The Perrysburg journal. [volume], April 29, 1854, Page 60, Image 4

About The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861

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THE i PERRYSBURGj JOURNAL.
Nebraska Filling Up.
The Bugle, issued at Council Bluffs, up
the Missouri, gives the following account of
the embryo Territory and the preparations
now making to seize upon its choicest loca
tions: " If Nebraska does not receive the ossis
' tance and protection of the General Govern
ment, the country will nevertheless be set
tled, and that speedily. Hundreds are await
ing the news that the Indian title is extin
guished, and an hour after, the river district
will be swarming. Already many have ta
ken over materials for building ; have staked
cut their claims, and are promised to stick
together through thick and thin, and assist
each other in the protection of their several
claims."
No families have removed to the Territory,
neither have they a right to do so, until the
Indians have relinquished their claim and
title to these lands. The first county north
of the Platte, and west of the -Missouri
river, and east of the Horo, will become the
most populous county in Nebraska. This
is considerably well timbered, has lime quar
ries, stone, coal and iron ore, and is an ex
cellent, dry-rolling, fertile region. The em
bryo city, opposite this place, will be the
capital of the Territory for the present, with
out a doubt, and will eventually be second
to none in the West but this city. Next in
importance will be the cities, twelve miles
each way north and south of us, Belleview
and "Winter Quarters; making three, very
important river cities in one county. Be
sides the ordinary business importance of
tats new frontier river county in Nebraska,
the great Pacific railroad is to pass through
and have there (probably at Omaha City, or
near) a great resting house, before skimming
tne. broad plains and leaping the Kocky
"Mountains.
' The great place in embryo, Omaha City,
is located immediately east of this city,on the
Nebraska side, and about three miles distant.
Belleview, the old missionary and trading
station, is twelve miles below, but north
of the Platte river, and has a beautiful and
commanding view. Winter Quarters is
twelve miles above, and is the site of the
winter quarters of the first Mormon emigrat
ing camp, and is also most beautifully situ-
ted. In fact, we do not know of three more
charming and delightful town sites on the
Missouri river than these. We vt ould make
a slight correction of an article recently
published in the Keokuk Dispatch upon this
subject. His lnlormant was in error in re
.gard to the distance of country back that
was well timbered and a good agricultural
country
There is much worthless land, and that
too destitute of timber, within 150 or 200
miles west of the Missouri river; and al
though there is much good land and consid
erable timber, we would not have, the people
iind themselves deceived in any way by our
neglect or assent. There is no doubt that
many will be disappointed and dissatisfied
with the country, as it has by very many
aeen overrated. It is not a positive para
dise ; there may be cold, heat, and many
other inconveniences to offend. The climate
md soil are both very similar to Iowa, ex
cept when you get far back from .the streams,
where you find sand and barrens.
Many who go there to settle will finally
find homes in this State, or cross the Rocky
Mountains.
The principal reason of this is a general
scarcity of timber throughout these Territo-j
ries; this in time will be overcome by the
use of coal, hedging, and the growth of
young timber, and every foot of these rich
valleys will bud and blossom as the rose, as
he-iron horse with a hissing snort bounds
through the defiles, on its way to or returnr
ing horn the racihe, laden with the silks,
Cashmere, and precious things from China,
Japan and the Indies.
" A frood time is coming, lioyn,
Wait a little longer."
Uo. stir livelv. work bravelv. and mill!
together, and you will be fortunate if
the route of this stupendous thoroughfare.
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Ledger says, Gen. Houston has
left for Texas, previous, as he. says, to emi
grating to California. He will not, he says,
Lring up his children ia a clave elate.
From the Chincha Islands.
We have been favored with the perusal of
a private letter from the Chincha Islands,
dated the 19th of February, which contains
some items of public interest, that we are
permitted to copy.
There were at the Islands, at the date of
the letter, one hundred and sixty vessels of
various sizes, from 300 to 2200 tons burthen
averaging probably 800 tons. The esti
mated average time, for loading with guano j
was iorly days.
The rate of exportation of guano from
the Islands is said to be 1,000 tons a day,
which itwas thought would not exhaust the
heap in ten years. A geological survey,
made by order of the United States Govern
ment, had estimated that eight years would,
exhaust the supply. We extract from the
letter as follows : ' I
"There are three of the Chincha Islands,
lying in a line, N. and S., the passage be-i
twee n them being less than a half a mile.
The wind is always S. andE., audit is never j
known to rain, lhe north island is the I
largest. It is nearly circular, and about one-j
third of a mile in diameter, and about 100
feet high. Some parts of the coast are steep ;
high cliffs, and others sandy and rocky cones
of gradual ascent from the shores. The
heap of guano continues to deepen to the !
highest point of the island, where it is 100
feet in depth. Fancy a large old fashioned
loaf of brown bread, laid upon a table but
little larger than the base of the loaf, and'
you can pretty nearly see the pile of guano
on either island. The laborers commence
digging and proceed along the top of the
rock in the direction of the centre, from all
parts of the island; and therefore, in their
progress, have shown the guano in a very,
steep side from the base rock, 80 feet high ;
and from every part it appears to bi the
same substance hard and close.
Every spoonful is dug with a pick, and;
when loosened is as dry as powder, and of
course as dusty. If left in a pile but a
brief period, it again becomes hard, and
must again be loosened with a pick. From
the base to the top are found feathers, eggs,
and stones of all sizes, some weighing even
two or three tons. I have taken out many
perfect feathers, far from the top ; and near
and upon the surface have seen what ap
peared to be bone and flesh decomposed.
It is thought the pile now called guano,
is the decomposition ofsea animals, of which
there are multitudes now, and they are pre
sumed to have been far more numerous in
ancient days, before lhe white man came to
destroy. Sea lions of a large siai5 (a ton
weight,) seals, and endless quantities of sea
fowls, have been the inhabitants of these
islands for myriads of years, and the islands
have been the burial places of these animals;
for if wounded, they crawl to the top. So
say the knowing ones. Birds and bird lime
go to increase the pile. Guano is really de
composed animal matter, but whether this
was the way so vast a pile accumulated, or
whether the islands were thrown up from
the bottom of the sea, with the deposit
upon them, you must judge for yourselves.
The second island is similar in size and
pile to the one described. The third one
has not been touched yet. It is much
smaller but well loaded. Guano secrete;;
large quantities of ammonia, and confined
as it is in a ship's hold, a man cannot stay
more than five or ten minutes at a time
among it. Besides large lumps of pure am
monia, are daily found apparently decom-,
j posed bones, eggs, &c, and among other)
items, a man in a perfect state of preservu-j
tion the real ammonia, strong as volatile'
salts. '
j Now do yon wish to know how all those
I ships are loaded, and a thousand tons per day
;clug ana sent irom these islands? Well,
there are about 100 convicts from Peru, and
about 300 Chinamen from the Celestial Em-
pire. The former are in the right place ; the
latter were passengers that engaged passage
in an English ship for California, and en-
uponiKaetl before they left their own country to
labor for a limited time, to pay their passage
(880.) Instead of being landed at Califor
nia, the ship took them direct to this, place,
and the captain sold them for three and six
years, according to the men, to work out
their passage ; and here they are slaves for
life. They arc allowed 4 per month for
j
their food, and one-eighth of a dollar per day
for their labor, with a pile of guano before
them which will last the next ten years ; and
long before it is exhausted, the majority of
them will be dead. Each man is compelled
to brin" to the shoot, five tons of guano per
day. A failure thereof is rewarded with the
hsh from a very strong negro, and such is
their horror of the lash and the hopelessness
of their condition, that every week there are
more or less suicides.
In the month of November, I have heard,
fifty of the boldest of them joined hands and
jumped from the precipice into the sea. In
December there were twenty-three suicides.
This is from one in authority. In January,
quite a number committed suicide, but I
have not learned how many. I was a few
days since on the south island, and there
saw two of the most miserable, starved
creatures; they had swam across on their
wheel-barrows, ami fully determined to die.
I could not feed them, and my heart ached
for them; so after we readied the ship, a
boat was despatched with bread and water
for their relief. Perhaps this availed noth
ing, for they must either return to their task
or some one must feed them daily. The
Chinese, it is said, are educated to believe in
the transmigration of souls, and therefore
think if they leave this life they shall return
to their own country. It is thought this
faith induces them to leave their wheel-barrows
and commit suicide.
Thus by diminishing the number of labor
ers, the exports are reduced, and to meet the
demand of so many ships, two English, (one
of which ha? been here before,) are soon ex
pected with other loads of passengers from
the Chinese dominions, deceived, mot pro
bably, with the idea of going to California
to dig gold. In fact, it is said, the first
batch of celestials had dug many days before
they were undeceived.
The process of loading the ship, is done
by placing the ship close to a steep, rocky
cliff, and have the guano run through a large
canvass hose from the top of the hill into
the ship's hold, 500 tons per day are put on
board, by this method ; and as there is sel
dom much wind or swell, a ship can lie very
well. Boats that go under the smaller
shoots, are sometimes loaded and return to
the ship, where it is taken on board in tubs
made of barrels. Boston Traveler.
A New Alphabet Adopted y the Mor
mons. They have invented a new alphabet
at Salt Lake, of which tha following de
scription is given :
The Board of Regents, in company with
the Governor and heads of departments,
have adopted a new alphalet consisting of
3S characters. After many fruitless attempts
to render the common alphabet of t lie
day subservient to their purpose, they found
it expedient to invent an entirely new and
original set of characters. These characters
are much more simple in their structure
than the usual alphabetical characters ; every
superfluous mark supposable, is wholly ex
cluded from them. The written and printed
hand are substantially merged into one.
We may derive a hint of the advantage to
orthography from spelling the word eight,
which in the new alphabet requires only
two letters instead of five to spell it, viz:
at. The orthography will be so abridged
that an ordinary writer can probably write
one hundred words in a minute with ease,
and consequently report the speech of an
ordinary speaker without much difficulty. .
In the new alphabet every letter has a fixed
and unalterable sound and every word is
spelt with reference to given sounds.
Origin op the Names of the Days op the
Week. The Greeks, Hindoos and Scandina
vians celebrated the same days of the week
for the same gods. In the Teutonic mythol
ogy, the seven most important are the Sun ; i
rnga, or venus; wouin, or ucun, me gou
of hunters; Moon; Saturn; Thor, or the
god of thunder ; and Tuis, or Mars, the god
of War. Giving each an hour, beginning
with the Sun, we find that the first hour of
the second day would be devoted to the Moon
hence Monday would be the name of that
day, Tuis, having the first hour of the next
day, it would be Tuesday, &c, each day
being named after the deity who presided
over the first hour of it.
Long Lives and Healthy Ones.
" How few really die of old age !" observes
Dr. Van Oven, in an interesting volume
which he ha3 just published in London, ou
the abuses of longevity. To prove ' the
truth of his remarks, he gives tables of 7,000
persons who lived to ages from 100 to 185.
The following are some of the instances he
refers to:
Parr's death at 152 was premature, induced
by a foolish change from the simple diet
and active habits of a peasant to the luxuri
ous case and exciting footl of a country gen
tleman. His body was examined by the
great Harvey, who found all the organs in so
sound a condition, that but for intemperance
and inactivity, he would in all probabilitv
have lived many years longer. An English
gentleman named Hastings, who died in f;50,
at the agn of 100, rode to the. death of asta
at 00. Thomas Wood, a parish clerk, lived
to 10t, and -'could read to the last without
spectacles, and only kept his bed one day."
J. Whitteu, a weaver, was "never s-ick,
never used spectacles, hunted a year before
his death, and died .suddenly," at the age of
102, Francis Atkins "was porter at the.
palace gate, Salisbury. It was his dutv to
wind up a clock which was at the top of the
n;tlace, and he. performed this dutv until
within a year of his death, (102.) 'lie win
remarkably upright in his deportment, tnd
walked well to t!ui last." Margaret M'Dor
val, a Scottish woman, who died at llHj.
" married thirteen hubands and survived
them all." Cardinal de Salis, who died in
Spain, in 17S5, at the age of 110, u.d to
say: "By being old when 1 was young. I
find myself young now I am old. 1 led a
sober, studious, but not lazy or sedentary
life; my diet was ever sparing, though deli
cate ; my liquors the best wines of ores and
La Mancha, of which I never exceeded u
pint at a meal, except in cold weather, whrn
I allowed myself a pint more; 1 rode, and
walked every day, except rainy weather,
when 1 exercised for two hours. So far 1
took care of the body, and as to mind, I
endeavored to preserve it in due temper by a
scrupulous obedience to the Divine com
mands, and keeping, (as the apostle directs.)
a conscience void of offence to God and
man." J. Jacob, a native of Switzerland.
" when 127 years old, was sent as u deputy
to the National Assembly of France." He
died the following year. Others might bo
mentioned, but we have only room to add.
that within the, past two centuries and a
half, ten well certified cases of individuals
in England and Wales, living to ages rang
ing from 152 to 200 years have occurred":
and here in modern times, we have repeated
the length of days commonly believed to
belong exclusively to the patriarchal ages.
TheFiiist Newspaper established in North
America was the Boston News Letter, com
menced April 24, 1705. It was a half sheet
of paper 12 inches by 8, two columns on a
page. B. Green wius the printer.
The second was the Boston Gazette, De
cember 21, 1719.
The third was the New England Courant,
August 17, 1721.
The fourth was the New England Weeklv
Journal, March 20, 1727.
The fifth was the Weekly Rehearsal, S?pt.
27, 1731, changed to the Boston Evening Post
in 1735.
The sixth was the Boston Weekly Post
Boy, October, 1731.
The seventh was the Independent Adverti
ser, Jan. 1, 1718.
The eighth was the Boston Gazette, Jan.
3, 1753.
The ninth was the Boston Gazette and
Country Journal, April 1, 1755.
The tenth was tho Boston Weekly Adver
tiser, August 22, 1757.
The eleventh was the Boston Chronicle,
December 21, 1767. These were all the pa
pers printed in Boston up to the date of the
Chronicle.
Tho influx of emigrants into Liverpool at
present surpasses anything of the sort ever
before known. The majority are from Ire
land, and are bound either for the U. States
or Canada. The price of steerage passages
now ranges as high as 5 10s., owing to the
scarcity of shipping, and the number of pas
sengers offering.