Murray. She left Melbourne in June, 1871, Dr. Murray going with her as surgeon. She took from thence a general cargo, and no suspicion was entertained that she was to be engaged in any but a legitimate trade. On arriving at Levuka, the captain of the brig left; the mate, a man named Armstrong, was appointed in his stead, and, having obtained authority from Mr. March, the British Consul, to go on a labour-cruise, he, still accompanied by Dr. Murray, the owner, started on a kidnapping expedition amongst the islands. Then commenced the perpetration of a series of the most horrible atrocities. The unsuspicious natives were decoyed in their canoes alongside the vessel, and the canoes were suddenly smashed by heavy pieces of iron being thrown into them. Struggling in the water, the unhappy wretches were caught, hauled on board the brig, and thrust into the hold, and thus the atrocious trade was carried on until the slaver had nearly completed her living cargo. But then, maddened by being stolen from their homes, and by hard usage, these natives began to fight, and in utter desperation set fire to the ship. To check this the captain, Dr. Murray, and his myrmidons commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of their captives, firing promiscuously into the crowd. The morning after these murders had been perpetrated, on the hatches being taken off, it was found that no fewer than seventy were either dead or wounded, and both dead and wounded were at once thrown overboard. Some time after a few of the particulars of these atrocities leaked out, and at Sydney the captain and some of the crew were committed for trial for their share in them. Dr. Murray himself is the principal witness, and it is from his mouth that the details of this horrible affair have been obtained. It is said that he has turned Queen's evidence, and that, moreover, he is protected by a certificate from the British Consul at Fiji, so that it is feared he cannot be prosecuted. Meantime, the Government of Victoria have been most untiring in their endeavours to procure every item of evidence that may serve to render the proceedings taken in Sydney effectual, and have transmitted all the information obtained to the Government of New South Wales.

NOVEMBER.

1. SIR BARTLE FRERE, the Vice-President of the Royal Geographical Society, having accepted a mission to the East Coast of Africa with a view to putting down the slave-trade in that country, was entertained by the society at a farewell banquet at Willis's Rooms. Sir Henry Rawlinson, the president, occupied the chair, and the company numbered some 250.

Sir Bartle Frere, in acknowledging the principal toast, said,My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,-It would indeed be very difficult for me to find in any language which I could command, words that could express what I feel for the kindness with which Sir Henry Rawlinson has proposed my health and the manner in which you have received it. But I can most truthfully say, that I never till this moment realized the heavy responsibility of what I have undertaken, because I hardly realized before how much was expected of me by many men, not only with whom I was officially connected, but with whom I have been connected by the dearest ties of fellow-service during the greater part of my life. I am glad to know that this undertaking, in which I have embarked, is one which is supported by the entire sympathy of those nations with which we are allied throughout the civilized globe. I believe there is not at this moment one nation that boasts of being a civilized nation which has not sent in to the Foreign Office its adhesion to the efforts which her Majesty's Government have made and are making to put a final stop to the slave-trade on the coast of Africa. I can claim nothing more than a hearty desire to do good in my generation by giving some effect to this very limited effort, which it is a mistake, I think, to say is to be the extinction of the slavetrade; because I fear that as long as human nature is what it is, you will be liable to find the slave-trade again showing its head if you do not look after it and keep it down. But I believe I may say that the measures which her Majesty's Government have now undertaken are such as practically will entirely disconnect all nations having any pretensions to civilization from this abominable traffic. And if it remains in after-ages it can only be by stealth, and as a thing which will attempt to raise itself up, whatever may be done by civilized States to put it down. It will be very much like crime in civilized countries, which may never be entirely eradicated, but which may be kept under by the exertions made to suppress it as soon as it exhibits itself. But there is another fact which strikes one very forcibly in regard to all that is done by the Royal Geographical Society, and that is that we do not stand here as representatives of any member of your Society who is here present. I feel that all the light which has been thrown on this subject of late—all the brilliancy that we see around us this evening-is, as it were, but reflected from your great associate Livingstone. It is to him, to his persevering efforts through a whole lifetime, that you owe the knowledge which you possess of this great evil, and also, to a great extent, your knowledge of the means by which it may be counteracted. I am afraid that Sir Henry Rawlinson was a little sanguine in hoping that Dr. Livingstone and I might have the pleasure of meeting before I returned from this mission. If I know the Doctor aright, as long as there remains any part of the work that he has undertaken undone, nothing whatever, not even the whole of her Majesty's Government itself assembled at Zanzibar, would induce him to refrain from honestly and thoroughly

completing it. At the peril of his life he will do it, whatever may happen. And it is because I feel that at some humble distance we are all endeavouring to do the work which Livingstone commenced, and which has so long been and is now prospered by this societya work which was also the work of our late President, and which, as I can testify from what I have seen, is now the most congenial work of the council of this institution-it is, I say, because we are doing at a humble distance a small part of that work that I feel we have a guarantee of success. And in returning you my most hearty thanks for the honour you have done me, I can only hope that we may all of us adopt what I believe is the motto of the good Dr. Livingstone, and what has long been the motto of our Indian empire-"That Heaven's light may be our guide."

DESTRUCTION OF THE OXFORD MUSIC-HALL. Early this morning a fire broke out at the Oxford Music-hall, which is situated a few doors west of Tottenham-court-road, in Oxfordstreet. This is the second time this elegant and popular place of amusement has been destroyed by fire, the previous calamity having occurred on the morning of February 11, 1868, when Mr. Morton, whose name was for so many years closely connected with the Canterbury, the parent of music-halls, was the proprietor. A great part of the interior was destroyed.

5. HIPPOPOTAMUS BABY.-The birth of a son and heir to "Madame Hippo," in the Regent's-park gardens of the Zoological Society to-day, led the managers to give young hippo the name of "Guy Fawkes." The dam has brought forth two other cubs or calves, but they could not be taught to suck, and so they died, in spite of an attempt to feed them with goats' milk. This young animal, which thrives well, is 4 ft. or 5 ft. long, and above 2 ft. high, weighing more than 2 cwt. Its back and legs are slatecoloured, but the belly has a pinkish or fleshy tinge. The superintendent of the gardens, Mr. Bartlett, who watches over mother and child with the most constant and intelligent care, has prepared a wholesome kind of pap, which the young one seems to relish, but it has taken kindly to the maternal source of nourishment.

9. TERRIFIC FIRE IN BOSTON, U.S.-An enormous fire broke out at Boston this evening, which has destroyed nearly one-seventh of the city; thirty-five persons have been killed, 959 warehouses and private dwellings destroyed, and upwards of 2000 firms and individuals will suffer great pecuniary loss, the total of which is estimated to reach one hundred million dollars.

The fire began in an engine-room in the basement of a large granite building at the corner of Summer and Kingston-streets, spread rapidly up the elevator, and soon appeared from the roof. An alarm was promptly sounded from the fire department on the ground. By this time the roof was in flames. The engines were all working before any other store caught. This was in the heart of the business portion of Boston, where there are large buildings, chiefly granite. The wind was calm at the beginning, but it soon

blew a gale from the west and north-west. The granite crumbled, and the buildings being filled with goods, this caused the flames to spread rapidly. The fire extended north-west and south-east along Summer-street, also from that street in a north-easterly direction. By four o'clock on Sunday morning twenty-two blocks were destroyed, the burnt district at that time covering about sixty acres, bounded by Summer-street on the south-west, Big Broadstreet on the south-east, Pearl-street on the north-east, Milk-street on the north, and Washington-street on the north-west. The intervening area, filled with costly buildings and goods, had then been destroyed. On Summer-street the line of fire then extended over one-third of a mile from the Bay front at Broad-street to within one block of Boston-common. From this line the burnt district extended north-east about a quarter of a mile in this area, where the fire destroyed Winthrop-square, Franklin-square, Beebesblock, Franklin, Devonshire, Federal, High Kingston, Atkinson, Williams, Lincoln Arch, Otis, Chauncey, Hawley, and the neighbouring streets. Beebes-block was valued at two millions, and the total loss is estimated at one hundred millions.

10. GREAT FIRE IN THE CITY. The largest fire which has occurred in London since that of Tooley-street, in June 1861, when Mr. Braidwood, the chief of the Fire Brigade, lost his life, took place to-day. This morning, at about half-past six o'clock, flames were seen at the windows of the City Flour Mills-an enormous building, eight storeys high, built on the site of the Puddle Dock, on the eastern side of Blackfriars and the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Bridges. The damage is estimated at about 100,000. One fireman, unfortunately, has lost his life, and two or three others have been injured by the falling girders and beams.

The mill was known as the largest flour-mill in the world, and a gigantic example of mechanical skill. It was constructed entirely upon piles, extending from Thames-street to the water's edge, and was 250 feet long by 60 feet wide. The fire was discovered in the first storey by a police-constable, who found Winter, the watchman, washing himself previous to leaving, and quite unacquainted with anything being wrong.

Intimation soon reached Watling-street, whence engines were despatched, and Captain Shaw was speedily on the spot. By halfpast seven o'clock the ravages of the fire assumed a fearful aspect, the flames having reached each of the upper storeys. The second was used as the stone floor, where thirty-two pairs of millstones were employed; the third storey being called the "smutter" room, where the process of cleansing the wheat took place; the fourth and fifth storeys being set apart for flour dressing; and the sixth, seventh, and eighth as wheat stores. Telegraphic communication was sent for all available assistance, and shortly after eight o'clock there were about sixteen land-steamers in operation, as well as four powerful "floats," besides a number of manuals present. There were nearly 200 fireman engaged in work, or more than half the

number comprising the brigade. From the river twelve branches were directed on to the fire, and from the housetops in Vulcan Wharf and Wheatsheaf Wharf, on either side, and from Muggeridge's Granaries opposite, the water was copiously applied. About nine o'clock, while a number of men were engaged in the building, a brick fell, and doubt was expressed as to the safety of the huge pile. The engines near thereto were stopped and ordered "back." Notwithstanding the presence of the Salvage Corps, it was deemed advisable not to remove anything; and the firemen continued their work until the afternoon, without any particular result.

About four o'clock, however, several of the men entered the fifth storey, when a portion of the top fell in, and it was with great difficulty they escaped with their lives. Two of the men received much injury, and were conveyed in cabs to obtain surgical aid, and one poor fellow, named Guernsey, was unavoidably left in the burning ruins. He and another man were working side by side on one of the floors, when the floor above them suddenly gave way. His companion, as it happened, got out of danger; but he saw nothing of Guernsey after the crash, and, although several gangs of firemen went about in every direction shouting his name, they got no answer. The fire was spreading so rapidly, that there was no time for them to clear away the ruins in which they supposed he was buried. His body has since been found.

The building is said to have been built in accordance with a plan brought forward in the year of the Great Exhibition, by which it was thought that a fire if it broke out might be strictly confined to that part in which it originated. The floors sprang chiefly from massive pillars of stone resting on foundations of the utmost solidity, and each storey was supported by iron girders of great strength. The lofty chimney-shaft, which remains uninjured, has a foundation of its own, independent of the building itself. The mill had a stowage for 40,000 quarters of grain, and the loss occasioned is estimated at little under 100,000l. Much valuable machinery has been destroyed; and the five upper storeys and the extensive property contained therein have been destroyed. The damage to the lower part has also been great. Messrs. J. and J. Hadley, the owners of the mill, which was composed principally of iron girders and stone and brick-work, are only partially insured. How the fire originated cannot be ascertained. It is usual to keep the mill open from Monday morning till Saturday night, a double set of hands being employed; but on the 9th, being Lord Mayor's day, the place was closed at three o'clock.

12, 13. HURRICANE IN DENMARK.-A terrible hurricane visited the Danish coast. At Copenhagen much damage was done by the rains and wind, and the sea ran very high, causing injury to the shipping; but on the whole the capital escaped any very serious calamity. At Kjæge (or Kioge), five Danish miles south-west of Copenhagen, the lower part of the town, the harbour, and the rail