"The shades of evening approached as we reached the ground, and just as the encampment was completed, the atmosphere grew suddenly dark, the heat became oppressive, and an unusual stillness presaged the immediate setting-in of the monsoon. The whole appearance of external nature resembled those solemn preludes to earthquakes and hurricanes in the West Indies, from which the East in general is providentially free. We were allowed very little time for conjecture. In a few minutes the heavy clouds burst over us. I had witnessed seventeen monsoons in India, but this surpassed them all in its awful appearance and dreadful effects. Encamped in a low situation on the borders of a lake formed to collect the surrounding water, we found ourselves in a few hours in a liquid plain; tent-pins giving way in a loose soil--the tents fell down--and left the whole army exposed to the contending elements. It requires a lively imagination to conceive the situation of a hundred thousand human beings of every description, with more than two hundred thousand elephants, camels, horses, and oxen, suddenly overwhelmed by this dreadful storm in a strange country, without any knowledge of high or low ground, the whole being covered by an immense lake, and surrounded by thick darkness, which rendered it impossible for us to distinguish a single object except such as the vivid glare of the lightning occasionally displayed in horrible forms. No language can adequately describe the wreck of a large encampment thus instantaneously destroyed, and covered with water, amid the cries of old men and helpless women, terrified by the piercing shrieks of their expiring children, unable to afford them relief. During this dreadful night more than two hundred persons and three thousand cattle perished miserably, and the morning dawn exhibited a shocking spectacle!" UNUSUAL LOCALITY FOR SAYING PRAYERS. Francis Atkins was porter at the palace gate, at Salisbury, from the time of Bishop Burnet to the period of his death in 1761, at the age of 104 years. It was his office every night to wind up the clock, which he was capable of performing regularly till within a year of his decease, though on the summit of the palace. In ascending the lofty flight of stairs, he usually made a halt at a particular place and said his evening prayers. He lived a regular and temperate life, and took a great deal of exercise; he walked well, and carried his frame upright and well balanced to the last. BILLY IN THE SALT BOX. Political caricatures are generally well worth preserving, they familiarize us with the features and peculiarities of celebrated men, and they tell us what was the popular feeling of the day. We regret that in general they are too large for our pages, but now and then we meet with a small one which we are glad to present to our readers. [Illustration: [++] Billy in the Salt Box.]