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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



nity, that any fixed law is found to exist; and, whenever a small number of individuals 

 are alone included in the inquiry, the results must be received with considerable caution 

 and reserve. 



As the number of officers always bears a small proportion to that of the privates of 

 a regiment, it becomes almost impossible to distinguish the one from the other, in 

 framing a table of mortaHty. Who would thmk of attempting to ascertain the dura- 

 tion of human hfe in London or Edinburgh, by recording the deaths among his ac- 

 quaintances? Yet few persons of any importance can number less than 136, which is 

 the total number of British officers who have resided in the island of Ceylon, for a 

 period of nine years. 



A writer in the United Service Journal for June 1835, in an article of some interest, 

 gives the first two columns of the following table, as being the observed mortality at 

 the several stations, among officers alone. We have added a third column, which is 

 deduced from the others by calculating the mortality for a radix of 10,000 men, that 

 we may be able to compare it with the tables already given, for officers and private 

 solt^ers collectively. 



MORTALITY AMONG OFFICERS IN THE BRITISH COLONIES, DURING THE NINE YEARS 



FROM 1826 TO 1835. 



Die annually 



Station. Officers, Deaths. out o/ 10,000. 



Corps at home . 936 ' ... ' 96 ... 114 



Bengal . . . ' . 388 ..." 138 ... 395 



Madras . . ' . ' 398 ' ... 158 ... 441 



Bombay . . 186 ... 44 ... 263 



♦Ceylon . . .136 ... 15 ... 123 



•Mauritius . - .113 ... 10 ... 98 



•Jamaica ... 178 ... 45 ... 281 



. Windward and Leeward Islands 283 ... 45 ... 177 



*New South Wales . . 102 ... 11 ... 120 



Cape of Good Hope . . 102 ... 12 ... 131 



North America and Bermuda . 351 ... 28 ... 89 



Gibraltar . . . . 219 ... 22 ...111 



Malta . . ' . 140 ... 12 ... 95 



Ionian Isles . . . ' 212 ... 22 ... 115 



We have marked with an asterisk (*) those returns which appear particularly liable 



to suspicion: the first three on the hst are probably not very far from the truth. 



Upon comparing these results with the tables for officers and private soldiers col- 

 lectively, we shall find the mortality to be represented exceedingly low — to a degree, 

 in some cases, altogether extravagant; 



We particularly notice Ceylon, in which the mortality is stated to be very slightly 

 greater than in Great Britain, being only as 123 to 114 — a result completely at 

 variance with all other documents. A good authority on this subject describes the 

 climate as being exceedingly diversified according to situation. In some parts, it is 

 hot and oppressive, and liable to frightful storms of thimder and lightning; in others, 

 it is more temperate and salubrious. But the woody parts prove destructive to 

 strangers, who frequently become victims to the putrid miasmata, which taint the 

 atmosphere. Until lately, the kingdoms of the interior have been guarded from the 

 attacks of Europeans by the insuperable barrier of an unhealthy cUmate ; and those 

 who escaped the hazards of war generally fell victims to the ravages of disease. 



How far the healthiness attributed to this island in the returns, may arise from the 

 peculiar facihties afi^orded by an insular situation to such officers, whose constitutions 

 are broken down, to die in peace on the passage homeward, and thus to escape enu- 

 meration in the returns, we cannot at present determine. Ceylon was believed, and 

 is yet considered by many of the Orientals, to have been the paradise where Adam was 

 created. Hammalleel, or Adam's Peak, is still held in great veneration by the natives. 

 But though the notion, that Ceylon was paradise, may be popular, we must protest 

 against documents which would give rise to the belief, that it is so still, at least in re- 

 Bpect to the duration of human hfe. 



In conclusion, we earnestly entreat our military friends, who are anxiously looking 

 out for a station congenial to health, to be certain that the data on which they found 

 their calculations are derived from a sufficiently wide induction of particulars, before 

 they trust themselves imphcitly to their guidance. We would recommend the seniors 

 of each rank rather to expend their money in purchasing the chance of promotion by 

 death or vacancies in Ceylon, than in negotiating an exchange to this boasted land of 

 promise. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The Euphrates Expedition. — (From the Malta Gazette, June 3.^^— By his 

 Majesty *s brig Columbine, Commander Henderson, from the Orontes, we have re- 

 ceived some account of the Euphrates expedition and its first proceedings. Colonel 

 Chesney and the whole of the officers and men were quite well on the 3d of May; 

 they were encamped on a spot near the mouth of that river, to which they have given 

 the name of Ameha Island. 



The George Canning was towed by the Columbine almost the whole way from 

 Malta to the bay of the Orontes, where the expedition anchored on the 3d of April. 

 On the 6th the landing of the packages and stores was commenced by means of a 

 hawser, which was extended over the bar from the George Canning to the shore, a 

 distance of 1,200 yards, by the officers and men of the brig of war. Captain Hender- 

 son hkcwise stationed Lieutenant Thomson and Mx Pritchard, with 25 men, at the 

 camp estabhshed on shore; and everything being thus well disposed, nearly two-thirds 

 of the whole of the equipments were landed by the boats of the two ships, eight in 

 number, during the first week. The only accident that happened was the temporary 

 loss of a cask, containing the valves and other parts of the steam-engines, which, by 

 the breaking of the sUngs, sank to the bottom ; but it was soon recovered by part of 

 the apparatus of the diving-bell. 



The attention of the officers of the expedition was then directed to other objects. 

 To Captain Estcourt was allotted the repair of the road to the Euphrates; to Lieute- 

 nant Mm-phy and a pai-ty the survey of the bay of the Issus; to Lieutenant Cleave- 



land the landing of the stores and the preparation of the caravans ; whilst Colonel 

 Chesney and Lieutenant Lynch, of the Indian Navy (who had been waiting and pre- 

 paring for the expedition some time in Syria), were employed in soliciting aid from 

 the authorities of the country, and making arrangements with the Arabs near Bir, on 

 the Euphrates, whither Lieutenant Lynch proceeded to receive the first section of 

 light materials, which would have arrived there about the 17th, if it had been possible 

 at once to procure camels. 



During the second week the weather was so boisterous as to retard the landing a 

 good deal, and the gig of the Columbine was upset on the bar with Captain Hender- 

 son and four men in her, who were all happily saved by a boat which immediately 

 pushed off from the George Canning. But, notwithstanding the bad weather, by the 

 2 1st every thing was disembarked except a few coals. 



The estuary of the Orontes appears to have been a happy selection for the dis- 

 embarkation of the expedition ; and the success with which it has been effected may be a 

 favourable omen of its future progress. Ameha Island is described as presenting a 

 scene of high interest. The people of the surrounding places constantly visited the 

 camp, and viewed with wonder and amazement the operations of our sailors and me- 

 chanics. The landing of the boilers and large pieces of the iron steam-boats and en- 

 gines, as well as the fishing up of the heavy cask from the bottom of the sea, caused 

 the greatest possible surprise. In truth, the various costumes, the mixed nature of 

 the stores, the general activity which connected the ships with the shore, and the 

 beautiful scenery, with the crest of Mount Cassius towering above to the height of 

 5,6 18 feet in the back-ground, formed altogether a striking picture on the ancient coast 

 of SjTia. Since the above was pubUshed, a private letter has been received, which gives 

 us later information. It is dated " Orontes Camp, Amelia Inland, May 23(i, 1835. 

 — I wrote you on the 2d instant by his Majesty's brig Columbine. We have since put 

 the Tigris together; we commenced laying her down on the 6th, and had her ready 

 for launching on the 21st, being thirteen working days. Her draft of water, when 

 launched, vrith the two bed-plates and air-pumps of her engines, was 6^ inches upon 

 an even keel. The intention of putting her together at present is, that we hope to 

 be able to carry the other boat, heavy weights, &c. up the Orontes, as far as An- 

 tioch, a distance of about twenty miles, which will enable us to avoid a range of moun- 

 tains^ that we should have to contend with in land carriage, after which we intend to 

 take her to pieces in eight sections, for transportation to Bir. All the men are in ex- 

 cellent health and spirits." 



OBITUARY. 



In the month of May last, at Chamarande, near Paris, died T. R. Underwood, 

 Esq., Fellow of the Geological Society of London. He was born in London, the 

 24th of February 1772. The disease under which he sank, after long and constant 

 suffering, originated, many years ago, in the antrum maxillare. Mr Underwood enjoyed 

 the acquaintance of several of the most distinguished men of the age. He was an ex- 

 cellent artist, and a perfect judge of the arts — of much patient industry and indefati- 

 gable research. Geology seems to have been his principal study, but his attention was 

 by no means confined to it; for, as a naturalist, he had accumulated an immense va- 

 riety of observations, which, if placed in some able hand, would contribute largely to 

 the general stock of knowledge. I\Ir Underwood was a Prostestant; and, on the occa- 

 sion of his interment, it is gratifying to record an instance of hberaUty on the part of 

 the Roman Catholic clergyman of the village of Chamarande. In the absence of a 

 Protestant minister, none being within many miles, the rev. gentleman, in a spirit which 

 reflects the highest honour on his feehngs and his character, led the mournful procession 

 which followed the remains of the deceased to their last resting-place. Mr Under- 

 wood was so great an enthusiast in science, that he wished only to live that he might 

 witness the return of Halley's comet; and would have consented to an excruciatingly 

 painful operation, if his surgical friends could have given him hopes that his life could 

 have been prolonged by it only for a few weeks. 



LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



Geographical Society.. — The president. Sir John Barrow, in the chair. A 

 letter, addressed to Dr Hancock from Mr Paterson, a gentleman residing on the river 

 Demerara, British Guiana, was read, on the climate and productions of that country. 

 The seasons, it appears, have, within the last twenty years, become far less regular 

 than they formerly were; and it is now somewhat dif&cult to predict, with precision, 

 when the wet or di-y seasons will set in. The wet season used to commence about 

 the middle of April, gradually increasing until June, when it rained incessantly, ac- 

 companied with tremendous thunder and lightning ; by the middle of August, what 

 was called the long rainy season, had quite terminated. It is now of shorter duration, 

 and much less severe. August, September, October, and November are generally 

 dry; December and January are wet; in February and March it is again dry. There 

 is most thunder in June and July, and the wet season frequently terminates abruptly, 

 after a violent thunder storm. A remarkable change has also taken place within the 

 last fifteen years in the violence of the wind on the coast, which had an important 

 influence on the tides, causing them to rise so high, that the camp-house, stores, &c. 

 were frequently in imminent danger of being washed away; the tide of late years, from 

 the decrease of the wind, does not approach within a considerable distance of the fort; 

 and the water being now left to pursue its natural channel, has increased so much in 

 depth, on the bar of the river, that vessels, drawing eighteen feet of water, pass with- 

 out difiiculty. The average rise and fall of the river at Christianburgh, sixty-five 

 miles up, is about six and a half feet. The country affords an inexhaustible treasure 

 to the mineralogist, ornithologist, and botanist; it abounds with valuable woods and 

 di'ugs. — Literary Gazette^ 21th June. 



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