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der of the 4th of May following-to live cattle of all kinds, as well as to fowls and eggs, that may be imported into the island, are hereby continued for an indefinite time.

2d. The opening of the port of Batabano', resolved by decree of the 10th of said month of May, solely for the commerce in those articles, and likewise approved by royal order of the 7th July last, is continued in the same manner.

3d. The term of four months is designated as the minimum time for terminating the effects of the continuations granted in the foregoing orders, whenever by a change of circumstances, or other measures of a normal and stable character, it may be necessary to order their termination.

These measures will be reported to Her Majesty's government for the definitive resolution that the same may deem proper to adopt.

SPANISH TONNAGE DUTIES.

This Department has been officially advised by the Secretary of State, that by an order of the Spanish Government, vessels of the United States arriving in ports of Spain and adjacent islands, are placed on the footing of national vessels, as regards the duties of port and navigation. In consideration of this exemption, and to prevent any misapprehension with respect to the subject, Spanish vessels arriving in ports of the United States, from Spanish or other foreign ports, (those of Cuba and Porto Rico excepted,) will be permitted to enter on the same footing with vessels of the United States, as regards tonnage duties, light money, and all other dues to the United States, so far as respects the vessels. Spanish vessels arriving in ports of the United States from Cuba or Porto Rico, not being embraced in the foregoing regulation, are specially provided for by the acts of July 13, 1832, and June 30, 1834. and the instructions of the Department in pursuance thereof, which will continue to be enforced as heretofore.

FRENCH TARIFF.

One of the Havre journals calls attention to one of the many absurdities of the French tariff-that on indigo. The import duty on that article is not less than 60 francs the 100 kilogs. when brought in French ships direct from India or other countries in which it is produced, and 480 francs (!) when brought in foreign ships. Moreover, the duty on indigo brought from non-producing countries— say, for example, the United States, Holland, or England, is so exorbitant, that scarcely any importer ever thinks of purchasing it there, however cheap it may be obtained. What makes these excessive duties the more vexatious is, that in the benighted times of Louis XIV., when tariff questions were not at all understood, the great Minister COLBERT contented himself with imposing a duty, equal in present money and present measures, of only about 20 francs the 100 kilogs.

COTTON SEED.

The quantity and value of cotton seed when the oil has been expressed from it, has been computed as follows:-A crop of 3,000,000 bales of cotton as 500 pounds to the bale is 1,800,000,000 pounds of fiber, the cotton seed of which would be 3,960,000,000 pounds, or 1,980,000 tons; 3.960,000,000 pounds is equal to 1,980,000,000 pounds of kernel, which will give 87,120,000 gallons of oil, and 762,800 tons of oil cake. Value 87,120,000 gallons of oil at $1 per gallon, $87,120,000; 762,800 tons of oil cake at $25 per ton, $19,057,000. Total, $106,177,000.

NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE.

HARBOR ENCROACHMENTS.

A special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held in October, to take into consideration the subject of Harbor Deposits and Encroachments. PELATIAH PERIT, ESQ., President, presided. The president having called attention to the evil complained of, Mr. GEO. W. BLUNT, one of the Pilot Commissioners, rose and stated that the washing out of mud and rubbish had become more serious than the Harbor Commissioners had any idea of. The deposits had extended in some places nearly 200 feet. Southwest of the Battery a flat of over 200 yards was forming; another serious flat was forming north of Governor's Island, and the channel between the wharves and Governor's Island had narrowed several hundred feet. Much of this was attributed to the slow progress of the Battery enlargement. He presented the following paper on the subject, being the official report of Lieut.-Com. CRAVEN, U. S. N., to whom had been confided, by Professor BACHE, of the coast survey, the preparation of a chart to illustrate the past and present condition of the harbor.

NEW YORK, September 20.

SIR-In compliance with your directions in July last, I made an examination of the shoal off the Battery, New York, for the purpose of ascertaining what changes had taken place in that locality, and I herewith submit to you a map of the survey, scale 1-5000, on which I have also had the soundings placed, from the surveys of 1855 and 1856, for comparison.

The soundings of 1855 and 1856 are in red figures, and the curves are also distinctly drawn.

In order to make this discussion as explicit as possible, I divide the shoal into sections, and call your attention to each portion separately; you will be much interested in observing the rapidity with which the shoal is accumulating, and with what regularity the deposits are being made.

SEC. 1. From Pier No. 1 North River to Castle Garden. In the angle formed by the line of the Battery and the pier, there has been a very rapid filling up; the three fathom curve has been pushed outward eighty yards beyond the line of 1856; the seventeen feet spot in the outer part of this section is extending towards pier No. 1, and there is an average decrease of THREE FEET in depth hroughout this section.

SEC. 2. Extends to the three fathom curve of 1856. In this portion of the shoal the change has been not less considerable than in the angle of pier No. 1. The three fathom curve was, in 1856, about seventy-five yards south of the castle. It will be seen that it has extended towards the castle wharf, and embraces a considerable area, where formerly we had five fathoms. Outside of this curve we find in this section a general decrease of five feet in the depth.

SEC. 3. Embraces the general shoal to the southeastern portion of the curve of three fathoms. Excepting in the part already indicated, there has been no material change in the general contour of the shoal, but in following the curve to the southernmost point, it will be seen that it has extended about one hundred feet to the southward.

SEC. 4. Extends from last section to East River Piers. In calling your attention to this section, I will merely refer to the knoll lying about W. S. W. from pier No. 1, East River. This knoll has eighteen feet water upon it, is very small, and has deep water outside, and close to it. There is no change in depth on the

knoll, but it is extending itself towards the north, and it will be seen that in that direction there is a decrease of two feet in the depth near the shoal.

East of the knoll there is no apparent change. Drawing a waved line from the last mentioned knoll to Castle Garden, you mark out the eddy waters of this part of the river; the current of the two rivers meeting here at ebb, and dividing at flood; this portion of the stream being too sluggish to carry off matters held in suspension, they are rapidly and constantly deposited.

Although from natural causes there must always have been a shoal off this point of the island, its accumulation has been evidently added, to a startling de gree, by the extension of the Battery. The currents which formerly flowed between the Castle Garden and the shore, made the greater portion of their deposit so near the shores as to cause no great injury to the operations of commerce. and the process of deposit was so gradual that it would have required an interval of many years ere the shoal would have seriously encroached on the waters of the bay. But the Battery extension has already accomplished that which would have required a half century of the operations of nature, having pushed the shoal out as the shore line was changed.

In illustration of this assertion, we have but to look at the extraordinary heaping up of the earth in the angle formed by the Battery wall and pier No. 1-a heaping up made by the ebb current of the North River, which, as it comes around the pier is now turned back and forward into eddies by the Battery walls. This current formerly ran through the space now covered by the filling in, and poured the suspended matter into the East River, off Whitehall, from whence it was carried away and distributed in the deep waters of the bay. But now a large portion of the sediment brought down by the ebb is doubtless filling in the space here with great rapidity. Its effects are still more strongly visible in the section off the castle, where we see changes of SIX AND EIGHT FELT IN THE SPACE OF THREE YARDS. This is due to the united efforts of the ebbs from the two rivers, and the time cannot be far distant when, unless dredging is resorted to, the entire space from the castle to the head of pier No. 1 will be quite filled in.

In addition to the material damage done by thus forcing out into the stream a shoal which was heretofore of little consequence, it may safely be presumed that, in filling in for the Battery extension, very liberal supplies have been contributed to the shoals from the dirt carts, as without the security of a regular sea wall, immense quantities of the loose earth must, from time to time, be washed away and added to the shoal; and it is probable that when the slowly progressing enlargement is completed and the walls finished, the changes will be less rapid. The injury is now without other remedy than that of hastening to its completion a work which has proved so seriously disastrous to this already crowded part of the harbor, and, by legislation, preventing any extensions beyond the lines of the city as defined by the Harbor Commissioners.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

T. AUGS. CRAVEN, Lieut.-Commanding.

Prof. A. D. BACHE, Sup. United States Coast Survey.

Letter from Professor BACHE to the President of the New York Chamber of Commerce.

LANE'S BROOK, Washington County, Maine, Sept. 27. DEAR SIR: The report that one or more vessels had struck upon the shoal off the Battery, where it was generally supposed there was deep water, induced one of the Pilot Commissioners, GEORGE W. BLUNT, ESQ., to call my attention to the desirableness of a re-survey of the shoal. It was assigned to Lieut.-Commanding T. A. CRAVEN, U. S. N., the assistant in the coast survey, who, having been charged with the hydrography of the New York harbor for the commissioners on harbor encroachment, was familiar with every part of the shoal. His report, recently presented to me, gives in detail the changes which have occurred, and shows prospectively those which may be expected. It is important, and

I therefore beg leave, through you, to call the attention of the Chamber of Commerce to it. The filling between pier No. 1 and the castle may readily be amended by dredging, and no doubt the entire completion of the Battery work would retard the now rapid increase of the shoal. The shoal must, however, in a general way, be related to the present shore line, as the old was to the former shore; and thus the shoal, changed somewhat in form, must be pushed out to a distance not equal but corresponding to the addition of the shore line of the Battery.

Yours, respectfully,

A. D. BACHE, Supt. United States Coast Survey.

TO PELATIAH PERIT, ESQ., President Chamber of Commerce.

Some of the members thought many of the deposits were in consequence of washings from sewers and from dumping, as managed by the city corporation. Mr. BROWER thought seven-eighths of the deposits in slips were from the sewers. The Legislature had often been petitioned to remedy this difficulty. As for the flat making north of Governor's Island, there was no doubt but it was from the Battery extension materials.

The report and resolution were ordered referred to a special committee. Mr. PHELPS suggested that the Pilot Commissioners would be the most proper committee to attend to the subject, as they knew all about it. Mr. BLUNT suggested that some of the ship owners be also put on that committee. Mr. MARSAALL moved that the committee consist of nine, which was carried. The committee is composed of the following gentlemen :

GEORGE W. BLUNT,

CHARLES H. MARSHALL,

RUSSELL STURGIS,

THOMAS L. TAYLOR,

ROYAL PHELPS.

EDWIN E. MORGAN,

JOHN D. JONES,
GEORGE OPDYKE,
ROBERT B. MINTURN,

It is proposed to publish this map for distribution among the members.

Mr. R. PHELPS moved that the report of Lieut. CRAVEN be entered on the minutes of this body, which was carried.

Mr. JOHN H. BROWER spoke of the possibility of the channel between the city and Governor's Island narrowing down to a mere creek if something was not done. He hoped this danger would be pointed out to the proper authorities.

Capt. C. H. MARSHALL stated that he had noticed where some of the sewers emptied, that the filling of slips were at the rate of twelve feet in six months. The attention of the city corporation to this evil was therefore highly necessary. After some other remarks on the subject, the chamber adjourned.

ENTRANCE TO BOSTON BAY.

The lighthouse on Little Brewster Island, at the entrance to Boston Harbor, has lately been repaired and refitted, and will be relighted at sunset on the night of the 20th December, 1859. The tower is white, and sixty-six feet in height. The focal plane is 100 feet above mean low water. The illuminating apparatus is catadioptric, of the second order, system of Fresnel, and will show a white flash every 30 seconds, which should be seen in ordinary weather a distance of 15 nautical miles. By order of the Lighthouse Board, W. F. SMITH, Secretary.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1859.

JOURNAL OF MINING, MANUFACTURES, AND ART.

COMB MANUFACTURE OF NEWBURYPORT.

The Newburyport Herald gives an interesting account of the horn comb manufacture of that town; and it is of interest, although it may turn out that horn as a material for combs may be supplanted by India rubber, and that the ladies will abandon horn for personal decoration entirely to the male sex. The Herald remarks:

Newburyport was known as a comb town years ago; but the business was subject to fluctuations, depending much upon the caprice of fashion; and in one of the ebbs of the tide the work was abandoned.

And notwithstanding some of them are sold so low, yet there is not a comb that has not passed through from fifteen to twenty processes, and as many different pairs of hards before it is ready for the market; and it is only owing to the rapidity with which they are made that a profit is realized for the manufacturer. Let us look at them in the different stages of operation.

Down in the basement is a huge pile of horns; where did they come from, and what of them? Oh, their history will never be written! Down from the interior of Africa, floated in canoes, and conveyed by slaves, some may have come; on the oases of the deserts, on the upland prairies where are the great cities and the new races of whom LIVINGSTONE, and ANDERSON, and BARTH tells us they may have been grown, and paid for in rum, and gunpowder, and tobacco-the three great civilizers that the Christian merchants send to the coast of Africa to convert the natives with. More likely, however, they were produced by the immense herds that graze the new land of South America, on the banks of the Amazon, and south of that on grand La Plata, or the Parana, and from the big plains, where Spaniards, and Portuguese, and Indians have intermixed, till the race is half white and half colored, half civilized, half savage, half Christian, and half pagan. But as the American horns are white and better, and this company use the best of stock, the most of them are from the Brighton market; but even these come from a wide field-from the Rio Grande in Texas to the pastures of the Aroostook on the east, and from a dozen different States at least. Six hundred oxen must die some whereevery day of the week, or nearly two hundred thousand in a year to furnish the raw material for this one factory. That is a number of cattle of which few have a just conception; and if they had to march up in single file and shake off their horns at the gate way, they would make a long line of beeves.

Close by the side of the horn pile we hear the hum of circular saws; buzz, buzz-their teeth not seen, and barely the plates, with such velocity do they move; and there stands the men to saw them into the right lengths, when the round pieces are split ready for straightening and flattening. We see the tips, not suited for combs, passing one way, where they are again sawed, if of proper size, to make knife handles, and the extreme ends are packed and boxed for exportation to Germany, whence they are returned to us as the mouth-pieces for pipes and cigars. We follow the comb pieces to the next floor, and see them softening in boiling water and oil, and when soft run through knives by which the rough places are made smooth; then placed between cold irons till they are cool, and hard, and straight. We look into another room, which is full of saws and belting, where these rough pieces are all cut to dimensions; and by the side of one of the circulars stands a native of the Emerald Isle minus of two or three fingers, indicating that the saws sometimes slip through bones as well as horns. But while we look the piece is passed between other sharp machinery to be caravaned, as they call it, to be smoothed and reduced to a uniform thickness we

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