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 army on its entrance into Belgium. On that day the clerks in the office were engaged from 7 in the morning till 10 at night.—Memorial

Some remittance of money for the subsistence of the French troops arrived here yesterday and the day before.

General Niellon is gone to Ghent.

We hear that the Dutch have inundated the polder of Bewestrede between Ardenburg and Ecluse.

Saturday Evening. We have stopped the Press, to communicate the arrival this morning of the Merope, from Hobart Town; (out 18 days), which rather singularly corroborates our previous remarks. We have not received an exact statement of the cargo, but it is principally comprised of the following:—

260 bags Wheat,—50 tons Potatoes,—20 Goats, 250 Sheep,—25 tons Flour.—9 Horses,—3 Bullocks,—7 Cows and Calves.

From our files of Launceston and Hobart Town Papers up to the 8th instant, we preceive that the Eagle, the Georgiana, and the John Dunscombe, may be expected here in the course of a short time; the Georgiana to touch here on her way to Batavia,—sailed on the 8th instant.

We have not observed any local intelligence, of immediate importance; the following is a summary of the English news:—

No further fighting subsequent to the 29th September had taken place between the forces of Pedro and Miguel up to the 7th October, when the Water Witch sailed, which reached Cowes on the 14th. Pedro had 28,000 well-organised armed men in Oporto.

Besides the battle between the troops of Pedro and Miguel, at Oporto, on the 29th September; several other fights of considerable importance had previously taken place, in which the forces of Pedro were for the most part victorious. On the 16th a sharp engagement took place.

Sir John Doyle had gone out among others to assist Pedro in his contest with Miguel.

The Marquis de Palmella's official account of the battle at Oporto on the 29th September, proves the result to have been more favourable to the constitutional cause than the private accounts previously received had led to imagine.

A grand pageant in the honour of the late Sir Walter Scott, was to be acted at Drury lane on the 20th Oct. The scene representing a view of Abbotsford, painted by Stansfield, is said to be the finest thing ever shewn upon a theatre. The principal characters of the Waverly novels were to pass in procession as those of Shakespeare's plays did in Garrick's jubilee. All the principal actors in London were to assist on the occasion, as a compliment to departed genius.

Parliament was further prorogued till the 11th December. It was understood that as soon as the full arrangements could be completed for the new election, it would be dissolved.

Consols 15th Oct. 84¼

The remnant of the Turkish army was attacked by the Egyptians on.the 21st Sept. and totally routed. The Porte had applied for the mediation of England.

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The Aboriginal Inhabitants of this Country, are a harmless, liberal, kind hearted race; remarkably simple in all their manners. They not only abstained from all acts of hostility, when we took possession; but showed us every kindness in their power. Though we were invaders of their country, and they had therefore a right to treat us as enemies, when any of us lost ourselves in the bush, and were thus completely in their power; these noble minded people shared with us their scanty and precarious meal; suffered us to rest for the night in their camp; and, in the morning directed us on our way to head quarters, or to some other part of the settlement.

Such was the treatment we received from a people who, cradled in storms the moment they come into being, and protected by an uninviting unsheltered coast, seem, for ages, to have had no intercourse with the rest of the world. In simplicity of manners, generousness of disposition, and firmness of character, they very much resemble the ancient Caledonians. And were the disbelievers in the authenticity of Ossian to become acquainted with them, they would be almost persuaded to adopt the opposite opinion; so much do these inhabitants of the Australian forests resemble the race whose deeds were sung by the bard of Morven.

The sable tribes of Derbal, it must be allowed, yield to the ancient clans of the North in point of cleanliness and ingenuity. But the former may arise from the custom, perhaps the necessity, of anointing themselves with oil and oily substances—a practice, by the by common to the most venerable nations of antiquity—and the latter, from their mode of living, and the nature of the country. The powers of the human mind, so far as mechanical science is concerned, can only be called forth by agriculture and commerce. But these are neither a commercial, an agricultural, nor even a pastoral people. They live entirely by the chase. In this respect, they are distinguished from all the nations of antiquity with whose history we are acquainted. The pastoral life was common to mankind in those periods when they were the most distinguished for the simplicity of their manners. But these people have not a single domesticated animal, except it be a few of that strange species of the canine genus, the Australian dog. Even this is rare. In every other respect they are utter strangers to the concerns of civil life. They are, in fact, distinguished from brutes only by the erectness of their form, and by that universal characteristic of the human race, dominion over the creatures. Apart from the power of language, Man, the head of creation, here retains no other trace of his high origin. If Ovid was a stranger to revelation, nothing but a ray of light direct from heaven, could have taught him to utter these, striking lines.

Since the aborigines of this country neither sow nor reap, they have no need of agricultural implements. Strangers from infancy to the luxuries of civil life, the fineness of the climate renders them equally indifferent to houses and clothing. Even in fishing, they use neither seine nor rod, and, in hunting, they require neither horses nor arms. A spear eight feet long and about two inches in circumference, furnishes them with food; and forms the whole of their material for war. Every bush as well as every sheet of water supplies their commissariat. Their rivers abound with fish, and their forests with game. Their time is therefore entirely spent in moving from place to place, as hunting or fishing may require; or in paying and receiving visits from the neighbouring tribes. The kangaroo, the opposum, the swan, the Pelican, the duck, the emu, the wild-turkey, the cockatoo, the pidgeon, the quail, the frog, the grub, the yarnia, the boorn, and the beean booraberang, each furnishes its number of repasts at the proper season. Their rivers too in many places easily forded; and admirably adapted to spear fishing. Hence, there being few islands on the coast, they have not the least inducement to attempt navigation. Even swiming is unknown, among them. They have been seen to paddle themselves across deep water with their hands, where the distance from bank to bank was short; but, of the art of swiming, they are entirely ignorant. It is not therefore to be wondered at, if a people, whose mode of life is so simple, and whose wants are so few and so easily supplied, should be found destitute of mechanical, knowledge. Where one accustomed to the luxuries of civil life would not contrive to live a day, nature, at the mandate of Him whose providence watches over every branch of the human family, brings forth, annually, for these inhabitants of the woods, an abundant supply. Never were the words, of Doctor Young more strikingly exemplified,

The apparent want of ingenuity in these people, is therefore evidently occasioned by the nature of the country, the climate and their mode of living and is not to be attributed to any defect in their constitution physically or morally. But if we do not find in Derbal the halls of the Celtic and Gothic nations, in which the shell of joy circulated, or the high mounted car in which they sometime rushed to battle; in other respects they greatly resemble those nations, and particularly the ancient Caledonians. Like them, they are formed into distinct tribes, who have their particular districts, and whose chiefs have but a limited authority, excepting in time of war or any emergency. Like them too they fight with the spear, are often found in the chase, and are fond of music and poetry. They resemble them too in their religious notions. For, though they seem to have an idea of the existence of a supreme being, it is accompanied with so much skepticism, that they have neither priest nor altar, neither temple nor worship.

They are all perfectly naked.—But some of the men throw a kangaroo-skin over their shoulders apparently for ornament; and the married women have one each made into a convenient form for the purpose of carrying their sucking infants on their backs. They are not remarkable for stature; and instances of corpulency are rare. The tribes in this part of the settlement are clean limbed, and finer made than those to the South. The women are utterly destitute of beauty of countenance, or symmetry of person. I have seen but one handsome woman among them.

I have found several instances of bigamy; and I believe polygamy is not uncommon. Consequently jealousy, the invariable attendant of such manners, frequently burns like fire in the breasts of the men; and, as they have no seraglio to guard the chastity of their wives, the life of the unfortunate female, I fear, too often falls a sacrifice to her imprudence. The practice of spearing the women, whenever them offend them, is cruel and barbarous. The knowledge of it, I trust, will excite the sympathy of the christian females of Europe. Woman is safe from insult, degradation, and slavery, no where, but under the shield of christianity.

It is difficult to say, what are their numbers. I could never get them, in counting, to accompany me beyond ten. But if we reckon them at one hundred each tribe, we shall not be far out. This will give, in, and immediately adjoining the settlement, one thousand; exclusive of Port Augusta and King Georges Sound.

The manner in which they reckon time, is worthy of particular observation. They do not, like those in Europe, reckon by day's but by nights—not from mid-night to mid-night, as we do, but from sunset to sunset. This is perhaps one of the most remarkable instances of ancient manners now any where to be found; and exactly agrees with the account which the scriptures give us of the computation of time, when it first began. It is not said, 'And the morning and the evening were the first day.' but 'And the evening and the morning were the first day.' Those to whom the divine oracles were entrusted, are the only people besides that ever followed this mode of computation.

The horrid custom of killing one of another tribe, when any of their own happens to die, thus causing a double mortality, together with the practice of polygamy, will account for the smallness of their numbers, compared with the extent of the country they occupy.

It is perhaps important to state, that, when meeting them in the bush, to hold up the hand is the token of peaceable intentions; and should