their sex. Every information will be afforded on application to the Secretary, or to Mrs. Skyring, Admiralty, Somerset House, who will be most happy to supply collecting cards. By order of the Committee, ALLEN STONEHAM, Secretary. 23, Sackville-street, Piccadilly. CARRIER PIGEONS.-Notes respecting Carrier Pigeons, by a gentleman of Manchester, experienced in their habits: 1st. The message is written on a thin piece of tissue paper, which is rolled round the leg of the bird, and secured with fine silk or thread: fastened in any other way it would impede the bird's flight. 2nd. They do not travel at night. 3rd. They require training, first about the town, then two miles, four, eight, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty-five, sixty, eighty, and say to Birmingham, the first season's performances; the next season they go by degrees to London, between Birmingham and London divided into three or four stations. I have flown them from London several times. 4th. I do not think it possible that they could have flown from Lancaster Sound or Davis Strait to England. Even to fly across the Channel for instance, from London to Antwerp, they require to be taken out to sea by degrees. 5th. They roost at night, I have repeatedly had them missing, and never knew them to return after dark; foggy weather is a great hindrance to their return, great numbers are always lost should fog set in. In a long journey, this renders our climate exceedingly unfavourable to the accomplishment of great distances with any certainty. 6th. The greatest distance flown, I believe to be from Sebastian in Spain, in 1844, to Vervier, about 600 miles; they have also flown from Turin and Bordeaux, to Vervier. The merchants and manufacturers of Vervier, have accomplished the most in flying of pigeons. In August 1844, they started 200 from Sebastian, to contend for the great prize, seventy returned to Vervier. To Bordeaux, eighty-six were sent, and twenty returned. The Belgian amateurs consider that they train most easily and to greater distances, from south flying northwards, and hence their long races are generally from south to north, they have clubs regularly established for their annual pigeon races. I have the programme of the Sebastian race by me, printed in French. From the above facts, gathered from the most celebrated continental pigeon amateurs, and from my own experience with the highest bred birds known, I am inclined to think that sight and education through generations of birds, have more to do with their performances than instinct. If instinct only, why should fog produce delay. The English breed of carriers are merely kept as fancy birds, and are not used for flying distances. I have tried them but with no success. They are said to have been originally introduced from Persia, and are much larger than the Belgian birds: the latter are small, strong, and dumpy birds, with a very round high forehead, and short beak; our English carriers are valued for directly the contrary qualities. I should have been exceedingly gratified had my experience enabled me to confirm the arrival of those birds, which have been reported from the Arctic Regions, but all my information on the subject, is decidedly opposed to the possibility of such a journey being accomplished by carrier pigeons. NAUTICAL SAYINGS AND DOINGS. A few lines will keep our readers informed as to the state and prospects of of the Marine Telegraph system. The idea of laying across Dover Straits a new wire like the one first tried is abandoned. The storm which has just swept away a considerable part of the new harbour-work would have had but little mercy on so frail an instrument; end any line running across the great fissures in the bed of the Channel must be prepared to resist the strain of a cable from a hundred gun ship. The new wires are, therefore, to be inclosed in ropes of four or five inches in diameter; the first layer being made of gutta percha, and the outer one of iron wire, all chemically prepared to resist the action of water and the attacks of marine animalculæ. In each cable there will be four lines of communication; and two cables will be laid down at a distance from each other of three miles,-so that an accident which might injure one of them will probably not reach the other. The whole it is said, will be ready in May next; when it is proposed to have a grand inauguration,Prince Albert being at one end of the wire and the President of the Republic at the other. Of course, this idea of an inter- national fete comes to us from Paris. The point of departure for the Irish line is not yet fixed: but surveys of the coast have been made, and it only waits, it is said, for the report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the most eligible port for a great transatlantic packet station, to be commenced. At present there are two rival routes in the field, each with its own body of supporters. One begins at Holyhead, and crossing the Channel to Kingstown, proceeds through Dublin by the Great Southern and Western Railway to Cork and Galway. If Galway be elected as the station, of course this will be the route adopted. The other proposed line would cross from St. David's Head to the nearest point on the opposite coast, and then run along the road to Wexford, Waterford, and by the extreme western points of Ireland, to Crookhaven, the last point now touched by vessels outward bound for the Atlantic. Whichever line be adopted the advantages to commerce and to Government in Ireland will be great. Between Crookhaven and Halifax the distance is 2,155 miles, and the steamers pass in six days from point to point. A net-work of telegraphs already connects Halifax with the settlements on the lake frontier, and with all the chief cities of the American Union, so that political and all other information would be transmitted from one continent to the other in six days instead of, as at present, in twelve. Sanguine speculators profess to believe in the possibility of a wire under the Atlantic, a feat to which science may reasonably look; but it is not probable that a company will be found to effect the expensive junction until the shorter marine lines shall have been for some time in practical and successful working order.-Athenæum. CONSTANTINOPLE.-on the 13th ult., whilst at general quarters, a Turkish line-of-battle ship was blown up, her powder magazine having been fired. Fortunately neither Captain Slade nor Commander Harper were on board. All the windows in the vicinity of the dockyard are broken. The accident cannot be accounted for. MONUMENT TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.-A tardy justice, it seems, is to be rendered to this great man, even in his native country. Two of the first men of Spain have taken the lead in this enterprise:-we mean Messrs. Martinez de la Rosa and Salvador Bermudez, both known as men of letters and liberal politicians. A subscription has been started for the purpose, which is fast receiving the names of persons of every rank. The situation for the colossal monument has been most appropriately chosen on an elevated spot of Palos de Maguer, opposite the convent of St. Ann, whence Columbus started on his first adventrous expedition for the New World. The plans and designs for the monument will be subjected to a competition of all Europe, and Mr. Bermudez will undertake an especial trip to England for those purposes. The preliminary arrangements hint at a colossal statue twenty feet high, and groups surrounding it, forming a base of forty feet in circumference. The statue to be of the finest Florentine bronze, and the pedestal of reddish granite. The lowest estimate of the Columbus monument is £20,000. As the brother of Columbus long dwelt in London as an agent of Christopher's for the purpose of proposing the plan to Henry VII., there is some ground for sympathy here in the monument to the memory of the great discoverer.-Architect. The original portrait of Sir Francis Drake, wearing the jewel round his neck which Queen Elizabeth gave him, is now in London for the purpose of being copied for the United Service Club. Sir T. Trayton Fuller Elliot Drake, to whom it belongs, brought to London at the same time, for the inspection of the curious in such matters, the original jewel itself:-which, beyond the interest of its associations with Elizabeth and Drake, is particularly valuable as a work of art. On the outer case is a carving by Valerio Belli, called Valerio Vicentino, of a black man kneeling to a white. This is not mentioned by Walpole in his account of Vicentino. Within, is a capital and well-preserved miniature of Queen Elizabeth, by Isaac Oliver Oliver, set round with diamonds and pearls. STEAM NAVIGATION TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.-We are given to understand that the first screw propeller of the General Screw Navigation Company will sail with the mails for Cape Town on the 15th of December. This event will constitute an era in the history of the colony. The changes in the Norfolk Estuary about to be commenced under the superintendence of Sir John Rennie and Mr. Robert Stephenson will form one of the largest engineering works ever undertaken in the eastern counties of England. The main object is, to reclaim from the sea a tract of land of great agricultural value, measuring 32,000 acres; but in addition to this, the fens and the lowlands known as the Bedford Level, will be thoroughly drained, and the navigation of the Ouse, from the sea to Lynn and beyond, will be greatly improved. The estimated expense of reclamation is £20 an acre-for the entire work £640,000. Towards this large sum the corporation of Lynn has voted £60,000. and the Fen proprietors £60,000 more; the remainder is to be raised by a joint-stock company. The land, it is said, will be worth on the average £45. an acre; so that in a few years it is believed, the outlay will be entirely repaid. RESCUE FROM DROWNING.-A few days ago a boy fell overboard from a barge lying in the Grand Surrey Docks near the premises of Moore, one of the men employed by the company. The moment the alarm was given, Moore started out of his house, plunged into the water, and brought up the boy from under the barge in a state of complete insensibility. Moore's wife was washing at the time, and a tub of hot water being ready, she placed the poor child in it, and before professional assistance could be procured, had the satisfaction to restore him in a few minutes to consciousness, and took him home to his parents next morning in perfect health. The life of the boy was the fifth human life saved by Moore, in the Surrey Docks, and the eighth he has saved during his own life by his intrepidity and coolness. The Dock Company presented him with a small gratuity, and instructed their secretary to communicate the particulars of the accident to the Royal Humane Society. AUSTRALIAN BOILED BEEF.-The vessel Cornwall, arrived in the docks from Sydney, New South Wales, has brought 10,000 tin packages of boiled beef as part of her cargo, consigued to order. At St. Stephen's, New Brunswick, a vessel is on the stocks, inside of which there is a large steam-boat, all in complete order. The ship and steamer are intended for a California adventure. A part of the hull of the vessel being laid, it was let off the ways, and the steam-boat was floated into it, and then they were hauled up again. The gentleman who owns the vessels, says that he can have the steam-boat ready for running in two days after he arrives at San Francisco. This is certainly a novel enterprise, and is worthy of having been planned and executed on the Yankee side of the river. The Government works exhibit an interesting scene of activity, and attract numbers of visitors daily. Some of the breakwater, in an unfinished state, is now seen projecting from the shore, and the deposition of stone from the quarries is regularly and rapidly carried forward by railway. A number of additional tram wagons have lately been received at the works, with a view to the employment of a still larger number of convicts, on the arrival of whom this great national enterprise will be carried on with increased rapidity. Amongst the remarkable machinery to be observed on these works, may be mentioned a gigantic crane on a moveable platform, intended for the raising of stones from the recesses of the quarries, and which is capable of sustaining with ease the immense weight of sixty tons. An engine has also been recently erected for the chemical impregnation of the driving piles for their preservation, by a new and ingenious process, by which they are rendered impervious to the action of water. The interest which attaches itself to Portland from its rare and abundant fossils, its striking geological stratification, and antiquarian remains is sufficiently notorious. These attractions are now varied and enhanced by the grand exhibition of the fertile resources, the all-conquering ingenuity, and profound achievements of the skilful engineer bending to his uses the most stubborn obstacles, and circumscribing the power and sway of the mighty ocean.-Vide" Book of Remarks on the subject of an Asylum Harbour, for Portland Roads," as projected by the late Mr. John Harvey, Price 1s. Post Office, Weymouth. A steam company is on the eve of being formed at Constantinople for tow. ing vessels through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The capital is to be £150,000 in 1500 shares of £100 each. The Sultan and most of the ministers are already on the list. It is strange that this company, which offers a sure success, should have been so long delayed in being formed. The Mauritius papers by the Overland Mail reach to the 23rd of August. The question of steam communication had at length become public, and a committee appointed to consider the question had not concurred in the offer made to establish a Line, via the Cape. The trade in copper between Port Adelaide (South Australia), and our East India possessions is beginning to show some activity, 246 tons of the copper have been recently shipped from Adelaide to Singapore. From Nova Scotia we are informed that Earl Grey had notified the Provisional Committee that the British Government will grant assistance towards constructing the Halifax and Portland Railway. Earl Grey, it is said, approved of the enterprize, and expressed a belief that Halifax would ultimately become the chief port for transatlantic communication. Mr. Farraday, at the last monthly meeting of the Royal Institution nounced to the members present his discovery (the subject of a paper sent in to the Royal Society,) that oxygen is magnetic, that the property of the gas is effected by heat, and that he believes the diurnal variation of the magnetic needle to be due to the action of solar heat on this newly discovered characteristic of oxygen-the important constituent of the atmosphere. M. Bequerel, also, has recently directed attention to a somewhat similar conclusion, in a communication which he addressed to the Academy of Science at Paris. The vessel, City of Limerick, from Dublin, has brought to Liverpool the large number of 178 packages of peat charcoal, as a portion of her cargo of Irish produce; and the Pelican, arrived on the same day from Cork, brought eleven bales. Several other arrivals of peat, charcoal, and also of moss, have taken place during the last few days. EDWARDS' PREserved Potato.-The Scale of Victualling for the Navy and Transport Services appeared in our last number (November), and we are gratified to observe that the Preserved Potato forms a regular ration for the sailor and the soldier, by whom, no doubt, this valuable and wholesome vegetable diet will be highly appreciated; as fully justified by the numerous favourable reports made upon this invaluable article. TABLETS IN THE DOCKYARD CHAPEL, PORTSMOUTH. Sacred to the memory of Captain William Broughton, R.N., Who died at Tenby after a short illness. on the 17th August, 1849, aged 44 years, leaving a Widow and six daughters to deplore his loss. He was the only son of Capt. W. R. Broughton, C.B. (who circumnavigated the World with Vancouver), and was an officer highly distinguished in his profession for his services in the Burmese war, and for a gallant, skillfully conducted and successful action, fought by him in command of H.M.S. Primrose, on which occasion Captain Broughton He subsequently served in command H.M. Ships his amiable and generous disposition gained him the esteem of all who knew him. Erected A.D. 1850, by Charles Talbot, Edward H. Butterfield, and John Barrow, Admiralty. [Among the interesting tablets in the Dockyard Chapel of Portsmouth, bearing monumental records of deeds of worth and valour, stand two, the lines of which the annexed are copies, Like others they have been placed there by the permission of the Admiralty. But these have been recently erected in celebration of two officers, whose career in their profession has been too early closed, and whose memory is cherished with affection and respect, not only by their bereft relations, but by admiring friends, and brother officers of their profession,] NEW BOOK. SINGLETON FONTENOY, R.N.-By James Hannay, (late of H.M. Navy,) author of Sketches in Ultra Marine, &c.-3 vols. Colburn.-Second Notice. The author of Singleton Fontenoy, takes the lead of naval novelists. His style is rich and racy, smart and vigorous. No lack of reading is there, with a tolerably sound knowledge of men and manners, ashore and afloat. Hence with taste, improved by these ingredients, and an easy flow of good language (for his is no common-place writing), he has produced a work which has established his name and makes us wish for another. We do not attempt a description of his materials; a novel, and especially a nautical one, would be spoiled to the reader by the process; but we may annex an extract: "It is a dark and stormy night; the wind is howling a death-rattle through the throat of the Channel. Heavy line-of-battle-ships lie doggedly, three anchors down, cables veered out, lower yards and top-masts struck, in the Sound. "It is a sight when seamen swear and women pray! |