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Leader (1850-1860), 21st March 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18, IRRIGATION IH SOUTHERN INDIA. The Cauver...

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      Romance—Tie Romance Of Reality—Comes Upo...

      I "Uad subsequently , wlile residing on tlie iatlimua of Nicaragua , constant opportanitifia of contrasting tiha outward-bound emigrauis with the same class of men returning to . the States after haying received a Californian . education . Every fortnight two crowds of passengers rushed across tlie isthmus , one from New York , the other from San- Francisco . The great majority in both , cases were men of the lower ranks of life , and it . is of course to them alone that my remarks apply . Those coming from . New York—who were mostly Americans and . Irish—seemed to think that each man cmiW do jvst as he pleased without regard to the comfort of hi » neighbours . They showed no accommodating spirit , but grumbled at everything , and were rude and surly in . their manners ; they , were very raw and stupid , and had no genius for doing anything for themselves ot each other "to assist their progress , but perversely delighted : in acting In . opposition tq the reg-ulatioas and arrangements made for them by tlie Transit Company ., The same men , however , on their return from California , were perfect gentlemen ia comparison . They were orderly in . their behavioixr ; though rough , they -were not rude , and showed great consideration for others , submitting cheerfully to any inconvenience necessary for the public good , aud showing by their conduct that . they had acquired some notion of their duties to counterbalance the very enlarged idea of their rights which they had formerly entertained .

      28% The Leadee. ¦ Tffq- 365, Satujuxay

      28 % THE LEADEE . ¦ TffQ- 365 , Satujuxay

      Fb.Om Bombay To Bus3tib,E. Front Bombay ...

      FB . OM BOMBAY TO BUS 3 tIB , E . Front Bombay to BueTiine , and Buesora : Including an Account of the Present State of Persia ,, and Notes on the Persian War . By " W . A . Shepherd . Beniley . Ma . Shephbbi > does not know how to write a book . He deluges his narrative with notes of recollected dialogues with commonplace persons , and iuucies that to quote the chatterings of his former- travelling companions is equivalent to-being lively . Consequently , he has sacrificed the interest of his desultory observations on the Indian and Persian coasts . It is five years since lie first saw Bombay , but only a few months since he last saw the

      Persian Grul £ so that he should have had an attractive story to "tell ; indeed , be posssessed some good materials , but has made a very indifferent use of them . His " account of th & present state of Persia "/ is impertinently meagre aa * d superficial , while his " notes on the Persian war would discredit a newspaper compiler . He begins conventionally , " It was a dull dark night , the sun had gone down some two hours , not a star shone out from the lowering sky , " & c , and for many pages no touch of Indian reality brightens the narration . When Mr . Shepherd , however , tries-to describe , he is accurate andagreeable ; but it is his folly to be facetious with intent , so that ¦ continually i » e becomes unbearably-dull .

      Bombay has an ugly name , and ; warped old Indians say it m an unsuggesi tive place- ; but it is a gate of the Oriental continent , and . the black rocks , . and red earth of Malabar hill , the lofty branching palms , and the graceful bay , form a picture , even without the addition of that evening ceremony , ¦ which , when the sun is about to disappear , still brings out the Ghebers to worship . Mr . Shepherd speaks of them in their colourless garments , whitening the shore , salaaming to the sun , repeating prayers in a mystic language , and 1 prostrating themselves while the great orb sinks , when they are free-until the ritual of the morning . The East can afford no spectacle

      more interesting than this ,, the relic of Fire-worship , the memorial of Zoroaster ; whioh . preserves in a practicar shape , so many centuries of singularly philosophic tradition . The next oasis in Mr . Shepherd ' s random gossip occurs at Muscat , the principal seaport of Desert Ara . bia , governed at present by a venerable and amiable Imaum , the firm ally of the East India Company . Mr . Shepherd was introduced to him . in a cool corridor surrounded by orange and lime trees , and received , from a benign old gentleman with a beard of silver grey , a cordial English shake cf the Band , and a-deeply-toned welcome in Arabic . He invited his visitors into the principal room of the palace : —

      Here are seven chairs on each tn-de , those on the Tight hand are filled by himself , three sons , and two grandsons , according to their ages ; but the seat next himself is left vacant—the son who ought to fill it , his eldest bom , is regent during b . 13 absence from Zanzibar . A pleasant account of the family follows . From Muscat Mr . Shepherd went into Persian watera , past Khismis , past Ormuz , past Hangar , to the pearl-divers' depths of Bahrein : — A fact carious and interesting struck me here , the existence of fresh-water spring s beneath the surface , so often met with by the divers ; and I was told that the cruisers stationed , here , when in -want of water , procure it by sending a man down -with a gun barrel , which he fills and brings up . The poaxls collected hero are anid to be of great

      value , and are thuar obtained : —TJie diver , naked as the day ho w . ae born , "With his . fe ^ t . resting , on a double-headed shot or huge stone attached to a rope ( which is fastened to . the boat , aud whioh he holds ) , with his nose in a horn , or his nostrils compressed- with wooden pincers , and a basket slung round his neck , is rapidly lowered by Uia companions ; his feet barely touch the bottom ovo ho ia off the stone or shot , which is as rapidly hauled up as it was lowered down , and another diver occupies it , wb . Ua our friend who first went down is poking about " astonishing the natives , " and faBt filling hla basket with pearl oystors . Up he comes , empties his basket , takes threo or f 6 ur deep inspirations , and dowJti he goes again . The yellow pearls are sold in India , the white in Europe , although , as they pass through . Constantinople , many arc selected by the Sultan to deck the beauties oftho imperial harem . Anon , wo have a glimpse of Persian military dispositions : — «

      The soldiers ( of whom there wore many loitering about , and protending to do duty on £ h « walls ) presented the most grotesque and mixed appearance . Some ( evidently the body-guard of : th \« govornor ) wore , in imitation of our array , shell-jackets and white trousers , but ao loose that they had room in their napping logs for at least a corpor al's guard . The shell-jackets had been bought and exported from India . Their arras consisted of the Company ' s old flint muskets and bayonets ; and with thoso , followiagaueally yory respectable fifii and drum , they marched round , morning , noon , aud night , to relieve guard- But tho majority of the aoldiora woro armed with matchloaka aud piutolo , ono or two daggers , and a . atwiight , short sword ; from the aliquldflP-beltg , Uung peadont catUucli boxes , with . differont-Bized cartridges , powderb-oroa ^ or loading , and dlfferont ones for priming , and various-sized ramrods . With their h ) gh ,. coiucal-shap « d brown . Colt cap , Btuck down on one 8 ido , as is tho custom only of tho military ; their flowing roboa , reaching down to tho kneos aud drawn in at thewaiaf , thoir short , loose , tucked-up trousore , stockingloss , and perhaps yoUowalinpor enveloped foot , they looked aa grotesquely ridiculous as it ia possible- for irregulars to WOK . . *• The Govornor of Bushire , when Mr . Shepherd visited him , kept a chained

      captive in . his house , to remind him , perhaps , of his dignity , as thonal , tf golden lion were not enough , and the gilded crystal bottles and Su *« from which cool rose and violet-flavoured sherbet -, vas poared for tlifff ' pean guests . . tue- & uro-A better book than this might have been constructed from the mn * i which Mr . Shepherd had in hand . om ™ e materials

      Still. Waters.—May Hamilton. Still Wafer...

      STILL . WATERS . —MAY HAMILTON . Still Wafers . By the Author of " Dorothy . " 2 vols . ( Parker 1 There is some originality in Still Waters . The main divisions of the star "" are bolted together by a rusty incident , but the colouring is fresh aud th characters are sufficiently vital to inspire an interest . ThTere is a ' mysterr top , which is not at once penetrable . Therefore the book is of more than average merit ; it will , no doubt , have more than a few readers . The writer however , does not understand how to dispose of all her personag es and in ' troduces prominently some who have nothing to do with the drama . The Grascoigne family , for example , is . an excrescence , although , at the outset we are led to believe that Clara will be the heroine and Dyne Court the theatre of the tale . Both vanish , and are not missed . Moreover the explanation of Clinton ' s disappearance with a sum © f money is extravagantly

      melodramatic ; that convict parent , returning to haunt his children , is well known to us , and we are weary of him . The German scenes are pretty but the revival of Jasper ia the lineaments of a Heidelberg professor contains something almost comic , which we are sure the author of Dorothy never intended . But judged by the standard of the circulating library , Still Waters may be recommended for quiet evening reading . It is at least superior to many of those three-volume novels , filling daily half a column / of announcements , "which are answerable , we should say , for so large a proportion of the brain fevers and bad manners in vogue . The two volumes are of modest size ; had they been rendered smaller , by cutting down the dialogues , the obliterated passages would not have been missed—least of all the mineemeat of pedantry and impertinence presented as children ' s talk .

      May Hamilton : ¦ an Autobiography . By Julia Tilt . ( Booth . )—May is a soft-hearted heroine , yvhose life runs through a thorny jungle of surprises . She is born at Bath , in the midst of a flourishing family circle , and is beginning to ripen into angelic beauty when her father dies . Though , a magistrate and a member of the Somersetshire hunt , with a reputation for opulence , he leaves his widow poor and his daughter portionless . The poor and the portionless go up to . London to look for lodging and means of living , and May is fortuitously knocked down by the carriage of an . old friend , which accident introduces her once more to Buhl cabinets and Aubusson carpets . Next ^ going to a certain office to draw her mamma ' s slight income , she encounters one of those monstrous young men , imagined by novelists , who have musical , luscious voices , jet hair , rich clear skin , wondrous smiles ,, upper lips like women ' s , and classical stature . By this being she is entrancednd te is ravished bherand calls her moth

      , a y , on er . While " mamma and Mm are chattering away , " Miss Hamilton sinks deeper into her entrancement , and they twain at length promise to become one . Finally , however , Rosa comes upon the scene—raven hair , inarble skin , hectic eye—May tends her bed of misery and sickness—the monstrous young , luscious-voiced , jet-haired man , with an upper lip like a woman ' s * comes in , and there li « s the girl he has abandoned * and there stands the other girl he has deceived ; his beauty is forgotten now ; he gets murdered ; May clasps his corpse lying on a committee table amid a I 3 oavd of Directors , and transmits herself to aa ugly Mr . Muitland , whom sue -marries , and whom she sincerely loves , in spite of the davk-skinned secretary . " And all my friends are still living . Death has been very good to me , " writes May Hamilton , otherwise , Miss Julia Tilt , who lius a very peculiar notion of human nature , and of the constituents of a modern no ~ vel .

      Irrigation Ih Southern India. The Cauver...

      IRRIGATION IH SOUTHERN INDIA . The Cauvery , Kistnah , and Godavery . By B . Baird Smith , F . G . S ., Lieutenant-Colonel Bengal Engineers . Smith , Elder , and Co . Lieutenakt-Coi-onel Baird Smlth—a name inseparably connected with all the great works of irrigation in Upper India—having expressed a desire to strengthen his own experience by the knowledge to be expected from a personal examination of similar works in the Madras Presidency , the Court of Directors issued instructions that every facility should be allbi-cled for the . accomplishment of this object . The result of the observations made under these advjxntagc . ous circumstances has very judiciously been presented to the public by order of the late Governor-General . By those who , in tlie words of old Puller , prefer reasons to railing , these reports -will be deemed a conclusive answer to the senseless clamour that accuses the Indian-Government

      of neglecting the improvement of the country and the material well-being of its subjects . A simple statement of such facts is of more real value than all the oratorical declamation that so unprofitabl e distracts the attention oi the legislature during tlie parliamentary session . Rising in the Western Ghauts , the river Cauvery drains a basin computed to contain nearly 32 , 000 square miles . In its course through the district of Trichinopoly it becomes divided into two channels , the northern branch being called the Coleroon , whilo tho southern retains its original appellation . Tho Coleroon , however , being more rapid in its 1 Jill , more direct in its course , and larger ixi volume , hud gradually diverted into its own bed such a largo proportion of the waters of the parent stream as to threaten the ultimate extinction of [ the other branch , and consequently tho ruin of Tanjore . This was the state of things when that province came into the British possession iu 180-1 . To avert the evil that , was becoming more and more imminent , recourse was had to measures bai-ely adequate to post-1 tue

      r ^ r ^»^/ - ^ Ku * imrKrviitr J-i \ £ 'i ^ Vt \ stwiiif V r \ nvnirnnl' flin f * V » 1 i- »/> i / i / l # M 1 t . ! VQf . T * Al M )!> - I 01 * tUC pone , but wholly insufficient to prevent the expected catastrophe . -I ' oi apace of twenty-five years the unequal struggle was maintained , until the supply of water had so fur diminished , that extensive tracts of land were thrown out of cultivation , tho revenue impaired , and the people impoverished . Between 1830 and ^ lSSC , works on a larger scale were executed , but these also fell short of the occasion . The necessity , however , produced .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 21, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21031857/page/18/