maden and Almadenejos no longer suffice for all the works, subterranean and superficial. These daily require three thousand individuals; and further, when there is a necessity to give at times an active impulse to the excavations, furnish employment to a crowd of strangers, attracted by high wages from the various provinces of the kingdom, and even from Portugal, but generally for short periods; for as soon as these experience any injury in their health, they return home to reestablish it. (The latest returns give a total of above five thousand individuals daily employed about these mines during the working season, including those employed in bringing wood for fuel and subterraneous works, and those engaged in the carriage of the quicksilver to Seville.)

"The inhabitants of Almaden, Almadenejos, and Chillon are, however, those who sustain the mines, and in the unhappy epochs in which political occurrences diverted the funds which ought to have gone to pay the laborers, had it not been for the constant and willing assistance of the resident miners, the entire plan of operations must have been stopped, and the administrators totally ruined. The honest miners, however, remained steadily at work, pumping, cutting out, and building up, as usual, although the government was, at times, totally unable to pay up what they had earned with so much risk of life and positive injury to health. The government, however, had, so far back as 1780, received satisfactory proofs that those who occupied themselves alternately in field works and under ground preserved their health better than those who remained altogether engaged in the mines; and liberally appropriated to their free use the estate of Castilseras, in the vicinity, secularized from the order of Calatrava. This grant produced the most rapid and favorable effects on the health of the mining population, enabling them to augment at once the sustenance, the numbers, and the comforts of the little Pueblos. Notwithstanding, every year many individuals are rendered absolutely unfit for further work; and as the excavations are constantly extending, the sufferers must be replaced by others. The truth is, that both in Almaden and Almadenejos, deaths and wounds are unhappily very frequent, and bodies may be seen brought forth from them more bloody and disfigured than can be found, perhaps, on a field of battle. Amongst the youth of these pueblos may be seen several blinded, lamed, or deprived of an arm or leg, the result of some misfortune in the mines. Strong convulsions, which keep the sufferers in continual agitation, are very general, almost depriving the patients of strength to walk, or power to eat, and usually terminating in chronic maladies, disabling them for life. Some fall into a state of paralysis, others suffer in their intellectual faculties, experiencing a species of stupor, which frequently becomes permaThese unhappy patients, afflicted with an incurable and constant drowsiness, are named Modorros by the inhabitants. Thialism and spitting of blood, and other diseases of the lungs, are also very common; and in general, all those who dedicate themselves to the labors of these mines lose their strength, and their lives are never long, afflicted as they are with some one or more of those maladies in a less or greater degree. The children too, who, from their early years, devote themselves to such labors, thrive badly; many become infirm or disabled even before they

nent.

pass the age of boyhood, and the constitutions of all are weak and delicate. In short, the mining population of Almaden may be generally distinguished by their stunted and discolored aspect; and whether this be caused by their labors in the mines, or the effect of the fumes of the furnaces, or perhaps of both at once, certain it is that they present a most pitiable spectacle to all beholders."

A more recent report, presented by Don Joaquim del Bayo last year, gives a detailed statement of all the miners inutilized through various causes during the five years ending 1839. These amount to 267 wounded, 12 died in the mine from serious accidents, 14 mutilated, 255 disabled by long work, and 130 died early through convulsions, &c.; total, 522, out of about 4,000 actively employed within the mines, during a space of five years. This engineer states that exactly the same proportion of disasters and deaths takes place in the deep mines of Saxony.

THE FRENCH POST-OFFICE.

SINCE the important change which has been made in England in the rate of postage, there has been a good deal of discussion in France on the question of a reduction there. It has not been proposed to carry the reduction to the extreme to which it has been carried in England, but to limit it to such rates as may be anticipated to secure the same amount of income as at present, and at the same time greatly to increase the public accommodation. The following facts have been made public in the course of this discussion:

The post-office expenses in France for 1841 amounted to 20,434,582f. In this sum was comprised the cost of building a certain number of steam-packets to run between Marseilles and Alexandria and Marseilles and Corsica, which came to about 600,000f. During the year the receipts of the Post-office, according to the general account of the Minister of Finances, amounted to 48,142,691f. The produce of the general postage of letters was put down in the gross revenue at 39,900,776f.; of the rural service, or cross-posts, at 2,402,632f.; the duty of 5 per cent. on remittances of money at 1,004,176f.; the charge on the transport of specie and other treasure in gold and silver by the Mediterranean packets at 183,830f.; and the rest was derived from the fares of passengers by the mail-coaches and packets, the charge on the conveyance of foreign letters, and sundries, composed of fines, sale of the Post-Office Guide, and other items. From this statement it will be seen that the net revenue of the post-office is about 22,000,000f. For 1842 the gross produce has been estimated at 45,180,000f., and the expenses at 21,060,000f., leaving a benefit of 24,180,000f.; consequently in any reform of the system to be attempted, the object of preserving to the state a revenue of 20,000,000f. must be kept in view. The reduction made in England in the rate of postage has caused a very considerable diminution in the

revenue. This was because they went from one extreme to the other. It is true that the number of letters has greatly increased. In 1839, previously to the reduction, there were distributed within the kingdom of Great Britain 75,469,000 letters, and in 1841 they amounted to 196,500,000, being an increase of 121,031,000 letters by the reduction of the postage. But this progress, however rapid and great, has not been sufficient to make up the deficit occasioned by the change, and it is not probable that the receipts will ever come up to what they were previous to 1840, when the alteration was made. Unquestionably, the advantage gained by the public is an ample compensation for the loss sustained by the Treasury. Nevertheless, if it be possible to reconcile the two interests, it would be so much the better. In order to show what ought to be done, we must have further recourse to figures. Our rates of postage are calculated on 11 distances. The shortest is 40 kilometres, (25 miles,) and the longest 900 kilometres, (562 miles.) All letters weighing 7 1-2 grammes, (quarter of an ounce,) pay for the first distance 2 decimes, (about 4 cents,) and for the longest 11 decimes, (about 11d.) For every distance beyond the shortest, an additional decime is charged, and if the distance exceeds the 900 kilometres, only 2 additional decimes are charged, however far it may be. Each post-office is considered as the centre of a circle of distances. Taking the progressive charge of postage by weight, a letter weighing between 7 1-2 grammes and 10 grammes pays a postage and a half; from 10 grammes to under 15 grammes two postages; and so an additional half-postage for every excess of 5 grammes. .According to statements made by the Postmaster-General, the number of letters diminish in proportion to the length of the distances. Thus, out of the total of the 78,000,000 of letters sent in 1841 within the kingdom, upwards of 24,000,000 were destined to go no further than the shortest distance, producing an income of 5,147,775f.; in the second distance, about 16,000,000 letters, producing 5,093,051f.; in the third, 13,000,000 letters, 5,546,585f. Beyond the 11th distance the number of letters was only 80,000, and the produce 90,000f. According to this a reduction of the postage would most materially affect the intermediate distances, and create the greatest reduction of produce. By adopting the lowest rate of two decimes for the general charge, the letters sent within the first distance would evidently remain the same in number and produce. In the second distance the number of letters must be increased by one third; and, in the third, doubled, in order to produce the present amount of revenue. This, we think, would occur. For the distances which pay 6, 7, or 8 decimes, (6d., 7d., or 8d.,) there must be a three and four-fold increase in the correspondence to bring the receipts up to the same amounts. As the correspondence in England has nearly tripled itself in two years, it is not impossible that it may make the same progress in France. There can be no doubt that letters now paying 80c. If., If. 10c., and 1f. 20c., would increase to 10 times their present number if they were to be charged only 2 decimes; and it may be deemed certain that the revenue would sustain no diminution even in the greatest distances. The alteration we propose, therefore, could not be attended with the same consequences as in England: first, because we admit a general charge

double the amount of that in Great Britain; and, secondly, because our present rates of postage are much lower than were those in that country previously to 1840; for a single letter, in France, sent to a distance of 40 kilometres, (25 miles,) costs only 20c., whereas, in England, it formerly cost 60c.; and sent in France 300 kilometres, (188 miles,) is charged only 60c., whereas, in England, the postage was formerly 1f. 20c., 24c.

The following is given as the numbers of the letters which have passed annually through the French Post-office since the year 1820: in 1821 the number was 45,382,151. This increased till 1830, when it became 63,817,260; in 1831 was 63,380,592; in 1832 was 66,915,011; in 1833 was 78,886,377; in 1834 was 70,826,519; in 1835 was 75,019,918; in 1836 was 78,970,561; in 1837 was 83,348,008; in 1838 was 87,625,570; in 1839 was 89,313,080; in 1840 was 91,317,109; in 1841 was 97,015,009; and in the present year may be expected to amount to, if not exceed, 100,000,000, as, during the first six months, the number was upwards of 55,000,000. The diurnal distribution of post letters in Paris amounts at present on an average to 81,000; namely, 44,000 at seven in the morning, 13,000 at half-past nine, 6,000 at twelve, 7,000 at two, 5,000 at four, and 6,000 at six in the afternoon. Of these 61,000 come from abroad, the provinces, and the banlieue, and 20,000 from within the walls of Paris.

E

CAMELS IN INDIA.

We have within the last three months had constant occasion to notice the enormous difficulty of procuring camels at present experienced in Scinde and on the Sutlej-wherever, in fact, we chance to require their services in moving our armies. We formerly stated that the destruction of these invaluable animals, betwixt November, 1838, and November, 1841, must have amounted to above 50,000, and we gave the details of 43,400 ascertained to have been destroyed We observe it stated by a Peshawur correspondent of the Delhi Gazette, that the force under General Pollock will require a supply of at least 30,000, and he probably is not greatly above the mark, though we, in our own speculations, have assumed one-third of this to be sufficient for the present. Thirty thousand camels moving in a single train-as they must do along "the gallery near Ali Musjid, similar to the well known passes of the Simplon, where a road of twelve feet wide traverses for two miles along the face of the rock, the lofty mountain rising like a wall on one side, and a fearful precipice yawning on the other;" or the chasms and defiles of Khoord Cabul, will form a string of animals sixty-six miles long. Where they are to be found in the first place, or how in the second they are to be protected, it seems impossible to divine; but these are not the points on which we are at present about to enter-General Pollock must see to them. Camels will carry a load of 400 pounds, but that which is gen

erally imposed on them rarely exceeds 300 pounds. They are unfit for use until six years old, though of late much younger animals than this have been pressed into the service. If a load of above 100 pounds, or 150 pounds, be imposed on them, they are very quickly destroyed. Until the pressure which has of late become prevalent began to be experienced, female camels were rarely used any where as beasts of burden. In Scinde and Beloochistan, in particular, no labor of any sort was ever assigned to them. Of late they have, like the males, been pressed into the service; and mothers with young, or with a suckling at their side, may now be seen trudging along with the rest.

We have already extinguished nearly one third of the male camel population in these parts; and we are now busily engaged in annihilating the hopes of a future generation. All these things are formidable enough, and sufficiently fraught with danger in themselves; but we have as yet looked to the destruction of these invaluable creatures only as mischievous, inasmuch as it annihilates our military carriage, and clogs and arrests the movements of our armies. But war, however protracted, must at length have an end. When our armies retire in India, the drain of camels will cease; the inconvenience experienced from the difficulty of obtaining them, now so injurious to our movements, will then come to a close. But here the evils occasioned by the mischief already done only begin to be felt. The camel has been well called the "ship of the desert; "he is the only beast of burden who can travel over the arid tracts which skirt the whole northwest of India, from Guzerat to Delhi. Destroy this means of conveyance, and no substitute can be found for it. The merchant navy of the interior is annihilated, and, unlike the restoration of artificial vehicles, its replacement cannot be accelerated, and must be the work of time. Thus, at once, by our military operations beyond the Indus, is extinguished the means and the possibility of trafficking in the interior within the Indus. The up-country merchants cannot purchase from us. Should they desire to do so, they find that we have stripped them of the means of carrying their purchases away. According to Charles Masson's returns, (Times, July 24, 1841,) there were 6,500 camel loads of goods annually imported into Affghanistan from India and the Punjaub before the outbreak of the war. This commerce must for the present in a great measure cease, just because we have destroyed their beasts of burden, by means of which alone the transport of goods could be effected. But simultaneous with this we have thrown unbounded wealth into the hands of the Affghans; riches of which their wildest imagination never dreamed; that a large proportion of this will for the present be hoarded up, according to immemorial usage, cannot be disputed. The wants of the Affghans are few and very simple; but still, such as they are, with the usual sources of supply cut off from them by the suicidal hands of those who annihilated, while they professed to labor to increase, their commercial intercourse, and with the means of choosing another market, how are we to wonder at the statement of Sir Alexander Burnes, that the trade of Russia with Central Asia has doubled within the last two years? Why, in two years more, it would be no marvel should it double again. It will take a generation to draw