as may be accessible to the North Star, in sufficient time to secure his return across Baffins Bay before the winter sets in.

The expense of fitting the North Star for the ice will be £6,086, and the wages of the crew, stores, and provisions on board £6,602, making £12,688, in all, which constitute the supplementary estimate now submitted to the House. But, in addition to this, Her Majesty's Government has determined to offer a reward of £20,000, to be given to such private ship, or distributed amongst such private ships, of any country, as may, in the judgment of the Board of Admiralty, have rendered efficient assistance to Sir John Franklin, his ships, or their crews, and may have contributed directly to extricate them from the ice.

"H. G. WARD."

NEW CHARTS.

A List of published and corrected Charts from the Hydrographic Office, Admiralty, in March, 1849.

PORT PUEBLO NUEVO, (Central America,) Capt, Sir E. Belcher, C.B., R.N., 1849' price 1s. 6d.

BODEGA BAY, (California,)

PORT ST. QUENTIN,

ST. LUCAS

Ditto

Ditto

Ditto

Ditlo

Ditto

price 1s. 6d.

price 1s. 6d.

price 1s. 6d.

VANCOUVER ISLAND AND GULF OF GEORGIA, Capts. Vancouver and Kellet, R.N., 1792 and 1847, price 1s. 6d.

NoorKA SOUND, with plan of Friendly Cove, Capt. Sir E. Belcher, C.B., R.N., 1839, price 1s. 6d.

CAPE BLACKWOOD to CAPE POSSESSION, (New Guinea Island, south side Torres

Strait,) Lieut. Yule, R.N., 1846, price 1s. 6d.

PORT JACKSON, (Australia,) Capt. O. Stanley, R.N., corrected to 1848, price 1s. 6d. CANALE DELL' ARSA, (Adriatic) Mr. Roberts, Master R. N., 1848, price 18. WATERLOO BAY, (South Africa,) Lieut. Forsyth, R.N., 1845, price 6d.

COALS FROM FORMOSA.-A cargo of coals consisting of 80 tons was last week imported into Hongkong in a Chinchew junk from Formosa. On trial we are informed by a competent judge they have maintained the high character formerly given of them, and the whole have been disposed of at 7 dollars per ton. We are informed the shipper declares this price is not sufficient to remunerate him, but as this complaint is frequently made without much cause, and all we have previously learnt about trouble and expense (when the Vixen visited Formosa it was believed a large supply of coals could be procured there at 2 dollars' per ton,) required to obtain them in Formosa lead so directly to a contrary conclusion, we think it probable a further supply may be confidently looked for. On the other hand the expected increase of steam navigation, will always secure a steady demand here, so that we hope at no distant time to see this valuable mineral form an important article of exchange in our dealings with the Chinese.-Hong Kong Register.

PETTIGREW'S LIFE OF NELSON.-We are scarcely allowed room by the pressure of other matter for the following elegant lines on Lady Hamilton, from the pen of Dr. Beattie, which we promised in our last number.

"And here is one-a nameless grave;-the grass
Waves rank and dismal o'er its crumbling mass,
Of mortal elements, -the wintry sedge

Weeps drooping o'er the ramparts' watery edge ;-
The rustling reed-the darkly rippling wave-
Announce the tenant of the lonely grave!

"Crushed in a pauper's shell, the earth scarce heaves
Above that trodden breast! the turf scarce leaves
One lingering token that the stranger found,
'Ashes for hope' in that unhallowed ground;
And 'dust for mourning;' levelled with the soil
The wasting worm hath revelled in its spoil-
The spoil of beauty! This the poor remains
Of one who, living, could command the strains
Of flattery's harp and pen! whose incense flung
From venal breath upon her altar, hung
A halo; while in loveliness supreme,
She moved in brightness, like the embodied dream
Of some apt minstrel's warm imaginings,
The more than form and face of earthly things.
Ah, when hath heart so warm, have hopes so fair
Been crushed amid the darknes of despair?
With broken heart, and head in sorrow bound,
Hers was the midnight bier the borrow'd shroud!

"Few bend them at thy bier, unhappy one;

All know thy shame, thy mental sufferings none;
All know thy frailties, what thou wast and art!
But thine were faults of circumstance-not heart!
Thy soul was formed to bless, and to be blest
With that immortal boon-a guiltless breast,
And be what others seem,-had bounteous heaven
Less beauty lent, or stronger virtue given !
The frugal matron of some lowlier hearth
Thou hadst not known the splendid woes of earth!
Dispensing happiness and happy-there
Thou hadst not known the curse of being fair!
But like yon lonely vesper star, thy light-
Thy love-had been as pure as it was bright!

"I've met thy pictured bust in many lands;
I've seen the stranger pause, with lifted hands,
In deep, mute admiration, while his eye
Dwelt sparkling on thy peerless symmetry!
I've seen the poet-painter-sculptor's gaze
Speak, with rapt glance, their eloquence of praise;
I've seen thee, as a gem in royal halls,
Stoop like presiding angel from the walls,
And only less than worshipp'd! Yet tis come
To this when all but slander's voice is dumb!

And they who gazed upon thy living face,
Can hardly find thy mortal resting place."

BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND Deaths.

BIRTHS.

Feb. 25, at Escot Cottage, the lady of Lieut. F. A. Smith, R.N., of a son.

Mar. 4, at Wyndham Place, the lady of H. S. Dyer, Esq., R.N. of a daughter. Mar. 9, at Bath, the lady of Captain Adams, of a son.

Mar. 14, at Swanage, the lady of Capt. Pilkington, of a son.

Mar. 14, at Portsea, the lady of M. T. Wright, Esq., R.N., of a daughter.

Mar. 14, at New Cross, the lady of A. J. S. Eames, Esq., Secretary of the Royal Naval School, of a son, still born

Mar. 14, at Cranborne, Dorset, the lady of Capt. Curry, of a son.

Mar. 19, at Sheerness, the lady of Mr. J. Belam, Master of H.M.S. Ocean, of a daughter.

Kept at Croom's Hill, Greenwich, by Mr. W. Rogerson, of the Royal Observatory From the 21st of February, to the 20th of March, 1849.

FEBRUARY 1849.-Mean height of Barometer 30 171 inches; Mean Temperature 42-3 degrees; depth of rain fallen 2'46 inches.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The great mass of our Hydrographical information has compelled us to defer for our next number several important notices.

The letter of ALIQUIS, and that from the ROYAL ADELAIDE, will appear in our next.

DR. HUMBLE's letter received. The subject does not claim for it immediate attention.

We are requested by Mrs. BISCOE to express her grateful acknowledgements for the attention which her case has met with, and is still receiving from the readers of the Nautical.

Hunt, Printer, St. Alban's Place, Edgware Road.

"Come, lads, leave your dads;

Search for gold so brisk, oh!

Cut stick, right slick; and

Sail for San Francisco."-Yankee Melody.

So runs the popular note of invitation; and thousands continue to obey its impulse. It is with deep regret that we see how widely the infatuation for Californian gold-hunting is spreading itself on our side of the Atlantic. Let the supplies of gold dust prove as ample as the boldest speculator has yet hoped for, the lot of all honest emigrants to California during the period of the first scramble is sure to be deplorable, and when the first scramble is over, and the United States Government has taken measures to secure the management of its new treasures, it will be as useless for adventurers to go there in the hopes of picking up and appropriating the gold, as it would for them to go to the mines of Cornwall in the hopes of picking up and appropriating the tin.

The American papers have mentioned one fact connected with the rush to California, which speaks volumes as to the ruffianly character of thousands of the new colonizers of the Golden-land, and of the utter insecurity for person and property that at present prevails there. The circumstance we mean, is the significant announcement that at the places where the adventurers collect before they start for California, "revolving pistols have risen in price cent. per cent."

NO. 5.-VOL. XVIII.

2 G

My adventures in California among the " diggings" have not been attended with "hair-breadth escapes," but have enabled me to collect some little history of the extraordinary discoveries there, which have spread a hunting mania after gold in this quarter of the globe, greater than ever there was after foxes at home. A complete history of the discovery is given in the following from The Californian.

In the beginning of the month of February last year, Messrs. Marshall and Bennett were engaged with a party in erecting a saw mill for Capt. J. A. Sutter, on the American Fork of the Sacramento River, about forty miles above its mouth. In excavating the tail race, they removed the rock during the day, and let the water in at night, in order to wash out the loose dirt and sand. On the morning of the 10th, after shutting off the water, Mr. Marshall discovered the first gold, lying upon decomposed granite in the bottom of the race. It would seem that but little doubt was entertained of its being the real Simon Pure, for operations immediately ceased on the mill, and all hands commenced searching for gold. It was soon found that gold abounded along the American Fork for a distance of thirty miles.

For a time the discoverers were the only ones aware of the fact, but the news finally spread through the settlements. But little credit, however, was gained by the report, though occasionally a solitary "gold hunter" might be seen, stealing down to a launch with a pick and shovel, more than half ashamed of his credulity. Some time during the month of May, a number of credible persons arrived in town from the scene of operations, bringing specimens of the ore, and stating that those engaged in collecting the precious metal were making from 3 to 10 dollars per day. Then commenced the grand rush! The inhabitants throughout the territory were in commotion. Large companies of men, women and children could be seen on every road leading to the mines, their wagons loaded with tools for digging, provisions, &c. Launch after launch left the wharves of our city, crowded with passengers and freight for the Sacramento. Mechanical operations of every kind ceased, whole streets, that were but a short week before alive with a busy population, were entirely deserted, and the place wore the appearance of a city that had been suddenly visited by a devastating plague. To cap the climax, newspapers were obliged to stop printing for want of readers.

Meantime our mercantile friends were doing an unwonted stroke of business. Every arrival from the mining district brought more or less gold dust, the major part of which immediately passed into the hands of the merchants for goods, &c. Immense quantities of merchandise were conveyed to the mines, until it became a matter of astonishment where so much could be disposed of. During the first eight weeks of the "golden times," the receipts at this place in gold dust amounted to 250,000 dollars. For the eight weeks ending at this date, they were 600,000 dollars. The number of persons now engaged in gold hunting will probably exceed 6,000, including Indians; and one ounce per day is the lowest average we can put for each person, while many collect their hundreds of dollars for a number of days in succession, and instances