Chapter III: Part 3

It is admitted in the published letter setting forth the design, that the friends and well-wishers of the society can hardly expect the full confidence of the public at its commencement; the great moral problem being yet to be solved; ‘whether the various grades of our working classes can be trusted, or whether, with all our religious, moral, social, and commercial advantages, we are rearing rogues or honest men;’ at the same time it is understood on the authority of the projectress, that in numerous cases where private advances have been made with similar objects, the rule has been gratitude and honesty—not ingratitude and dishonesty; and that her personal experience on this point, under many disadvantageous circumstances, is powerfully encouraging.

There may be difficulties in the details of such a plan; and it is possible that many persons who would retain an honourable sense of an obligation to an individual, would subside into a more lax morality, if the obligation were to a Board. The observation is trite enough, that a number of individuals united in an association will do, without any scruple, in the name of the society, what each of them would deem unworthy of his own character; but there are two sides to this question, and it is equally certain that many persons will take advantage of an associated body, if they can, who would hesitate to cheat any single member of it.

Reserving such questions, there can be little doubt, we apprehend, of the soundness of the three positions we have briefly stated. It is unquestionably melancholy that thousands upon thousands of people, ready and willing to labour, should be wearing away life hopelessly in this island, while within a few months’ sail—within a few weeks’ when steam communication with Australia shall be established—there are vast tracts of country where no man who is willing to work hard (but that he must be, or he had best not go there), can ever know want. That we have come to an absurd pass, in our costly regard for those who have committed crime, and our neglect of those who have not, must be every day more manifest to rational men whose thoughts are not confined within the walls of prisons, but can take the air outside. Nor is it to be contested—either that where it is possible for the poor, by great self-denial, to scrape together a portion of the means of going abroad, it is extremely important to encourage them to do so, in practical illustration of the wholesome precept that Heaven helps those who help themselves; or that they who do so help themselves, give a proof of their fitness for emigration, in one essential, and establish a strong claim on legitimate sympathy and benevolence, to do the rest.

Besides which, it appears to us that there are strong reasons in favour of this emigration of groups of people. It is not only that colonial experience, acting on this side of the water, can wisely proportion the amount of strength and the amount of weakness in each group—the number of single people, the number of married people, the number of men, the number of women, and the number of children—but it is, that from little communities thus established, other and larger communities will rise in time, bound together in a love of the old country still fondly spoken of as Home, in the remembrance of many old struggles shared together, of many new ties formed since, and in the salutary influence and restraint of a kind of social opinion, even amid the wild solitudes of Australia.

These remarks have originated in the circumstance of our having on our desk certain letters from emigrants in Australia, written to relatives and friends here—to serve no purpose, to support no theory, but simply to relate how they are doing, and what they know about the country, and to express their desire to have their dearest relatives and friends about them. As the truth, whatever it may be, on such a subject, cannot be, we think, too plainly stated or too widely diffused in this country, we consider ourselves fortunate in the possession of these documents. We are responsible, of course, for their being genuine, and we write with the originals before us. The passages we shall give are accurately copied, with no correction, and with no omission, but that of names when they occur.

The first is from a man in Sydney, who writes to his brother. He ‘would like to come to England for one day and no more to see the Railways and the baptist chappel.’

If you can emigrate out i shall be able to provide for you Send me
word in your next what progress you are making toward finding your
way out here do not stop there to staarve for as bad as Sydney is
no one that is willing to work need want i am beginning to think of
expecting some or all of you out i have told you what i can do and
look to God and he will do the rest for you dear brothere send answer
to this as soon as Possoble that is if you can understand it but it
is wrote so bad i think it will take some time to make it out.

The next is from a man at Melbourne writing to his wife:

My Dear and most beloved Wife this is the 7th letters I have written
and sincerly hope this may find you and my dear children in good
health likewise all my friends and acquaintances but I have not yet
received one from you excepting the one Mr W brought I am realy very
anxious about you particularly as I hear such bad accounts from home
you are in my thoughts day and night Oh that I could see you here
then you would spend the hapiest days you have ever yet spent there
is not the care and trouble on your mind here as there is at home but
God knows I have my share of it about you but I persevere for your
benefit. My dear wife do keep up your spirits and come as soon as
you can you will not have to study wich is the cheapest way to get a
meal here you can judge for yourself when I tell you that the best
flour is only 20 shillings the sack and such quality that you cannot
buy in England the bread is the best bread I ever eat in my life
and the meat very fine and no price at all for instance I saw a man
on Saturday night last buy a very fine round of beef and a fine leg
of mutton for 2 shillings and for all that Butchers is a very good
trade here there are several Establishments called the boiling down
houses where they boil down Bullocks and sheep for the fat only and
one house alone will boil down 800 and sometimes a 1000 in one day
this may seem almost incredible to you but it is a fact and the beast
must be of the best quality sheeps heads and plucks you can have by
wheel barrows full for fetching away for people never think of eating
such stuff as they call it ox tails you can have for fetching away
but you must skin them yourselfe so much for meat. Tea is 1_s_ 6_d_
lb but it can be bought for 1_s_ by the chest Coffee is 9_d_ lb wich
can be bought for 5_d_ but you must roast yourselfe or send it to the
roasters but you can do it at home very well for every body has what
is called a lamp oven here which costs about 7 or 8 shilling and you
can bake your bread or your dinners at your own fireplace Potatoes
are rather dear they are 1_d_ lb but they are butifully fine onions
the same price Cabbages 1½ and 2_d_ each fresh butter 1_s_ 6_d_ lb
and salt do 1_s_ 2_d_ lb Mushrooms grow very plentiful you may go
and get a bushell some time before breakfast I have taken a deal of
notice in the people here they do not study economy as they ought
if you where here we could save money fast I am determined to buy a
peice of ground shortly and I intend joining the building society but
I dont know what to do untill I heare from you I am daily expecting
a letter from you I know I could not have had one much sooner for
I recon upon ten months to get an answer. I am still living in the
little cottage and I have worked very hard lattely I dare say you
will be suprised when I tell you that I have been at work as a joiner
the last 3 months and I have made 3 Chests of drawers at home in my
over time since for a Master Cabinet Maker I expect a winters work
at the carpentering as there are a great many Buildings going on
here I am happy to say that I enjoy most excellent health indeed it
would be a sin to wish for a better state of health I never have
had the slightest cough since I came here I have had a slight touch
of my old Complant in the legs but I have got a presription which
cures it directly the Chemist that made it up told me that my stomach
must be like iron and my Constitution as strong as a horse to take
it the doctor told me to wear flanell drawers so I got 2 pair and
since then I never have it. Rents are rising rapidly here you cant
get a cottage with 2 rooms under 7 or 8 shillings a week they have
rose my rent to 5_s_ I almost forgot to say that I shall have 10_s_
monthly to pay in the Building Sosiety and 10_s_ entrance it began
in January so I shall have the back money to pay and it is expected
that it will run out in six years and then you will get 120 pounds
out if you let it lay the whole time there is two of them and they
are going on flourishing. I have been at work at the builders now 11
weeks and have not lost an hour till last week and then I only lost
a quarter which was 1_s_ 6_d_ but I got 10_s_ profit for I had an
infant to bury. I made the coffin after I done work that is the first
funeral I have been to they never keep a corpse more than 2 days. I
have been thinking a great deal about Alfred wether his master will
give him his time out to come with you Tell my dear sarah that
I have got a beautiful parrot for her I tried hard to rear some to
send home to jane and one for poor C. but they died I think of Mr
and Mrs C. and fameley very often I wish he was here to have a glass
of ale and a pipe with him but he must not expect a long pipe here
for they smoke nothing but short pipes about 6 inches long and the
blacker they are the better they like them and you have to give ½
each for them give my best respects to him I shall always be glad to
hear of his welfare I do hope it will be in my power to reward him
for his kindness before long and to Mrs C. and fameley give my love
to my brothers and sisters with one exception tell master he would do
well here it is an excelent business here indeed one of the best give
my love to my dear children. Oh that the day may not be far distant
when my happiness may be more Complete by seeing them and you on the
happy shore in the _Province of Victoria_ this is the new name given
by the Queen for Port Phillip. My dear as soon as I get a letter from
you letting me know that you are coming then I shall begin to make up
things for my selfe but untill then I am unsettled which way to act
for I have saved a few pounds wich will be very much wanted to lay
out and I have bought myselfe several things since I have been here
that I could not do without, I have been very carefull and am almost
a Teetotaler I very seldom drink anything but I will live well and I
feel the benefit of it in my strength for I have lately often worked
from 4 in the morning till 11 at night and dont feel half so tired as
I used with half a days work but sometimes I am almost compelled to
go and get a pint of beer for the sake of company as I am at home by
my selfe and no one to speak to. I get very dull there is no notice
taken of Easter here. I worked all day on Good friday and Easter
monday the Melbourn races are thought the most of it lasts 3 days
but I worked all the time and did not go to see them I cant enjoy
pleasure untill you come to share it with me.

This poor fellow seems to be possessed of an appetite which must have been very inconvenient to him at home. This is his account of a light supper he had one night:

I almost forgot to say that I wanted something for my supper saturday
night so I went to the butchers to get some chops and I had a pound
and half of the loin 2_d_ fine sheep hearts and a sheep kidney and
how much do you think they was why only 4_d_ the lot a fine bullocks
kidney is only 2 and a very fine shin of beef 4_d_ or 6_d_ what will
the London butcher say to this. Poultry is rather dear but it is
about the same price as at home.

Finding himself not quite well, and perhaps a little affected in his digestion by the trifling meal just described, he put himself on short commons as follows:

Yesterday being sunday I took some medecin so I got 4 lbs ½ of
the neck of mutton and made myselfe some nice broth and some suet
dumplings the meat only cost me 4_d_½ I think my dear I have stated
facts wich ought to cheer you up and you must consider that the sun
has been clouded from us a long time but thank God that cloud I hope
is being removed and our sunny day are yet to come. I have no doubt
about it I can assure you I have not the slightes wish to see England
again I dont know wether I told you that all sorts of clothing is
much about the same here as home there is some very fine linen
drapers shops here there is one thing that is very dear here and that
is artificial flowers the comonest is a shilling a sprig flannel is
1 8 a yard the ladies dress very fashionable here My dear as I have
nothing more to say at present I must conclude with hoping you will
keep up your spirits and that you may have a pleasant and prosperous
Voyage wich there is no fear of for it is considered the best voyage
out of london. I shall write directly I receive your letter which I
am sure will not be long.

A gentleman, who has been ordained as a clergyman of the Church of England, writes thus of Sydney at present:

Sydney is at present crowded with _respectable_ young men,—Bankers
and merchants’ clerks, artists and such kind of people, are not
wanted at all, so that many of them having but small means are quite
in despair. They are almost useless to the settlers and people
in the Bush and can find no occupation in town and are therefore
liable to every temptation. I hope you will exert all your influence
in preventing such people from coming out here, unless they come
prepared to go into the Bush as shepherds, &c.

A vast number of the orphans who have come out here have turned out
ill in consequence of the bad training at home. They fancy they are
young ladies and that they ought to sit and knit or just take a walk
on the race course or in the domain, with children. They have not the
slightest idea of industry, nor do they understand what household
work is. All this they should be practically taught in the old
country, and it would save much disappointment and misery when they
arrive here.

A poor woman at Sydney, re-united to her children, writes,—

Dear Friend,

Your kind note of Dec. 4th I have received informing me that you had
obtained passage to this port for my children. They safely arrived
by the Castle Eden all in good health. They however left their box
of clothes behind at Plymouth and I have not as yet been able to get
any account of it. It appears to be lost, but as _they_ arrived safe
I do not care to trouble any one to enquire for this. The oldest girl
got married about five months since to a respectable young man a
tradesman, a pretty good match—the next boy is apprenticed six months
ago to the wheelwright business and the next boy is four months
apprenticed to a boot and shoemaker—the other the little one I have
myself. My own health is pretty good, and although times are rather
dull just now yet I hope that I shall find enough to do to keep along
with. Many ships have arrived here with emigrants and this for a
time causes rather more to be looking for situations than there are
situations to be filled, but most of them go into the country.

An orphan girl at Bathurst, to whom the Emigration Company granted a free passage, writes thence to a lady in Ireland, ‘If in case any emigrants were coming to Sydney, _to send me my little sisters which I left at home_.’ Another sighs from ‘Patrick’s Plains, New South Wales,’ for another sister. In these cases, and in that of the wife of the good fellow with the appetite, it seems to us that a society on the proposed plan would do great service, and run little risk. Also in such an instance as the following:

Melbourne, Port Phillip

My Dear Brother and Sister

I now take this opportunity of writing a more lengthened letter
than my last which I wrote in haste in which I Enclosed a Draft for
the sum of twenty five pounds £25 payable to you on the Bank of
Australasia in Austin Friars London thirty days after sight, which I
hope you will get Safe. I also send by this ship’s Mail another Draft
for the same money only to Ensure the money safe in case one ship
might get lost on the passage to London and one Draft I Keep myself.
I hope as soon as you receive my letter that you will not make any
Delay but write to me Immediately and I hope and trust you will send
me a long letter for nothing will give me more pleasure than to hear
a little about you all not Omitting one of you you wrote to me for
£30 but £25 is all I can spare for the present. I have been perfectly
aware of the state of England Ever Since I left or I should have been
among you many years since but now I have banished all thoughts from
my mind of ever seeing England, the way to Say it is don’t want, for
ever since I have been here I _have not seen anybody in want_ but at
the present time wages is not quite so good as they were when I wrote
to you first that is in Consequence of the late Influx of Emigration
of late, you say you have not left a stone unturned to try to get to
me the reason is you don’t understand farming nor sheep, I am sorry
poor mother has met with the accident of which you Say poor Creature
Mother must by this time be quite Infirm, and I am happy to hear
my sister marys Child I will now say a man Thomas is quite well I
suppose he cannot recollect me 20 years since I saw him, I have often
thought of him when he first Called me uncle, If I am not mistaken
you are the only one who had written anything to me about him I was
very fond of him and my Kind love to him and I hope he has the use
of his feet. I was not aware of you being married you never stated
how long you had been so whether girls or boys what age, now this is
unkind of you was it my case I should have told you all particulars
with their age and Everything, assist poor Mother all you Can for
what kindness I have received from her now think of that. It appears
to me that you are all in a thriving way you four Children and your
Sister Eight, as I stated in my last letter here I am Tom nobody but
myself but you must Endeavour to Increase your family to the same
number. I suppose your wife will laugh at me making so bold to Say
so but she must forgive me and she must Say so in your next Letter
to me my kind love to her and your Children and I hope I shall have
that happiness of seeing you all with me before this time 12 months.
I will try to make you all as comfortable as my circumstances will
admit please the Almighty to spare me but I have my troubles in
another way to yours. I believe I told you I had separated from my
wife some years since In Consequence of her taking to Drink but she
followed me over to port phillip of late since you recd my letter. I
gave her another trial and I expended about £20 but all to no purpose
therefore I have left her about four months since she has kept me
back considerably in pocket but still I Care not, so long as the
almighty spares my health how happy I should be if you was with me,
but please God in the meanwhile I will Endeavour to purchase about an
Acre of Land on some of the Townships so that it will at all times
be your Own and a home as long as you live but at the present time
I hold a Ticket for which I gave five Guineas for landed property
to be drawn in a Lottery in the port philip District at present
belonging to the Bank of Australasia when you take your Draft for
the £25 which I remit to you ask any of the proprietors of the Bank
and no Doubt they will Explain all to you about the Drawing for they
are all prizes from 640 acres of land in a prize to ½ an acre as
also Dwelling houses. should I be fortunate to get a grand Drawing
it shall be all for the sole benefit of you and yours I do certainly
expect things will get rather worse that is as far as regards wages,
but at the present time when all things is considered now being the
middle of winter the slackest time of year but still should it be as
I anticipe, then it will be Ten times better than England as you Say
you can scarcely keep the wolf from the Door but here you can for
you Can and we do buy a sheep at a time from 4_s_ 6_d_ to 6_s_ each
oftentimes a milking cow from £1,0,0, to thirty shillings sometimes
less a Sack of flour of 200 weight of the best quallity for one
pound sugar 2_d_½ per lb 1_s_ 6_d_ per lb for Tea Everything will
seem Quite strange if you come I must Initiate you in our colonial
ways you will not be like many who arrives here strangers that know
no one. I hope should you come you will bring as many newspapers
as you can as also books should you have any for I am very fond of
reading should you Engage with the Emigration agents to come Out you
will Immediately post a letter in London to me stating the name of
the Ship you will be likely to arrive in so that on her Arrival in
port phillip I will come on board for you as also on your arrival
here you will send a letter Directly from the Ship to me by the post
as probably by that means I may get one Safe for where the Shipping
Come to anchor is nine miles from Melbourne Just off williams Town.
I sent you the first Draft for the £25 by mail that went to London
in the ship General Palmer as I am to send by two separate Ships on
the receipt of any of my letters you will write to me Immediately you
will if you possibly can to bring some recommendations they may be a
service to you att all Events they will do you no harm should it cause
you any trouble never mind. I suppose I told you in my last Letter of
my cousin Williams Death some years since the Bank here charged me
£1,0,0 to send you the £25 Mr C. or Mrs C. will no Doubt put you in
the way to come to me as I have remitted all I Can spare, had I have
recd your letter one Month Earlier I would have sent you £40 they
say farm labourers is all they want here I Say no I Consider that my
Judgment and Experience of 20 years will allow me to say something
on that head for I have seen persons and that many who arrived from
London I can safely Say never knew what a plough was meant for
untill they came to these Colonies they have made far better farm
servants in all its Branches than people from the rural Districts of
England who had been brought up to a farm from their Infancy and that
in the space of a Couple of years in fact the Londoners is Considered
the best working men in the Colonies upon an average they so soon
pick anything up and they are I may say the majority of them are the
hardest working men such as Bush carpententers splitters and fencers.
I stated in one of my letters some years Since to Mother about me
being Deaf but I am happy to say that I am now but very slightly and
that in my right hear first through a Cold but this last four Months
I have been at times been slightly troubled with spitting blood and
palpitation of the Heart but I am under a Course of Medicine and
getting bether I expect all through a cold that I Caught, Medicine
and Doctor’s Charges are very Dear here all has to be paid for. I
also Enclose to you the second Draft for the £25 in this Letter as
also a memorandum of the present rate of wages for working people as
you must expect there has been a great reduction since you received
my first letter the Consequence of so many arriving of late from
England but still if you was here it would not Interfere materially
with you while I am alive please God to see that you and yours would
be more comfortobly situated than many who Arrives entire strangers
to this province.

The writer of the next, sent out as a labouring man, and then very poor, now holds an influential position at Sydney. The reader will smile at his description of ‘mean and unmanly occupations:’

In Sydney times are rather dull at present—various causes have given
rise to this; the disturbed state of Europe has sensibly affected
commerce. The Gold hunting Mania of Chalaforina has put to flight
many small capitalists, who will ultimately return if permitted
by the daring freebooters of that Country. The steady stream of
immigration pouring into Sydney has brought down to a fair standard
the exorbitant wages given to female Servants. For this the Public
are mainly indebted to you. It would be well if possible to advise
all persons before leaving home, not upon any account to hang about
the purlieus of Sydney, or the other Towns of the Interior for a
dislike is generally acquired in those places for a bush life. It
is deplorable to see the Number of able bodied men who eke out a
miserable subsistence in Sydney in mean and unmanly occupations, such
as hawking through the Public Street fish, fruit, vegitables, pies
all hot—and various other things as equally disreputable, whilst they
could if they possessed a spark of Manliness or common energy of
mind obtain respectable employment in the interior, but their Weak
and fantestic minds conjure up a thousand Hobgoblins in the Shape of
Blacks, Snakes, flying foxes, Squirls, Mad Bulls, and other dreaded
Animals, as equally ridiculous. A man coming to New South Wales 16000
miles in search of a living and remaining in Sydney after he lands,
is like to an individual who digs all day long in search of some
hidden treasure, who when he discovers it declines to take it up,
because it would be too burthensome to take home.

The letter with which we shall conclude our extracts, is from a convict—the only one before us, from any member of that class.

New South Wales.

Dear Affectionate Wife and family

I with pleasure embrace this first Opportunity of addressing these
few lines to you hoping by the blessing of God they will find you in
the perfect enjoyment of Good Health as it leaves me at present thank
God for it. I wrote you a letter to you while our stay at the Cape
of Good Hope which I hoped you received. We abode there one week and
we arrived at Port Jackson in Sydney on the 8th day of June after
a fine and pleasing voyage for 4 Callender Months wanting two days
only. Nothing worth Mentioning happened all the Voyage. Only 2 of our
unhapy Number was taken away from us by death. While lying in Sydney
Harbour I engaged for one twelve Month and am now for the present
time situated up in the country, in not so quite a comfortable
position as I should wish but I must bear it for a short time, and
as conveniences will allow I shall be in Sydney to work. Dear Wife
You can come out to Me as soon as it pleases you and also my Sister
and I will provide for you a comfortable Situation and Home as a good
one as ever lies in my power, And When you come or send You must
come to My Masters House at Sydney. He is a rich a Gentleman known
by every one in this colony, and you must come out as emigrants, and
when you come ask for me as a emigrant and never use the word Convict
or the ship Hashemy on your Voyage never let it be once named among
you, let no one know your business but your own selves, and When you
Land come to my Masters a enquire for me and thats quite sufficient.
Dear Wife do not you cumber yourself with no more luggage than is
necessary for they are of no use out here you can bring your bed and
bedclothes and sufficient clothes for yourself and family. You can
buy for yourself a tin hook pot to hang on before the fire in the
Gally to boil tea at times when it is required. And a few Oranges
and lemons for the Sea Sickness or any thing you please. Dear Wife
this is a fine Country and a beautiful climate it is like a perpetual
Sumer, and I think it will prove congenial for your health, No
wild beast nor anything of the Sort out here, fine beautiful birds
and every thing seems to smile with pleasure Cockatoos as plentiful
and common as crows in England Provisions of Every kind is very cheap
you can buy Beef at 1_d_ penny per lb flour 1½_d_ per lb tea 2_s_
per lb and Sugar at 2_d_ per lb and other things as cheep, but this
is every poor mans diet. Wages is not so very high out here not so
much as they are in England. I have Nothing more to Say at Present
more than this is just the country where we can end our days in peace
and contentment when we meet. I send my kind love and best of wishes
to you all and every one related to you and me, to your father and
Mother. Sisters and Brothers, aquaintences and friends and to every
one who may ask for me. I send my kind love to you all and especially
to my wife and children.

Farewell.

These ‘simple annals of the poor,’ written for no eyes but those to which they were addressed, are surely very pleasant to read, and very affecting. We earnestly commend to all who may peruse them, the remembrance of these affectionate longings of the heart, and the consideration of the question whether money would not be well lent or even spent in re-uniting relatives and friends thus parted, and in sending a steady succession of people of all laborious classes (not of any one particular pursuit) from places where they are not wanted, and are miserable, to places where they are wanted, and can be happy and independent.

MILKING IN AUSTRALIA.—This is a very serious operation. First, say at four o’clock in the morning, you drive the cows into the stock-yard, where the calves have been penned up all the previous night, in a hutch in one comer. Then you have to commence a chase after the first cow, who, with a perversity common to Australian females, expects to be pursued two or three times round the yard, ankle deep in dust or mud, according to the season, with loud halloas and a thick stick. This done, she generally proceeds up to the _fail_, a kind of pillory, and permits her neck to be made fast. The cow safe in the fail, her near hind leg is stretched out to its full length, and tied to a convenient post with the universal cordage of Australia, a piece of green hide. At this stage, in ordinary cases, the milking commences; but it was one of the hobbies of Mr. Jumsorew, a practice I have never seen followed in any other part of the colony, that the cow’s tail should be held tight during the operation. This arduous duty I conscientiously performed for some weeks, until it happened one day that a young heifer slipped her head out of an ill-fastened fail, upset milkman and milkpail, charged the Head Stockman, who was unloosing the calves, to the serious damage of a new pair of fustians, and ended, in spite of all my efforts, in clearing the top rail of the stock-yard, leaving me flat and flabbergasted at the foot of the fence.—_From ‘Scenes in the Life of a Bushman.’_ (_Unpublished._)

METAL IN SEA-WATER.—The French _sarans_, MM. Malaguti, Durocher, and Sarzeaud, announce that they have detected in the waters of the ocean the presence of copper, lead, and silver. The water examined appears to have been taken some leagues off the coast of St. Malo, and the fucoidal plants of that district are also found to contain silver. The _F. serratus_ and the _F. ceramoides_ yielded ashes containing 1-100000th, while the water of the sea contained but little more than 1-100000000th. They state also that they find silver in sea-salt, in ordinary muriatic acid, and in the soda of commerce; and that they have examined the rock-salt of Lorraine, in which also they discover this metal. Beyond this, pursuing their researches on terrestrial plants, they have obtained such indications as leave no doubt of the existence of silver in vegetable tissues. Lead is said to be always found in the ashes of marine plants, usually about an 18-100000th part—and invariably a trace of copper. Should these results be confirmed by further examination, we shall have advanced considerably towards a knowledge of the phenomena of the formation of mineral veins.—_Athenæum._

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Published at the Office, No. 16. Wellington Street North, Strand; and
Printed by BRADBURY & EVANS, Whitefriars, London.
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=TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:=

Italics, bold letters, blackletter font, superscript
and small capitals are represented by _ = ~ ^{}
and ALL CAPS respectively.

Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.

Perceived typos have been silently corrected, while
archaic or variant spelling and punctuation have been
retained.

The above excludes the section ‘A Bundle of Emigrants’
Letters’, in which all potential errors were retained,
as the number of contributing authors made it
challenging to separate genuine errors from individual
spelling habits.

The totals in the table ‘Feb. 14th, 1850.’ are inaccurate
in the original text, and this has been retained.