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Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 78, 18 July 1877, Page 3

ITEMS BY THE MAIL.

Details of disaster and > destruction caused on. the .South Pacific coast by earthquake and by the tidal wave of May 9 .have been received. The towns of Anca, Iquiqui, Pontabeli, Abos, Pabellon, De Pica, Chenaraya, Huanillos, Tocopilla, Cobya, Mejillones, De Boleva, Aretagasta, and Chanarlla, are nearly all \ destroyed. ,600 lives have been lost. 'The' destruction at Pabellon is estimated at 20,000,000d015. Villages twenty-three leagues inland have been ruined/ The shipping of guano from the southern deposits will be indefinitely suspended, as all facilities m the way of launches, wharves, water condensers- and buildings of all kinds have been swept away. The- destruction to the shipping ,has been very great and attended by serious loss of life. At , Mollendo the railway was iarn up by the sea. At Arica an immense amount of damage was done. ' The United States ship Wateree was lifted bodily and floated to a distance ' of some miles north of her old position. , Merchandise from the Custom house and stores was

carried five miles. The earthquake levelled a large number of public buildings, private dwellings, <fee. The people passed the night on the hills. There has been an alarming uprising of Indians on Comas prairie, m Idaho territory. News which arrived at Portland, Oregon, on June 19, shows that the settlers have been killed m all directions. A body of troops and set?, tiers, 270 strong,, marched .to chastise .. the Indians, but were outnumbered, surrounded, and half killed. The rest are still encircled, and fighting against odds. The Indians engaged in.the fight number 2,000 effective warriors. .< A general uprising of savages is looked for, and tie whole country view the prospect with ular in 1 . The Indians are massacring, men, women, and children, and the settlers are fleeing m all directions for safety. Midhat Pasha will probably b© re- ' called as Commander-in-Chief. The policy of Hobart Pasha is openly denounced. The Bashi Bazouks have committed j outrages m Constantinople. • ' " , Mukhtar Pasha's Allaschgerdo divi- j sion, which started from Delbati on the i offensive,- made a reconnaissance m the direction of the Taher Pass, which was j attacked by three [Russian columns, but was repulsed with heavy loss after five hours' "desperate fighting. The total Russian force available' in Asia Minor is estimated at 140,000. There are around 30,000; between Ears and Batum, 30,000 ; between Ears and the line of .Bayazid and Toprak Kaleh, 40,000 ; leaving 40,000 for centre against Mukhtar Pasha m a strong position. / O£ the, Turlrish squadron, there are' two monitors* three iron-clads, and ' several barques cruising about Eupato- 1 ria and Sebastopol. There is. a. panic at Odessa. Twenty thousand Arabs are ravaging the country between Damascus and " Aleppo. - , The Government has recalled Spia for mis-government. , Faslia Pasha gained a decisive victory over 13,000 Russians near Sukhum Kaleh. ' A large number of Sisters of Mercy have arrived at the Russian camp, and their presence is regarded as showing that there is much sickness amongst the troops. The chief points of the Russians' advance across the Danube will be east and west of quadrilaterial operations on the Turkish flank. The western line to be taken is an advantageous one for an advance over good roads and across the Balkans, from Pliona to Sofia, and there is another route from 'sistova' to the Sofia Pass, towards Phillippopolis. Lords Derby and Salisbury made most' pacific speeches at the Merchant Taylor's banquet at the Guildhall:, A Berlin despatch says orders have been issue,d by the Russian Government to accelerate a new levy of 218,000 men ; i but despite this, an opinion prevails that Russia favors peace, and negotiations' will probably be commenced if the Russians are successful on the Danube, and presuming, as, anticipated, energetic and offensive action m Bulgaria. v The "Daily News" Rustchuck despatch says : — " Outrages are proceeding unchecked m the province of Tultcha. Th» Christians are outraged.by the authorities, and have been abandoned to the Tartars apd Circassians. The villages and farms have been wantonly sacked and burned, with the "view of rendering the -country a desert before the advance of the Russians. Ghastlyheads are carried every. day by bloodstained murderers into Tultcha, Mahehime, Bakadgor, and Herzegovina. "The flames of burning villages are visible every night. The Turks are collecting reserves to the westward of Sofia. The garrison at Widin has • been reduced m order to strengthen the army m the field, m the first advance of the , Russians from Sistova towards Nieopolis. There was an effective ~canrion-_ ade from Rustchuck against masses of Russians visible from .the opposite side of river; A dyke was cut, and the railways from Kushendgi were submerged, and a strongly fortified line formed to resis,t an advance through Dobrudscha. The Turks anticipate creating an insurrection among the' Tartars -m the Crimea. k " Servia remains inactive j- m -order to avoid Austrian complicatidn. ; An encounter between six Russian torpedo boats and some Turkish ironclads took .place at Sulina, near, the mouth* of the Danube. The torpedo boats were beaten off and thr.ee destroyed. Some prisoners were taken,, and one of the ironclads was injured. The fighting m Montenegro has been "very severe, .the Turkish troops there numbering 70,000. Seyeral thousands, have been slaughtered on both sides. The Turks crushed back the enemy, who were completely out-numbered.