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Otago Daily Times, Issue 30, 19 December 1861, Page 3

Exploration op China.—A letter has been received from Lent. Colonel Sarel, dated Shanghai, July 15, announcing that he and Captain Blakiston have been obliged to aban-; don their overland expedition across Thibet; to India, in consequence of the swarm of rebels in the whole of the west country of China, and the impossibility they found of obtaining a single man or poney to carry their baggage. They got as far as Pingchow, a town some distance from Suchow, a place where no Europeans had ever been before. The French missionaries have not reached it though they travel in Chinese dresses and as Chinese. Colonel Sarel observes that the poppy is so! common in the province of Sz'chuen, growing! in a mass in the fields near the river, that no business in foreign opium will be done away from the sea coast, and perhaps from the north of China. The party passed through some magnificent scenery, and found districts full of coal. They have collected geological specimens and others in natural history for different societies at home, and Captain Blakiston has prepared for the Admiralty a chart for the navigation Yang-tse, as far as Queichow, 1200 miles from its mouth. It is therefore hoped that the trip, though unsuccessful in its object, has not been altogether without interesting and useful results.

A French Joke.—As a police patrol was, two nights back, going its rounds in the neighbourhood of the Pantheon it found a man, attired in a most extraordinary way, lying on a stone bench at a port-cochere. His hair had been covered with some clammy substance, over which copper filings had been sprinkled, so that it was stiff and brilliant; feathers had been stuck into it, to form a sort of diadem; his face was bedaubed with paint of different colours; he had on a necklace formed of corks cut round, and covered with gilt paper; his shirt was worn over his clothes, and was ornamented with arabesques in red paint; his trousers were raised so as to leave his legs bare, and the legs, as also his neck and hands, were painted of a chocolate colour. Near him was a bundle containing his stockings, cravat, waistcoat, &c. He was fast asleep, and on being awakened manifested the greatest astonishment at finding himself at such a place and in such a guise. Being taken to the nearest guard-house and questioned, he stated that he was a well-to-do farmer in the department of the Aisne, and had long been tormented with a desire to see Paris. Having collected a sum of money, he had come to the capital for the Emperor's fete, and remained there ever since. The day before he was found so strangely accoutred he went to the Jarden dcs Plantes, and sat down on a bench to rest himself. Shortly after a young man of gentlemanly appearance, who was reading a book, seated himself by his side. They got into conversation, and he related to the young man what he had seen in Paris, but expressed great regret that he had not beenfable to fall in with the Siamese Ambassadors. " How lucky it is that we have met!" cried the young man. " The Ambassadors are this very evening to visit a naval surgeon of my acquaintance, who cured their Queen of the whoopingcough ; and if you like I will take 3*oll to his house !" The farmer at first hesitated to accept the stranger's offer, but the latter pressed him so courteously that he consented. An appointment to meet in the evening in the Place dv Pantheon was made, and both the farmer and the young man were punctual. The latter led the countryman up and down several obscure streets, and then entered a house in which there was no concierge. In one apartmentto which he was introduced the farmer found several young men drinking and smoking, and he was induced to drink with them. After a while he was shown through a hole in a door several persons, male and female, dressed in strange costumes, and was told that they were the ambassadors and their wives, but that he could not be admitted to them unless he would consent to have certain changes made in his dress. He at first refused, but at last, after being well plied with wine, submitted. His toilette having been completed, he was introduced to the ambassadors. They courteousty entered into a conversation with him through an interpreter, and then insisted that he should partake of their refreshments. What he ate, he said, was very strange, and what he drank still more so. At last the ambassadors notified that they were so pleased with him that the}' would decorate him with the Order of the White Elephant; but they said that, in accordance with the custom of the country, he must first chase one of them down stairs, and succeed in catching him. He made no objection, and one of the ambassadors rushed down stairs, and the farmer pursued. But on reaching the bottom, the outer door was suddenly opened, and he was pushed out; the door was then closed on him, and a moment after a bundle containing the articles of dress he had taken off was dropped from a window. He knocked loudly at the door, but received no reply. He therefore went away, and walked about until, overcome with fatigue and the fumes of drink, he sat down to rest. He soon fell asleep, and remained sleeping until found by the police. After he had tojd this singular story he was made to count his money,. He said that not a sou had been taken from him. It was thus clear that he had only been made the victim of a practical hoax, and it is thought likely that the perpetrators of it were students. — Paris Pays.

Jones had been out to a champagne part} r, and returned home at a late hour. He had hardly got into the house when it struck four. "One —one —one —-one," hiccuped Jones. " I say, Mr--. Joii-js, this clock is out of o;*der, it has stiuck one lour time.?."