PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1899, 26 June 1890, Page 39

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Heligoland. I dare say that every Englishman was surprised when be read that Heligoland (Holy Island) had been surrendered by the English to the Germans — on condition, no doubt, that the Germans moderated their demands in Africa. Perhaps it will interest you to know how that small island, gradually becoming beautifully less by the action of tho waves of the German Ocean, came into the possession of England* To make it clear, I'll commence with Napoleon's campaign against Russia in 1807. EYLATF. With 100,000 men he marched to the Vistula to encounter the Russians, who bad advanced to fche Vistula to meet him. Though ifc was winter the campaign was carried on. ° The opposiig armies met at Eylau on fields thickly covered with snow, and fought from daylight to dark. When night came down 50,000 men were lying on the snow wounded, dead, acd dying. The resistance of the Russians had been so unusually stubborn that ifc was as much as the enthusiasm j of the French soldiers and the skill of their leaders could do to avert a defeat. The Russian general, unduly cautious, retreated next day, though had he pursued bis advantage he would probably have completely overthrown the French army and destroyed the power of Napoleon." FBIEDLAND. Four months Inter fche two armies again mefc, this time at Friedland, when Napoleon encountered a resistance as stubborn as at Bylau, but managed to carry fche day, fche Russians weakened by slaughter retiring from the field. TREATY OF TILSIT. Alexander I did not choose to carry on the war any longer, particularly as the Great Powers, England especially, had not given him any assistance. " A week after the battle the two Emperors met on a large raft moored for them in the River Niemen, and there the imperial robbers laid the foundations of the most gigantic scheme of plunder known to history." This treaty, the Treaty of Tilsit, bound the two nations to unite on land and sea in order to crush England's power, and practically to place the whole of Europe under their rule. The agreement was to have been kept an inviolable secret, but somehow Canning, the English statesman, got a pretty good idea of its conditious, and found out: (1) That Russia, France, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Au»trla were to shut their ports against England and declare war against her, and that. (2) Bonaparte intended to seize the Danish fleet, and by means of ifc Invade fche N.E. coast of England. As for fche second point I have referred to, you know that Canning secretly fitted out a fleet, and after a four days' bombardment of Copenhagen forced fche Danes to hand their fleet over to the English Government until the war was over. The sudden seizure of the Danish fleet threw Napoleon into a fearful passion, for he had nob the slightest idea that England knew of his plans, and of course he had known nothing of the fleet sent to Copenhagen to take possession of the Danish men-of-war. Seeing that he could not invade England, be issued, under fche name of the Milan decree, a part of the Treaty of Tilsit, and declared : (1) That fche British dominions in all parts of fche world were in a sfcnte of blockade. ' (2 That all countries were prohibited from trading with each other in any articles produced or manufactured In the countries plaoed under Interdict. He thought by these means to ruin " the nation of shopkeepers," but the Continental nations required English goods, and preferred to run fche risk of smuggling. To assist them England took possession of HELIGOLAND, which was used as a huge storehouse to which smuggling boats could resort at their own convenience. Napoleon himself, though perhaps he didn't know ifc, carried on his campaigns by English goods. His officers had without fail to supply the army with clothes and boots, and they could only be got from the English, so if his decrees had been effectually enforced his own troops would have perished with cold. To put the whole matter briefly : Alexander I resented England's refusal to help him, and agreed to assißfc in closing European ports against English commerce. As a consequence of this and the Milan decree, England found ifc necessary to take Heligoland and line ifc as a depot for English goods to be smuggled into fche continent. Ifc has served England's purpose, and if the British trading companies and missionaries have a wider scope in Africa now ifc is surrendered to Germany, I don't think we should complain much. Astrakan, seldom appears in the telegrams. It is afc tbe mouth of tbe longest river in Europe, the Volga, and up to lately was the chief pert on the Caspian, bufc the Russian trade with Persia, Afghanistan, and India is to a very large extent now carried on by Baku, possibly because the Vo'ga at Asfcrakan is frozen for three months yearly. Astrakan is connected with the finest canal system in the world. From ifc one can by water get into fche Black Sea and up tbe Danube to fche centre of Austria — in fact, from the Danube into the tributaries of the Rhine, and thence into the RhiDe itself and the German OcPAn. By taking another water route fche Baltic Sea is reafJe I ', and by a third St Petersburg or the Arctic Ooean. Had ifc not been for the waterways — 7000 miles old being supplied by the Volga and ifa tributaries — Russia would be badly off for cheap and quick inland communication. Ruasin is so large that roadmaking would be very expensive, even supposing ifc were possible. But, surprising as ifc may seem to you, there are but few good roads in Russia, for the simple reason that stone is very pcarce. In winter travelling is easy enougb, for everything is frozen, but when the thaw and summer comes the tracks are either deep slush or dust. Last Week's Telegrams mainly refer to the African question, fche Newfoundland fisheries, Quilimane, the Congo, the Zambesi, Sfcephensorj's road, Zanzibar, and other geographical names that I have already written of, and to Bismarck, Stanley, and Emm Pasha, who also have had their, lives outlined, so you ought to be able to follow fche course of events with a fair amount of accuracy. I cannot, bowever, quite make out fche boundaries that are now to mark German and English territory in Central aud Eastern Africa, so shall wait until I get Home papers before attempting to give them to you accurately. Three names are mentioned, however, in connection with the settlement that I have not noticed. The first, Juba, is on the east coast, about five or ten miles south of the equator ; the second, Witu, is, I think, on the east coast, about three degrees below fche

equator— that is, somewhere about 200 miles south of Juba ; and Uganisland I imagine is the central district between the southern shores of Tanganyika and the east coast. Customs of Australian Natives. ' The mention of Roebuck Bay, where the captain of a British war schooner burnt out some Indians who had quarrelled with the aborigines, brings to my mind some of the native customs I read about a week or two ago in the Centennial. : We are content with one father and mother, [ but the Australian picaninnies may have half a | dozen of eisoh or more, in this way: all the mother's sisters are counted as mothers, and the father's brothers as fathers. In a somewhat similar manner a young woman can be a grandmother to one older tban herself ! Parents are fond of their children and children of their parents, and though the parents sometimes eat their children when they are babies, it is only because they are driven to ifc by hunger. The children are not so cruel as to kill their parents, but when they die they eat their bodies to Bhow how they esteem and love them, and because they think by so doing they will become endowed with the valour, wisdom, and skill which they possessed when alive. Indeed, to refuse to eat a slice of father or mother would be a family disgrace.

The boys, girls, and women are nob allowed to eat male animals. When the boys are thought old enough to be classed as men, the leaders of the tribes take them away from the huts or mia-mias, and go through mysterious ceremonies which try their strength and endurance. These ceremonies tbe natives won't explain to whites. Should they flinch or show fear they are sent back to their mothers until the next cobawn camp is prepared for the bora ceremonie?. After passing the ordeals safely they have to go out into the forests for four or five moons aud provide for themselves. Their return to camp after that shows that they have* been able to take care of themselves. They are then looked upon as fully developed men.