by him and his creatures were mandarins of that district. 9. Immediately on the deceafe of my father, having determined that all the regulos and grandees of Tartary, feudatories of the empire, fhould be fummoned to Pekin, to perform the funeral honours and cuftomary libations due to the body of the defunct Emperor, excepting from this journey thofe who had not had the fall-pox, Ho-xen daringly perverted my determination, ordering all to appear indifcriminately, whether they had or had not had the fall-pox: this evidently thews Lis great pride and extenfive views. 10. The mandarins U-Sing-Lang, Li-hang, and Li-Kuang-Ling, folely because they had been fometimes teaching in the houfe of Ho-xen, were without merit or examination fent pofts of mandarins of weight. b. The great mandarin of the Tribunal of Doctors (learned men) by name Lu-Sin-go, being deaf of both cars, and unable to perform the duties of his ftation on account of his decrepid age, Ho-xen did not inform the Emperor of his inability, that the poft might be conferred on an able perfon; and this becaufe the fame Lu-Sin-go was father-in-law of his younger brother. 12. The fuperior officers of the fecretary's office of state were all appointed at the will of Ho-xen: he placed them and difplaced them at pleafure, acting in this inftance with an unnatural arrogance. 18. And now fince Ho-xen has been under a state of confifcation, it is obferved, that he had in his palace many apartments built of the wood Nam Mu, a material deftined folely for the royal habitations; and more than this, he has conftructed new apartments and gardens exactly in imitation of the country-houfe of the Emperor, and 1 in the fame ftyle and architecture. It is not eafy to conceive what were his views and ideas in fo doing. 14. In the feizure of Ho-xen's property, which has taken place, more than 200 ftrings of pearls have been found, whofe number far exceeds that which the Emperor poffled; and among the innumerable jewels which he poffcffed, was found a ball of coral, of wonderful magnitude and of incalculable value, of which fize the Emperor himfelf has no equal; item, fome dozen of precious fiones, red and transparent, of which, from his ftation, he could make no ufe. Befides thefe, there was found a great number of precious ftones of different kinds, of high value and cftimation, and of a quality (fome) which have not yet been found in the Imperial Treafury. 15. The gold and filver confifcated of Ho-xen, though the profecution is not yet finifhed, amounts already to fome millions (at least ten). 16. The invariable ambition of this wicked fubject was fo great as to urge him to the abfurdity of venturing on the fale of the manda"rinates and public employs of the empire; of which, in truth, there is no example in history. Of all the above-mentioned articles Ho-xen was convinced by the interrogatorics put to him by the Regulo Vang-tachen, and thus appointed to the profecution, and plainly confeffed that it was all true.. This bad man, devoid of confcience, and abandoned to all fentiments of humanity, abufed his unlimited power, acting on all occa fions contrary to juftice and reafon, and as if he had no fuperior who was to take account of his proceed. ings, nor laws according to which he might be judged and punished. All All that is before fta ted is not the worft to be confidered in this evil defigning man. His impoverishing the empire and the Emperor, to enrich himfelf alone, this is the leaft; what more than all is to be condemned in him, and which overheaps the measures of his iniquities, is his difloyalty, and the perfidious ingratitude with which he has condufted himself towards my deceafed father and Emperor, from whom he received fo many and important benefits, which he certainly would not have obtained, had there been any person who had accufed him to my deceafed father, laying open to him his iniquities, at fight of which there is much, without doubt, that he would have panihed. But this filence, as well of thofe vafis employed about the court, as of thofe in the certain provinces, is in part excufable; for it was not only because they feared to afflict my aged and valetudinary father, but alfo to avoid the fatal confequences which they forefaw might refult to them from the pre-eminent authority of the faid Ho-xen, whom they feared more than the Emperor himfelf; of the truth of which I myfelf am an authentic teftimony. But, now that the wicked actions of this perfidious man, arriving at the highest fummit, have appeared publicly without difguife, and it is clearly known that the number exceeds the hairs of his head, nor can eloquence depict them as they de. ferve; how thall I appear to anfwer for it to the Supreme Being of heaven, leaving unpunished fo perverfe and abominable a man? How fhall I be able to fill the remorfes of my confcience, were I to make myfelf an accomplice in fo great a neglect of duty? I therefore command, that the regulos and mandarins, and great oficers of state of my court of Pekin, examine attentively this caufe, and adjudge; and, farther, that they difpatch, without lofs of time, the most strict orders to the viceroys and intendant generals of all the provinces, that, at fight of all the above-mentioned articles of this accufation, they may pafs fentence on the faid Ho-xen; and, farther, may make the most exact inquiries into his past errors and conduct, and give me information of the whole with the greatest expe dition. REMARKABLE CUSTOM. The following account of a fin gular cuitom that prevails in Cooch Bahar, adjoining Bengal, is given by an intelligent traveller: "In the district of Cooch Bahar, an ufage of a very fingular kind has prevailed from remote antiquity, and I was affured by many of the inhabitants, of its actual existence at this day. If a Ryot, or peafant, owes a fum of money, and has not the ability to fatisfy his creditor, he is compelled to give up his wife as a pledge, and poffeffion is kept of her till the debt is difcharged. It fometimes happens, as they affirm, that the wife of a debtor is not redeemed for the fpace of one, two, or three years; and then if, during her refidence and connection with the creditor, a family should have been the confequence, half of it is confidered as the property of the perfon with whom the lived, and half that of her real husband. "The country has a most wretched appearance, and its inhabitants are a miferable and puny race. The lower ranks, without fcruple, difpofe of their children for flaves to any purchafer, and that too for a very trifling confideration: nor yet, though in a traffic so unnatural, is the agency of a third perfon ever employed. "Nothin "Nothing is more common than to fée a mother dress up her child and bring it to market, with no other view than to enhance the price fhe may procure for it. Indeed, the extreme poverty and wretchedness of those people, will forcibly appear, when we recollect how little is neceffary for the fubfiftence of a peafant in thofe regions: the value of this can feldom amount to more than one penny per day, even allowing him to make his meal of two pound of boiled rice, with a due proportion of falt, oil, vegetables, fish, and chili." As to the custom above-mentioned, refpecting the Pledging of a Wife, the ingenious author proceeds to obferve, that "it is not poffible for a traveller, paffing rapidly through a strange country, to catch the manners, or judge of the influence which cuftom, or a fenfe of honour, may have on the natural propenfities of the people. We may conclude that this bias must be very ftrong in a community where fuch a law continues to exift; fince in any other, which fhould adopt it as a novel inftitution, the creditor would have a very infecure hold on the probity of his debtor, not lefs, perhaps, from the reluctance of the latter to recover his wife, than to part with his money. The law would not fubfift, if it was not known to be effective of its purpofe." PEARL FISHERY. The perfon who farmed the Pearl Fishery at Ceylon, last year, was a Tamu merchant, who for the privilege of fishing with more than the ufual number of donies or boats, paid between two and three hundred thoufand Porto Novo pagodas, a fum nearly double the ufual rent. His Excellency the lion, Mr, North, by the laft fhips from Ceylon, has tranfmitted a very minute detail of the fishery in all its ftages, fome of which are truly fingular and remarkable. It appears that the fear of fharks is the cause of a great deal of interruption to the fishery, the divers being extremely timid and fuperftitious; every one of them, even the most expert, entertain a dread of the fharks, and will not on any account defcend until the conjuror has performed his ceremonies. This prejudice is fo deeply rooted in their minds, that the government was obliged to keep two fuch conjurors in their pay, to remove the fears of the divers. The manner of enchanting confifts of a number of prayers learned by heart, that nobody, probably not even the conjuror himfelf, understands, which he, ftanding on the fhore, continues muttering and grumbling from fanrife until the boats return. During this period, they are obliged to abftain from food and fleep, otherwife their prayers would be of no avail; they are, however, allowed to drink, which privilege they indulge in a high degree, and are fre quently fo giddy as to be rendered very unfit for devotion. Some of thefe conjurors accompany the di vers in their boats, which pleafes them very much, as they have their protectors near at hand. Neverthe lefs, I was told, faid Mr. North, that in one of the preceding fisheries, a diver loft his leg by a fhark; and when the head conjuror was called to an account for the accident, he replied, that an old witch had juft come from the coaft, who, from envy and malice, had caused this difaiter by a counter-conjuration, which made fruitlefs his fkill, and which he was informed of too late; but he afterwards fhewed his fuperiority, by enchanting the shark fo effectually, that, though they ap peared peared to moft of the divers, they were unable to open their mouths. During my ftay, continues Mr. North, at Condarchy, no accident of this kind happened. If a fhark is feen, the divers immediately make a fignal, which on perceiving all the boats return immediately. A diver who trod upon a hammer oyfter, and was fomewhat wounded, thought he was bit by a fhark; confequently made the ufual fignal, which caufed all the boats to return; for which miftake he was afterwards punished. The largest and moft perfect pearl taken last season, was about the fize of a fmall piftol bullet. [We infert the following Letter from the To the EDITOR of the GAZETTE. I requeft you will publish in your next paper the following account of the fuccefsful treatment by the Cauftic Volatile Alkali, of a woman bit by a venomous fnake, as I confider every confirmation of the efficacy of a remedy for fo dreadful a fituation, of confequence, that is fafe, and can eafily be made by every one, and that it cannot be too often impressed on the public mind. On Thursday evening the 29th inft. between 7 and 8 p. m. we were alarmed by fuch uncommon Thrieks at a little distance from Dr. Anderfon's house, that we were at a lofs to confider them human; they foon, however, became evidently the fcreams of a woman in agony, when Dr. Anderfon inftantly ordered all the fervants to run and learn what had happened; one of them returned foon, faying a woman had been bit by afnake. I haftened down stairs, and finding the fervants carrying a its A tea fpoonful of the alkali in a Madeira glass half filled with water was given, which the fwal lowed without difficulty, although fo little diluted, or being fenfible of The wounds were pungency. afterwards rubbed with the alkali, fcarified with a lancet, and the alkali rubbed into them without pain, and the foot as foon as poffible was put into hot water to increase the bleeding. At this time the natives were anxious to afcertain her fituation by the teft of her tafting falt; they therefore put fome into her mouth, and on her being asked what it was, and faying it was fweet, they pronounced her in imminent danger; a fecond fpoonful of the alkali was given not more diluted than the first, on her throwing herfelf back, gnashing her teeth, and calling out the was dying; and foon a third tea fpoonful in the fame manner; the whole in lefs than ten minutes; the third fpoonful, fpoonful, on reaching the ftomach, evidently caufed uneafinefs, and a flight effort to vomit, when a little phlegm was brought up, and a profufe perfpiration was induced, caufing large drops of fweat to form on her face: foon after this fhe faid all pain had ceafed except in the toes bit, the wounds of which were now highly fenfible and irritable. As her puife was still very fall, an hour nearly after the accident, a Madeira wine glafs of brandy was given, which the fwallowed with the utino difficulty, her fenfe of tafte returning with the ceffation of pain; and anxious ftill farther to increafe the ftimulus from the little effect of the brandy, a fourth tea fpoonful of the alkali was given diluted in a wine glafs filled with water, the ftimulus of which in her mouth now, though fo much more diluted than the former, fhe could fcarce bear, and fwallowing it with much pain, a glafs of water was therefore immediately after given, when vomiting was induced that brought off the contents of the ftomach: the foot with the ligatures on the toes' was kept in hot water for above an hour after this; when, com.dering all danger from the ve nom over, the ligatures were removed, the wounds bled freely florid blood, and were fo irritable that the flighteft application of alkali gave exceffive pain: the wounds being dreffed, fhe was carried away, with directions to give her plenty of conjce to drink during the night. On inquiry next morning, fhe told me fhe had not flept from the fevere throbbing pains of the wounds; that the had been very hot, and perfpired freely. She complained of flight head-ach, 'of pain in her mouth and throat, and uneafy heat in her ftomach; on dreffing the wounds, which were neither inflamed nor fwelled, with white ointment, they became lefs painful. On her eating fome thick conjce and broth, the foon after fell asleep, and awoke much recovered; and this day fhe has no complaint, except a flight forenefs externally on preffare about the cheft, caufed probably by the vomiting. She tells me the ligatures round the toes gave great relief, and lefiened very much the violence of the pain: they never fhould be omitted where they poffibly can be applied; and where they cannot, the part fhould be cut out; and it is probable the putting the foot in hot water to wash out the venom, and increafe the bleeding, was of confequence, as no fwelling or inflammation has come on the wounds, It would have been a great addition to this cafe if the fake had been afcertained, but the darkness of the night prevented its being feen; it was however a large fnake, as the woman could with difficulty raife her foot from the ground, from its weight, to shake it from her; and the power of the venom is evident, from pain the most acute having reached the groin, and caufed the fwelling of the femoral glands, be-, fore he could with every fenfe of her danger run 150 paces to her houfe for affiftance. The preparation of the cauftic volatile alkali ufed, * *By diffolving powdered fal ammoniac, fay half a pound in half a pint of boiling water, then pouring the folution into a bottle-adding a quantity nearly equal to the falt of pulverifed chunam thells, taken from the kiin after being calcined and before water is thrown on them-corking the bottle and frongly fhaking the whole for fome time, that the volatile alkali now difengaged from the marine acid may unite with the water, and at the fame time be made cauftic by being deprived of its fixed air--the folution will then be found as pungent as Eau de Luce-this may be done two or three times before the clear fluid, feparated, is poured off into well ked phials for use. |