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I -••v - • ,?^w, '/ , .>.\v?>. «• •» / ••*..•■;: - ■ * .■•J9hPHS5RBSr> • * • •.*.•■,■ .'.*• •; • •’VviflS /. ..>■:• ,. \L rf A *■“•. . v\.v»S-v • .-. i i'-y *A. y ■■ » -««. , . . < « t,‘. ,-...• i... *_«.•■* - ,-«■ '■>.>» ** y t * V. „* » "V* .* , * *..', '-: J/,: .,: .;. • -v>S•...',• ? .*r/WW&J8<* 909 XISBY & REID, Proprietors. The Family Journal.—-News—Politics—Literaturb—A grigulture—Domestic Affairs . GEORGIA TELEGRAPH BUILDING. STABLISHED 1826.} MACON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1868. YOU XLII.--N0. 53. PRISONER AMONG CANNIBALS. BY C. F. FOSTER. Between the Eastern and the China a is the Island of Formosa, which is er two hundred miles in length, arid me sixty in breadth. It is at present Jabited by two distinct races—Chinese J Indians—the former occupying the prthern and western coast, and the lat- the southern and eastern. These two *s are separated by a range of moun- D < running lengthwise of the island, 1 the two divisions are as different as i people—the lands of the Chinese be- jg low, undulating, and arable, and jose of the Indians rugged, mountain- m aud in some degree sterile. The Chi- efc are diminutive, timid, and industri- as; the Indians athletic, fierce and war- le. The former live by their herds, til- jto, and peaceful arts; the latter by pbbing, plundering, capturing, and mak- ig slaves of their more honest neighbors. Utateof constant hostility exists between ie two nations. The Indians cross the lountains in formidable bands, swoop Aim upon the Chinese, pillage and burn ieir houses, carry off their grain, drive ff their herds, and make prisoners of as aauy men, women and children, as they an lay their hands on. These human jptivea serve the red men in a double ipacity—first a3 slaves, and then as (1; for the Indians are cannibals, and en feast on human flesh. Some years ago, the writer of this teinent being in an English vessel was ecked on the eastern coast of the Is land ; and four of us half drowned, and onsiderably bruised, found ourselves linging to the rocks, and imploring eaven for succor. As our vessel went to pieces upon a mining reef, within about a hundred mis of the rocky shore of the Island of :onnosa, I managed to get hold of a -ar, to which I clung with the tenacity :a drowning man. Three others got aid 6f the same support simultaneously ith myself, and for a few moments we hirled about with terrible velocity, and :ea a huge wave suddenly landed us pon a low ledge of rocks, a few feet iove the level of the seething, roaring raters that madly broke against them, bough half dead from exhaustion, and riously bruised, yet the hope of life rought every faculty into active play, ad in less than a few minutes we were all vond the danger of being swept back to the boiling and foaming surf. This happened not far from mid-day— e wind blowing a gale, and the rain ating against us in driving sheets, 'e could only see a short distance out >on the angry sea, though clearly be nd the point where our vessel had gone pieces. We now and then detected me portions of the wreck whirling about the surf, but nowhere could we per- ive a sign of human life. Of the twen- -two passengers composing the officers id crew of the ill-fated ship, we were 1 that were now left alive; and as we oked at the frowning rocks above us, e awful destruction below, listened to :e wild bowlings of the storm, and eon- lered our almost helpless condition, on a island said to be inhabited by a fierce ice of cannibals, we almost envied those ho were sleeping their last sleep. Their irthly troubles, at least, _ were over, ■idle the unknown future might hold for i such* terrors and sufferings as would .ake us pray for death as a relief. But still the proverb “while there is Je there is hope,” gave a little cheer, ad thanking heaven for our present reservation, we began to toil up the ocks to sec what laid beyond. We 'ere so exhausted and bruised as to make ar ascent very slow and painful, and early every step was attended with a roau of both physical and mental suffer- ng. At length we reached the summit of he clifi) and found ourselves on the edge fa heavy wood. We stopped to rest few minutes, and then pushed forward r about a quarter of a mile, through a hicket of undergrowth. To our surprise, e suddenly came in sight of a small neat illage^ of stone houses, scattered upward long the slope of the neighboring hill, roni the bed of a romantic valley, through hick flowed a babbling stream. We iuld see what looked like gardens, hade-trees, orchards, green lawns, and, »r back, fields of pasture and grain, the 'hole having the appearance of a high ’•ate of civilization. Could this be the bode of savages and cannibals ? No— ever—impossible, and we shouted for y at the thought that Providence had irown us among a people who would ot deny us the right of hospitality. As we were about to again set forward, ith brightened spirits, a sad event took lace among us. One of our companions, ho had seemed the most delighted at •■o discovery of the village, suddenly topped, sat* down, pressed his hands gainst his breast, and complained of a reling of suffocation. About the same •oraent he fell over on his backhand an lamination disclosed the startling fact bat he was dead. The fatigue and ex- itement had proved too much for the ction of a diseased heart, and he had one to join the spirits of those who had crished in the deep. As we had no 'fans of burying him, we placed his -ody upon a high rock, took away the trifling things we found in his pock- *3. and in a more sad, dejected mood, ft forward towards the village, with the Relation of getting assistance from the 'Wives, and return to perform the last »d office of humanity. But we never turned. We called him “poor fellow” ben—we envied his fate afterwards. As we approached the village, we came Pon a few Chinese laborers, at work in 3 c Btorm in an open field. On seeing ' they fled with cries of terror, and in a e w moments the whole town was in a •ste of the wildest alarm—horns blow- tom toms beating, and men, women a d children running to and fro in great ^fusion. We stopped to let the excite- ^nt calm down, and were soon cautions- } approached by a band ofsome twenty- Ve or thirty warriors, armed with bows ‘■0(1 arrows, spears, matchlocks, and knives. As they warily drew near us, we held up our open hands, and watched them with breathless interest and sinking hearts, for we could see they were the dreaded men of whom we had heard such terrible accounts. ** •*] Physically considered, they were not an ill-looking set of men, being of good stature, with well-developed limbs and bodies. Their skins were a bright copper color, and their hair black and long, sweeping down in large masses around their necks and shoulders. Their features I did not like, the general expression be ing too fierce and sensual. Their fore heads were narrow, their eyes black and snaky, their cheek-bones high and sharp, their noses large and arched, and their mouths and jaws huge and massive. They wore a sort of turban around the head, and a strip of cotton cloth about the body. These two articles formed their entire costume, and their only or naments were large rings depending from their ears. As soon as they had satisfied them selves that we were not armed and hos tile, they came up boldly, and one, who seemed to be a leader or chief, and whose only distinctive mark was a crim son sash around the waist, made signs to kpow from whence we came. I replied to him as well as I could, and when I made him understand we were wrecked, he seemed highly pleased, and hurried us off to the village. There, after under going a close and troublesome examina tion from a crowd of women arid children, we were locked up in a small stone house, which had hut one apartment, and no outlet save the door, Here we remained a prey to conjecture till dark, when the chief and several war riors came in with a torch, and showed us some things that proved they had found the wreck. They then proceeded to strip us, and feel of our limbs and bod ies, after the manner of so many butchers examining the animals they intended to slay. We remembered we were among cannibals,trembled with terror,and regret- ed we had not perished with the vessel. Both of my companions were larger and stouter than myself, and one was quite fleshy. With him the savages seemed much pleased. They pinched and patted him, and nodded to each other with smiles—while, he, poor fellow, with ash en, trembling lips, and eyes half starting from their sockets, looked thehorror we all felt, but which no language could speak. Next in their approval was my other companion, but for myself they cared little, and for once in my life I thanked heaven for being small, thin, bony, and muscular. After this examination they went out, carrying all our clothes with them. In the course of an hour they brought us a large dish of boiled rice, and about a gallon of water, and then left us for the night. We had little appetite for eating, as may readily be believed, and our feverish sleep on the moist, hare pound was filled with the most horrid reams. The storm abated about mid night, and the morning broke fair. At daylight, six savages came into our prison with ropes, and proceeded to bind our arms behind our backs. They then led us out to a sort of common in the cen tre of the village, where most of the in habitants were collected—nearly every Indian, male and female, being attended by a Chinese slave of the same sex. In the middle of the area was a circular wall of masonry, about five feet high, and sixty in circumference, and around the inner circle of the wall was a row of faggots. The largest of my companions was now separated from us, aud bound back to back with a Chinaman. of near his own size, and then, amid cries of ter ror from the two victims, and shouts of delight from lie savage spectators, they were lifted over into the arena, and the faggots set on fire. The spectacle which followed was horrid beyond description, and the shrieks, moans, and groans of the poor fellows, as the flames encompassed and blistered their flesh, and then liter ally roasted them alive, are ringing in my ears yet. Being lashed back to back, each one, as he retreated from the circu lar fire, pushed the other nearer to it; and their struggles in this way made a fiendish sport for their tormenters, who almost drowned their screams of agony with yells of laughter. When at last they fell down exhausted, they were left upon the ground to bake till the fire burnt out, after which their dead and roasted bodies were removed and eaten, each one cutting off a slice to hia or her liking, and devouring it greedily. When all was over my companion and myself were taken back to our prisons more dead than alive—in fact, wishing our selves dead. We were kept shut up there for a week, and then he was taken out and roasted in the same manner, and I was left alone, the last surviver of the ill-fated crew. I starved myself as much as I could, for fear I should get into a good condition for their horrid purpose; and after keeping me a week longer, my captors signified that I might take one of the squaws to wife and have my liberty. The female selected for my partner was old and ugly, but the hope of escape made me seem pleased witn the revolting alternative, and thus I became a member of the in fernal .tribe. For a month I was closely watched and guarded; but I affected to be so well contented with my new life, that by the end of that time their vigilance began to relax, and then I felt almost certain of being able to effect my escape to the other side of the island, and there find refuge among another race. Meantime I had to be a witness to several other hu man roastings. Of the cannibals of Formosa, I have little knowledge beyond those of the vil lage in which I was for three months a prisoner; but from what I saw, I am in clined to believe the whole race are com plete savages, without industry or art, and not a whit removed from the barbarism of their ancestors. It is true their houses and lands have a look of civilization, but these they owe to the skill and la bor of their captives, whom they employ and destroy as suits their pleasure or ca price. Like the North American Indians, they are fond of athletic sports, and spend much of their time in hunting, fishing, fighting and marauding. They have war-songs and war-dances, and be lieve in some sort of religion, which prin cipally consists in propitiating the evil spirit by the most diabolical human sac rifices. Some of the women are rather comely in appearance, but their natures are fierce and intractable, and their mor al qualities are of the lowest order. The three months I was compelled to remain with these savages was an age of horror, and did more to break down my consti tution than previous years of hardships, exposures and privations. At last I managed to escape in the night, and after concealing myself two days in a hollow tree, I pursued my way with perilous adventure, and reached a large Chinese settlement in an exhausted condition. Here, at least, I was kindly treated and cared for; and at length suc ceeded in getting passage to Canton, and- then to my native land. But since my return I find I am not the same man I was before, and the recollection of the horrid scenes I witnessed often makes me shudder in my waking moments, and shriek out with terror in my sleep. LOVE IN THE CLOUDS. BY D. IVAN DOWNES. From the Neu> York Sunday Mercury.] [CONCLUDES.] Captain Alden Raynor, whilom of the good ship Ajax, a craft which was ac counted in its day a real floating palace, but which long ago became of the list of things that were and are not, is a jolly old fellow yet, and as sensible of enjoy ment as ever he was. His hold on life is quite as strong now, at eighty, as I feel my own to be, at less than half that num ber of years. And, as he is just as apt at story-telling now, as many a younger man with pretensions running that way, I am in the habit of going over to his house of an evening, for the express purpose of taking sundry whiffs at the meerschaum with Him, and of listening to the thousand aud one stories he has to tell. It is true that the Captain’s memory is the little worse for wear, so that there are not a few of his anecdotes that I have heard him recount a score of times each; but then, the hale old man has such an inim itable way of getting off these things, that they are ever new, or, at least, I always cheat myself into the belief that they are, and listen with nearly as much interest as I should under different circumstances. It is not to every one, however, that he will unlock the coffers of his memory, and scatter abroad the treasures thereof, as he generally will to me; nor is it on all occasions that he can he drawn out, even to gratify his boy, as he calls me, for he has his point which is vulnerable to the enemies of high spirits, as when the recollection of the stiring days of his manhood’s prime, when, he trod the deck of his proud vessel, supreme lord of it all, and images of those dear ones who sick ened upon the sea, and whom, after their eyes were closed forever, he consigned to the embrace of the briny surge, in the gone years, come back to remind him that the things of earth are vain, and that his part in life is nearly acted out, and the curtain about to finally fall; then he is sad, and will sit for hours, his eyes unwontedly moist, and his lips in si lent motion, as if talking with the unseen. At times like these I have looked upon that old man, and felt that I was in the presence of something more than the gen eration of men now superintending the machinerv of life, can furnish for con templation. There is at such times a something which says to me: “Mark him well; the Arctic seas could not chill, nor the torrid beams burn him; he it is that held old ocean by the beard!” There is that sort of weirdness about him, then, that clings about our ideal of Neptune, and I catch in his eye a glimpse of the rolling surge, and in his voice I hear, alternately, the boom of the breakers and the mur muring of the shell, so that I forget that he is “of the earth earthy,” and imagine that he tarries here for a season only, and goes to his native home, the bosom of the blue sea! Last night, whilst the captain and I were hearing each other company in a pipe apiece of tobacco, he was more than usuallv communicative: “Tell me a story, Captain,” said I, “tell me one in which thehourisof of the mys tic isles of the sea shall figure, for I feel strangely spiritual to-night.” “Out upon you, Lance I” said he, tak ing his pipe from his lips. “Go away, you are full of sickly sentiment, of tne kind you have drawn from Jerusalem Delivered. I deal in facts, like the fel low I read of ’tother day, who answered to the hail of passing craft that his name was Gradgrind. Stubborn facts are the best for you in your present state, the same as Graham bread and cold potatoes are the best for an attack of affection, or, as it is misnamed, love. Call it what you will, whenever the fancy cuts loose from the reason and sports around like a dolphin, it is disease of the stomach, sir, or sometimes of the liver. Much poor poetry is oftentimes the product of a dis eased liver. You want a ghostly story of the sea. I’ll not gratify you. You have been told too much about salt water already. I’ll pin you to the earth this time, as firmly as Prometheus. And now listen, boy, to a story of France, in which I, myself, shall figure somewhat; and—and—well, well, after all, come to run my mind over the incidents of it, there will be a little, love—call it what you will, as I said be fore—at the bottom of it. But, mind you, this story sticks to the earth, at all events. When I was young, began the old man, and then he stopped, and pretended to be picking at his pipe. The truth is, he had started off on a wrong track, that brought back memories of the past in too bold colors. Sixty-one years ago (he resumed) I took a run through France, bee&use I had plenty of money and nothing to do. I was rattle-headed, like you, Lance, and I suppose as romantic. I said I took a run through that country. I’ll take that back, and say I made a visit to it;. for the fact is, although . I got through the northern departments pretty fast, I made a rather lengthy stay in Auvergne, among the hills. In fact, I staid there all of one summer. I arrived there in the early days of spring, when the wild bloom of the com mons were fresh and new, and the leaves of the grape were silky and light green. The country was so wildly beautiful, and the air so life-giving, that I could do no less than to decide that I would tarry for a few days. A mighty fine place that- Auvergne is for a young fellow—not an old bachelor of thirty-five, more or less, of your pattern, Lance; hut a young man, say from twenty to twenty-five; for, truly, the skies are fair and maids are fond. I doubt if there is a spot of equal size, unless it be Circassia, where the same amount of female loveliness may be found; that is to say, unless it has changed amazinly since I was there. Well, not to be tedious, J came, I saw, and was conquered by a little maid whom I shall call, for convenience sake, Marie —her surname is of no consequence. She was the daughter of a Count, or Marquis, perhaps—I am not well written up in those titles of nobility over there—and beautiful as the creation of a dream. So beautiful was she, Lance, that I loved her. Don’t smile; I loved her with all the soul I had, and my attachment grew stronger and stronger daily. I boated upon the water with her, and rode among the hills. I was like her shadow, like her second self, only we were of different sexes. Soon I discovered that there was some secret sorrow prying upon her, some blight of the mind, that dashed all her pleasures, and I began to think that my suit was vain. This idea almost took away my boyish wits; but, to know the best, or the worst, I resolved to bring matters to a crisis by offering myself to her, body and soul. This I did, and met with what I had feared, a refusal. “I respect you,” said she, in a French phrase, “but 0, mon Dieu, I can love you never. I shall never love a man again.” “Again!” said I wildly. “And you have loved another ?” “Ah 1” she replied, “how well! I have loved as woman never loved before, as woman shall never love one of her kind.” Then, Lance, I felt that I was fast be coming a sort of second-fiddle here in a French romance, and it mattered little to me when, where, or how she had loved; yet to carry, out the matter to its logical sequence, I inquired as to the particulars. “Must I alas! must I,” cried Marie, wringing her hands, “must I once more tell that tale of horror? O, Monsieur Raynor, I cannot, indeed I cannot relate it now; come to me to-morrow, when the sun goes down; I am calmer, then, and I will once more, for the second and last time, tell to mortal ears a story that freezes my blood by the thoughts of it. Adieu, Monsieur Raynor, till then!” I went home, Lance, with my mind in the condition of a vessel that had un shipped her rudder, and is being driven about by the angry gale. My hopes were a hopeless wreck, and, feeling that I had nothing now to moor me to existence, I prayed, yes, I prayed for death. Can it be, I asked of myself, that Marie—she whose angelic smile and gentle voice has won me to prize my life as doubly precious—can never he mine ? O, perish the thought! She wishes to dissemblefor the time only, to prove my affection. Her sweet eyes can never, have never, smiled for another as they have smiled forme. Her voice cannot have given its entrancing tunes to another’s ears. She does but jest with me for a true pur pose. I feel it to be so. I will go to her to-morrow eve, and have it from her own lips. The day came upon the earth the next morning with all the rich and varied glories that dawn ever brings to sunny France. The landscape was gorgeous with the commingled tints of the early sunbeams, and the emerald of the vege tation, and the groves were vocal with the glad carols oi the birds; but there was no joy in it all for me. The sun as cended to its fervid meridian, and slow ly, O, so slowly! passed over westward in all its golden splendor; declined finally, and sank below the horizon like a great fiery ball. That day seemed to last for a hundred vears. Just at the setting of the sun I leaped over the wal] of the fence belonging to Marie’s father. She was there, faithful as ever to her promises. “O, speak, Marie,” I cried wildly. “Speak quickly, and say you did but trifle with my feelings yesterday. Say that I may yet have hope that you wifi one day be mine.” “Alas,” she replied, “Monsieur Ray nor, you know not how impossible it is that we can ever be m6re than friends. I promised to tell you the reason of my re- fusal; sit down beside me, Monseiur, upon this rustic seat, and listen to me, while I relate what shall tear open afresh the wounds of my own heart, and what shall, perchance, cause a chord in your bosom to respond to the touch of pity’s fingers, for me.” , I sat down beside her, Lance, my hoy, and it was for the last time. She then narrated to me a story, in, as nearly as I can reproduce them, the following words: Three years ago, Dieu assistez moi, I lived at Troyes, in Champaigne, with my fether. I was as joyous and happy a maiden as lived anywhere in France; my friends said I was beautiful as a pic ture of the Virgin, and I, myself, know that I sang the livelong day, like a bird. My father, as you know, is a member of that department of the government which has the care of the mechanical interests of the Empire, and, consequently, has for many years cultivated the society of such persons as are acquainted with the parts, and the practical workings of all kinds of machines, and while we lived at Troyes, our visitors were chiefly men of that clasB, whom my fether would be closeted with for hours, engaged in mak ing drawings and models. One of our visitors was a young gentleman, a mem ber of one of the decayed families of no bility. He, I learned casually, came.al- so upon business connected with my father’s office. He soon began to be very attentive to me, and as he was all that was good and noble, I gradually came to love him. But, ceil pardonniz! Mon sieur, being naturally coquetish, when he offered me his heart and hand, I refused, although my heart was bleeding for him all the time. O, how he was stricken when I told him I would not love him! and how he went about talking with the air for weeks! I did not, however, cast him off; nay, I loved him too well for that. Au, contraire; I gave him my sin cere and sweetest smiles, knowing that, after a while, I would accept him; and then I would frown and pout, just for the pleasure it gave me to see him temporari ly miserable for my sake. Well, Mon sieur, I would not tire you, and I will hasten. M. Alexandre G—, this was his name, on three separate occasions, fell upon his knees before me, and prayed that I would have mercy upon him; and for the third time, I affected to spurn his offered hand. Still he fluttered about me; but I could see that a change had come over him. He was not so light-hearted as formerly; his eyes began to appear grave, and I had just come to the conclu sion that, when he declared his passion again to mo I would accept, because I knew that I had pressed him with co quetry, about as far as was safe. Just then Alexander disappeared. He was gone for more than' a week when, as I expect ed, and I had so keenly desired, he came back. Now there were smiles upon his beautful features when he asked me to ride with him, and I was happy in the thought that when we had ridden to some romantic spot, he would again request of me my hand, for I was sure I should not deny himagain. %, O, Monseiur, it was Heaven to me to be thus near him again ? His soul seemed to have divined the true state of my feel ings for him, and all his words were of love for me, and the paradise of a home to which he would take me. After a while, we came to a point where the forest bordered the road upon one side, and my lover stopped the car riage. “Let us descend,” said he, “my own, my darling; letus alight,and walk among the shadows of the grand old forest, for here we may meet face to face with na ture’s self, and hold sweet converse with her.” Then we alighted from the carriage. How supremely happy I was, thus to De alone with him that I loved best of all else on earth! I leaned upon his arm. He was strangely eloquent all the time that we trod the mazes of the woods. “Everything is beautiful,” said he, “ev erything ethereal; the earth, the trees, sky, all, all are glittering. The birds warble their softest songs, and the flowers exhale their sweetest odors for you. But O, none of these will compare with the entrancing scenes, and the ravishing sounds that await you in the enchanted home to which I shall ere long bear you, my own, my darling Marie.” Our walk led us to a fairy spot where grew many sweet flowers, and one of them became more sweet, more priceless than all the others, because Alexandre plucked it, and gave it to me. “Smell the fragrant bloom,” said he, “sweet Marie, it is odorous and fair, yet not half so fair as you.” I took the .flower and. smelt of it. “The scent is very sweet, indeed,” said I. “You love it, then, my Marie,” said he, “I have here the triple distilled extract of that same blossom.” And Alexandre took from his pocket a vial of perfume, and, pouring some upon a white handkerchief: “My love,” said he, “the odor of the flower is too ^ross for so angelic a being. Take you this handkerchief, and inhale the same fragrance, divested of all impur ity, and concentrated. The effect you will find to be exhilarating, nay, spirit ual.” - I could refuse no request of his, now, and complied. I remember that the odor was surpris ingly sweet, and the effect, as Alexandre had declared, exhilarating. It was more —intoxicating! I continued to breathe it. The more I inhaled it, the more I desired. Soon, all things began to re cede, growing smaller and smaller, like things in far perspective. O, how the trees did whirl about me, and the white clouds roll and spin! All around me then became invisible; all dissolved, and became a great blank. Then I seemed to be raised to an inconceivable distance; then I felt that I was sinking downward into the endless abyss of eternity, and the conviction siezed me that I was about to attain to the nieban, or annihilation, taught by the religion of the Burmans. After this, I thougnt and felt no more, and must have been for some time as dead. When consciousness came to nle, I was reclining in a small compartment, closed all round, which was made of bamboo wicker-work, and hung with damask, cur tains. It was open at the top, and, as I opened my eyes, I could see above me the circular, shining side of some great body, with a number of cords running down ward from it, and secured to the frame work just over my head. Beyond these I could see the blue sky, with here and there a floating white cloud; a few feet from me, also above, I saw the flag of France floating in the breeze. I was sen sible of a sort of motion, which gave me sensations such as I have felt, when a lit tle girl, in a swing. Near by me sat Alexandre G—, upon some bales of what I took to be tarred hemp. He was gazing upon me with joy in his eyes. “O, Alexandre!” I cried, “where am I ? Speak! am I not at sea on bord a ship?” “Ah no, my love,” he replied, “we are on the way to the enchanted home I told you of—the home of the blest, where none can take yon away from me, where we jshall be happy forever. Tis a track less path, love, hut I know the way. Are you not happy, dearest ? Remove the curtain near you—take an outlook, | and say if the way is not clear?” j I felt sick with the swinging of which I : have spoken, and very languid,'but I did as he desired. I withdrew the curtain, and looked out. Mon Dieu! O, the scene which met my gaze ! We were in mid- air! “0,1 can tell no more!” cried Marie, looking pale and wild, and clutching my arm, as if to keep herself from falling out of the balloon, which her imagination told her, for the instant, that she was in. In a few minutes she became more calm, and resumed: < I promised I would tell you all, and I will. We were in mid-air, and, as I cast my eyes downward, through the aw ful depth between me and the earth, I saw the country, spreading out toward the horizon, looking less like a map than the bottom of a vast bowl. Through the midst there was a serpentine, silvery line, that glittered like polished metal, and in the centre, exactly beneath, lay a town, with many burnished spires. “Great Heavens!” I cried, with my brain swimming, “Alexandre G—, tell me, O, I conjure you, tell me what means all this?” “It means,” he replid, “that we are on the way to our future chateau in cloud- land, and I believe,” arising and looking downward, “I believe the stream you see is the Loire, and that city the ancient one of Orleans! Be brave my treasure, like Joan of Arc—that city witnessed the greatest of her triumphs.” “O, Monsieur!” (ejaculated the girl, trembling,) “I cannot describe what my feelings were then. I was speechless with horror and amazement, for I real ized that I was more than two kilometres from the earth, in a balloon, with an aer onaut, whom my coquetry had deprived of reason. I sank down, and lay as one dead for I know not how long, in the. bottom of the car. Aroused by the voice of Alexandre, I started quickly to my feet, hut was precipitated immediately against the opposite side. The balloon was driving along at a fearful rate, and the wind was blowing an awful gale. O, how the car did swing, and the wind whistle among the ropes! “O, God,” I cried, as I sat up again, “I am lost 1” “Lost, darling? Why, no, you are not. I know where we are exactly; and, if it were not that a stratum of clouds lies between us and the earth, which we have quitted forever, I could show you the city of Tours. We are not more than eight een or twenty kilometres to the northward of it Be calm, my love 1 I am calm as a midsummer’s eve.” “O, Alexandre,” I said, “I pray you let this dreadful machine descend to the earth, and I will bless your name forever —nay, I will give you myself, body and soul l” “Poor woman! you forget that we are already married, and that you are mine while life lasts. Descend? Ah, my cherub! it grieves me to the soul to de ny you a request made thus early; hut would you return to that old, chilly hall, called earth? I had thought better things of you, Marie mine, than this. Believe me, the world is not for such as you; there is naught but disappointment there; none of our darling dreams are there realized; it is ever thus with those who live there, that just as they expect their dearest hopes are about to he real ized, that the cup of expectation is just being changed to that of enjoyment, it is rudely dashed from their hands, and they are miserable. Ask of me anything hut to descend, and I will grant it with joy to my Marie.” To my infinite joy, I could presently feel that the machine was rapidly settling. A few minutes later upon looking out, I saw that we were among some dense clouds, which surrounded us above, be low, and upon every side. O, thought I, if it could only be that my mad lover’s supply of gas should become exhausted 1 As this thought flashed across my brain, he, too, seemed impressed with the idea that we were gravitating. “The gas is running low, Marie,” said he, “and a good aeronaut, like myself or the Montgolfiers, should see that the sup ply is kept up.” Then he took one of the bales, and carried it up into the upper part of the baloon. Immediately I felt that the ma chine was rising again. We shot up out of th8 clouds into the broad glare of the sun, and I could see the shadow of the machine driving along the billowy sur face at appaling speed. Then I swooned awajr again. How long I remained unconscious I do not know. When I awoke, Alexandre had hold of my arm, trying to arouse me. “Ah, my love,” he began, “there is a scene in store for you. Do not go to sleep again, hut come here and look out.” He drew aside the curtain, and there, not far away, in the direction in which we were flying, lay a great mass of com pact and awfully black clouds. They stretched away to the right and left fur ther than eye could reach, and were boiling and rolling like the smoke of the bottomless pit. Anon the lightning’s crimson tongue would leap upward from them, and the thunders voice burs forth. “Now my precious Marie,” continued he, “you have an opportunity which no balloonist ever yet had—that of sitting in the very laboratory of the thunder storm, and meeting the lightning eye to eye! The other day, dearest, those fear less savants and aeronauts, Biot and Gay Lussac, thought themselves fortunate, when, at about this height, they could take some observation of the movements of the magnetic needle. How much more fortunate are we who shall soon see Jove forging his thunder bolts!” In a few seconds the machine went plunging into the black and tumbling vortex l And O, Monsieur Raynor, how my very soul shudders at the thought of the fearful rolling of the thunder, and the hissing ot the lightning, whiehtook place ali around ns; at one moment all was darkness, at die next, with a dread ful hurst, all' would be flooded with blaze! This was more horrible than all else, and I swooned again. Once more I awoke to' sensibility. “I think you are sick, my dear,” sud the voice of Alexandre. “These aiiy t voyages sometimes make the most experi enced of us ill. Lean your head ujx»n me, there is no sickness where we go.’ We had left the thunder storm. I was very cold, and I saw that frost had settled upon the locks of the maniac. “You are cold,” said he, “I was obliged to rise a ; little higher than I intended, in order to get but of the storm. The ther mometer usually stands at this alti tude, below zero. I will descend a little now, and we will sail along, parallel with the earth, until we get out to sea, when it will be safe to begin our final ascent. It is not so cold over the ocean as over the earth at the same height. Soon we shall bid farewell to France and the world. We passed over Angiers two hours ago. Now Nantes is nearly under us. Within forty minutes we shall be at sea; then, ho, for the upward flight!” For an hour longer I lay in the bot tom of the car, as one in the midst of a trance. After a while I began to reflect. I turned my eyes upward, and gazed at thenuge dark Bide of the aerostat. How quick the descent would he, thought I, if an accident should make a rent in the silk! “Marie, come here,” cried Alexandre, exultingly, “ho for the sea and Heaven. Farewell, farewell to France! Adieu to the earth!” He removed the damask, and I beheld the machine sweeping off the shore, and away to sea! Now to descend would be death. But then death had all along been certain, and the thought of it had lost its bitter ness for me. No terror could frighten me now. The sooner, thought I, that the catastrophe comes, the better. The ma chine did not swing now! She was riding in the still air that prevails at sunset. I looked upward again, as I had some mo ments, heard a strange, fluttering sound from the upper part of the balloon. There I saw a thin stream of smoke issuing from the side of the canvass. The next, mo ment, the upper end of the rope fell down. It had been burned in twain, and was blazing! “Alexandre,” said I, strangely calm, “the air-ship is on fire!” “Ha, ha, ha!” he laughed, “On fire? My beautiful balloon on fire? Never! She is indestructible. Fire cannot injure her. Why, my love, she out rode the lightnings. They pierced her through and through, and yet she is not injured, she is a spirit!” As he ceased speaking, there was a shriek of the escaping gas: the vast silken globe collapsed, and. the car, which had been for several minutes settling, began its fearful descent, perpendicularly toward the sea! Faster aud faster it sped, faster and fester, until— Thus aw »<*» DM .* . . , in Paris for the saV» tf ocitoslri The uubrooflu from Northers iMty, vendors from Savoy. The receipts .avSnu about twenty dollars | «ontb for each ottoq, .*/ Hew Silver Discoveries In Nevada. - Late California papers give forther accounts of the newly discovered silver mines in the “White Fine” district in Nevada, concern ing which some brief but fabulous statements have been published. These mines were dis covered in April last, and though the proeeei of their development has been comparatively slow, probably owing to the difficulty of transporting machinery in snch a rugged country, late accounts from respectable sources, which may be received as approxi mating the truth, give promise of important results from the working of the mines. The “White Pine” district is cold and snowy. The mines are much more elevated than are those on the Comstock range. There are few or no houses in the country, the in habitants living in tents or brush houses. In April last eight feet of snow covered the ground in the neighborhood of the mine. Very few persons will attempt to winter there; but in the spring there will be emi gration from all parts of the country to the new mine. A good deal of rich ore has been taken ont, and will be ready for reduction an soon as the machinery of the mills can be pat in operation. One account speaks of ore which is expected to yield from $5000 to $10,000 per ton. This is selected ore, and from a lode whioh Is regarded as especially rich, A mill is nearly completed which will have capacity for the redaction of ten tone of thia ore daily. Thb salea of retail li%oor dealers, in the United Statea, daring one year, amounted, according to the report of Oommisaioner . Wells, to $1,483,491,865. Of thia earn New York is credited with $946,017,590; Pennsyl vania, $159,663,495; Ohio, $151,734,875, and Illinois $119,933,341. When to thia enor mous amount of nearly fifteen bandied mo tions of dollars is added the value of dm time wasted in die consumption of ardent cpirite. and of the property destroyed by intorfoated persona, it is asserted that fee savings from the disuse of alcoholic drinks, would ex- tingaish the public debt ia one year. \#. %l “Justhere,” continued Captain Ray nor, “Marie sprang from her seat beside' me, and with the words: “Mon Dieu! I must show you the steps of that new ballet,” began pirouetting up and down the graveled walk.” “Lance, I was dumbfounded; I saw instantly that I had been paying my de voirs to an insane girl, and 1 assure you, I got out of that garden a second quick-. er than I went in, with the wind pretty well taken out of my sails. “Upon inquiry,” continued the Cap tain, “I learned that Marie had read the accounts of the aerial voyages of Mont,’ golfier, Pilatrede Roziers, d’Aland! and, in fact, of everybody else who had made any, and had afterwards brooded over the subject of aerostation until she be came crazed.” “Captain,” said I, “all that happened a number of vears ago; but it was a pretty good joke on you, and there fore—” “And therefore,” broke in the jolly old seadog, “you are of the opinion there ought still to be some consequences. Very well; my legs are becoming too old and stiff to do it; go down into the cellar yourselfj Lance, and bring up a half-dozen bottles of champagne. And it was done. - ■t A u y i>,*/. *•;>' j* 1 : V' ftyj. , ♦ ** V '•* i .'«♦ • ' v ' * * >». A' .fLiii’.’-ijA-A: .dGSsfea