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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 906, 4 January 1868, Page 3

The coast range of mountains in California is rapidly being stripped of its forests of redwood trees, and, in consequence, the country is drying up and becoming baia^n. The crops this season have proved a failure where the wood has been cut away, notwithstanding the heavy rains of last winter. An American medical gentleman, in an artical in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, on "Foreign Bodies in the Ear," says that in his experience he has taken from the ear beans, cotton, slate pencils, peas, maggots, crockroach.es, beads, glass, crockery, shells, paper, pins, ivory, teeth of combs, stones, and seeds. The Palace of Josephine. — Malmaison, the favourite residence of Josephine and Napoleon, is now undergoing a thorough restoration. The Empress Eugenic has undertaken this pious work, and her plan is said to be to restore the place to precisely the same condition, so far as possible, as when, first inhabited by the first Napoleon and his only beloved Josephine, who died there May 14, 1814. Among other things, Eugenic is gathering into Malmaison all the relics of Napoleon and Josephine which can be found. His simple cot-bod on which he died at St. Helena ; his camp-chair, which followed him through so many fields of battle ; his swords, pistols, epaulettes, &c. ; Josephine's watch, slippers, and a hundred other little souvenirs of the first Emperor and Empress of the French, are already gathered into the house of the , dead. ' Bad Times in Tattbanga. — The Tau- \ romga Record has the following : — " The [ truth must be told. The fact is now ; staring us in the face, that our crisis has , come ; that our hour of trial, long pre- [ dieted, has arrived. The principal part, . nearly all, of our military settlers have . left us for other fields of employment. j? Disappointed in the opportunity of occu- > pying their lands, unable to find subsist- , ence during an indefinite period of time . of which no one can predict the termina- . tion, when the wished for security of pos- . session can be obtained, they have sold r their allotments at, in some instances, t fabulously low prices, and retired from . the scene in despair. Every vessel which . leaves the harbour carries away many of t our best men, and those who cannot leave 3 long to follow. It is well known that 5 there have been instances of sales of 50 acres of land at £6, and many at £10, ' being respectively at the rate of 45., and , not quite 2s. 6d. per acre. The conse--5 quence is, that all business is completely f prostrate, the stores are without purchal sers, some are abandoned, and the beach is deserted. , Man Monitors. — John Ericsson has ; contracted with the Swedish Government 3 to build several vessels which he styles r " man monitors," and which may be pro--1 pelled by either steam or man power. . Each boat is 103 feet long, 20 feet wide, f 7 feet draft, and 148 tons burden. The c turret is 19 feet long and 12 feet wide, i plated with 7-inch armor. The boats will 1 carry one 15-inch gun. .The engines are I 20 horse power, and, with the boiler and b. shafting, weigh 8 tons. A boat can carry i but four days' supply of coal, and as !- Sweden has to depend upon other nations s for her coal, it is desirable for her to obs tain a formidable gunboat that can navi- :. gate the shallow bays of the shores oi »f Sweden without using steam-power. In c war the boats are to be propelled to the r scene of engagement by man-power, bui d during an action steam is to be used, leavi- ing the men at liberty to work the guns c The machinery is worked by 24 men, site ting on opposite seats, who work a brake y similar to that of a hand engine. It is es< l- timated that a gunboat can make 50 oi ,s 60 miles a day in this manner. Experi y ments on the first of the man-monitors ai y the Delameter Iron Works have given sa r- tisfaction. The total cost will be abou 1 it 20,000 dols. for each boat.— Panama Stw I. and Herald.