sticking fast in the mud. Redout-Kaleh is bisected by the Chopi, which flows into the Euxine. The depth of water is considerable, and might afford safe anchorage, were it not for a sandbank that chokes the mouth of the stream. The removal of this impediment would be very expensive, so that only small vessels, drawing three feet of water, can cross the bar. The same objections can be made to all the ports on this coast. This is the reason why the small Turkish slavers venture here in winter, when the Russian fleet is obliged to retire from the harbourless shore. During some few years, considerable trade was carried on at RedoutKaleh. This was owing to the operation of free trade. During this time great traffic was carried on between the German towns and Persia, through Georgia. Under these circumstances, Redout-Kaleh became the great depôt of an eastern trade; but suddenly an ukase was published, prohibiting free trade with the Transcaucasian provinces. Russian merchants became protectionists, and hoped to secure a monopoly. They were disappointed. Trade took a new turn, and the goods which before found their way to Persia through Georgia, arrived at the same destination through Erzeroum and Trebizond. Attempts were afterwards made to remedy the evil, but it was too late. Previous to the publication of the prohibitory ukase, when trade was flourishing at Redout-Kaleh, the annual amount of imports was estimated at two million silver roubles. The exports were of home produce-the fruit and timber of the country-which were in high repute in other markets. At present, one of the most attractive sights at Redout-Kaleh is the cemetery. In so unhealthy a locality, it must be a consolation to know that so charming a place of repose awaits the dead. This burial ground is situated in a large wood, where fruit trees of every description, planted by Nature's own cunning hand, grow in wild luxuriance; and high above apple, and fig, and cherry tree, rise the sturdy oak and stately ash, with the wide-spreading beech, as if protecting their smaller brethren. Nor are the lovely flora wanting-laurel, and myrtle, and the wild rose, the clasping ivy and the creeping vine, shed their fragrant odours over the graves of that cemetery. Though Russian rule has not been in many respects favourable to Mingrelia, it has at least lessened, if not abolished, the slave trade. The beauty of the inhabitants may vie with that of the most classic models, and when to the regularity of features the bloom of youth is added, the Mingrelian maiden may be considered matchless. Since Russian occupation, instances have been known of girls who refused to be sold to Turkish slavers, and, as the law protected them, the unnatural parents dared not use force. The prevalence of low fever is, as we before remarked, one of the most serious disadvantages in this locality. In vain have the Russian authorities ordered the woods to be thinned, the marshy nature of the soil still engenders fever. It was proposed to change the bed of the Phasis, and drain the marshes, but the great expense attendant upon such an undertaking prevented its adoption. But besides the disadvantage arising from epidemics, Mingrelia labours under others as incurable in legislative evils, nor is foreign rule more onerous than local vexations, inflicted by native rulers. ON THE ESTIMATION OF DISTANCES IN THE FIELD. LET any one who has ever been "in action" remember what his feelings were, or any one who has not, imagine what his feelings would be, upon first seeing the enemy after many months' expectation. The veteran will have pointed out to his younger brothers in arms, apparently immoveable black lines, which their unpractised eyes may have observed, but have taken no account of. The fortunate possessors of telescopes and of the more modern opera-glasses will strain their powers of eyesight to the utmost to endeavour to discover the nature of the troops which the black lines before them, they are told, indicate. Cavalry and infantry cannot be distinguished-there is nothing but a few black lines to be seen. The excitement attendant upon the announcement that the enemy is in sight, like the cry of the sailor at the masthead after a long voyage, dispels all weariness; the imagination anticipates the future more or less faithfully; visions of glorious victory, never deemed doubtful at this period, appear before the mind's eye; all the aspirations of youthful and sanguine hearts which may have been conceived in the ennui of a garrison are, unbidden, once more renewed; the long-wished-for day has at last come. All those whose "hope deferred has made the heart sick," in spite of the absolute presence of the enemy, are still inclined to doubt that an actual general engagement is about to take place. One passing holy thought is given to the idea that the presence of the enemy may be not otherwise than the presence of death; a short prayer is breathed to the Disposer of all events-but the more immediate concerns of the present must be attended to. Let any one, then, we repeat, recollect what his feelings were. Was not one of the first questions asked, "How far are they off?" We will ask further, was any satisfactory reply to such a question ever given? No, the estimates varied so much that no one felt any confidence in them. Even those who were considered to be best calculated to make them, will have had doubts in their own minds as to the accuracy of their guess, even within a quarter or a half a mile. A gun opens! This attracts the attention of all from the smoke, long before the noise of the explosion reaches the ear. Those who have ever thought of the various methods of estimating the distance of their enemy appeal to their watches. One observer, who, thanks to the fact of our being Islanders, has reached the country in which he is about to fight by ship, gives the moment of observation at the first instant the smoke of the gun appears, by the word "Now," a system which he will have learnt by the method of taking the altitude of the sun daily on board, while the holder of the watch counts the number of seconds passed over by the second hand, until the first observer gives the same word a second time on hearing the report of the piece. A mental calculation gives a rough estimation of the distance from the known rate of travelling of sound. This estimate is probably more satisfactory to those who make it and to those who hear the result of the operation, than any of the haphazard guesses which have been hitherto made, unaided by any other data than the general and unreasoned impression made upon the eyesight. Some movement interrupts the cogitations on this subject and, generally speaking, they are never afterwards renewed during the course of the action, excepting by an artilleryman, the figures on whose tangentscale remind him that it is but little use firing unless his piece has the proper elevation given to it. The above, we opine, is a faithful picture of what has occurred to officers and soldiers on many a field fought in modern times. But since the last war the estimation of the distance of the enemy forms more than a matter of mere curiosity; it now assumes the important proportions of a fact of the highest importance. Our rank and file are enabled to "do to death" an enemy who stands in the midst of his fellows at a distance of 1,000 yards, and this is no small matter. For it must not be considered only how many men may be killed out of a hundred shots at such a distance; but that if a few men only can be thus "put past fighting," the moral effect—the effect upon the mind of each individual -will be of vastly greater importance; the respect engendered for the opponent will be considerably augmented, far out of the proportion of the loss inflicted, or even of the number of bullets which whistle past. Further, the distance is a matter which has the greatest influence on the accuracy of the practice of the artillerist. To enable him to adjust his fuzes, he must know how many seconds it will take the explosive projectile to reach his enemy; and he must be equally cognizant of that distance to know what elevation he should give his piece. Lastly, it is of no small consequence to the general and staff-officer to know how long it will take a body of the troops under their direction to reach the enemy; and not less, to know in what length of time a similar body of the enemy's troops may reach them. In short, it is a datum which is absolutely required in all calculations in the domain of tactics and of siege operations. We propose, therefore, to present to our readers in a short space the present state of the question; what the principles are upon which the attempts at a solution of the problem have hitherto been made, what are the means and operations made use of in the solution, and, finally, what trust may be placed upon the results obtained. We cannot do better, we conceive, in limine, than quote the observations on this subject which appear in a Prussian work on field artillery lately published.* The author says: En "The efforts at constructing a serviceable instrument for measuring distances for field artillery have hitherto met with little success. deavours are still being made to contrive an instrument, which, from a single station, should indicate distances up to 2,000 paces with adequate accuracy, without any calculation, and such as may be used on horseback. The instruments and telescopes hitherto invented, which can be used from a single station, are based upon this principle, that the height of an infantry or cavalry soldier is taken as the base of a rightangled triangle, whose perpendicular side is the distance sought, and the "On the Use of Field Artillery on Service," by Taubert. Translated by H. H. Maxwell. Berlin, 1855; John Weale, London, 1856. Pages 74 and 75. We may angle under which it is seen is measured by the instrument. easily see that the determination of the distance upon such a principle is subject to the following objection, that there exists no just proportion between the base and the perpendicular of the triangle, and, consequently, that the angle under which it is seen is very small. Distance measurers constructed upon this principle determine distances beyond 600 paces (500 yards) with but little accuracy." It appears, then, that all the instruments which have been invented for determining the distances of objects of a known height, such as an infantry or cavalry soldier from one station, measure a vertical angle. We may add, that with all the instruments which are used from two stations, or where the distance is to be determined from two stations without instruments, the angle measured is an horizontal one. instruments for the purpose in view divide themselves, thus, naturally and for us conveniently, into two classes, viz. :-those in which the vertical, and those in which the horizontal angle is measured. The (a). The vertical angle. This class includes all telescopes, stadia, and analogous instruments. Cavallo's micrometer is thus described.* It "is a fine transparent scale divided on mother-of-pearl, which can be applied to any telescope. To form a table of angular values; since an object six inches wide subtends an angle of 30 mins. at a distance of 57 ft. 3.5 in., observe how many divisions of the scale are covered by it; this number divided by 30, gives the angle for one division. Or set up a 10-ft. rod, and, measuring off distances from it, observe how many divisions it covers at every 100 yards; as, then, the average height of a man on horseback may be taken at 8 ft.; of a man on foot, 6 ft.; of a gun-wheel, 5 ft.; the distance corresponding to the number of divisions either of these objects covers, taken from the table made for 10 feet, being multiplied by 8, 6, or 5 respectively, will be its distance. So of any other object of known dimensions. Rochon's micrometer is a superior but more expensive instrument." The same instrument is used in the Swedish artillery under another form. It is possible that it may be "Rochon's" instrument referred to, of which we have not met any description. The Swedish instrument is thus described : "Each battery is provided besides with a reflector and a stadium, or instrument for measuring distances. This stadium is a telescope which does not magnify, but simply renders the objects viewed more distinct; on the object glass are two points, provided with a mechanism which enables the observer to make them approach or recede from each other at will." "When an observer wishes to use the instrument to determine the distance between him and any given point, he causes the two points to move until they exactly include the height of a cavalry or infantry soldier; he then reads, on a graduated limb, the number of yards corresponding to the angle under which the soldier has been seen." "The theory of the instrument is based on this principle, that the image of the object depicted on the object-glass is to the object itself * Handbook for Field Service, by Lefroy, 1854, pp. 143, 144. + Etat Actuel de l'Artillerie de Campagne Suédoise, par Jacobi; translated by Lenglier. Paris, 1849. in the same proportion as the length of the telescope is to the distance of the observer's eye from the object observed; the scale is graduated, admitting the height of the infantry and cavalry soldier to be 6 ft. and 9 ft., Swedish (5-82 and 8.73 British ft.) respectively." This instrument seems to be a more practical one than the first described, as it has this great advantage-that it is easier to bring two points together, by means of a mechanism ad hoc, to include a figure a long way off, than it is to determine the number of divisions of a minute scale which shall exactly cover the like figure. It is necessary with the former, too, to make an arithmetical calculation; but it has been found that the field of battle is a scene not well calculated to ensure accuracy in such computations. The writer of this article had the opportunity of seeing last summer in Switzerland a new telescope, in the hands of its inventor Mr. J. Goldschmid, an optician of Zürich, who informed him that an arrangement for taking out a patent or registration for it in England was all but completed. He has either done so, or by this time abandoned the idea; under these circumstances there can be no objection to making it public. The instrument, which he has named a "circle diastimeter," he says, has the advantage over the common micrometer telescope (the first described) of having no table to consult, such as is used with those instruments to save calculations: he replaces it by a divided disk, having the different hundreds of paces or yards graven on it, to which an index points when observing, so that the distance is read off by simple inspection-from 200 up to 3,000 paces. He avoids using any species of scale to measure the height of the soldier. He thus describes his idea : The circle a, a, a", Fig. 1. a' exhibits what is seen on looking through the telescope. The point b is an immovable sight-point; c, c', c", is a spiral line traced with a diamond on a piece of plain glass. If then the soldier, as seen at 200 paces, appears to be included, between the sight-point b, and the curve at c, giving the height bc, at a longer distance (Fig. 2), in the inverse ratio, he will measure a shorter height, and be included between d and b, measuring the height d b. The instrument is so constructed that the act of moving the curved line to adjust the apparent height of the soldier between the curve and the sight-point, simultaneously carries round with it an index, which gives the corresponding distances upon a disk. The distance, then, is measured by bringing the object between the immoveable sight-point at b and the curved line, which is turned round until the latter cuts the highest point of the object d. The index points to the number of paces (or yards) on the divided limb, the division of which must be executed in an empirical manner. † d * διάστασις-μέτρον. a A friend of the writer's has been good enough to investigate the equation to |