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"Among Captain Gardiner's papers, which I will notice presently, I extract the following:- Mr. Maidment was so exhausted yesterday that he did not arise from his bed till noon,' and I have not seen him since.' Again on September 4, alluding to Mr. Maidment, he writes:-'It was a merciful Providence he left the boat, as I could not have removed the body. Captain Gardiner's body was lying beside the boat, which apparently he had left, and being too weak to climb into it again had died by the side of it. We were directed to the cavern by a hand painted on the rocks, with Psalm 62, v. 5-8, under it.

"Their remains were collected together and buried close to this spot, and the Funeral Service read by Lieut. Underwood. A small inscription was placed on the rock near his own text, the colours of the boats and ships struck halfmast, and three volleys of musketry was the only tribute of respect I could pay to this loftyminded man and his devoted companions, who have perished in the cause of the Gospel for the want of timely supplies; and before noon the Dido was proceeding safely on her voyage."

Upon looking over the papers found in the cavern, Captain Moorshead found a melancholy record of faith, persecution, suffering, and resignation that cannot be surpassed. It appeared that the party had been harassed by the persecution of the natives and had been driven from various parts of the coast; their boats had been shattered by storms, and they were finally driven to a miserable shelter in a cove at Spaniard's Harbour. Here for four months they endured the greatest privations and

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miseries, their food wasted away, the sea washed into their cavern and carried away their clothes, or soaked their tents, and the terrible scurvy appeared. In March, finding Mr. Williams and Badcock bad with the scurvy, the party went to Picton Island, where they had buried some stores, and where they intended to remain until an expected vessel should arrive from England. They exhumed the stores; but the natives were still hostile, and they were obliged to return to Spaniard's Harbour, leaving the memorials first discovered by the Dido. At Spaniard's Harbour they remained, resigned to their fate, until the final consummation. The extract from the Diary proceeds:

"July 4. Having been seven weeks on short allowance, and latterly even this having been curtailed, the party are utterly helpless, everything found in the shape of food is cooked and eaten; a penguin, a shag, a half-devoured fish washed up on the shore, and even the salted fox washed out of the cavern, is thrown up again on the beach, and used for food. Captain Gardiner writes:- We have now remaining half a duck, about 1lb. of salt pork, the same quantity of damaged tea, a very little rice (a pint), two cakes of chocolate, four pints of peas, to which I may add six mice. The mention of this last item in our list of provisions may startle some of our friends should it ever reach their ears; but circumstanced as we are, we partake of them with a relish, and have already eaten several of them; they are very tender, and taste like rabbit.'

"July 22. They are reduced to living on mussels, and feel the want of food, and sometimes the

craving of hunger is distressing to them. Captain Gardiner writes: After living on mussels for a fortnight, I was compelled to give them up, and my food is now mussel broth and the soft part of limpets.'

"July 28. Captain Gardiner writes of the party in the other boat, They are all extremely weak and helpless. Even their garden seeds, used for broth, are now all out.'

"August 14. Captain Gardiner takes to his bed, but a rock weed is discovered, which they boil down to a jelly, and find nourishment from.

“August 23. John Erwin dies. "August 26. J. Bryant dies, and Mr. Maidment buries them both in one grave.

"John Pearce, the remaining boatman, is cast down at the loss of his comrades, and wandering in his mind; but Mr. Williams somewhat better.

"Sept. 3. Mr. Maidment has never recruited from that day of bodily and mental exertion. The remaining remarks I transcribe literally, and they must speak for themselves.

"Sept. 3. Wishing, if possible, to 'spare him (Mr. Maidment) the trouble of attending on me, and for the mutual comfort of all, I purposed, if practicable, to go to the river, and take up my quarters in the boat; this was attempted on Saturday last. Feeling that without crutches I could not possibly effect it, Mr. Maidment most kindly cut me a pair (two forked sticks), but it was with no slight exertion and fatigue in his weak state. We set out together, but soon found that I had no strength to proceed, and was obliged to return before reaching the brook over our own beach. Mr. Maidment was so ex

hausted yesterday that he did not rise from his bed until noon, and have not seen him since, consequently I tasted nothing yesterday. I cannot learn the place where I am, and know not whether he is in the body or enjoying the presence of the gracious God whom he has served so faithfully. I am writing this at ten o'clock in the forenoon. Blessed be my Heavenly Father for the many mercies I enjoy, a comfortable bed, no pain, or even cravings of hunger, though excessively weak-scarcely able to turn in my bed—at least it is very great exertion; but I am, by his abounding grace, kept in perfect peace, refreshed with a sense of my Saviour's love, and an assurance that all is wisely and mercifully appointed; and pray that I may receive the full blessing which it is doubtless destined to bestow. My care is all cast upon God, and I am only waiting his time and his good pleasure to dispose of me as He shall see fit. Whether I live or die, may it be in Him. I commend my body and my soul to his care and keeping, and earnestly pray that He will take my dear wife and children under the shadow of his wings-comfort, guard, strengthen, aud sanctify them wholly, that we may together, in a brighter and eternal world, praise and adore his goodness and grace in redeeming us with his precious blood, and plucking us as brands from the burning, to bestow upon us the adoption of children, and make us inheritors of his heavenly kingdom. Amen.

"Thursday, Sept. 4. There is now no room to doubt that my dear fellow-labourer has ceased from his earthly toils, and joined the company of the redeemed in the presence of the Lord, whom

he served so faithfully. Under these circumstances, it was a merciful Providence that he left the boat, as I could not have removed the body. He left a little peppermint-water which he had mixed, and it has been a great comfort to me, but there was no other to drink. Fearing I might suffer from thirst, I prayed that the Lord would strengthen me to procure some. He graciously answered my petition, and yesterday I was enabled to get out and scoop up a sufficient supply from some that trickled down at the stern of the boat by means of one of my Indiarubber over-shoes. What combined mercies am I receiving at the hands of my Heavenly Father! Blessed be his holy Name!

"Friday, Sept. 5. Great and marvellous are the loving-kindnesses of my gracious God unto me. He has preserved me hitherto, and for four days, although without bodily food, without any feelings of hunger or thirst.'

"The last remarks are not written so plainly as the previous day, and I concluded that they were the last; but I find another paper, dated Sept. 6, addressed to Mr. Williams, and written in pencil, the whole being very indistinct, and some parts quite obliterated, but nearly as follows:-'My dear Mr. Williams, the Lord has seen fit to call home another of our little company; our dear departed brother left the boat on Tuesday afternoon, and has not since returned; doubtless he is in the presence of his Redeemer, whom he served faithfully. Yet a little while, and though * * ** * the Almighty to sing the praises * throne. I neither hunger nor thirst, though * ** days without food * * * Maid

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"From the above statements I must, therefore, conclude that the two bodies found at Cooke's River were those of Mr. Williams and T. Pearce, and considering their weak state, it is unreasonable to suppose they could have survived Captain Gardiner, who could scarcely have lived over Sept. 6, 1851. I will offer no opinion upon the missionary labour of Captain Gardiner and the party, beyond its being marked by an earnestness and devotion to the cause. But, as a brother officer, I beg to record my admiration of his conduct in the moment of peril and danger, and his energy and resources entitle him to high professional credit. At one time I find him surrounded by hostile natives and dreading an attack, yet forbearing to fire, and the savages awed and subdued by the solemnity of his party kneeling down in prayer. At another, having failed to heave off his boat when on the rocks, he digs a channel under her, and diverts a freshwater stream into it; and I find him making an anchor by filling an old bread-cask with stones, heading it up, and securing wooden crosses over the heads with chain. There could not be a doubt as to the ultimate success of a mission here, if liberally supported; but I venture to express a hope that no society will hazard another without entrusting their supplies to practical men acquainted with commercial affairs, who would have seen at a glance the hopeless improbability of any ship, not chartered for the occasion, sailing out

of her way, breaking her articles, the freightage of a few stores from and forfeiting her insurance for the Falkland Islands.'

THE HOLMFIRTH CATASTROPHE.

The village of Holmfirth presents one of those scenes in which rural beauty is happily combined with signs of habitation, and which are so frequently found in districts where manufacturing industry plants itself apart from the great centres of trade. The gorge in which it is so happily placed is a valley running up into the great central ridge of England which culminates in the Peak, and is close to the point where the counties of Derby, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Yorkshire meet. Further up, the gorge opens up several smaller valleys, down which descend rapid streamlets, supplied by the condensed vapours of the Derbyshire hills, and which, uniting as their valleys meet in the Holm, form there a considerable torrent, which falls first into the Calder, a principal tributary to the Ouse and the Humber. Advantage has been taken of the rapid stream referred to for manufacturing purposes; and the valley through which it takes its course, down to Huddersfield, a distance of five or six miles, and the hill sides, teem with a busy and thriving population, engaged in the manufacture of woollen cloth; and the stream itself is closely hemmed in with mills, dyeing works, and other factories, to which it supplies both motive power and water. This busy and thriving district became on the 5th of February the scene of a devastating overflood, which in a few minutes reduced the whole to a wreck, drowned many of its in

habitants, and ruined thousands. The stream being fed by mountain torrents, is of course liable to great inequalities. In a rainy season the floods choke the watercourse and impede the mills; while in dry weather the supply is insufficient for the ordinary purposes. To remedy this evil, the mill-owners of the valley associated in 1837, to form extensive reservoirs higher up the valley, which should receive and retain the feeders in their descent, and discharge them to the main watercourse with a regulated supply. Three such reservoirs were accordingly formed by taking advantage of the formation of the country-namely, by throwing dams across the valleys, and thus penning up the descending streamlets. The principal of these was the Bilberry Reservoir. It was formed by a dam 340 feet in length, 98 feet high, composed of a wall of puddle 16 feet thick at bottom, and 8 feet at the top, with a mass of earth on either side. It was calculated to intercept the drainage of about 2000 acres, and to retain a column of water 50 feet in height. Arrangements had been made for carrying off superfluous water.

Unfortunately this undertaking had been insufficiently carried out in the first instance, from want of funds, and had been much neglected since from the same causeeven the man who should attend to the sluices had been unable to get his wages. The consequence

was, that the structure had become very rotten and dilapidated; and it was the talk of the neighbourhood that "something would happen." The season had been incessantly rainy, and the direction of the wind seems to have driven a large proportion of rain-clouds on to the sides of these hills. It was observed that the water was rapidly rising in the reservoir;-it also became evident that the usual valves were choked. On the afternoon of the 4th of February, the water rose a foot in each hour, and the attendants became aware that some casualty would occur. The inhabitants of the valley seem nevertheless to have treated the matter with supine indifference, and retired to repose. About half past twelve A.M. of the 5th, the whole embankment suddenly gave way, and the pent-up waters rushed down the valley in one mass. The consequences were of the most fearful description. No object of human construction could offer a moment's resistance to such a moving mass of waters. Mills and dye-houses, walls, cottages, barns, and stables went down before the flood; trees were uprooted, carts and waggons swept away, and the ruins formed battering-rams for the destruction of new objects. The numerous bridges which crossed the stream intercepted the rolling débris, and formed dams, behind which the waters again accumulated, and in turn overcoming the obstacle, again rushed forward with acquired force. Thus the deluge rushed through the hamlet of Holm, sweeping away or wrecking whole streets of cottages, shops, and residences, and in many cases unhappily overwhelming their terrified inmates in the surging waters; and thence proceeded on

its devastating course down the gorge for the distance of five miles, until the valley opening out into flatter ground, the waters were spread abroad and their power dissipated. That this language is not exaggerated, the return of the damage done to buildings will tell with striking force.

Property destroyed:-Mills, 4; dyehouses, 10; stoves, 10; cottages, 27; tradesmen's houses, 7; shops, 7; bridges, 6; county bridge, 1; warehouses, 10; barns and stables, 18.

Property seriously injured:Dyehouses and stock, 5; mills partially destroyed, 17; stoves, 3; cottages ditto, 139; tradesmen's houses, 7; large shops, 44; public-houses, 11; bridges, 5; county bridge, 1; land, acres 200; warehouses, 14; barns, 13; places of worship, 3; iron foundries, 2.

The damage is estimated at 600,000l. But unhappily the destruction of property is but a small part of the ruin caused by this catastrophe-for nearly a hundred human beings were swept away in the flood. In many cases whole families were destroyed-one poor old man lost all his children and grandchildren, and attended nine. corpses to the grave.

When morning broke, the spectacle presented by the once busy valley was fearful in the extreme. The shattered fragments of walls retained the ruins of other buildings or their own. Mill wheels, timber, roofs of houses, fractured carts, pieces of cloth, and household furniture were intermingled with huge rocks, or half buried in stones and mud. The boilers of steam-engines loomed large in the bed of the stream or stranded in the gardens

while here and there a drowned corpse was to be seen lifeless on

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