ward as the unforeseen occurrences to which a traveller, in an unexplored country, might be exposed, would permit. On the 13th of May, 1815, he commenced his tour, and on the 2d of June, finding his provisions would not enable him to proceed further, he began to retrace his course back to Bathurst, where he arrived on the 12th of June, having been absent 31 days. In the course of this tour, he travelled over a vast number of rich and fertile vallies, with successions of hills well covered with good and useful timber, chiefly the stringy bark and the pine, and the whole country abounding with ponds and gullies of fine water; he also fell in with a large river, which, he conceives, would become navigable for boats at the distance of a few days' travelling along its banks. From its course, he conjectures that it must join its waters with those of the Macquarie river; and little doubt can be entertained that their streams must form a navigable river of very considerable size. At a distance of about sixty miles from Bathurst, Mr. Evans discovered a number of hills, the points of which end in perpendicular heads, from 30 to 40 feet high, of pure lime-stone of a misty gray colour. At this place, and also throughout the general course of the journey, kangaroos, emues, ducks, &c. were seen in great numbers; and the new river, to which Mr. Evans gave the name of the Lachlan, abounds with fish. The natives appeared more numerous than at Bathurst; but so very wild, and apparently so much alarmed at the sight of white men, that he could not in duce them to come near, or to hold any intercourse whatever with him. At the termination of the tour Mr. Evans saw a good level country, of a most interesting appearance, and a very rich soil: and he conceives that there is no barrier to prevent the travelling further westward to almost any extent that could be desired. The distance travelled by him or this occasion was 142 measured miles out; which, with digressions to the southward, made the total distance 155 miles from Bathurst. He adds at the same time, that having taken a more direct line back to Bathurst than that by which he left it, he made the distance then only 115 miles; and he observes, that a good road may be made all that length without any considerable difficulty, there not being more than three hills which may not be avoided. The Governor has made several excursions into various parts of the interior to observe the general progress of the agricultural and grazing concerns of the colony, and has published the result of his observations. It was with much regret his Excellency had frequently to remark, that among the lower order of the settlers great slovenliness and neglect of the most obvious and necessary duties of farmers were but too frequent and evident in their personal appearance, and the state of their farms, in regard to cultivation and improvement. This remark is meant to apply more particularly to the settlers in those fertile and luxuriant tracks on the banks of the Nepean and Hawkesbury, where nature has been most bountiful; as there the settlers seem seem to have done least to improve their own condition, or to render their farms productive in any degree equal to what might be reasonably expected. 16. A fire broke out near Wapping Docks, which was not entirely subdued at a late hour last night. The fire commenced in the warehouses of Messrs. Viner and Co., and was occasioned by the drying of grain in the kiln. These premises were consumed in a very short time after the fire was discovered, as were those of Mr. Waldie, a vintner. The extensive workshops and premises of Messrs. Oliver, which were situated on the other side, soon caught fire, and burnt with great fury, when the utmost apprehension was entertained for the adjoining houses, and some shipping on the stocks. Fortunately, however, the flames did not extend beyond these buildings, which were completely destroyed; but much alarmi prevailed on account of Messrs. Oliver having about 60 chaldrons of coals in their cellars, to which it was feared the fire would communicate. These gentlemen were insured to a large amount, though not equal to the loss they must sustain. The powerful body of water from the engine of the Dock Company was exceedingly instrumental in preventing the flames from spreading. 18. Tienna.-Alarming accounts are received from various parts of the Austrian Monarchy respecting the daily increasing dearness of provisions. In some parts of the Tyrol, the Salzburg mountains, Upper Carinthia, and the greatest part of Illyria, there is such a scarcity, that the people have recourse to bread made of bran and powdered bark of trees. In the environs of Agram the country people farm the woods, in order that they may catch the rats in them, which are smoked, and considered as a delicacy. The accounts from Bohemia are also far from consolatory, and it is feared that the mountainous parts may be distressed by famine in spring, which will have the most fatal consequences for the numerous manufactories in those parts. The capital itself, as the tables of importation show, must be better provided than last year. 20. College of Edinburgh.-The Parliamentary Commissioners, appointed to manage the yearly grant of 10,000l. voted by Parliament to be laid out in finishing the College of Edinburgh, met on the 7th inst. in order to receive plans and specifications for the completion of the building. The plan of Mr. Wm. Playfair being adopted, the prize of 100 guineas was adjudged to that gentleman. The second prize of 80 guineas was awarded to Mr. Burn. According to Mr. Playfair's plan we understand that the exterior of the building, as originally planned by Adains, is to be retained with very little alteration; but there will be a total departure from the internal arrangements. The southern side of the quadrangle is to be occupied almost entirely by the library, which will be 190 feet long, and one of the most elegant 100ms in the kingdom. The western side is to be appropriated to the Museum; and the other two sides are to be occupied chiefly as class-rooms. The original proposal of accommodat ing the professors with houses in the college is entirely abandoned. A burglary, attended with circumstances of peculiar atrocity, occurred at Gretna-hall, near Springfield, the residence of P. Gibbs, &c. The following are the particulars-About one o'clock in the morning, the servant man, hearing a noise in an apartment adjoining that in which he lay resembling the crackling of fire, proceeded to the spot, when he found this room and three others in flames The family was immediately alarmed, and it was presently discovered, notwithstanding the confusion of the scene, that 63 guineas had been taken from a desk. This circumstance, coupled with the fact of a ladder having been left against the window of one of the blazing rooms, left no room for doubting that the robbery had been effected by some villains well acquainted with the premises, and who, after effecting the robbery, had set fire to the mansion in different parts, for the purpose of escaping detection. The Rev. Mr. Morgan, minister of the parish, with laudable alacrity, alarmed the neighbourhood, by ordering the church bell to be rung. Though great numbers had by this time assembled to render assistance, the flames continued to rage furiously until about five o'clock, when they were at length subdued, after very considerable damage had been sustained to the building, and a quantity of furniture and some very valuable pictures consumed. A precognition is now going on.Dumfries Weekly Journal. 21. Waterford.---Some time before five o'clock on Wednesday morning, Thomas Cosker, farmer of Cullenstown, between Ross. and Tagmon, in the county of Wexford, left home with a load of corn for Ross. His only servant, James Kavanagh, went a short way with him, and then returned. It appears, that immediately upon his return, he dreadfully beat his master's wife, who lay in bed, and left her for dead; a very small infant, who lay with her, was killed, as is supposed, by the first blow. He had previously locked up three other children, and terrified them with horrible threats and imprecations. The monster finished by robbing the house of about sixty pounds in bank-notes and cash. The villainy was not discovered until far in the morning, when some of the neighbouring women chanced to call. The little prisoners were released, and from them alone could any account be gathered of these complicated horrors. The poor woman could barely be said to be alive, but was utterly speechless, and quite incapable of communication. Late on Wednesday evening she still lived, but afforded no expectation of recovery. After the horrid deed Kavanagh absconded. 24. It appears by letters recently received from our ships of war in the West Indies, that a fever has prevailed on board some of them, peculiarly fatal in its nature to those attacked by it. Among other vessels the Scamander, it is said, has lost six officers, including the surgeon, four midshipmen, and two clerks. The Childers, in the short period of a month, has been deprived of several officers by the same unfortunate cause, besides five pur sers sers successively appointed to her, and upwards of 30 men. 28. Calamity at Chirk, in Wales. -[Extract of a letter.]-"It is not without strong feelings of regret, that I communicate an account of the destruction of the extensive collieries at Chirk, in Denbighshire. On Saturday evening, the 28th ult. owing, as it is supposed, to inattention in the servants of the Ellesmere Canal Company, the stop-gates, plugs, &c. for regulating the quantity of water on that part of the canal which is embanked up to Chirk aqueduct, were neglected: the fatal consequence was, that the embankment being overpowered by the great weight of superfluous water, gave way, and falling down a precipice, completely dammed up the river Ceriog, which flows below it, and over which the canal is continued by an aqueduct. The water being thus impeded, quickly found its way in another direction, and in half an hour every pit belonging to the colliery was filled with water, earth, gravel, &c. The machinery was torn in pieces by the tremendous force of the current, and very considerable damage done to the surrounding country. Had it not been for the judicious and timely interference of Mr. Ed. Davies, engineer to the Chirk colliery, in stopping the wickets or stop-gates of the canal, the whole of its water, increased by the overflowing of the Dee river, which is received by a feeder into the canal, must have swept away Chirk mills, and every thing in the valley, into one general destruction. Most providentially this was the only night in which, for several years past, the workmen were absent from the pits! They had been allowed a little time to collect Christmas bounties, &c. and thus this dreadful calamity is not aggravated by the loss of so many valuable lives as must have been otherwise inevitably sacrificed. All the horses employed in the works were instantly drowned. The immediate loss to the proprietors of the works is immense, and the destruction of so valuable a colliery, which has for a long series of years produced fuel for the country and employment for its poor, is, as a public calamity, irretrievable." 29. An Inquest was held at Bolsover, Derbyshire, before George Gosling, gent. Coroner for the Hundred of Scarsdale, on the body of Sarah Wild the elder, who feloniously poisoned herself, and William Wild, George Wild, and Sarah Wild, three of her infant children. Thomas Whitehead, of Bolsover aforesaid, being examined upon oath, stated, that about the latter end of November last, the deceased, Sarah Wild the elder, came to his shop, and asked to purchase two-penny worth of corrosive sublimate, and he sold to her a quarter of an ounce; and after he had delivered the same to her, the deceased then went into his house and held a conversation with him and his wife, and stayed for at least an hour, and then went away. Witness said that the deceased came again in about a week after, and purchased from him another quarter of an ounce of the same sublimate, which he sold to her. Witness said, that at the time he sold the deceased! the aforesaid sublimate, and from The the long knowledge he had of her, the deceased was of sound mind and understanding. William M'Lean, minister of the Independent persuasion, stated upon his oath, that he had several times attended upon the deceased during her illness, when he ask ed the deceased if it was the temptation of the moment that led her to commit the horrid crime which she had committed, when the deceased replied it was not through the temptation of the moment or of the hour, but that she had long intended it. Witness again asked the deceased what it was that induced her to do it, when she returned no direct answer. Witness said, that at the time this conversation passed, the deceased was perfectly sensible in her mind. James William Valentine and John Frith, both of Bolsover aforesaid, surgeons, upon their oaths stated, that they had at tended upon the deceased, and that she did, upon the 27th day of December, confess to them that she had given to each of her children a tea-spoonful of the same powder (which the deceased had informed them she then had in her pocket) mixed in treacle, and likewise that she had taken the same powder herself in a larger quantity. These two witnesses further stated, that they had opened the four bodies, and found the appearances to correspond with the deceased's assertions to them, and were jointly of opinion that the said Sarah Wild the elder, William Wild, George Wild, and Sarah Wild the younger, came to their deaths in consequence of their having taken the same mineral poison. Several witnesses were called in to prove the said deceased Sarah Wild the elder to be insane. The Coroner having read over the whole of the evidence, and having charged the jury to give their verdict according to the same, the jury upon a deliberate consideration stated to the Coroner, that not having any proof to their satisfaction of the insanity of the deceased Sarah Wild the elder, they gave their verdict upon the three children of Wilful Murder against the said Sarah Wild the elder; and a verdict of Felo de se against the said Sarah Wild the elder was given accordingly. 30. A fire broke out in the house of an old maid, named Mary Cock, living next door to the Ship public-house, in High-street,. Poplar, which, for a time, threatened destruction to the neighbourhood. The watchman, seeing the flames burst forth from the bottom part of the house, gave an alarm to the inhabitants, many of whom rushed naked into the street. Thomas Milend, one of the watchmen, on ascertaining that Mrs. Cock, who was nearly 80 years of age, had not escaped, obtained a step-ladder, and got up to the window of the room on the first floor, where she slept. The old lady now made her appearance, and opening the window, called for assistance. watchman seized her by the hand, and endeavoured to persuade her to come out on the window stone, in order that he might lift her out this she refused to do in the state in which she was, being attired only in her night-gown ; and, turning round, retired to get some other articles of dress. The At that |