the islands of Arad and Mahrag to the eastward. These latter contain two or three towns, and about seven thousand inhabitants: they are very close to Bahrein, and contain nothing remarkable. To the eastward of Bahrein, on the main, are the ruins of a large town, called Zabarra; they cover a space of ground several miles in extent, and evince the place to have been the port whence Al Ahsa, and other places in the interior of Arabia, were supplied with the produce of India and Persia.

We understand the survey has been carried on very minutely through the whole extent of the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, which is now completely explored. It was commenced By Capt. Maughan, of the Marine, in 1820 and 1821; continued by Lieuts. Guy and Brucks through the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, and completed by Lieuts. Brucks and Rogers this season; the two former officers having quitted it from ill-health.-[Bom. Gaz.

METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENON.

A very extraordinary circumstance took place on the 3d of November in the forest of Calonhaven, in the arrondissement de Thionville. A carrier, returning from Sierck to Filstroff, was going through the forest between six and seven in the evening; he had arrived within three-quarters of a league of Laumesfeld, when, in the midst of a violent hurricane, mingled with thunder, the forest suddenly appeared all

on fire, and preserved that appearance for the space of a quarter of an hour. The horses became alarmed, and fell down; one of them broke from the harness, and fled as far as the village; some of the inhabitants recognized the animal, and suspected some accident had happened to the driver. They immediately went towards the forest: as they drew near, they perceived an inflamed cloud traversing the horizon from north to south. The most complete darkness succeeded this appearance. The carrier, when he heard them calling, answered them; and when they came up with him, they found him so overcome with fright, that it was only by the greatest care he recovered to give an account of what had happened to him.-Journal de Moselle.

ANTI-VENOMOUS PLANTS.

A writer in the India Gazette states as follows:

"In 1810, Lieut. Col. S. Palmer quitted his cantonment at Pertaubighur with a respectable field force, to reduce to obedience certain refractory Zumeendars of the Nawaub Vizier's country, and generally to settle the rents in conjunction with a Decoon from Lucknow, named Mirza Jannee, a respectable man, and of some distinction at his Highness's durbar. One morning in camp, I and some other officers went to breakfast with Col. Palmer, our commanding officer, and Mirza Jannee, as it happened, came there also. After breakfast he told the Colonel that he brought the root he had formerly mentioned, as that which the Munghoose (Ichneumon) runs to when bit by a snake, and his hurkarus were in attendance to exhibit its powers.

These men were accordingly called in, and they produced some root in fibres about the thickness and colour of the largest end of common khus-khus. They had no serpents, but had supplied themselves with a number of scorpions, with which experiments were made, to the satisfaction of all present, as to the point, that while in contact or connexion with the root, the scorpion was helpless and innoxious. A lively scorpion, having a piece of the fibre alluded to laid on his back, presently became torpid. The people hav ing a piece of the root on the palm of the hand, readily handled the scorpions, and allowed them to lie on their fingers. All this speaks only to prevention, not as to cure; yet, as the natives dared not to touch the scorpions without this root in hand, and as it was stated by them that the Munghoose, when bit by a snake, instantaneously ran to it, a presumption may be drawn from analogy."

The following extract from Stevenson's Travels in America confirms previous accounts of the shrub huaco or "The guaco: safest

safest remedy known among the natives is the leaves of a creeper called huaco, which grows in the woods. The leaves are bruised to the consistency of paste, which is made into small cakes, each about the size of a half-crown, and then dried in the shade. When a person is bitten, he puts one of these small cakes in his mouth, and chews it till the bitter taste is gone, at the same time swallowing his saliva; he is then bathed, the chewed herb is taken from his mouth and bound over the wound, and he recovers. The visible effects are a copious perspiration. The leaves of the huaco are about two and a half inches long, and half an inch broad; the upper surface is of a dark green, with purple veins running along it, of a glossy appearance and solid texture; the under side is of an obscure purple hue; the leaves grow singly, two being placed opposite to each other on the stem, which is slender, hard, and ribbed, and of a bluish colour. I never saw the flower, and when I asked the natives concerning it, they told me that they had never observed any flowers on the plant.

"Fortunately a bird at Guayaquil, called quiriquinqui at Esmeraldas, and on the coast of Choco liuaco, and at Quito beteado de oro, is a great enemy to the snakes, and other venomous reptiles and insects on which it feeds. It is a species of vulture, about the size of a hen, and is easily domesticated; its colour is a bright brown, variegated with stains of pale yellow. It flies about the woods, or runs along the savannas in quest of its food, and attacks the snakes, opposing its wing to them as a shield; when the animal is somewhat exhausted by striking at the bird, it seizes the reptile near the head, and biting it, rises on its wings, and afterwards alights and observes if it be dead; if not, it again bites it, and sometimes soaring aloft with it lets it fall, and immediately drops down after it; when dead the bird devours it. The natives affirm, that to this bird they owe the discovery of the herb which they call huaco; they observed that the bird, after fighting with a snake, would sometimes search for the herb and eat it-hence they supposed it to be an antidote for the poison, which experience has proved to be correct."

MAPS OF ASIA.

M. Klaproth, in the last number of the Journal Asiatique, subjoins to a description of the Japanese islands Mou-ninSima, translated by him from a Japanese work, the following severe-perhaps too severe remarks on the existing maps of Asia :

"Arrowsmith, the most ignorant of all those who are employed in constructing maps, has borrowed the fac-simile (of the rroneous Japanese map) published by M. Asiatic Journ. Vol. XXI. No. 121.

Abel Rémusat, and has copied it, just as it was, into his map of Asia, in four large sheets, finished in 1818, and revised in 1822. Hence these islands appear there three times larger than they really are. The evil would not be great if this inaccuracy was confined to Arrowsmith's map alone; but, as pretended geographers, in France and Germany, content themselves with copying those of the paltry map-maker of London (a very happy expression in the Quarterly Review), this, and twenty other mistakes are repeated in all our maps of Asia, and circulate throughout the continent.

"It is much to be desired that the few persons who make geography a scientific study, and who are capable of judging of the horrible productions daily offered to us under the denomination of maps, would give themselves the trouble to examine and criticize them severely. They ought to publish the opinions they have formed of them, in pointing out the most serious mistakes they contain. It is the only method of informing the public, in order that they should be upon their guard, and not place confidence in works which possess no other merit besides the beauty of the engraving."

66

LOCUSTS.

A letter in the India Gazette, dated near Juanpore, July 2d," states :"I have been in this part of the country for eighteen years, but never witnessed such a sight as I did yesterday. The weather was uncommonly sultry (thermome ter, in the shade, 98°), and I had every reason to believe it the precursor of a fine shower of rain.

About 3 P. M. I observed what I considered to be heavy masses of clouds, indicating rain; shortly after, I could clearly distinguish immense flights of locusts proceeding in a south-easterly direction-at this time I was at one of my out-factories. I returned to my house immediately, hoping that my cultivation at this place had escaped the destructive ravages occasioned by this, one of the plagues of Egypt.' Imagine my surprise and grief at finding that a good deal of my best new plant had been totally destroyed; a plant I had seen the day before in a state of high luxuriance. I have often witnessed the flights of locusts, but never like what I saw yesterday the atmosphere was literally darkened. I have not heard how far the devastation has extended."

given at the same time to drink, effected, in two instances under his observation, a speedy cure.

LARGE MOTH.

An esteemed friend at Arracan informs us that he has caught a moth, which, from his description, may be considered a natural curiosity. It measures ten inches from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. Both wings are beautifully variegated with the brightest colours. Unless we are mistaken, this is the largest moth upon record-exceeding in dimensions even the largest in the British Museum, which, if we remember right, measures about nine inches between the wing tips. Our friend adds, that he will endeavour to have it carefully packed up and forwarded to us. We need scarcely add, that we shall be most happy to receive it, and to place it in some museum, worthy of receiving any curious specimen of natural history.[Ind. Gaz., July 11.

NATURAL PHENOMENA OBSERVED IN CRABS.

A Hanoverian periodical work contains the following observations upon crabs, by Dr. Heinemann, of Schwerin-"Take a fresh-caught crab between the fingers of the left hand, so that one finger holds the head, and two others press the breast a little. Then pass the end of one of the fingers of the right hand upon the back of the animal, and it will be seen, after a few rubs, to make much resistance; by degrees its agitation will diminish, and cease altogether in about a minute. Remove the hands gently, and the animal will remain motionless, and without sign of life. This absence of motion continues, however, rarely beyond a quarter of an hour; when the animal first moves its eyes and antennæ, then its feet, which it stretches as a waking man stretches his limbs; presently it recovers its former vivacity. If the friction be performed upon a crab whilst it walks, instead of holding it between the fingers, its walk grows gradually weaker, and the animal becomes stupified for some minutes. The operation is longer in water than in air, and the stupefaction ceases sooner."

EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES.

A collection of Egyptian antiquities, belonging to a Milanese gentleman named Castiglione, who has passed nearly seven years in Egypt, has arrived at St. Petersburgh: it consists of more than 1,200 different articles, amongst which are three

statues, in a beautiful Egyptian style, one of them of the size of nature; twentyfive historical stela; three mummies, one of which, in a double case, is so well preserved, that the rich and brilliant painting seems as if recently done; twelve large Canopic vases of alabaster; three manuscripts on papyrus (one of them more than twelve feet long) in the demotic and hieratic characters; a fine collection of scarabæi; many utensils in bronze and stone; a vast quantity of idols and bas-reliefs of different sizes. All the articles are in very fine preservation. [St. Petersburgh

Zeitsch.

THE SILK-WORM IN PRUSSIA.

Sig. Bolzani, an Italian at Berlin, has undertaken to revive the culture of silkworms in Prussia, where it has been abandoned since the reign of Frederic II. The king has allotted to him some chambers in the Hôtel des Invalides; and he has been allowed, on payment of a small rent, the use of the mulberry trees in the garden belonging to that establishment. Sig. Bolzani has procured winders from India, and has reason to be well pleased with this year's result.-[Revue Encyclopédique.

LUSUS NATURE.

We have been allowed the inspection of a Brahminee bull belonging to Baboo Nundo Comar Tagore: the animal is certainly as singular a lusus naturæ as can

be well conceived. He is from Benares, about six years old, of a middling size, and of a dark colour; a little below the line of its two horns, which are of the usual size, a third projects from the forehead, about four and a half inches from the base, and of the same colour and consistence as those placed laterally; a little below this central horn there is an eye, which, although small, appears to have its pupil and tunica conjunctiva.

lid;

The eye being situated lengthways, between the nose and the horn, it is difficult to determine which is upper or lower eyeand it would appear that there is no difference in their structure. The orbicularis palpebrarum muscle is large and powerful; and from there being no cilia, or eye-lashes, is in a state of frequent contraction. The eye appears acutely sensible; but whether endowed with the power of vision, could not be, at the time, ascertained.

The lachrymal parts of the eye must exist to a certain degree, as the flow of tears was evident. - [Cal. John Bull, April 16.