THE BLOCKHOUSE.

AN AMERICAN BACKWOODSMAN'S TALE, FROM "LIFE IN THE NEW World.' (Continued from page 246.)

When they were gone, Asa looked after them a minute, shook his head, and said Hark'e, men, these are what we call Creoles-that is, a third of them Spaniards, a third French, and the rest Indian blood. They have all the mischief of the three nations; and we must look out, or they will surely bring us into some infernal scrape."

So it was, indeed. We had prepared some fifteen acres for sowing corn, about ten for Virginia weed, and were about ringing a few more hundreds of cotton-trees, and digging up the bushes and ivy, to plant more corn and tobacco, when suddenly we were baulked in our designs. Asa had guessed right; the Creole varmints were upon us sooner than we had expected. We were occupied in the bush, measuring off a piece of ten acres, and making it acquainted with the axe, when Jones came running to us, and whispered, "Men, don't you hear anything? the redskins!" "The redskins!" we say, "what the deuce do they want? not our scalps? If they want them, they must get up early."

We took our rifles, which were leaning against the trees-for backwoodsmen, as you must know, dare not leave these faithful friends far off: they are like their wives, these rifles, they must always have them by their side day and night. So we took up our rifles, and went up the hill-on which, further back, our houses were built-and really saw and soon heard the gang, which consisted of some fourteen or fifteen horsemen, who came riding towards our settlement with loud shouts and hurrahs! And says Asa, "Nathan," says he, "these are no redskins; I've a notion they are the infernal Creoles, who come on with their companions. And they appear to me to be real vagabonds; they act as if they were drunk."

66

of them?" "Now it goes," says Asa, as quickly as if he was aiming his gun at a deer-"now it goes. Are they far off?" They are just coming up the prairie; in half an hour they may be here," says Righteous. "How do they come? Avant-garde? Arreir-garde? How strong may they be?" "They march in one mass. There may be about a hundred of them," says Righteous. "Then the game is ours; they don't understand military tactics don't know anything at bush warfare-they are Braddockians," says Asa. "Now away with you, women, away!" cries Asa, "drop everything, and away; we follow and cover your retreat; two will be in advance, to see if they do not find out our ambush." Righteous galloped immediately to the blockhouse, just as he was, to be there before the enemy in case they should know it; but there was no danger-they thought no more of the blockhouse than our wild turkeys would. Our women took all the trifles along which had been left--it was not much-for backwoodsmen, you know, do not like to carry whole ship-loads of useless things about them. But we took all that was there, and marched off, keeping ourselves close to the edge of the forest, and creeping stealthily towards our fort, in which Righteous was already. He had opened the secret door and let down the ladder. We went up the ladder, after having driven our horses towards the swamp, and shackled their feet, that they might not run away. Then we drew the ladder up after us, fastened the door, and there we were.

We felt somewhat strange when we found ourselves so inclosed by the palisades, and only saw what was doing on the outside through small holes, just large enough to put your rifle through. We were almost frightened, not being accustomed to confinement. We became silent, dead silent-and minute after minute passed while hardly a whisper was heard. Rachel cut up shirts, put grease on the strips, and made plenty of bullet patches, while we put fresh flints in our rifles, fixed them all ready, and sharpened our axes and knives-all in silence.

The Creoles were quite astonished at this answer, and some of them cried"We have our hunting rights and our donations from his excellency the governor," and others, "from his majesty, the great King of France and Navarre." "And will not allow strangers to injure us by hunting on our grounds," cried all; "bears become more scarce, and also cougars and deer -the buffaloes are gone altogether," and the Creoles jumped about on their horses as if they were crazy.

At this we began to get angry, and Asa told them they should clear out themselves-they were no gentlemen, but vagabonds, whom he would whip with his cowhide, as he would whip a nigger-they should go, for if they made him mad they would repent it all the days of their life.

He spoke quite passionately, and as he spoke, he raised his gun ready to fire, and we did the same. When the Creoles saw this, they spurred their horses and galloped away; but when they were out of the reach of our balls, about five hundred paces off, they commenced again their jargon and yelling. Fifty thousand wild geese on the Red River, or Mississippi, would have been nothing to it. Several of them also fired their rusty guns at us. We laughed heartily at the braggarts, all but Asa-he did not laugh. "Did I not say these Creoles would bring the devil upon our necks?"

"And then, when they come, Asa-what then?" says I. "If they come on, we must meet them. Did you forget the Indian mound?" "I have not forgotten it," says Asa," "I was just thinking of it--whether we could now build a blockhouse there, that would withstand any invasion from these rascals."

And so, having concluded to maintain our rights with all our power, and with our blood if it should become necessary, we made preparations for this defence. We cut trees, mostly young cypresses, and brought them over, and trimmed them, and then hoisted them up, just as you see a square, forty feet long, and forty wide, in the middle of which we placed a chimney. But this was not all. Asa, who had fought at Brandywine, and had been by the side of Lafayette when he was wounded; and afterwards in the Carolinas, at Cowpens, and against Cornwallis, and who therefore had seen palisades, and experienced the advantage which they give, when a dozen or even halfa-dozen of good riflemen stand behind them, made us cut palisades and sharpen them, and dig holes into the mound, run them in, and connect them with branches, so that they could not easily be torn out again. After we had finished the blockhouse, we erected, as I have said, the stockade—and after we had done that, we covered our blockhouse with clapboards. We made the clapboards from the black pine, which Jonas and Righteous cut half a mile hence, and split them, and brought them here on their shoulders. This was a great mistake, for black pine burns like punk, when it has been dried in the air for a few days; but we had no time to take harder wood. We had only six or seven foot thick cypress-trees, and they cannot easily be split-so we had to take to the infernal black pine, which brought us into great trouble, as you will hear at the right time.

At last the blockhouse and palisades were done, and our women took the provisions which we had bought in Baton Rouge, with all our other notions, ploughs and all, into the blockhouse-leaving only the most necessary articles in the houses; and all up, we felt much easier and merrier at the thought that our blockhouse was now in order, and we in a position to resist. Asa, however, remained gloomy-he often looked at the blockhouse and said: "I've a notion it will become a bloody blockhouse in a short time, mind I tell you so," says he. "I've a notion that some one will find a bloody tomb in it, and who that one is I know best." Says I "Silence, Asa! What kind of notions are these? Wherefore should you make us heavy hearted? We want light hearts, Asa." Asa appeared to become calm, and went quietly to his work, which had been interrupted; but as we did not use our horses always, we alternately patroled for about ten miles around, to see whether the uninvited guests had yet come to visit us. We watched by night, also; two staid up and relieved each other, thus keeping a continual patrol.

One morning, when we were working in the bush at ringing trees, Righteous comes galloping up. "They come !" he cries, "at least a hundred

We all trembled with rage! Suppose the case your own suppose you have for four or five months laboured harder than a brute, and have built a house for yourself and your wife and the poor little ones she has given you, then comes an infernal fiend and burns it down, like stubble in a corn-fieldthen if your teeth do not grind, and your hands clench hard together, you have no human nature. And our teeth ground, I tell you; but we were silent-fury would not let us speak. Rachel sighed : "Oh, our house! our poor house! what has our poor house done to these villains? Oh, the cowardly, treacherous wretches!" " Silence, woman?" says Asa; " silence! this is no time for lamentation; perhaps we will soon have done lamenting.” "The Lord's will be done;" says Rachel-she is a child of pious parentsRachel reads her Bible, and this she soon took out; but, says Asa, "It's no time now for praying, willingly as I generally do so, but it is time to act --leave that, Rachel." Rachel put the Bible away again, and we looked to see whether all was in order. We rested on our rifles, and stared at our burning houses. As we stared so, it suddenly comes towards us all black and blue, from between those two forest ends. It was

The Spaniards came running up, about a hundred strong. noon; we counted them-but could not at first find out the real number, for they ran to and fro like wild pigeons, and hardly in better order; they must have thought very little of us, otherwise they would have fixed themselves different. When they were about five hundred paces from us, they formed into something like a file, and we counted eighty-two men with muskets and carabines, and three with swords in their hands. These three were on horseback, but they now alighted. And there were seven more who had also come on horseback, and who also alighted. Among them we recognised three of the treacherous Creoles, who had brought us into this dilemma, and the one they called Groupier. The six others were so-called Acadiens, or Canadians-with whose countrymen we had already been acquainted on the Upper Mississippi. They are excellent hunters, these Acadiens, but savage, riotous, drunken barbarians. I've a notion that these Acadiens were the ones who first showed the Spanish musketeers the way to our blockhouse-for the Spaniards behaved so foolish that I've a notion they would have been brawling about for some hours, like white night-owls in the open day, before they would have found out what had become of us. Finally they came, the Acadiens first, as I suspected. They raised a loud cry when they saw the blockhouse and the stockade, and stood amazed when they found that we were prepared to meet them. After a moment, they drew back to the main force. Without doubt they reported to the officers, who listened to them, shook their heads, and then the whole troop immediately set in motion. "Now look out!" whispered Asa to me. And on they came, in all kinds of colours-blue, and white, and brown, each one dirtier than the other. They marched now in better order, the captains in front, and the Acadiens at the flanks; but they kept nearer the cotton-trees, behind which they soon disappeared.

When Asa saw this, he whispered to me, that these were the most dangerous, on account of their well-practised hand and sharp eye-" Keep a good look out for these," says he. The others did not understand any thing of bush warfare, he said; with them he would soon have done. The Spaniards soon appeared within about a hundred paces of the blockhouse, and just within shooting distance. "Shall we shoot at the incendiaries?" says Righteous. "God forbid !" says Asa, "that does not become us. We will defend ourselves like men; but wait until they attack us-then their blood comes upon their own heads; and, if we fall, we fall in the struggle for our lives and the lives of our wives, and our memory will stand upon the right foundation."

When the Spaniards had approached within a hundred paces of the blockhouse, and saw that they had first to take the palisades, to get at us, they stopped, and the officers spoke together. "Hold!" just then Asa cried out to them. The captain answered, "Messieurs les Américains !" "What is it?" said Asa, through a crack of the palisades. The captain then stuck a dirty handkerchief upon the point of his sword, and spoke laughingly to his officers. Then he advanced about twenty steps, followed by his men. again cries from the stockade, "Hold! that's not the custom of war. officer may come to talk, but, as soon as his men approach, we fire."

A sa

The

You must know the Spaniards, who understand little of fighting behind walls or trees, stood all in one lump. They could not have thought much of our rifles, or else had the notion that we would no dare to defend our lives,

or they would have been wiser, and would have done as the Acadiens did, who kept themselves behind the large cotton-trees. The Acadiens called to the captain to retreat into the forest, but he shook his head contemptuously. But when he heard Asa cry out again, that he should stop or that we would shoot, he seemed to get a little frightened. We saw it, and thought perhaps he had a notion that our balls would not miss him. He bawled, "Stop! do not shoot until I have spoken with you." "Be quick, then," Asa answered; if you want to make a declaration, you ought to have done it before the commencement of hostilities, according to the laws of war, and not have burned down our houses like incendiaries."

As Asa spoke this, three shots after each other came from the forest. 'Twas the Creoles, who, although they could not see Asa, I've a notion saw one of his buttons or his rifle shine through the cracks, so aimed in that direction and fired. The two traitors jumped quickly behind the trees, to listen if they should not hear a lamenting. But Righteous and me saw them stretch their traitorous heads forward, and we shot at the same moment; in the next they staggered and fell, never to rise again. These were the two Creoles with whom we had made the horse-trade-one of them, the traitor who called himself Croupier. When the Spanish musketeers heard the reports-for they could not see for the projection of the forest-the officer ran back, head over heels, and cried: "March to the attack!" The Spaniards jumped and ran like madmen, thirty paces forward, and, just as if they believed us to be wild geese, whom they could frighten by the mere report of their guns, they fired their muskets upon the blockhouse. "Now is the time!" said Asa, " we can't have a better. Have you reloaded, Nathan and Righteous? I take the captain-you, Nathan, the lieutenant-Righteous, the third officer-James, the sergeant. Understand now, and don't let two be firing at the same man. We must not spend our bullets for nothing." The Spaniards were still sixty paces distant; but we were sure of our aim at a hundred and sixty, if they had been squirrels. We fired, and every shot took its man-the captain, the lieutenant, the third officer, the sergeant, and another man were hit, and laid flat enough. A complete confusion followed among the eighty musketeers, or as many as there might have been. One part ran here--and another there. Most of them ran towards the forest; but a dozen or more stopped and took up their captain and officers, to see whether there was still life in them. But we were not idle, and without waiting for Asa, who whispered to us to load again, we had our balls in the rifles, and fired. Another half-dozen fell, and the rest of them that remained left the dead lying just where they had fallen, and ran off as if their shoesoles were burning.

We cleaned our rifles as quick as we could, well knowing that we should not have time for it afterwards-and that one missing shot might ruin all. We loaded again, and began to calculate what the musketeers would do first. Their officers had fallen; but of the Acadiens there were five alive still, and these were to be dreaded most. The turkey-buzzards were already collecting. By hundreds they came flying around the fallen.

As we stood thus on the look-out, spying from all sides toward the forest, Righteous, who has a very sharp eye, winks to me, and points down there to the forest, where the low bushes commence. I winked to Asa, who had just loaded; and we look, and as we look, we see the vermin creeping and winding through the bushes, trying to come to the east corner of the forest. We plainly saw that two Acadiens were foremost, and about twenty musketeers or more behind them. "Nathan," says Asa, "and you Righteous, take the Acadiens -we take the Spaniards, just as they come, one after the other." We took them so, and fired, and the two Acadiens and four Spaniards fell-but one of the Acadiens, who crept behind a Spaniard, and who we had overlooked, jumped up and cried: "Follow me! quick, follow me! -they have fired-before they can load again we are in the forest. This blockhouse shall be ours yet!" The Acadien started off, and the Spaniards after him; and before we had loaded they were in the forest. We were furious when we saw that the Acadien had escaped us.

We soon remarked that three Acadiens, or Creoles, were still left. They now took the command of the Spaniards, who had convinced themselves that their officers did not understand anything of bush warfare; and so our position was not much better than when all of them were together-they were about ten to each one of us. But we had not lost courage, not at all; we only had a hard game to play, because we had to divide our attention and our force, and this enemy was more cunning than the one we had got rid of. Pretty soon we had all our hands full; and it was high time to keep our eyes open, for whenever one of us was seen at a crack-and the balls had torn splinters from the palisades and made holes-two or three shots were immediately fired; besides, the enemy now kept behind the trees. We had occasional opportunities of firing our rifles, and then four or five musketeers had to come down; but we became wearied with waiting. And mark, now-the Spaniards had divided to both sides of the forest, and were shouting across it, but we did not care for that. Suddenly they gave a loud hurrah. They had taken infernal tow to load their muskets, and one of the wads had taken fire. We did not remark it immediately, but it soon began to kindle and crack, among the cursed black pine clapboards on the roof. When the Spaniards saw this, they gave three hurrahs, and then became quiet again. We looked up to the roof and could see the flames already breaking through; and as they worked their way, we could hear the Spaniards cry more and more, louder and louder. Then says Asa, "This must be stopped, or we shall be roasted like venison. One of us must go up through the chimney with a bucket of water; I'll go up myselfI'll go up, Asa," says Righteous. "You stay here; one is as good as the other. I'll go up and extinguish the fire," replied Asa.

"No,

pours

Now, said the old man, pointing to the blockhouse, you see it empty; but at that time it was filled with us, and our effects and notions. Asa takes a table and places a chair upon it, and Rachel hands him a pail of water. He draws himself up by the hooks which we had fastened into the chimney, and upon which we had hung our venison-hams, and draws the bucket after him. The Spaniards became more furious, and their crying louder. It was, indeed, high time to stop the fire. Asa had drawn up the bucket, and the water out; and Righteous says: "More to the left, Asa-to the left; the flame is strongest there." "Confound that left; I can't see it," replied Asa; "but hand me another bucket of water." We reached him a bucket, and Asa stretches his head out of the chimney, to see where the fire was strongest. He pours the water over it; but at the same moment we heard the report of a dozen guns. The Spaniards had seen him! "Hold!" cried Asa, with a voice altogether changed-" hold! I've got it! Let them cry and jump-the satans!"

And at the same moment, with a tumbling noise, down came hams and

saddles from the chimney, and after them Asa fell, covered with his own blood. "Asa! for Heaven's sake! Asa!-you are shot!" cried Rachel. "Silence, woman! silence!" said Asa; " I've enough for all the days of my life, which will not be many. Defend yourselves, boys; and don't two of you shoot at the same man; don't waste the balls-you will have to use them." "Asa! my dearest, best Asa! you dead! Then I don't want to live-I will follow you!" cried Rachel. “Silence! foolish woman! You forget that one Asa remains, and that you carry a second one under your heart. Silence! I say! Do you hear the Spaniards? Defend yourselves, boys, and protect my wife and child. Nathan will be in their father's place. Promise me this."

But we had not a moment's time to promise this to the dying Asa, or to shake his hand, for the Spaniards-who must have guessed what had happened-had jumped upon our stockade like mad fiends. About twenty of them came from one side of the forest, and thirty from the other. "Silence!" I cried-"Silence! You, Righteous, come here to me-and Rachel, now you can show that you are Hiram Strong's daughter and Asa's wife-you load Asa's rifle, as soon as I shoot." "Oh! my Asa !" cried Rachel-"oh ! my Asa! he is dying. The hell-hounds have shot him!"

She clung frantically to the body of her husband, and he could not get her off. I was quite angry at it; but the enemy did not give us time to be angry. A troop of them, headed by one of the Acadiens, and armed with guns and axes, came up on the side where I stood. I shot the Acadien down; but another, the sixth and last but one, sprung into his place. Rachel, now the rifle ! the rifle, Rachel, for Heaven's sake, the rifle! One ball might now be worth as much as the blockhouse and all our lives!" I cried. But no Rachel was there; and the Acadien and musketeers, who, at the interruption of the firing, thought that we either had not loaded, or had shot away our munition, jumped towards us, laughing like hell's fiends; and, one lifting the other, half-a-dozen of them crept up the hill, with their axes, headed by the Acadien, who cut bravely into the palisades and the netting. If there had been three like this Acadien, we would have been done for there and then; for on the other side was another dozen, with a seventh infernal Acadien, and therefore hope of escape was hardly possible. But the Spaniards either wanted the strong arm, or fate was against them. Although they struck hard at the stockade, their cuts were mere children's blows; but just as Righteous had again loaded, and shot down a Spaniard, the Acadien tore out a palisade-how, I know not, to this day; there must have been a branch sticking outside. He tore it right out, lifted it like a shield, and dashed it against me. It threw me back; I staggered from the entrance, and in he jumped. Now I thought we were lost indeed. Righteous gave the Spaniard that followed a blow on the head with his rifle; the next he stabbed with his knife-but this Acadien was man enough to bring us all to the devil. Now falls the shot-the Acadien staggers; in the next moment my boy, Godsend, came running with Asa's rifle. He had picked it up, when he saw that Rachel did not do it; he picked it up, he loaded it, and the glorious boy shot down the Acadien ! I took to the axe, and that once in hand, I jumped towards the Spaniards, and dashed it into them with my right hand, plunging the knife all the while with my left. 'Twas a real butchering for about a quarter of an hour, or more. At that the Spaniards lost courage; they would have lost it before, had they known that the Acadien had fallen; but now they defended themselves because their danger was up, and they had to protect their own skins. In their embarrassment, they did not well know how to come down from the palisade. Finally, they all sprang down the hill, and ran- -that is those who could run-and we had rest on this side the blockhouse. Righteous and I set in the palisade again; and said I to my boy, "Keep a sharp eye upon the Spaniards, Godsend." Then I ran to the other side, where the struggle was fierce and desperate.

There were three of our men, and the women, who helped with spears, and pokers, and axes. The Spaniards had struck through the palisades with their bayonets, and wounded several, and they bled like wounded steers; but Rachel had recovered from her grief about Asa, and she and the other women tore the bayonets and guns from the hands of the Spaniards, through the palisades. As they tear to and fro, the palisades give way so much, that some of these Spaniards, these olive-green Dons, are pushed in by those behind them. We just came up, when they took their sabres, instead of their guns, to finish us the quicker. They are very industrious in their coup de main, these Spaniards. One of them sprang at me, and without my knife I had been lost, for there was no room to raise the axe; but I first gave him a good blow with my fist, which almost threw him to the ground, then plunged the knife into his body. I then jumped forward, took one of the muskets from Rachel's hand, and turned it-the butt of the Spanish gun is heavier than our rifles, and I was loath to use my rifle, lest I should break it so I clutched the musket and dealt blows upon the heads of the Spaniards, to the right and to the left. I told the women they should go into the blockhouse, and not be in our way-that they might load the rifles, for that we must first have the Acadien, for he was the last one. So Godsend loaded my rifle, and the women the others; and as we fight thus in the blockade, our brave women-our glorious women! stand like soldiers in the blockhouse, and shoot in the Spaniards. Three or four fell; and happily for us, the Acadien among them. When the musketeers saw this, they were just like dogs-these infernal Spaniards, who can only attack when they have a leader to command them-they jumped down with a Dioz, and Carracco, and Maleditor Gojor! and off they ran, as if a petard had fallen among them.. The old man stopped, and drew a deep breath, for he had become uncommonly warm during the sketch of these last scenes. After he had breathed

a moment, he continued :

Yes, this half or whole hour, whatever it might have been, was short and long-short to tell and to see, but dearly long for me, I tell you. It is no fun, to have to defend yourself against a hundred Spanish varmints, to save, not only your own skin, but the lives of your families and dear children. We were so dog and dead-tired, that we fell down just like chased oxen and calves, without minding the blood, which run as thick as if it had rained blood since the morning. Seventeen Spaniards and two Acadiens, dead and dying, lay within the stockade. We were bleeding still; all of us being either slightly or badly wounded. I had several stabs-others had shots, which, although not dangerous, were pretty deep. We fell down on all sides, and in all directions, like wounded buffaloes, who seek a hiding-place, to breathe out their lives. If the Spaniards had attacked us then, we should have been lost, most assuredly; for, mark me, during the battle, as long as the blood runs, you do not perceive the decrease of your strength-but as soon as it is over, your limbs become stiff, and you are good for nothing. (To be continued.)

EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA.

WITH a view to enable respect

able persons, who are ineligible for a free passage, to proceed to the Australian colonies, at the lowest possible cost, it has been arranged to despatch a line of superior First-class Ships of large tonnage, for the especial accommodation of steerage and other passengers, at an exceedingly low rate of passage money. These vessels will be subjected to the inspection of her Majesty's emigration officers, and will be despatched on the appointed days (wind and weather permitting), for which written guarantees will be given :

These splendid ships have full poops, with first-rate accommodations for cabin passengers, and their 'tween decks being lofty and well ventilated, they afford most desirable opportunities for the accommodation of intermediate and steerage passengers. They will be fitted and provisioned in all respects on a similar plan to the vessels now being despatched by her Majesty's Colonization Commissioners, and the same dietary scale will be adopted. They are officered and manned by thoroughly competent persons, and carry duly qualified and experienced surgeons. Other equally fine ships, similarly fitted, &c., will succeed, and sail on the 1st and 15th of each month from London, and the 11th and 25th from Plymouth. Load at the Jetty, London Docks.

For further particulars apply to the undersigned, who are constantly despatching a succession of superior firstclass ships (regular traders) to each of the Australian colonies.

MARSHALL & EDRIDGE, 34, Fenchurch Street, London.

THE

LIVERPOOL and LONDON

Established in 1836. Empowered by Act of Parliament.
Office3-8, WATER STREET, LIVERPOOL;
3, CHARLOTTE ROW, MANSION HOUSE; and
28, REGENT STREET, WATERLOO PLACE, London.
Trustees-Sir T. B. Birch, Bart., M.P.;
Adam Hodgson, Esq.; S. H. Thompson, Esq.
Directors in London.
Chairman-WILLIAM EWART, Esq., M.P.
Deputy-Chairman-GEORGE FRED. YOUNG, Esq.

Sir W. P. D. Bathe, Bart.
Matthew Forster, Esq., M.P.
Frederick Harrison, Esq.
James Hartley, Esq.

James D. Nicol, Esq.
Hon. F. Ponsonby.

John Ranking, Esq.
J. M. Rosseter, Esq.
Edward T. Whitaker, Esq.
Swinton Boult, Esq., Secre-
tary to the Company.

Resident Secretary-BENJAMIN HENDERSON. Manager of the West End Branch-Frederick Chinnock, Esq.

Bankers-Union Bank of London.

Solicitors-Messrs. Palmer, France, and Palmer, Bedford Row.

Medical Referees-Marshall Hall, M.D., F.R.S.; Alexander Anderson, Esq.. F.R.C.S.

Surveyors-Messrs. Thompson and Morgan, 2, Conduit Street West.

Subscribed Capital, £1,500,000; Surplus Funds, £164,940. The liability of the proprietors is unlimited. Fire Insurance at Home, in the Colonies, and in Foreign Countries.

Life Insurance, with guaranteed Bonuses or otherwise. Capital Sums, to meet the depreciation of Leasehold Property by lapse of time, and for other purposes, insured by the Company.

THE DIRECTORS HAVE OPENED OFFICES AT No. 28, REGENT STREET, WATERLOO PLACE, UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MR. FREDERICK CHINNOCK, FROM WHOM PROSPECTUSES AND MAY BE OBTAINED.

FURTHER INFORMATION

SWINTON BOULT, Secretary to the Company.

UNION BANK of AUSTRALIA, 38,

Old Broad-street.-This Bank GRANTS BILLS at Thirty Days, and LETTERS of CREDIT on its branches in the Australian Colonies and New Zealand, at a charge of Two per cent. on sums above 10. Approved bills are negotiated on the Colonies, the terms for which may be learned at the offices of the Bank. London, July 20, 1848.

SAMUEL JACKSON, Sec.

CAPTAINS, VOYAGERS, and EMI

GRANTS will find CORDING'S WATERPROOF GARMENTS the best they can purchase, and indispensable to persons about to push their way where exposure to the elements is the order of the day. A waterproof suit adds vastly to comfort, and is a great saving in the end. As imitations that will not stand hot and cold climates are being offered, observe (for security) the name and address, J. C. CORDING, 231, Strand, five doors west of Temple Bar, and 3, Royal Exchange, facing Cornhill.

O EMIGRANTS.-No one should family with a good Stock of GUTTA PERCHA SOLES and SOLUTION. From the ease with which these soles can be applied to Boots and Shoes in countries where no shoemaker can be found for miles-their power of keeping the feet perfectly dry, when wading in either fresh or sea water, and thus preserving the body from coughs, colds, and consumption, in lands where medical advice cannot be easily had-added to their great durability and cheapness, render them most essential to the comfort and security of all who purpose sailing to distant countries. In CALIFORNIA they are invaluable.

Gutta Percha Trays, Bowls, Cups, Bottles, Inkstands, Dishes, Plates, Ear Trumpets, &c., are admirably suited for shipboard and emigrants, as they will not break by being even violently thrown down upon the floor.

Any person taking a stock across the seas will find it afford a profitable speculation.

Manufactured by the Gutta Percha Company, Patentees, Wharf Road, City Road, London; and sold by their wholesale dealers in Town and Country.

PORT STEPHENS COLONY.

AUSTRALIAN

AGRICULTURAL

COMPANY. Incorporated by Royal Charter, A.D. 1824. Office, 12, KING'S ARMS YARD, MOORGATE STREET, LONDON.

J. S. BROWNRIGG, Esq., Governor, Ashford, Chertsey, Surrey.

A. W. BLANE, Esq., Deputy-Governor, Salt-Hill, Bucks, C. D. Bruce, Esq., (Fletcher, Alexander, and Co.,) 10, King's Arms Yard.

Henry Buckle, Esq., Mark Lane.

W. S. Davidson, Esq., (Herries, Farquhar, and Co.,) 16, St. James's Street.

John Hodgson, Esq., St. Helen's Place.

John Loch, Esq., (Director of the Hon. East India Company,) 13, Cavendish Square.

Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq., Bushy Grove, Watford,

Herts.

Hon. J. T. Leslie Melville, (Williams, Deacon, and Co.,)
Birchin Lane.

Henry Porcher, Esq., Park Corner, Hartford Bridge.
J. H. Ravenshaw, Esq., (British Iron Company,) South
Sea House.

G. R. Smith, Esq., (Smith, Payne, and Co.,) Lombard
Street.

Thomas Tooke, Esq., (Chairman of Royal Exchange, and St. Katherine Docks.)

G. S. Thornton, Esq., (Director of Sun Fire Office,) Amwell Bury, Ware, Herts.

The Australian Agricultural Company have determined on Colonizing their Estate at Port Stephens.

This estate (a grant from the Crown) was selected with great care in 1824. It consists of about five hundred thousand acres of fine arable and pasture land (about the same area as Nottinghamshire.), extending from the Northern Shore of Port Stephens nearly forty miles to the River Manning. Port Stephens is the finest harbour in Australia after Port Jackson. It lies within one hundred miles' sail of the City of Sydney; and a road, ten miles in length, from the Company's settlement of Carrington, on the shores of the Port, communicates with the Post town of Newcastle in the centre of the coal district on the River Hunter, from which there is a daily steam communication with Sydney and its 50,000 inhabitants.

The River Karua flows through the Company's lands, and falls into Port Stephens, affording boat navigation for twenty miles to the village of Booral.

The Avon, flowing through the agricultural settlement of Stroud, and the Manning, which forms the Northern boundary of the estate, afford unfailing supplies of water. The soil is suitable for the growth of all the crops and fruits of the South of France and Spain, especially for wine grapes, as well as for several tropical productions. The hills afford excellent pasture for cattle, horses, and sheep. Timber and stone abound; game is plentiful in the thickets, and fish in the streams.

The Company have expended upwards of £300,000 in improving and stocking their territory. They have made roads, built bridges, founded three settlements, built two churches, and several established schools; and gardens, vineyards, and agricultural farms on the most approved principles of cultivation.

Their live stock comprises fine-woolled sheep, shorthorned and other stock, and English thorough-bred and Arabian horses of the purest breeds. About 1000 souls are now resident on the estate, including the commissioner, Captain King, R.N., the clergyman, a surgeon, and two schoolmasters.

The Company offer, 1stly, cultivated farms, with excellent dwellings, out-houses, gardens, &c., all ready for immediate occupation,

2ndly, Uncultivated land suitable for reclamation and cultivation as farms, vineyards, and gardens.

3rdly, Building land on the shores of Port Stephens, on the site of a future maritime town.

The terms will be:-for the Houses, Cottages, Farms, Vineyards, &c., twenty years' purchase on an estimated rental.

For the uncultivated land, Fifty Pounds paid in England, and larger sums in like proportion, will entitle the purchaser to a Free Passage to Port Stephens; to select a Freehold of Fifty Acres of Land fit for Arable purposes, and to a right of Pasturage for a certain number of live stock, paying a poll-tax of 5d. per head for Cattle and Horses, and 1d. for Sheep.

The Company, in order to accommodate Farmers and Gardeners of small capital, will Lease Land for Ten Years at 28. an acre per annum, giving a right to purchase at any time within Ten Years.

Colonists sailing in the Company's Ships will be received at Port Stephens by an Agent; and allowed to reside for a limited period in buildings belonging to the Company, at a very moderate rate.

Emigrants will be able to obtain all necessaries of food and clothing from the Company's Stores, at the current prices of Sydney, which is one of the cheapest markets in the world for both food and clothing.

The following are among the advantages offered by the Port Stephens Colony:

A Climate which admits of out-door labour all the year round, under which fevers, agues, and consumptive diseases of Europe and America are unknown, and all the produce of the South of France and Spain, as well as much of that of Britain and of India, arrives at perfection.

An ample quantity of land suitable for arable and pastoral pursuits adjoining streams.

A Port safe and accessible for ships of the largest

burthen.

A Market for produce, within 100 miles, by water communication, of the city of Sydney, and within ten miles, counting from Carrington, of the settled districts of the Hunter River, to which, at 28. a head, steamers from Sydney ply daily; the most distant settlements on the Manning being only thirty-five miles from the Port.

Roads and Bridges through a district sufficient to support a thousand farmers, all ready made.

Model Farms, Vineyards, and Orchards, from which the best live stock, seeds, cuttings, and examples may be obtained.

Churches and Clergymen.

Schools and Schoolmasters. Note.-The Company will make further grants for Churches and Schools as population increuses. No taxes of any kind, except on the sale of spirits. Perfect security for Life and Property. Perfect Civil and Religious Liberty.

The cost of reaching Port Stephens for a full grown passenger, not being a purchaser of land, will be from £15 to £20; that is to say, from about 158. to 20s. a week, according to the average length of the voyage.

It is presumed that Port Stephens offers greater advantages than any other Colony, because already 25 years' labour and £300,000 have given it all that other new Colonies are hoping to obtain.

Further particulars may be obtained, on application to the Secretary, GEORGE ENGSTROM, Esq., 12, King's Arms Yard, London.

N.B.-THE FIRST SHIP WILL SAIL IN JULY.

BOOKS FOR EMIGRANTS. Published under the superintendence of the SOCIETY for the DIFFUSION of USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. THE FARMER'S SERIES of the

THE

LIBRARY OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE consists of six volumes, which comprise a Treasury of Information for every husbandman. The Treatises consist of

I. THE HORSE; its History,

Breeds, and Management. By WILLIAM YOUATT. To which is appended, a TREATISE on DRAUGHT, by I. K. BRUNEL, Esq. The whole illustrated with numerous cuts. In 8vo, bound in cloth, 68. 6d.

II. CATTLE; their Breeds, Management, and Diseases. By WILLIAM YOUATT. With beautiful Cuts of the Various Breeds, Anatomical Illustrations, &c. In 8vo, price, in cloth, 88.

III. SHEEP; their Breeds, Management, and Diseases. By WILLIAM YOUATT. Illus trated like the volume on Cattle, together with Microscopical Examinations of the various Wools; to which is appended, the "Mountain Shepherd's Manual." In 8vo, price, in cloth, 88.

IV. BRITISH HUSBANDRY, exhibiting the Farming Practice in various parts of the United Kingdom. By JOHN FRENCH BURKE, Esq. Illustrated with numerous Cuts. In two Volumes, 8vo, price, complete with Mr. Cuthbert Johnson's Supplement, bound in cloth, 16s.

V. A

MISCELLANEOUS

VOLUME, entitled "HUSBANDRY, Volume III.," but quite distinct from the others.

Also, Pocket Edition, bound in cl., price 28. each volume, THOMSON'S SEASONS and CASTLE of INDOLENCE, in 1 vol. 4 Illustrations.

SEA SONGS. By CHARLES Dibdin.

London: ROBERT BALDWIN, Paternoster Row.

IMPORTANT TO EMIGRANTS!!

Extract from the report of Dr. Knox's Lecture on Emigration and Colonization, delivered at the Mechanic's Institution, on the 5th of January, 1849; from the Morning Advertiser.

The Lecturer also advised them TO SELECT FOR BARTER the manufactures of Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, and to be mindful to take out some GooD SINGLE and DOUBLE BARRELLED GUNS, articles highly appreciated, and for one of which, by Manton, he had himself given as high a price as 70, GUNPOWDER was an essential to those Weapons of great value to trade in, and SADDLERY was of high value as an article for barter.

FREDERIC BARNES,

3, UNION ROW, TOWER HILL, in reprinting the above Extract, for the information of Emigrants, desires to call their attention to his

GUN AND PISTOL MANUFACTORY,
and Warehouse for
IRONMONGERY, CUTLERY,

TOOLS, SADDLERY, AND BIRMINGHAM AND SHEFFIELD GOODS OF ALL KINDS, Where they may select large or small assortments for barter, or for their own use, at very reduced Prices for Cash. F. B. having Establishments at Birmingham and Sheffield, and manufacturing a great variety of the various articles in large quantities for exportation, can, with confidence, assure Emigrants, and Captains of Ships, that he is in a position to supply them with every article in the above line, at prices very much below other houses.

He solicits the favour of a call from parties before purchasing, to whom he will be happy to afford every information and furnish lists, priced, of such articles as may be likely to be required.

Good Single GUNS, with proved Barrels, From 208. each upwards; and RIFLES, with Patent Breeches, from 258, each. GUNPOWDER, SHOT, PERCUSSION CAPS, and all other Articles in proportion.

F. B. desires to call particular attention to his EMIGRANT'S IMPROVED PORTABLE COOKING STOVE,

Which requires no setting, and is the most complete article of the kind ever offered. It may be inspected, and every information given on application.

FREDERIC BARNES,

GUN AND PISTOL MANUFACTORY, and Warehouse for IRONMONGERY, CUTLERY, TOOLS, SADDLERY, &c., 3, UNION Row, TOWER HILL, LONDON, at the bottom of the Minories, and facing the Tower; also at 182, Livery Street, Birmingham, and 25, Carver Street, Sheffield.

TO EMIGRANTS.

TOWNSHEND'S LONDON HOTEL.

(late Weakley's Hotel, Devonport.) T. R. TOWNSHEND respectfully begs to direct the attention of parties embarking at this Port, for the Colonies, to the superior accommodation which his well-known Hotel affords. The charges are very moderate, and intelligent parties are in waiting to render every assistance in the conveyance of Luggage, &c., intended for shipment. The above Hotel is in the same street with the Government Dock Yard, and contiguous to the New Steam Arsenal, Mount Edgecumbe, and the River Tamar.

***No extra charge for Sitting Rooms. Omnibuses, in connexion with the above Hotel, await the arrival of every Train.

DENT'S IMPROVED WATCHES

and CLOCKS.-E. J. DENT, Watch and Clock Maker by distinct appointment to the Queen, H. R. H. Prince Albert, and H. I. M. the Emperor of Russia, most respectfully solicits from the public an inspection of his extensive STOCK of WATCHES and CLOCKS, embracing all the late modern improvements, at the most economical charges. Ladies' Gold Watches, with Gold Dials, jewelled in four holes, Eight Guineas. Gentlemen's, with Enamelled Dials, Ten Guineas. Youths Silver Watches, Four Guineas. Warranted substantial and accurate going Lever Watches, jewelled in four holes, Six Guineas.

E. J. DENT, 82, Strand, 33, Cockspur Street, and 34, Royal Exchange (Clock Tower Area).

Printed by HENRY DICK WOODFALL, of No. 14, Great Dean's Yard, in the City and Liberties of Westminster, in the County of Middlesex, Printer, at No. 11, Angel Court, Skinner Street, in the Parish of Saint Sepulchre, in the City of London, in the said County. Published by WILLIAM SOMERVILLE ORR, 2, Amen Corner, Thursday, 10th May, 1849.

EMIGRANT'S

VOL. I.-No. 33.]

A Register for Emigrants.

The Shams and Realities of Colonial Reform...

CONTENTS. 257

.257-58 The Wakefield School in a Passion.. 258 Iowa and Wisconsin

259

Parish Emigration.................................... Letters from Abroad:

260

A Coachmaker at Kirkland, Ohioa Cook at the Bishop of Newcastle's, Morpeth, New S. Wales

.......

..262-63

Copper-smelting in South Australia -New S. Wales-Bullock Yoking -Cape of Good Hope, &c. Advertisements

264

A REGISTER FOR EMIGRANTS. In the course of our extensive correspondence, we continually find Emigrants with Capital, without rural experience; Emigrants of Experience, with very Small Capital; and farm bailiffs, gardeners, carpenters, &c., with large families, and means sufficient to pay their passage, but insufficient to enable them to start as freeholders, although not content to remain more than a settled period in servitude. If these people could be brought together, arrangements, either temporary or permanent, might be entered into of a very advantageous nature. For instance, the following is a list drawn up from letters lately received by us:

A. A gentleman with a large family, not accustomed to £ English agriculture, but with some knowledge of tropical cultivation

10,000

3000

2000

10

50

50

200

500

M., N., and O. Three sons of a ruined farmer, between 20 and 25, one apprenticed to a miller; all accustomed to hard work; among them

40

200

P. Is a druggist, a good gardener, and amateur farmer, with two sisters, capital

2. A farmer, with wife; useful son, 15, and two younger children; understand dairy and bread-making.

R. R. Is a tailor, with two sons 15 and 16, and two daughters, and capital

S. A currier, with six children; four of them fit for ser-
vice; ready to work himself at anything. Could raise
T. An engineer and blacksmith; can pay his passage.
U. Jack of all trades; wife, two children young
V. A stonemason, married, with

pay

500

60

160

40

There are also a great number of mechanics able to their passage, a still larger number of clerks and shopmen professing to be ready to do anything. We exclude, for the present, all notice of the multitude of eligible persons totally destitute.

It is evident, at a glance, that the parties above described are capable of forming the nucleus of a Colony; but, to look at the matter in a less ambitious point of view, there are twos and threes who might advantageously be brought into communication. The man who will land without capital might be assured that his sons and daughters would find immediate employment near him; and the man of capital would be assured of labourers and maid servants, of whom he had some previous knowledge; and, more than this, arrangements might be made by which, in return for faithful service and assistance, the farmer without means should be paid in land as well as money.

With the view of assisting such arrangements, we propose to

PRICE 2D. STAMPED 3D.

try the experiment of a "Register of Emigrants," in which parties about to proceed at their own expense to any Colony, if desirous of obtaining service for themselves or their children, or of hiring land, or exchanging labour for land, will be able to communicate with capitalists; and by which capitalists will be able to learn what labourers, farmers, farm bailiffs, gardeners, carpenters, and blacksmiths, as well as clergymen, schoolmasters, and surgeons, are proceeding to the Colony and location they have themselves selected. We should be glad to include suitable persons, entirely destitute of means; but this would, for the present, render the undertaking too cumbrous, by overwhelming us with applications. Parties desirous of being inscribed on the register (which will be kept in Initials, with a numbered reference to a Confidential Book) must forward particulars of their names, address, calling, capital, Colony to which they they propose to emigrate, and any other brief general informations.

THE SHAMS AND REALITIES OF COLONIAL REFORM. SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH threatens another motion on Colonial affairs for the 24th. The business could not be in worse hands. We shall have another of his learned-by-rote declamatory speeches, studded over with garbled figures, selected facts, and Wakefieldite misrepresentations, wound up by the stereotype tail-piece of Grecian emigration idols and sacred fires.

If some honest, able, single-minded statesman would take up the separate abuses of our Colonial system and apply the whole force of his energies to amend some one crying grievance in the same way that Clarkson and Wilberforce attacked the Slave Trade, and Cobden the Corn Laws, there would be a probability of practical reforms. For instance, let a man make himself master of the case of the Cape Colonists, and bring forward some plain suggestions for realizing the full benefits that might be obtained from the natural advantages of that fine country, the public would be able to grasp a single proposition applied to a single Colony; and, if the proposition were really sound and accordant with the feelings of the Colonists, it would surely make its way in public favour, and be not unwillingly adopted by the Government of the day. In Colonial matters, our Government, although ignorant, are, we really believe, more honest than their ordinary opponents of the Wakefield clique.

With Canada it is unnecessary to meddle. The Canadians are empowered to manage their own affairs. To concern ourselves about matters we cannot control, except by way of friendly advice, is only a foolish waste of time. The Quebec and Halifax Railway would be worth ten regiments, and a cart-load of speeches or Acts of Parliament for cementing the connection between the countries. Therefore, our parliamentary knight-errants may leave Canada alone, for Canada will right or wrong itself.

In regard to Australia and New Zealand, there is a question on which, as nine-tenths of the Colonists in those countries are agreed, there can be no mistake-the Land Question-which, like Aaron's Rod, swallows up all others. The principles, the evidence, the petitions of the Colonists are all cut and dry to the hand of any statesman equal to the task of stating a plain case in a plain straightforward earnest style, and of returning to the charge with Hume-like pertinacity. We want for Australia and New Zealand what Canada has got a Colonial Management of Colonial Lands, and a large land fund.

One thing at a time, that is the rule for treating Colonial questions; but, when some political Chiffonier empties out his wallet of grievances collected in a walk round the world, John Bull turns away from the whole concern in disgust.

Sir William Molesworth is neither able nor politically honest. He is a mere pump, or rather tank, which, having been laboriously filled by the exertions of the Jackals of the Wakefield clique, is almost as laboriously emptied. Being a Baronet, and a man of fortune, he is idolised, bepraised, and bepuffed by the democratic clique he patronises, who, detesting aristocracy in the abstract, are quite ready to perform Kontou to the aristocrat of the "right politics," l'Amphytrion ou l'où dine.

Sir William Molesworth has been in parliament many years; and the flourish of trumpets with which he entered has produced nothing worth remembering. His friends, we presume, are satisfied, because of the commendable gravity with which, like Tristram