cargo. But if any ship should, from a deficiancy of cargo or other cause, be detained by the govenor in council, after the 1st April, 1804, on which day the season of 1803-4, shall be considered to have terminated, the owners shall in that case be exonerated from any damage that may happen to the cargo, provided it shall be clearly ascertained that the same has arisen from the lateness of the season, and that due care has been used in the stowage of the cargo.

34. The owners shall not be answerable for such damage and short delivery to a greater amount than shall be equal to 51. per ton on the builder's measurement.

35. If any ship should not be able to receive the tonnage appropriated to her by the governor in council, the owners shall be paid for such tonnage only as shall actually be laden on the ship, but if from a deficiency of cargo the governor in council should not be able to load any ship to the extent of the tonnage which it may appear to the superintendant, or other proper officer, that the ship is able to receive, the company shall be liable to pay freight for such deficiency upon proper certificates being produced, signed by the officers above-mentioned, of that circumstance.

36. It is the intention of the court of directors to give an equal participation, on equal terms, to the Indian and to the British built ships, in carrying private trade from India to England. If the ships sent from England,and those engaged in Bombay, under this advertisement, cannot, for want of sufficiency of private trade in the company's warehouses, be loaded at one and the same time, they shall be loaded alternately, first a British and then an Indian built ship, and so in conti

nuation; commencing with that British ship which shall have reached India the earliest, and with that Indian built ship, which shall have been first engaged in Bombay by the govenor in council.

37. If any lascars or other native of Asia or Africa shall be carried to England on ships taken up under this advertisement, the owners shall be at the expence of their maintenance in England, and shall, within twelve months after the arrival in England of the ships respectively, send back, at their own expence, the lascars to Bombay, on some other ship or ships proceeding to Bombay, under a penalty of five hundred Sicca rupees for each person, over and above the expence of maintaining and sending them back to India.

38. If the cargoes of the ships shall not be landed within the following periods, viz.

The remainder in ninety days after the production of the certificate above-mentioned. Should the latter payment be delayed, the company shall pay interest on the same, at the rate of eight per cent. per annum, until payment be made.

40. The owners of some of the

ships heretofore engaged for the company's service having expressed a desire that the company should bear a proportion of a general average on loss or damage of ships and cargoes, it is judged expedient to declare, by this public notice, that the company will not consent to be parties to any loss, damage, or expence incurred under the usual denominations of general average, particular average, or any other average whatsoever; and the owners are required to signify their assent to this condition in their re

spective tenders, in order that a clause may be inserted in the charter parties to that effect.

41. An impress will be allowed at the rate of two pound ten shillings per ton, on the builder's measurement; with an addition of one pound ten shillings per ton, in the event of war, in part of the war contingencies, the amount to be paid in Bombay, previously to the departure of the ships from thence.

42. Such demurrage as may become due to the owners of the ships shall be paid in Bombay, or in England, according as the same shall have been incurred in either country respectively.

43. The proposal must express a peace freight without kentledge, at à rate (in pounds sterling) per ton, for as much as the ships may be able to carry, conforniably to the condition in article 25.

44. Such war contingencies will

be allowed the owners as, on consideration of the circumstances of the case, the governor in council may think proper to allow.

45. In case of any saving to the owners, from an alteration in the situation of public affairs, after such war allowance is settled by a reduction of the rate of insurance, or in the prices of stores and provisions, or upon any other account before the ship's departure from Bombay, the owners shall deliver an account, upon honor, of such saving, and make an allowance to the Company accordingly.

46. Agreeable to the 5th section of the 113th chap. of the Company's bye laws, no tender of any ship will be accepted unless the same be made by one or more of the owners in writing, nor unless the names of all the owners be expressed

therein.

47. The owners shall give security for the performance of their proposal, for letting their respective ships, in the sum of 3000l. sterling.

48. The persons contracting with the Company for letting any ship or ships to freight, if they shall transfer their right or interest in the ship or ships to other persons, previously to the signing of the charter parties, they shall nevertheless oblige themselves to take and execute the several obligations and oaths intended to prevent the sale of commands.

49. Every ship shall carry, free of charge, all such packets as the governor in council may be desirous of sending by her to St. Helena, or to England; and also all such packets as the governor and council, at St. Helena, may be desirous of sending by her to England.

50. Every ship which may be taken up under this advertisement,

if not already registered either in England or in India, shall be registered in Bombay, previously to her departure from Bombay.

51. With a view to prevent, as much as possible, casualties during the voyage, from the employment of lascars, in an unhealthy state, previously to the dispatch of every ship from Bombay to England, the lascars shall be brought upon deck and undergo an inpection by the superintendant or his deputy, and by the medical person who may be appointed, by the governor in council, to superintend this duty; and all lascars who, in the judgment of the said inspectors, shall not appear to be in a fit state of health, to be employed as mariners for the voyage to England, shall be forthwith discharged, and sent back, at the expence of the owners, to Bombay; and other lascars or European seamen shall be sent on board to complete the crew, to the number of seamen required by the 9th article; and until this be done the ship will not be permitted to proceed on her voyage, and the owners shall not be allowed demurrage for such time as the ship may be so detained.

52. The rate of exchange between the pounds sterling and Bombay rupees shall, in the settlement of all accompts at Bombay, be regulated by the rates at which the governor in council may grant bills on the court of directors for the time.

53. In all other respects, not particularly provided for in any of the foreign articles, the charter parties shall be drawn out as nearly as circumstances will admit of, in conformity with the charter parties for the regular ships in the CompaPy's service. A draft of a charter party will be prepared as soon

ISLE OF FRANCE DESCRIBED.

Extract from a Letter from the Isle of France, dated June 4, 1803. I arrived here extremely unwell, after a very tedious passage of 68 days; have experienced more than 30 days of calm; at present I am better, and expect, from the salubrity of the air, to become stout. I find the inhabitants very civil and hospitable having experienced a very friendly reception in every family. The women, as report justly said, are really very handsome; and their complexions as fresh and blooming as those in Europe. At church, and at a public display of fire-works, in honor of Buonaparte, the majority of the belles were present; such forms, eyes, grace, beauty and dignity united, I never before saw on this side the Cape of Good Hope to say I was pleased is not half enough, to add, however, that I was lost in agreeable surprise, would be nearest the truth.

. The situation of the island must render it wholesome, although it is a mass of rocky mountains; it is at present their winter, and the in

habitants complain of cold; for my part it is just tolerable to walk in the sun. No palankeens are in use with the men ;-for the ladies they have small sedans, the same as in Europe. The harbours are excellent; the largest capable of accommodating 400 sail; the smallest, however, is most fit for business, the ships being moored close to the shore, secured in a bason from all accidents. The French are very expert in their signals; on the seven principal mountains they are instantly repeated from the Mountain of Discovery, and a sail may be easily discovered at 11 leagues, or 33 miles. The island could never be taken by regular assault, being well fortified by nature, and not a little assisted by art. All vessels are visited by a medical committee, before they are allowed to approach the outer anchorage, to prevent the introduction, from infection, of pestilential diseases; the vaccine innoculation is becoming in vogue, which will be a relief to the misfortunes of last year, by the confluent small-pox.

The houses are built entirely of wood, with the exception of the foundation, and about 8 feet of stone, above the surface of the earth; the height and length of the rooms are very much confined, the former not exceeding 12 feet, and the greatest length I have seen not above 25; the mode of papering, and having curtains to the doors and windows, gives them an air of variety, and relieves the eye from the glare of white walls; the windows and doors are very small, the former not 5 feet and the latter not 6; but the tout ensemble united, shews taste. The shops are exactly the same as in Europe, displaying true method, cleanliness and taste, which is not a little heightened by

the

the blooming girls, who assist, and of course they bring custom. They have also a regular exchange for the transaction of business, assembling both in the morning and evening; great activity prevails with conciseness of method which facilitates the detail. The hours of breakfast, from 8 to 9:-Dinner, in dishabille at two, and supper at 9.-I have not yet been in the country. I am told it is really and beautifully romantic, asses are used for the saddle and carts, the same as horses, of the latter not very plentiful. We have very convenient hot and cold baths, divided very cleverly, so that you are perfectly private, having accommodations of chairs, a couch, table, looking glasses, towels, &c. afterwards you may have breakfast in the coffee-room. There are hotels in every third street, the cooks are superlative, and living not very dear; you may board at 4 dollars, or 8 rupees per day, and per month, you may have two excellent furnished rooms at 24 rupees. A single person, with genteel economy, can live, including every expence, at 120 dollars, or 240 rupees without having occasion for more than one servant,-a great convenience, which I like better than being tormented, as in Bengal, by a hord of lazy fools, or rather knaves. Washing is very dear; I paid 8 rupees for every 100 pieces of linen washed on my arrival, and am now obliged to pay monthly 10 rupees; European women perform this service, assisted by the negresses;-the generality are really very beautiful, and well formed. At present there is no good theatre, and the actors are execrable, but the new building will be very magnificent, though rather small; altho' not half finished, it has already cost C0,000 dollars, or 120,000 Sicca

rupees. The arrival of new actors from Paris is daily expected; this amusement will then shine. The public ball have not yet commenced; an Englishman unacquainted with the French steps must not pretend to dance. The waltzes, a strange dance of the taking the ladies round the waist with both hands, to form the oval, are quite in vogue, and I am told very laughable, for it requires activity, good ear, and taste, to keep the time, which gives one an inclination to see this specimen of agility.

THE WAHABEES-A NEW SECT.

Extract of a Letter from Mocha.

All the inhabitants below the mountains have either fled to them or to Mocha; but even at this place they do not find themselves in safety, for many of their cattle have been driven off, and several of themselves killed defending their property, within sight of the walls.

All communication being cut of by land, and owing to a strong south wind, which prevailed three weeks by sea also, a thing unknown before at that time of the year, no further intelligence was received of what was passing to the northward until the 7th July, when two dows arrived from Hodeida full of fugitives, bringing accounts that the Wahabees had made another desperate attack on that place, on the 3d July, when the Dola succeeded in repulsing them; but not without reducing nearly the whole of that town to ashes.

It appears the Dola went out to meet them, and was instantly put to flight, when in his retreat to the fort, he set the town on fire, to prevent them attacking him from the houses. Before this, Hodeida was