The spectacle of the ideal balloon, a gigantic bird on the wing, had been promised to the public at St Petersburg a few weeks ago. The head, wings, and tail were movable, and by their means this perfect "ship of the air" was to be steered, the body being destined to do the duty of the actual balloon. Everything was in readiness, and the St Petersburgers, whoae craving for amusement— and for grotesque amusements especially — is absolutely bound* less, were looking forward with great expectations to thia first flight of a new Phoenix, when suddenly the powers that be interdicted the whole affair— of course, without giving any reason. Giving reasons for any o his edicts would savour of Western, civilisation, and the " Great White Tzar " prefers to do everything Btrictly po JRusski, This time, however, the reasons were sound, neither were they far to seek. For, though the multitude know it not, a terrible balloon accident at St. Petersburg had just destroyed four human beings, As part of iho festivities ol Whit-Sunday, which fall a foraigut later in those liussian towns, whioh still reokon time according to the " Old Style " almanac, a balloon belonging to Count Apraxin was to aaoand. While it was being filled the ropes gave way, and four workmen who were entangled in the meshes ol the net were rapidly carried away. One of the four, who had managed to extricate himself, jumped down from a height of 70ft, and was a dead man the minute after he fell on the ground. At a height of 150ft the balloon burst, and a moment later the other three lay on the ground with fractured skulls, breathing their last The craze for ballooning has been great for years past at Bt. Petersburg ; it is to be hoped that this accident may at last put a stop to the terrible game. King Otto of Bavaria has of late shown some lucid interval, and there is actually a hope of at least a partial restoration of the unfortunate monarch's senses. A few Sundays ago, after a day passed in alternate spells of peeling potatoes and standing on his head, the demented monarch was carried in an exhausted condition to his bed. He awoke at an early hour on the following morning and began to weep silently but bitterly. An attendant approached His Majesty and asked, as usual by signs, if he were in pain, and to his surprise received a coherent reply from the King that he was not sufferng from bodily trouble, but that his tears were caused by his unhappy con* dition. He then asked for his mother, and permitted himself to be dressed, and ate his breakfast without giving signs of insanity. He converged for a moment or two intelli* gently with one of his physioians, and then suddenly relapsed into stupor and sleepi When he again awoke hia madness was with him, and he sprang from his oouoh and began to walk on all fours, growling like a dog. Oa two subsequent days the King has given Bigna of rational comprehension, and the physioians are consulting in regard to an entire altera* tion in their treatment of the royal madmen. Hypnotism and electrioity, it is stated, will be brought into prominent use. Henry Hertz, Professor of Physios in the University of Bonn, whose remarkable discoveries in elect rioity have given him a plaoa in Germany similar to that held by Edison in Amerioi, is a young man hardly over thirty, tour years old. According to an Australian contemporary a man rushed into a hotel on the bank of the Yarra one day recently yelling for help. Soon it was ascertained that a fair* sized black snake had crawled up inside his trousers. Willing hands helped the viotim, and the reptile was, when extricated, found dead. As the man had felt many punctures he was dosed with brandy for the following two days, and then, danger being past, tended like a prince for the rest of the week, at the end of whioh time he. took up hia swag and proceeded on his lonely tramp, A few days after the driver of Gobb's coaoh dropped in, and being told the tale knocked the publioan into extravagant profanity by explaining that the man had played the same game at fully a dozen hotels and shanties along the road. The plan the gentle boozer adopted was to find the snake, kill it, and, when in sight of an hotel, lodge it in his trousers. There are ten main linea of railway oen tring in London, On these 2210 suburban trains run in and out daily, while the main line trains are only about four hundred and ten. In 1889 the ten lines carried 400,000,000 Buburban passengers. The Dolooath mine, in Cornwall, one of the most famous and most important tin mines in the world, has been opened to a depth of 2472 feet, and the main shaft is now being sunk deeper. At the bottom the temperature is nearly 90 degrees Fahrenheit, A correspondent of the Daily Graphic, writing upon the locust plague in North Africa, says :— ln reference to the diet of St. John the Baptist, who lived on " looasts and wild honey" in the wilderness, there are Sunday-sohool teachers who cannot believe that anyone would voluntarily live on snob, food, and, therefore, say that the "looaat baan. " the fruit of the crab tree, ia meant by the writer in the New Testament, I can only reply that the loousfc cricket, the Aoridutn pelerinum, order Orthoptera, variety Saltat— the flying Sauterelle of Africa— is sold at a halfpenny per pound in the market-place in Biskra (which is the aecond oasis from the North ia the Sahara), and that there it is cooked by boiling with salt and water, as shrimps are boiled here. I myself have little doubt that it is more nutritious than the latter, because in Marob, when the inseofc is gathered and dried, it ia as full of albumen as an egg. Much amusement was caused at the German Exhibition the other day through a oiroumstanoe whioh was clearly unforeseen by the designer of the exhibition entrance. A lady of English origin, who was bo stout that she was unable to pass the turnstile, having duly paid her shilling, refused to be baulked of the promised treat. Hence a dilemma arose, and there was considerable curiosity among the bystanders as to how the difficulty would be solved. After much consultation and amid roars of laughter, the stout lady was lifted bodily over the obstruction by a posse of Btrong men, Weight is bound to carry the day in the long run! Hulahala and Umfeti, the envoys ol Gangunhana, King of Gazaland, aooompanied by Mr Dennis Doyle, had an interview in London with the native Eaoes and Liquor Traffic Committee. Huluhala gave a graphic description of the evils wrought by the epirituouß liquors imported into Gazaland by the white man Their own native drink was a thick beer made from mealies. It wsa comparatively innocuous, and was principally a food ; but the spirits of the white man spread degradation wherever they penetrated, and had destroyed whole tribes along the banks of the Umkymanzi Biver. When Guogunhana moved south to his present position on the Limpopo Biver. on acoount of the rebellion Spelenyna, he found the whole oonntry flooded with spirits. Tha traffio was on the inoreaiie. Guoguu. hana's father, TJmzUa, had prohibited spiiite, and the eon is anxious to do the same, bat desires the support of the British Government m thiß aireotion. Farm lands in the United States, taking the country as a whole, oooupyonly 289 aores in every 1000. British Columbia and New Zealand are - the greatest distances between MhiQh ataiegnw may bo. wn t. ?~- " * :