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mark the diminished splendour of the sa-substance of these subterraneous growths cred ceremonies, The principal merchants was of a reddish colour, like soondre, soft of the city emulate each other on this occa- and moist, still preserving the grain of the sion; but Rajah Ram Chundur still main-wood.. On inquiry, it was found that tains bis superiority. He secured for the this natural curiosity was by no means About six or eight years ago, a return of the season in 1815, the famous singular. female singer Nikbee, whose voice never similar appearance offered itself on cleansfails of attracting an admiring auditory, as ing the Laldiggy, in Tauk Square; and well of British as of native residents. It is very lately at Dum Dum, not only trunks said, however, that a formidable rival has of trees, but bones, and deer's horns, were started up, in the person of a female song-found at a great depth from the surface of stress, scarcely passed her infancy, "whose astonishing talents are likely to eclipse all meaner rivals." The performances of the dancers and jugglers lost none of their autient spirit. The Mahomedan show-men, dancers, &c. were conspicuous. The ceremonies ended, as usual, with committing the image of the Goddess to the waters.

the ground, on the occasion of sinking a new tank. It is even said that the body of a boat was dug up under similar circumstances at Garden Reach.

It does not seem to be extremely difficult to account for these appearances. That the earth may have sunk in these parts, is possible; but the greater probability is, that layers of soil brought down by inundations, or other means, have accumulated, and formed the coverings of these buried articles.

The images of the goddess, thus annually east into the waters, were, perhaps, in former times of greater value, as to their material, than at present. A golden image of the Durga, seated on a lion, is now in the possession of Radha Kishun Bysak, who belongs to the general treasury, which was found in the middle of last month in the excavation of a tank at Huus Kulee, a place near Kisengurh. The image, which is more than fourteen inches high, and is in good preservation, was found at the depth of twenty-five feet. The gold is inferior in quality, being of the descriptiou called by the natives, pagoda gold. The goddess is valued at 20,000 rupees, and is at this time the great object of adoration Length from the snout to the stump

How far the same conception may account for the fossil trees, &c. frequently found in England, we presume not to say; but, we believe, that these appearances are seldom, or never, found on elevated spots, and in places remote from the The same causes operations of water, appear to produce the same effects all over the globe.

and wonder.

FOSSILS: SUBTERRANEOUS TREES.

A short time since, the Calcutta naturalists were called upon to assign causes for an interesting phenomenon, which has presented itself at the great tank before the junction of the Chouringhee road, with that of Esplanade Row. The bottom of this great bason being sandy, suffered the water to filter through it and escape, so as to leave the tank dry in the hot season. To remedy this evil, it was determined to remove altogether this sandy layer. A number of workmen were employed, and had not dug above four feet, when they came to a group of full grown trees.These trees were standing perpendicularly at short distances from each other. and had the appearance of trunks lopped off within three or four feet from the roots. In general they were about a foot and a half or two feet in diameter. They were firmly fixed in a dark loamy soil, into which their roots spread in every direction. The elbows where the trunk separated into its roots, were distinctly marked. The

DIMENSIONS OF AN ALLIGATOR LATELY
KILLED IN GARDEN REACH.

of the tail
Ditto of the head
Ditto ditto body
Ditto ditto tail
Ditto ditto fore leg
Ditto ditto hinder leg
Greatest breadth of the body
Ditto ditto head
Length of the mouth
Breadth ditto

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Thus, the whole length of the animal, when alive, must have been little less than 18 feet, and the circumference of his body, where thickest, about six feet.

His teeth were of various sizes, irregularly placed in the jaw, but the largest not bearing the same proportion to the size of the animal that the tusks of wild beasts bear to their magnitude.

On opening him, amidst a quantity of bones were found the bangles that had belonged to some hapless Mussulmau boy, and the bangles also of an Hindoo woman. To these exuvia was added a more recent capture, which still retained its proportions entire, viz. a goat.

CEYLON.

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fered a great deal from sickness in the boat, We have already reported the capture of but the King shewed no sign of fear, and the King of Kandy, with the precautions behaved like a man. When the whole taken for his security, and his behaviour in circumstances of his situation are taken a state of captivity. It having been into consideration, and it is recollected that thought proper, by the British Government in addition to his natural feelings on in India, that he should be entirely sepa- leaving an island where he had lived so rated from his people, and his late do-long in barbarous state, he was carried minions, and sent away to a situation which precluded all hopes, by parties forming in his favour, that event took place at the beginning of the year in the following man

ner:

This day, the 24th January, the King of Kandy, with his family, embarked on board H. M. ship Cornwallis, for Madras: ―a very great concourse of people assembled to witness this extraordinary embarkation.

It was late in the afternoon when they left the shore in the boats of the Cornwallis, the King with his wives and mother-in-law, under the care of Mr. Granville, in the Captain's barge, and the attendants in another.-Col. Kerr, commandant of Colombo, and Mr. Sutherland, secretary for Kandyan affairs, went with Capt. O'Brien, in a third. The master attendant's boat and several others followed to the ship. In conducting the females of the King's family to the boat, and in receiving them on board the ship, due attention was shewn to preserve that decorum with which all Indian women of high rank expect to be treated.

In regard to the King himself, every feeling of hostility had ceased from the moment he became a captive, and his wishes had been always indulged as far as they could be gratified with safety and propriety. He was taken to the water side in the governor's own carriage, and his ladies were carried in palankeens They were closely veiled as they went into the boat-and during their embarkation, which took up some time, the King stood by, and assisted by giving orders to his own people, with much composure and presence of mind. He was very handsomely dressed, and his large trowsers drawn close together upon his ancles, reminded us very much of the figure of Rajah Singal, as given by Knox. The wind was high, and the boats encountered a good deal of sea in their passage to the ship. The women were first taken on board, and the King followed. They were all drawn up in a chair, and the whole was managed with the regularity and precision which are so remarkable in every thing that is done on board an English man of war. Some of the ladies were of course much alarmed, and some had suf

through a rough sea, which he had not been upon since his infancy, to an English man of war, which he had never seen before, it must be acknowledged that his whole deportment indicated considerable dignity allotted very spacious accommodations to and firmness of mind. Capt. O'Brien had the Kandyan family, and his behaviour was in all respects so kind and attentive, that we are confident every possible comfort will be given to the royal captives ceeds to Madras in charge of the King and during their voyage. Mr. Granville prohis family, until they are delivered over to the care of the Madras government.

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AMERICANA.

No. III.

SKENANDON, THE ONEIDA CHIEF.

[From an American Paper.]

*

After interment, the only surviving son of the deceased, self-moved, returned thanks through Judge Dean, as interpreter, to the people for the respect shown to his father on the occasion, and to Mrs. Kirkland and family for their kind and friendly atten tions.

Died, at his residence near Oneida Skenandon's person was tall and brawny, Castle, on Monday, the 11th of March, but well made; his countenance was inSkenandon, the celebrated Oneida Chief, telligent, and beamed with all the indige aged 110 years; well known in the wars nous dignity of an Indian Chief. In bis which occurred while we were British youth he was a brave and intrepid warrior, colonies, and in the contest which issued and in his riper years one of the ablest in our independence, as the undeviating counsellors among the North American friend of the people of the United States. tribes. He possessed a strong and vigorHe was very savage, and addicted to drunkous mind; and though terrib e as the torenness in his youth, but by his own reflec-nado in war, he was bland and mild as the tions, and the benevolent instructions of zephyr in peace. With the cunning of the the late Rev. Mr. Kirkland, Missionary to fox, the hungry perseverance of the wolf, his tribe, he lived a reformed man for and the agility of the mountain cat, be more than sixty years, and died in Chriswatched and repelled Canadian invasions. tian hope. His vigilance once preserved from masFrom attachment to Mr. Kirkland, he sacre the inhitants of the infant settlehad always expressed a strong desire to be ment of Germon-flats. His influence buried near his minister and his father, brought his tube to our assistance in the that he might (to use his own expression) war of the Revolution. Pow many of the go up with him at the great resurrection. living and the dead have been saved from At the approach of death, after listening to the tomahawk and scalping knife, by his the prayers which were read at his bed-friendly aid, is not known; but individuals side by his great grand-daughter, he again and villages have expressed gratitude for repeated this request. Accordingly, the his henevolent interpositions; and among family of Mr. Kirkland, having received in the Indian tribes he was distinguished by formation, by a runner, that Skenandon the appel ation of the White Man's Friend. was dead, in compliance with a previous promise, sent assistance to the Indians, that the corpse might be conveyed to the village of Clinton for burial. Divine service was attended at the meeting-house in Clinton, on Wednesday, at two o'clock, P. M. An address was made to the Indians by the Rev. Dr. Backus, President of Hamilton College; which was interpreted by Judge Dean, of Westmoreland. Prayer was then offered, and appropriate psalms sung. ter service, the concourse which had assembled from respect to the deceased Chief, from the singularity of the occasion, moved to the grave in the following order:—

Students of Hamilton College,

Corpse,
Indians,

Mrs. Kirkland and family,
Judge Dean, Rev Dr. Norton,
Rev. Mr. Ayer,
Officers of Hamilton College,
Citizens.

Although he could speak but little English, and in his extreme old age was blind, yet his company was sought. In conversation he was highly decorous, evincing that he had profited by seeing civilized and polished society, and by mingling with good company in his better days.

To a friend, who called on him a short time since, he thus expressed himself by an Afterpreter :—

I am an aged hemlock-the winds of an hundred winters have whistled through my branches; I am dead at the top. The generation to which I belonged, have run away, and left me; why I live, the Great Good Spirit only knows. Pray to my Jesus, that I may have patience to wait for my, appointed time to die."

Honoured Chief! his prayer was answered! he was cheerful and resigned to the last. For several years he kept his dress for the grave prepared. Once, and again, and again, he came to Clinton to die, longing that his soul might be with Christ, and

In the year 1755, Skenandon was present at a treaty made in Albany. At night of clothing. His pride revolted at his selfhe was excessively drunk; and in the degradation, and he resolved that he would morning found himself in the street, strip-never again deliver himself over to the ped of all his ornaments and every article power of strong water.

his body in the narrow house, near his beloved Christian teacher.

While the ambitious but vulgar great, look principally to sculptured monuments, and to mches in the temples of earthly fame, Skenaudon, in the spirit of the only real nobility, stood with his loins girded, waiting the coming of his Lord.

[802 This Society was proposed in a meeting It was constituted the first day of Septemof Friends for the purpose, April 15, 1803. ber, in the same year; and was incorporated by the Legislature, Feb. 20, 1807. purpose was, charitable distribution of amounted to 1165 dollars. books and tracts. The first subscnption

its

His Lord has come and the day approaches when the green hillock that covers his dust, will be more respected than the Distributions of books took place in pyramids, the mausolea, and the pantheons 1804, 1806, 1809, and 1813. The followof the proud and imperious. His simple ing notice may afford a hint to the beueturf and stone' will be viewed with affec-volent of our own country. tion and veneration, when their taudry ornaments of human apotheosis shall awaken only pity and disgust.

Indulge, my native land, indulge the tear, That steals impassion'd o'er a nation's doom; To me each twig from Adam's stock is dear, 'And sorrows fall upon an Indian's tomb.' Clinton, March 14, 1816.

MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY

Every bundle of books, sent to a Parish in each of the foregoing generai disticutions, contained a circular letter, explanatory of the nature and object of the zociety, accompanied with the following

REQUEST.

The Gentleman, to whom these Treatises are directed, is respectfully requested, in behalf of the Massachusetts Society for FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. promoting Christian know.edge, and of its pious benefactors, to give them free and We had occasion, lately, to introduce the speedy circulation in his Parish, by oancensures of an American on some of the ng them from family to family, or from imperfections of Britain in respect to ecindividual to individual, as to him may ap clesiastical affairs. We are far from pa- tining the benefit of them however to perpear most expedient and useful; not contiently enduring those, or other improprie sous of his particular religious persuasion, ties of a like nature; but, as we then ob- but extending it according to his discretion 'served, the charge should not have come to persons of every denommation, who may from an Americau. No considerate mindread on ail suitable occasions. He is also wish it; and to recommend their being will affirm that any establishment, iustituted, or conducted, by mortals, is faultless; now, reverse the medal, and see to what disadvantages the contrary, an absolute non-establishment, is exposed. Where the whole is left to the people, and the nation, as such, does nothing, what follows? Let America speak for itself, on this matter.

The provinces known by the name of Massachusetts were among the first peopled, in America, and they had to boast of some of the most eminest and pious characters. They had these advantages; what is their present state?

desired to provide for their preservation that they may be used with care, and rend continued circulation, by requesting turned to him within the period, for which he may have loaned them.

Till the year 1814, the Society confined itself to its first object, the distribution of books; but in that year it was determined to send agents into the provinces for the purposes of additional mustruction: the following particulars have been communicated by those agents or missionaries : RHODE ISLAND.

The inhabitants of Rhode Island, who profess to believe Christianity, are divided nto Baptists, Quakers, Episcopalians, Methouists, Congregationalis s, Christyans or

mithites. The Baptists, the most numerous denomination, are subdivided into Calvinistic, Arminian, Separate, and Se

The following particulars are extracted from "An account of the MASSACHUSETT'S SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; printed by order of the Seventh Day Baptists. ciety for the use of its Members. Andover. 1815.

in one town there was no minister, except a negro, who could not read a

word, when he began to preach; and often boasted, “I did not know B from a bull's foot;" proving by this to the satisfaction of many, his call from Heaven; and nothing could undeceive them, but the vileness of his conduct.

Another preacher, on a public occasion, after a very short, confused prayer, paused some minutes, and said, “I have promised God, that I would preach to night; but, if he will permit the devil to plague me so, I won't preach. You must carry on the meeting, brethren, as you please." Praying once, he said, if God did not deliver him from the buffetings of Satan, he would never preach again.' He appointed a meeting for the next night, with this proviso, if the devil did not prevent him, he would preach.'

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The character of Baptist preachers in general, as stated in the journals, is, that they are enthusiastic Socinians, profoundly ignorant, and very noisy;-that the object in their sermons is," to rouse the imagination and heat the passions, without communicating any light to the understanding, or conviction to the conscience." With this view," they use the most dolorous tones, and thundering vociferations, in which they pour forth a stream of unconnected, vehement nonsense.;'-" All the preaching and exhortation, I have heard," says one Missionary, "has been calculated to excite laughter or tears."

The grand, if not the only qualification, | necessary to a preacher, is generally thought to be a supernatural, apostolic, special call; and almost any person, who fancies he has such a call, is admitted to preach. Thus are people imposed on by their preachers, "who pretend, not only that they have this apostolic call, but that they receive their commission and their message by immediate inspiration, and that their sermons are given directly from above."-All, that in general seems necessary to constitute a Christian, is, to shed a few tears, exhort in meeting, and be baptized by immersion. In order to baptism however it is required by one sect, that the candidate, in the relation of his experience, state explicitly, that at such a time God forgave his sins;-that he believes in the seventh day sabbath;-and that he wants to join that particular church. Within five weeks about sixty persons were plunged in one town. In another, many were baptised in a short space, and some within three days, from their first serious impressions. Baptists however, it is remarked, generally have much discipline to perform, and many to excommunicate, soon after a revival of religion.

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Journal. "Visited four families; found they had been often disgusted with an indiscreet exhibition of the doctrine of predestination;-that God had made some for salvation, and some for damnation, as the primary cause of their creation, making his own glory a secondary motive." One of those Missionaries made the following observations to a young girl. "You commit sin sixty times a minute:-every breath, you draw; and you are rushing down to hell." - To an elderly married woman, while spinning, "You sin against God every thread, you spin. Where is your husband?" Answer; he is hoeing in the field. "Then he is sinning against God too.”—To a young married woman he said, when sitting down to eat; "do you love God with all your heart?" Auswer. I do not suppose I do. 66 Then how dare you eat a mouthful? You are eating damnation to your soul." The woman left the table, and took such a disgust at congregational ministers, that, to her dying day, she would never converse with one.'

When a woman, whose mind was tender on the subject of religion, was urged to eat, a Mr. D, who has been preaching in this region, said, "it is not worth while for her to eat, for probably she will be in hell before morning."

Ignorance, enthusiasm, dogmas, and practices, such, as have been stated, defy all comment. Their genuine offspring among the lower classes of society are errors of every name, bigotry, fanaticism, hatred of the truth, and a train of low vices; and among the higher ranks, contempt of the clergy, disgust at the name of religion, sheer infidelity, and downright atheism. Of the numerous instances of these lamentable effects, noticed by our Missionaries, a few only can be given. One of the vilest in the region complained of a Missionary, "that he did not preach enough hell and damnation to his poor wicked soul." Another, who wished to be thought more knowing, asserted" that ́ we are not free agents in choosing to be religious, and that the Grace of God must be shed abroad in our hearts, without our doing any thing about the externals of religion." By many the grace of God is abused to licentiousness. Many," says the Missionary, "I find, are afraid of morality, lest they should trust to it for salvation. If they commit wickedness, they think they are more open to conviction." Many, if not most of the people, adopt the sentiment, that they can do nothing, but evil, internally and externally.

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"From a review of the preceding journal," says he, "the following remarks na

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