guns; and in the following year to the Belliqueux, in which he was present at the surrender of the Cape of Good Hope to the forces under Capt. Sir Home Popham and Major-Gen. Sir David Baird; after which Capt. Byng convoyed the East India ships to Madras, and formed one of the squadron under the orders of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, and was at the destruction of several vessels of war and merchant ships in Batavia Roads.

In 1809, an armament was fitted out at Bombay, for the purpose of taking possession of Roderiguez Island, on which occasion Capt. Byng hoisted a broad pendant. In this affair the military were commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Keating, and the object was eminently successful, and owing to this enterprise, the capture of the Mauritius and Bourbon took place.

The Belliqueux sailed from Macao Roads the 14th of February 1811, having seven of the East India Company's ships under convoy, and after experiencing very tempestuous weather, reached St. Helena the 15th of May, and on being joined by the Chiffone and Menelaus frigates, and several Indiamen and other ships, sailed for England, and safely arrived in the Downs the 8th of August. The Belliqueux being found unfit for service was paid off at Chatham, and Capt. Byng was soon after appointed to the Warrior, 74, and was subsequently employed in the North Sea. In December 1812, died Capt. Byng's uncle, George, the fourth Viscount Torrington, upon which the gallant Captain's father succeeded to the title, but who enjoyed it only fourteen days, when he also died, and Capt. Byng became Viscount Torrington. The Dutch soon after threw off the yoke which had been imposed upon them by Buonaparte, and declared for the Prince of Orange, when, on the 25th of November 1813, his Serene Highness embarked in the Downs, on board the Warrior, accompanied by the Earl of Clancarty, and landed at Schweling the 30th following.

After this service, Lord Torrington convoyed a fleet of merchant vessels to the West Indies, during which time a promotion took place, and his Lordship in consequence became, June 4th 1814, a RearAdmiral of the Blue, and relinquished the command of the Warrior, and 19th of July 1821, was made a Vice-Admiral.

The command of the Leeward Island station becoming vacant in 1819, was offered to Lord Torrington, but which his Lordship did not accept. His Lordship had been for a long time in an alarming state of health at his residence, Yotes Court, Kent, and after enduring very great and acute suffering, died there the 18th of June 1831.

The late Viscount Torrington succeeded his father 8th of January 1813. His Lordship married, first, February 8th 1793, Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Langmede, of Howgate House, Plymouth, Esq. and by her (who died August 21st 1810,) had issue, Lucy Elizabeth, born July 11th, 1794; and a son born May the 23rd, 1796, who died December 1st the same year. His Lordship married, secondly, October 1811, Frances Harriet, second daughter of Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Barlow, Knt. then Commissioner of His Majesty's Dock Yard at Chatham, and niece to Sir George Hillaro Barlow, Bart. and G.C.B. and had issue, George, the present Viscount, born September 9th 1812, and other children.

THE NIGER.

THE announcement of the arrival of the enterprising travellers in the interior of North Africa, the brothers, Lander, after a successful termination of their arduous task, must be highly gratifying to all the admirers of geographical discovery, and to the friends of humanity, after the sacrifice of so many valuable lives in the attainment of the truth respecting the outlet of the mysterious stream. From the brief account already transpired, it appears that the great river hitherto known to Europeans by the name of the Niger, debouches into the Bight of Benin, in the vicinity of Cape Formosa, thereby verifying the opinions of Mr. Reichard, the German, and the writer of an interesting letter from British Accrah, dated 7th Jan. 1824, from on board the brig Castor; the latter stating his belief that the Niger empties itself by a great Delta, of which, the Rio Formosa or Benin is the western, and the Rio del Rey, the eastern branch, with several rivers between them from the same source.

But I am inclined to believe that the Joliba, Quolla, Gulbi, (as it is severally called in its course,) or river which passes Jenné, Boussa, Nyfée, and Fundah, is not the ancient Niger mentioned by Leo; but that the Quolla, Quorra, Yeou, or river passing Sakatoo and Kano, and falling into the lake Tsad of Bornu, is the ancient stream of the African writer.

The lake Tsad, under a different name, has long been known; the historical dictionary* of France states Borno as "a city and kingdom in the Nigritia, with a desert and lake of the same name, the country of the ancient Garamantes. It is said these people live in common, and bring up as their own such children as resemble them. The Lake Bornu (Tsad) is celebrated because it is crossed by the Niger;" this Niger is not that of Park, but that of Denham and Clapperton, i. e. the Yeou.

The statement of the Shary river flowing out of the lake Tsad, and falling into the Niger (of Park) at Fundah, appears to be incorrect, as Major Denham embarked on that river, and distinctly states that it falls into the lake (flowing from the south) by two branches, and ran at the rate of five miles an hour. Some other river must be meant, and is confounded with the Shary (of Denham) which name may probably in the Fellata language mean merely a river; if so, it is probable to be the stream mentioned by the Major as issuing from the south-east side of the lake and supposed to flow to the Nile, but which perhaps is a continuation of the Yeou, running first to the south-east, and then turning to the west, discharges into the Niger (of Park) at or near Fundah; the range of high land whence the Shary is said to take its rise, south, or west of the Tsad in the vicinity of Musfia, about the 9th or 10th degree of north latitude, may be no obstruction to the stream finding its way at the basis of those mountains to the westward; this is the only way we can reconcile the account obtained by Lander in his former and present travels, of the supposed Shary running from the lake of Bornu and falling into the Niger.

* Moreri Dict. Historique.

If we are correct in our inference, agreeable to the description given in Dict. Hist., the Yeou, like the Rhone through lake Leman at Geneva, passes into lake Tsad at one angle, and out at another, continuing its course until it meets the Niger of Park; by which a very large portion of the interior of Africa becomes insulated: indeed, in the absence of any positive proof of the Yeou or Sakatoo river being distinct from the Joliba, or Niger of Park, we may conjecture with some probability that both, in the first instance, proceed from the same source, in lat. 8° 20′ N. and long. 9° 20′ W. in the Soliman country, and that at the lake Debée a separation takes places, one (the Niger of Park) flowing to the ESE., and the other (the Sakatoo river) to the E. and reunite again at Fundah, the latter passing through the Tsad. A Mahomedan Sheik, who had been a great traveller, informed Mr. Dupuis that the Joliba was a distinct river from the Quorra, both, however, issuing from lake Deby or Zeby, but he does not mention their reunion. Another conjecture with equal probability is, that the Niger of Park may throw off a branch to the eastward, which may be identified with the Shary (the source of which is not known) and falling into the Tsad reconcile the account given by Lander. Horniman's son told Major Denham that the Quorra of Nyffée (a branch of it more probably) went off to the southward, (and eastward) ran between two ranges of mountains, passed Loggun, where it was called Shary, and fell into the lake Tsad. If either or both these should prove true, another extraordinary feature will be added to the character of the long-famed Niger.

OBSERVATIONS ON NAVAL GUNNERY

THE term "Point-blank" so generally used, and yet so difficult to be defined, has been a great bar to improvement in the practice of Naval Gunnery. Even if such a distance as that which is termed "point-blank range" actually existed, the method of indicating it in our printed tables would still remain defective. We are there told, merely, that the point-blank range of a gun is so many yards, but we are not told for what height of the gun above the plane on which the Now it is evident that distances are reckoned this range is adapted. the higher the gun is placed, the farther it will range; the distance being reckoned on the horizontal plane beneath. Thus, the calculated ranges of a gun placed three, six, and twelve feet above the water, are found to be respectively about 170, 230, and 330 yards; the axis of the gun being horizontal.

A very slight consideration will also show that it is altogether erroneous to suppose, with these tables, that to hit a mark at or within the distance which is called " point-blank range," we should point directly at it (the gun being supposed disparted). The instant a shot quits the muzzle of the gun, it commences to leave the direction in which it was projected, being acted upon by the force of gravity; it is therefore plain that it cannot strike the object at the point at which aim was taken. That this difference does not exist merely in theory, will be made apparent by an examination of the following table, which shows the results of experiments made at Ferrol, by Admiral Churruca some years ago, and which has been extracted from M. Charpentier's translation of his work on Naval Gunnery. Although these depressions are much greater than those observed at the present day, which is probably owing to the increased strength of gunpowder, yet even admitting that they are erroneous by one half, they serve to show that it is important to notice them in practice. We also learn from the table the ratio existing between the depressions of round and doubleheaded shot; this ratio appears to be very nearly as 2: 3.

TABLE I.

Showing the depressions of round and double-headed shot observed by Churruca.

Instruction sur le Pointage de l'Artillerie, &c. traduite de l'Espagnol par M,

Charpentier.

U. S. JOURN. No. 32. JULY 1831.

2 B

The first column indicates the nature of the gun used in the experiments; the second, the number of discharges from which were deduced the mean depressions of round-shot, which are given in the third; the fourth column shows the mean depression of double-headed shot, and the fifth the number of trials from which they were determined. At the second station the quantities are indicated in like

manner.

The depressions are given in English feet. One Spanish foot-0-93 English. One Spanish pound=1·03 English.

In 1830, some experiments of a like nature were carried on at Portsmouth, by Captain the Hon. George Elliot, then commanding H. M. Ship Victory. From their results he came to the conclusion that it would be advisable, in order to counteract the effect of the depression of the shot, to fix what is called the point-blank sight, so that when pointing by it, the piece in reality should be at a certain elevation. He fixed the amount of this elevation at 0° 20′ for long guns; at 0°30′ for carronades.

The following extract is taken from Capt. Elliot's letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on the subject.

"The only guns I had an opportunity of using for these experiments, were a 32-pounder carronade, and a nine feet 18-pounder gun using common wads (not grommet.) The shot were unequal in size, but not more so than may be expected in actual practice, and the fall of the shot was taken from an average of about ten shot from each gun at each distance.

Thus I recommend point-blank distance to be 250 yards, and the sights to be set on carronades at 0° 30' elevation; on long guns at 0°.. 20′ elevation for this nominal point-blank."

The advantages of this arrangement are very great, for although strictly speaking, a different elevation is required for each distance, even when within what is called point-blank range; yet it must be nearly impossible, when under a close heavy fire, to resort to any means for determining distances accurately, and even if that were done, it would interfere too much with the rapidity and precision of fire so necessary under those circumstances to be continually altering the sight. However, the superiority of a fixed sight for close quarters is generally acknowledged, and I wish now only to insist on the advantage of the adoption of Capt. Elliot's modification.