Literary Extracts.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 41, 19 January 1865, Page 6

Literary Extracts.

IN MEMQRTA— pRIKOE ALBERT.

If his sun went; down when it Was yet *lay, stilt lieiived to be full of honor and renown — had exhibited that in hot youth ;Jie was above 'the the temptation of prosperity and lijad surmounted the difficulties p'f a throne.. Although a young- mnn he lived to see his pupil-children wise, good, accomplished, admired, and beloved ; he was a grandsire, antf could look down the Pofi)jngagfis and be assured that he had set thf> English throne even more firmly ih an before; he had done good work, had borne the heat of the day, and was called away early by the Master of that great Vineyard, which all of us, prince and peapant are called upon to till. He has left behind him an heroic figure, which in long 1 centuries will not be equalled, perhaps never surpassed. Such was the Prince. — f Ham Friswell.'

The. Land Leeches of Ceylon— Sir J. Emerson Tenhent, in his account of Ceyjon, recently pixblished, states that of all finimals and insects, venemous and otherwise, that infest that beautiful island, none ra ! e comparable as plagues with a species oi leeches. ' The Ceylon land leech is a thin spare creature, about two inches long-, ?md so nimblo and flexible as to be able to insinuate itself up the legs and beneath die clothing as high as the throat, They do not crawl in the manner of our innocent medical leech, but plant themselves on pne end, like a nail sticking out of the ground, 'and in that attitude watch for their prey. When disposed to move they jircli their body so as to bring- the upper extremity to the earth, and advance on the two points by semicircular strides. Walking- with, amazing rapidit} r , they attack man and horse with equal audacity. Laying first ho.ld of the foot, they ascend the dress in search of an aperture to reach the skin. In travelling* through the jungle hosts of them may be seen on the road ! sides, waiting erect for their victims, and lurking in the grass. It happens (say? our author) that those persons in the rear of a party of travellers always fare worse. Their, size is so insignificant, and the wound they make is so skilfully punctured that- both are imperceptible, and the first intimation of their bite is the trickling- of the blood, or the chill feeling of a leech when it begins to hang heavily on the skin from being distended by its repast Horses arc ' a driven wild by them, and stamp the ground in fury to shake them from their fetlocks, to which they hang in bloody tassels. The bare legs of the palanquin bearers and coolies are a favorite resprt. Their hands being too much engaged to be spared to pull them off, the leaches hang like bunches of grapes round their ancles; and I have seen the blood literally flowing over the edge of a European's shoe from their innumerable bites. In healthy constitutions; the wounds, if not irritated, generally heal, occasioning no other inconvenience than a slight inflammation and itching; but in those with n bad state of body, the punctures if rubbed, are liable to degenerate into ulcers, which may lead to the loss of the limb or life.' The coffee planters we .are told, wear ' leech gaiters/ to protect themselves, as far as possible, from these cunning and bloodily disposed reptiles. — • Sir J. Emerson Tennent's Cc} r lon.' Marriage in the lonian Islands. — Marriages for. love are rare. A young gentleman, takes a wife partly to be well served and to have his meals well cooked; but phiefly to obtain a good dowery. After making- inquiries tq ascertain that the girl lie. proposes to marry is neither deformed nor one eyed, he proceeds to call on the father. and requests. to be informed what he will give with his daughter. Let us suppose that he replies 3,000 dollars. Our pero takes out his pocket book and notes the amount, says he will consider it and talced his leave. Not to go home . to. meditate. ,No, he proceeds to another hqSse to asls similar questions of another parent. . Perhaps at the house No 2, the reply is 6,000 dollars. 'That will never do,'"exclaimed the suitor, *I have already been pffered 8,000 dollars.' Perhaps the bid rises; if so, he returns to. the first parent to give him another chance, or else, he tries pther families. It becomes a regular auction, wherp the bridegroom is knocked 4'qwja Tjo the highest bidder. When the entirely arranged, the young Jatly^ is : - : Kjacla jicquaintedy with the fact. i%??Tital. politeness is. sometimes even- car •

jried to the length of asking -her whether the arrangement pleases her.- But this is a_mere matter of form signifying- nothing-. -TT-' Forty years in the lonian Islands.'

Court-Martial Proceedings.— The good natured looking officer at the table behind the right elbow of the President has a list of written questions which the prisoner is putting to the witness : They cannot bjs put directly to the prisoner. They must go the official round". A question is slow* \y and officially read.. The witness begins to reply, and tells something about what is called the chick. He must now stop till the official questioner has deliberately copied down his answer as far as the word i chick, then it is indicated to him that he ; may go on, and he proceeds ' which com- j pletely obstructs the vision.' Presently it occurs to the prisoner's law} r er to offer some impediment to some part of the enquiry. They never speak audibly, but they are always making- themselves heard. The prisoner l'jses with a bit of paper in his hand, and slowly and bog-glingly reads from it what has been written down for him to say, and what is delivered thus reads to the public in the newspaper report like shrewd spontaneous suggestions. JJach objection js followed by a pause — sometimes a long pause. The Court seems again and again to have baen hit in the wind and to have collapsed till it gets breath again. But this is only apparent; the Court -Martial is only twiddling its official thumbs while the prosecution pro? duces in neat small text its answer to or comment upon the objection raised. This is then read aloud, and causes a fresh stoppage, and so the weai*y business drags its slow leogtli along, looking like the dullest conceivable rehersal of a law scene by military amateurs who have bad parts and detest them, and cannot get through the lines of them without breaking down in spite of the prompter. — * All the Year Hound.'