Page:Illustrated London News - 1846-02-14 - p108.pdf/1

we encamped on the shore, opposite a very remarkable rock in the lake. which had attracted our attention for many miles. It rose, according to our estimate, 600 feet above the water, and, from the point we viewed it, presented a pretty exact outline of the great pyramid of Cheops. Like other rocks along the shore, it seemed to be encrusted with calcareous cement. This striking feature suggested a name for the lake, and I called it Pyramid Lake; and, though it may be deemed by some a fanciful resemblance, I can undertake to say that the future traveller will find a much more striking resemblance between this rock and the Pyramids of Egypt than there is between them and the object from which they take their name.

"The elevation of this lake above the sea is 4890 feet, being nearly 700 feet higher than the Great Salt Lake, from which it lies nearly west, and distant about eight degrees of longitude. The position and elevation of this lake make it an object of geographical interest. It is the nearest lake to the western rim, as the Great Salt Lake is to the eastern rim, of the Great Basin which lies between the base of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada; and the extent and character of which, its whole circumference and contents, it is so desirable to know."

The accompanying scene is striking—"the Pass of the Standing Rock"—with much of the romantic character of the ravine. scarcely trodden by civilization.

A few days since, the following important communication, viewed with the Oregon dispute, appeared in the Times:

"Sir.-Providing that the Americans agree to the proposal made the British Government, allowing them the country south of the Columbia, the following valuable forts of the Hudson Bay Company win immediately fall into their possession:—

"Fort George, on the Great Astoria, near the mouth of the river; Fort Umpqua, south of the American settlement, on the Umpqua River; Port Hall, on the Snake River, purchased from Mr. Wyeth, of the American Fur Company, in 1837; Fort Baisee, in the Snake country; Fort Nezperees, on the Nezperees River, and Fort Colville, on the Columbia, with a large agricultural farm for supplying the hunting parties and outposts in the upper part of Columbia; they will likewise possess the extensive hunting grounds of the Snake and Flathead country, and if they can only bully the Britishes to give up Defuca Straits, they will then be in possession of Fort Vancouver, and the finest part of the country; they will have the plains between the Columb'a and Demos Straits, likewise the extensive plains at the top of Paget Sound, as well as the two splendid harbours in Defuca Straits. Port Discovery, which, to protect it from the north-west winds. has a large island, called, by Commander Broughton, Protection island; in this harbour, I am informed, the Americans would like to establish their principal town. The other harbour is New Dungeness, which is almost equal. for shelter. to Port Discovery; in various parts of the straits the plains are beautiful. In describing Admiralty Inlet, which runs out of the straits, Captain Vancouver says, to describe the beauties of this region will on some future occasion, be a very grateful task to the pen of a panegyrist

J. D."

Aborigines of South Australia.

On Monday, Jan. 26, two little boy aborigines of South Australia, accompanied by Mr. Eyre, the Australian traveller, were introduced to the Queen and Prince Albert, at Buckingham Palace, by the Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Secretary for the Colonies. Her Majesty appeared much pleased with the general appearance and manners of these youthful representatives of her subjects at the antipodes, and both the Queen and Prince Albert asked numerous questions respecting them.

Both boys are between the ages of eight and ten, are well-formed, active, and intelligent. The colour of their skins is black, or very dark copper colour; their noses rather flattened, with indent below the forehead; and their mouths a little wide, with thickish lips; but the hair is fine, and of a glossy black, the eyes large and brilliant, the teeth good, and the general expression of the countenance pleasing and good-humoured.

They have been in England about eight months, and have already learnt to speak English very well. Their native names are "Warrulan," and "Pangkerin." The former is the son of a native of the Murray River, near Moorunde, named "Tenberry," who is the chief person among the aborigines inhabiting that district.

Tenberry has always been on the most friendly terms with Europeans, and it is to his influence and co-operation that they, in a great measure, owe the peaceful occupation of the Murray River, and the happy establishment of amicable relations with the once hostile, and much-dreaded tribes of the Murray, Rufus, and Darling Rivers.

When Mr. Eyre was about to quit South Australia, in December, 1844, Tenberry, with his family, and about 200 other natives of the Murray River, left their own district for Adelaide, to see that gentleman off, and to bid good-bye to the little Warrulan, the son of the chief person in their tribe, and who had been confided to Mr. Eyre’s care by his parents. When the vessel was about sailing, most of the natives went on board the ship, to inspect the arrangements and accommodations, and to say farewell once more to those whom they hardly ever expected to see

The other boy, Pangkerin, has neither father nor mother alive. He was brought over to England under the care of Mr. Anthony Forster, with whom he had been living in the Colony for some time previously but in the same vessel as Warrulan. Pangkerin does not belong to the same tribe as the other boy, but to a contiguous one; both, however, speak the same dialect, with slight variation.

After their interview with the Queen, the boys expressed a good deal of disappointment at the absence of all state or show attending Majesty. They had, a few days previously, seen the Queen going in procession to open Parliament, surrounded by and troops and with all the parade and pageant of Royalty. When, therefore, they saw a very young person dressed like any other lady, with but few attendants, they could not believe it possible that it could be the same Queen; she was too young, they thought, for a Queen; the admired the tall manly figure of Prince Albert, with his well-developed mustachios.

The aboriginal races of Australia have hitherto been much misrepresented and misunderstood, and have too often been depicted as the lowest and most degraded of mankind; forming, as it has been asserted, only a connecting link between the human family and the lower orders of the creation. This opinion is, however, as unjust as it is unfounded; for though the natives of Australia are not advanced in the scale of civilisation, they have as great natural intelligence as, and an equal capacity for improvement with, other races. Their children, as far as they have yet been tried, have been found fully as apt and quick in learning as those of Europeans.

The two little Australians now in England have been examined by several eminent phrenologists, and their developments are said to be very good, and far superior to those of the negro race generally.

It is to be hoped that the presence of these youths in England, and the honourable notice her Majesty has been pleased to take of them, will go far towards removing the unfavourable impressions heretofore entertained of the race; and, by creating an interest on behalf of people little known and greatly misunderstood, perhaps tend, in some degree, towards inducing better-directed, and more effectual, attempts to mitigate the evils which our occupation and possession of their country necessarily inflict upon them.

Australian Boy.

Mr. Eyre, who has had much experience in Australia, and who now holds the office of Resident Magistrate at the Murray River, in South Australia, has recently^[1] published a long and full account of the aborigines of that country, to which the reader may be referred for further or more detailed accounts of the physical appearance, character, habits, manners, customs, and pursuits of this interesting people.

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The Medal for China.

The Medal to be distributed to the officers and soldiers, who served in China, during the late war is now in course of being struck at the Royal Mint, from a die by Mr. Wyon, the Engraver-in-chief. There will be required 18,000: they are all

Medal for China.

to be of silver (intrinsic value about 5s. 6d.); no difference being made between those to be presented to the officers and those to be given to the men. The Medal is about half the size represented in the present column. It is, certainly a fine work of art, and will add even to Mr. Wyon's high reputation. It bears a portrait of her Majesty, an excellent likeness: on the Royal brow, is the tiara: the legend is, "Victoria Regina." The likeness is strikingly beautiful; and the relief admirably executed. On the reverse, is a picturesque group of the weapons of the army and navy, resting under the shadow of a palm-tree: in front of the weapons are the armorial bearings of Great Britain. Above the group are the words "Armis exposcere pacem;" and underneath the arms, is the word "China." and the date of the War, "1842." On the rim are inscribed the name and regiment. "The ribbon," (it is stated in the "Art Union,") "is to be of scarlet, with a yellow border, the scarlet denoting the colour of England, and the yellow being the imperial colour of China. The Medals will probably be issued to the soldiers and sailors about the middle of the year."

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1. "Journals of Expeditions into Central Australia, and overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound, in the Years 1840-41, Together With an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines, and the State of Their Relations With Europeans. By Edwd. John Eyre, Resident Magistrate, Murray River. 2 vols., 8vo, numerous plates and maps.—T. and W. Boone, 29, New Bond-street, London."