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PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA.-A recent publication of | RESTORATION OF THE APARTMENTS OF LOUIS the Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies makes XIV.-The interesting apartments of Louis XIV., some curious statements relating to the pilgrimages in the Palace of Versailles, which had long been to Mecca during the present year. The ceremo- closed for repairs, are now reopened to the public. nies at Mecca terminated on the 11th of last month The Grande Monarque's bedroom, that celebrated in the presence of about 50,000 pilgrims, of whom chamber in which he received his court, and in 17,850 had come by sea, and 32,150 by land. In which he drew his last breath, has been thoroughly 1858 there were 160,000 pilgrims; in 1857, 140,- restored. The furniture is now as nearly as possible 000; and 1856, 120,000. This great decrease in what it was at the time of the King's death the number in 1859 is owing, the natives declare, Especial pains have been taken with the bed, the to the events of Djeddah last year, and also to the chef d'œuvre of Delobel, the King's valet de chambre, dread of the cholera, which made extensive rav- who took twelve years to construct it. The bed is ages in 1858. As soon as the pilgrim sets foot on still covered with a counterpane embroidered by the the soil of Mecca he must put on two pieces of young ladies of St. Cyr. The relic was sold during white cloth, one tied round the loins with ends the revolution, but Louis Philippe met with it some hanging down to the middle of the leg, while the where in Germany, and brought it back again for other is thrown over the shoulders so as to leave the State. Adjoining the bedroom is the King's the right arm free. He must go bare-headed and library, with his large map of the world. Next wear sandals. As long as he wears this garment comes the dining room; and beyond that is the he is bound to lead a pure and regular life. At ante-chamber, which Louis XV. called his dogMecca he begins the ceremonies under the direction room: he was fond of playing with his favorite of a guide. They are as follow: 1, visiting the dogs there before and after hunting. Around the temple and going seven times around the Kaaba, chamber runs a frieze decorated with charming starting from the Black Stone, which he must kiss paintings of sporting subjects. In another room is or touch in completing each circuit; 2, drinking the desk, ornamented with costly porcelain, upon the water of the well of Zem Zem, at which, says which Louis XIV. wrote. But the most curious tradition, Hagar and Ishmael quenched their chamber of all is the confessional. It is divided thirst; 3, praying at the Station of Abraham, into two small rooms. In the middle of the party. marked by a stone, on which he is said to have wall is a pane of thick but transparent glass, so that stood when he went to sacrifice his son; 4, stop- what was passing in one room might be seen from ping and praying at the place called El Madjen, the other, though what was said in a low voice the spot where Solomon stood to see mortar mixed could not be heard. The first of these rooms is for the building of the temple; 5, running seven quite empty. When Louis XIV. was at confession times between Mounts Safa and Merwa, within it was always occupied by the captain of the the limits of the city, in commemoration of Hagar's guards, who, with a drawn sword in his hand, stood anxious search for water for herself and her son; looking through the pane of glass. Thus, Louis 6, repairing on the ninth day of the month to XIV. was under surveillance even in the confesMount Ararat, about twelve miles from Mecca, sional. If the King, as an individual, trusted the after morning prayer, (Mohammedan tradition Jesuit confessor, the state did not. The only furnisays that on this hill Adam built a temple and ture in the other room is an arm-chair, a Prie Dieu, Mohammed performed his devotions ;) 7, on the fol- and a basin for holy water. In that arm-chair sat lowing day the visitors all go in a body to the Father Letellier, the Jesuit, and at his feet was Valley of Mouna, and there sacrifice propitiatory wont to kneel, but watched, as I have said, the most victims; they also cut their hair and nails, de- mighty sovereign in the world. voutly burying the portions cut off. After remaining two days at Mouna, they again visit the Temple of Mecca, and then prepare for their departure.

SIR JOHN BOWRING ON CHINA.-Sir John Bowring has been lecturing in Edinburgh on China. With respect to the geographical extent of that vast empire, he said that the eighteen provinces of China LORD BROUGHAM, though eighty-one years proper extend in breadth nearly thirteen hundred of age, has undergone an amount of work this week which miles, and in length nearly fourteen hundred; and would have severely taxed the energies of a man in into account, the distance from east to west exceeds if the dependent and tributary regions were taken middle life. His address at the meeting of the forty-eight hundred miles, and from north to south Social Science Association on the eleventh, was a twenty three hundred. According to the last marvel of length and ability; on the night of the twelvth he took part in the anniversary proceedings 412,000.000, while it had been represented in our census, he believed the population of China was of the Bradford Mechanics' Institute; on the thir-hooks for the last forty years as amounting to teenth he paid Sheffield a visit, and delivered speeches marked by his wonted fire and vigor; and the same night he was one of the speakers at a working men's meeting at Bradford.

NOAH'S ARK AND THE GREAT EASTERN.-The following is a comparison between the size of the Great Eastern and Noah's Ark. Subjoined is the calculation: Noah's Ark, (according to Newton :) Length between perpendicular, 612 feet; extreme breadth, 85 feet; hight, 51 feet; tonnage, 18,231. Great Eastern: Length between perpendicular, 680 feet; extreme breadth, 85 feet; hight, 60 feet; tonnage, 23,092.

moment exporting 120,000,000 pounds of tea, he Whilst China was at the present 360,000,000.

believed it was in a condition to double and treble the supply if necessary. While remarking on the opposition to change manifested by the Chinese, Sir John expressed his gratification that the law of England is becoming a progressive thing, and that all parties are now happily agreed that there is in future to be "no monopoly of Liberalism"-that we are all to be Liberals together. In that he heartily rejoiced, and honored the man who proclaimed so important a truth, of which he hoped we should enjoy the fullest and completest development.

SCHAMYL IN ST. PETERSBURG.-A letter of the 22d | ult. from St. Petersburg thus alludes to Schamyl: I will merely say that he lives on the fat of the land, and drives about armed to the teeth--for he is allowed to retain his arms-daily up and down the Nevoisky and along the quays, escorted by one or more Russian officers, who have him, as it were, in charge, and accompanied by his son-a most ugly specimen of Circassia-and two remarkable fur-capped individuals, called "friends," but who are nothing more or less than the late executioners of his savage will, whether with blade or bowstring. Of course the tales are endless-true and false-in reference to his sayings and doings. Time and space only admit of my giving you one which is fact, and I shall then leave him in peace to retire to Kalonga, for which place he leaves us in a few days, there to enjoy life in company with his wives and retainers, already there, with a pension of 12,000 roubles per annum, house and comforts found. However, on arriving at St. Petersburg, which I am told surpasses, in his estimation, all his dreams of Paradise, he was courteously received by the governor, who, after having bidden him welcome, said, turning to one of his aides, “I will now hand you over to the care of my friend." On which the warrior chief turned pale, as well he might, considering the thousands of Russians he had done to death, and asked for time for prayer and absolution. He was, however, given to understand that the friends of the governor were not precisely in the same category as the "friends" of his chieftainship; and he has since smoked his pipe, admired the Russian ladies, and quaffed his champagne in peace.

THE TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE 18TH JULY, 1860.A commission appointed by the French Academy of Sciences to draw up a report on the results of the scientific expedition undertaken to observe the late total eclipse in Brazil calls attention to the very important total eclipse which will occur in July next year, and will be visible in Spain and Algeria. The celebrated Director of the Dorpat Observatory was the first to remark that at the moment of obscurity four of the principal planets-Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn-will appear in the vicinity of the eclipsed sun as a kind of rhomboidal figure; a phenomenon of such extraordinary rarity that many centuries will elapse before its repetition. Darkness will commence and terminate on the land, the localities being California and the shores of the Red Sea. Between these extreme points the eclipse will be visible in North-America, from whence the moon's shadow will pass across the Atlantic, and traverse Spain; total darkness including the following important towns in that country: Oviedo, St. Vincent, Santander, Bilboa, Vittoria, Burgos, Pampeluna, Saragossa, and Valencia. The line of totality will then cross the Mediterranean and enter Africa, passing across Algiers, Bezan, Tozer, Sockna, Sebba, Goddona, and Mourzuk. Thus, although this remarkable eclipse will not be total in any part of the United Kingdom, it will be s in a large portion of Spain and accessible parts of Africa.-Athenæum.

MUSIO BY STEAM.-A musical instrument of a novel character has been exhibited at the Crystal Palace, the performance upon which excited considerable interest among numerous members of the scientific and musical professions. It is a piano, or organ, the sounds of which are produced by steam. The music produced by the instrument is described by one writer as of an unusually unearthly character. Another writer says: "After the concert, we heard some hideous sounds, apparently proceeding from the center transept; and from the supposed region ascended clouds of steam. We were informed that a steam organ was performing, and we were very glad when it ceased. We decidedly hope its boiler will burst before next Saturday, if there is any intention of reëxhib

A GIGANTIC TELEGRAPH.-St. Petersburg, Oct. 25. -A gigantic plan, suggested by Mr. Collins, the United States Consul at Nicholaieff, on the Amoor, is destined to produce a complete change of relations between Europe and the other parts of the world if it be carried into execution. This project refers to the establishment of an electric telegraph from Moscow through Behring's Straits and Sitka to St. Louis, in the United States. In this manner a direct communication would be obtained between St. Petersburg and New-York. The author of the plan would further extend another wire from Ki-iting it." achta to Pekin, and thence through Saghalien to Yeddo and Hakodadi, in Japan. The length of the proposed telegraph is estimated at 14,000 English miles, the cost of construction at £500,000 The expense of maintaining and repairing the wires is calculated by Mr. Collins at 900,000 roubles annually, and the revenue at 1,100,000 roubles, or a dividend of eight per cent to the shareholders, if a company can be formed. Mr. Collins is at present on his way to St. Petersburg, where he hopes to find the capital to carry out his plan.

SCHAMYL AND HIS SON.-A letter from Stanzopol, inserted in the Invalide Russe, describes the arrival of Schamyl in that town. He is a man of lofty stature, thin and broad-shouldered, with hollow eyes and a dyed beard. His walk is slow and dignified. His face bears the trace of many wounds, and its paleness and melancholy expression indicate profound grief and compressed regret. His son, Casi-Mohammed, resembles him only in his hight. His face is pock marked, and his gray eyes betray rather cunning than talent.

GOOD NEWS FOR AFRICAN HUNTERS.-Dr. Livingstone, the celebrated African traveler, who is at present exploring the river Zambesi, reports the valley of the Shire as abounding with wild elephants, having magnificent and most valuable tusks. In one herd he saw over five hundred of the giant game grazing on the plain. The Shire is a good navigable river for over one hundred miles from its confluence. The mountains of Merembela stand 4000 feet over the plain, possessed of a fine climate and profuse vegetation-lemon trees, oranges, and pine-apples, growing wild in the woods, promising to be had in abundance and cheap from the natives, who cultivate largely the upper third of the valley.

It is supposed that there are in existence at this hour 50,000,000 of sovereigns, and about 120,000,000 of shillings: enough, one would think, for the wants of her Majesty's lieges. But these quantities are ever being added to, and other countries are always supplementing them with their own peculiar coins.

THE SUCCESSORS OF EMINENT MEN.-It is remark- 1 able, in many instances, how soon the line of descent of men of great genius has been cut off. We have no male descendants of William Shakspeare, Milton, Sir Walter Scott, or Lord Byron. Sir Isaac Newton left no heir. The male branch of Sir Christopher Wren's family is extinct, and the female line nearly so. The races of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Telford, and Brindley, have ceased to exist; and a hundred other famous names might be mentioned, to show to what a great extent this fact may be considered as a natural law. We had recently another illus tration of this, when the grave closed upon the only son of George Stephenson without leaving any direct successor.-Builder.

HOW TO MEND "BIG BEN."-"S. W. S.," writing from Northampton to the Times, says that it is only necessary to saw along the edges of the fracture, so as to take away the jagged points, and prevent them jarring during the vibration of the bell. He has tried the plan with perfect success. The key or pitch will not suffer, and the bell itself rendered less liable to break or crack again, as the tension of its particles will be to this extent at least liberated. The timbre or quality of tone will not be lessened; and as the expense will be a mere trifle, it will be worth trying, if only as an experiment, not likely again to offer on so large a

scale.

A GOLDEN WINDFALL.-The largest nugget of amalgamated gold ever produced has recently been discovered, and is a favorable augury for quartzcrushing. It was the result of a portion of sixty tons of the first quartz crushed from the Corfu Reef; it weighs ten hundred and forty ounces. All the following night the lucky owners of the claim kept watch and ward over it, armed to the teeth. A sixth share of the claim, a few months ago, could have been purchased for a score of pounds. Even after gold was struck, £10,000 would have bought the claim-a splendid purchase, considering that the first sixty tons will yield fully half the amount. -Australian and New-Zealand Gazette.

THE first volume of the Travels of Ladislaus Magyar in Southern Africa, has just left the press at Vienna. M. Magyar, a native of Maria Theresiopol, who was educated in the Imperial naval academy at Fiume, has resided at Bihe, in Southern Africa, since the year 1849, and has explored countries which are hardly known by name to the European world. The adventurous traveler married the daughter of the ruler of Bihe, and her slaves accompanied him in his first journeys into the interior. The late Dr. Charles Ritter, the geographer, accepted the dedication of Magyar's work a few months before his death.

IN the Punjab, last year. five men, one woman and 293 children were killed, and two men, four women, and 166 children injured, by wild animals. Of these animals-tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, and hyenas-834 were destroyed last year.

MR. W. PARKER SNOW, in lecturing at Stepney on the fate of Sir John Franklin, said there had been 90 expeditions to the North Pole, at a total expense of £850,000.

THE veteran litterateur, Nicolo Tommaseo, a Venetian, who has resided in Turin for the last ten years, has now taken up his abode in the more genial Tuscan capital. We have here also Francesco Ferrara, an exile from Sicily, who was since 1849 a professor of political economy at Turin, and is now to fill the same chair at Pisa, and to become one of the greatest ornaments of that time-honored university. His colleague, Professor Mancini, a Neapolitan, is also here, and will deliver public lectures in one of the halls of the Ricardi Palace. The late emancipation of Tuscany thus brings some first-rate literary notabilities of the Peninsula into this town, which may well now, more than ever, set up its claim to the proud appellation of the

Athens.

his house

very

PITT'S DEATH-BED.-Pitt died at Putney Heath, near the spot where Canning and Castlereagh fought their duel, and in a neglected state, none of his family or friends being with him at the time. One who was sincerely London to see him. Arriving at his house, be rang attached to him, hearing of his illness, rode from the bell at the entrance gate, but no one came. Dismounting, he made his way to the hall-door, and repeatedly rang the bell, which no one answered. He then entered the house, wandered from room to entirely neglected. It is supposed that such was room, till at last he discovered Pitt on a bed-dead, his poverty he had not been able to pay the wages of his servants, and that they had absconded, taking with them what they could.-Once a Week.

"THE residence of the Court at Compiègne,” says a Paris letter in the Independance of Brussels, "is likely to have a decided influence upon the fashions of the season. At the instance of the Empress, crinoline is to be definitely abandoned, and woolen stuffs are to be adopted for walking-dresses, not worn as long in the skirt as of late, but so as to show the ankle. It is certain that ladies have of late reached the utmost limits of amplitude in their garments, and consequently, whatever change takes place must be in the opposite sense."

THE German journals contain melancholy news concerning Professor Karl Simrock, of Bonn, the eminent translator and interpreter of the masterpieces of old German poetical literature. His mind has been deranged by an excess of fear and anxiety, it is asserted, in consequence of the late political events, and his friends have removed him accordingly to a private asylum near Stuttgart.

BRIEF as was the stay of M. and Madame Goldschmidt in Cork, and slight as their acquaintance must necessarily be with the wants of the charities in that city, they employed a portion of their sojourn in inquiries as to the best quarters in which to bestow contributions, and have presented donations to several of the most useful charitable institutions in Cork.

Ar the last sitting of the Academy of Sciences the discovery of a new planet by M. Robert Luther, at Bilk, on the 22d ult., was announced. This planet belongs to the telescopic class, being of the tenth magnitude. It has received the name of Mnemosyne.

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