ARIZONA SHOCKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 147, 23 June 1934, Page 7

ARIZONA SHOCKS.

A POLICE HOLD-UP.

VOCAL MYSTERIES. STURDY PRIMITIVES. (By HOWARD VINCENT O'BRIEN.) WILLCOX (Arizona), May 28. I had two surprises on entering this State. One was the abrupt change in colour and topography, there being more green foliage, the sand redder, the mountains softer iu contour and" the lighting less severely brilliant, than in New Mexico. The other shock came from being stopped by a policeman, exactly as at a European border. It appears that Arizona very sensibly halts all cars and examines the owners' papers. Mine were not altogether in order,, and I had some difficulty in convincing tho officer that I was not engaged in transporting a stolen car, or that my name wasn't Dillinger. It was not until I showed him a letter of introduction, signed by the assistant Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that he let me pass. This was not without its humour, since the same letter had been conspicuously useless in gaining me admission to an Indian pueblo! The Military Mind. Those interested in strengthening the armed forces of our great republic will be interested in this item. A young Texan, after considerable service in the national guard, attempted to enter West Point. He passed a good examination, his paper on chemical warfare being especially brilliant. Then he had a small accident, and' one of his fingers was permanently stiffened. I Whereupon tho military academy refused to- admit him, ,

Probably J. Caesar and N. Bonaparte and other physical defectives who managed to overcome their handicaps sufficiently to make some mark on history, couldn't get into West Point under present regulations. Savages and Science. An amazing man is Charles Kellogg. I encountered him touring tho country | in what he calls a "caravan"—a travelling laboratory he made himself, fitted with beds and all sorts of apparatus for the study of sound. He was, born with peculiar vocal organs •which enable him to imitate birds, and even make sounds too high in pitch to be heard by the human car. Speaking of his life in China and among the Polynesians, he said that science was constantly rediscovering facts long known to primitive men ancl forgotten in tho process of civilisation. For example, when Nansen went exploring in the north Pacific, he on one occasion travelled for three weeks by sea, only to discover on landing on an uncharted island that the natives, knew all about him. There is nothing mysterious about it, says Mr. Kellogg. He showed me a "lalli," a boat-shaped contrivance about 18in long, scraped out of wood by Fiji islanders. On being tapped with a wooden mallet it emits a sound which can be "heard" for 20 miles or more, and recorded visibly on a sand-covered drum. Incidentally, Mr. KeTiogg is working on a process "of sterilising milk by 6ound waves. Another instance of science rediscovering the wisdom of primitive man comes from the field of agriculture. Many j savages, it is known, 60w their grain in the full of £he moon, to the accompaniment of prayer and dancing. Now it has lately been "discovered" that seed germinates most quickly in polarised light. And moonlight is polarised light. The most fascinating thing about the life of primitive man is the difficulty of determining which of his habits are rooted in sound experience, and which are holdovers that have lost their sense. It is not always ea.sy to tell, and the more one learns, the more hesitant one is to make decisions. Outwitting the Slickers. Sturdy were the men who lived hereabouts in the old days. There was that intrepid Senor Luna, for example, who drovo 5000 sheep across Death Valley, from Santa Fe to the coast —no mean journey even in a modern automobile.

He was paid 16 dollars a licad for them, in gold. Then the slickers of the period went to work on him and tried to sell him laud. One of the parcels offered him is where Los Angeles now stands. But he was too sharp to be taken in by tho realtors. He pocketed his 80,000 dollars and started home. The second night on the road he got into a gambling game and lost every cent. Was he discouraged? Certainly not. After all, there wasn't much that money could buy in the Mexico of IS4S. So he went home, rounded up more sheep and started for tlio coast asain.— (X.A.N.A.)