GENERAL INFORMATION.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1839, 16 June 1903, Page 7

GENERAL INFORMATION.

There are 700,000 blacks In tho Transvaal. v The Anglo-Saxon race controls one-third of the earth. . t . Lions in captivity eat about eight pounds of meat a day. * In Belgium, for every four tons carried by rail, one ton is carried by canal. *—- The number of persons buried in the cemeteries of Home,' is estimated at six millions. v^ — Prussia gave 1,228 : medals last oar to , couples . who celebrated duit'.-md and golden wedding an- >>••-, u -a r ics. —* ' \-..i. - • ■'-■ n\y]y v.ell-kr.own con!;... ; s Wi ■'■< who i ,ei fj;>,, M .••-•-., o'"'ra a/iej; he '•• !' eighty > <•<>: -■ .. id. * '. An oak-tree of'aytTiige size, with 700,000 leaves, lifts from the earth about 12J5 tons of water during: the five month it is. in leaf.

The largest book ever made was that containing the Jubilee addresses of congratulation to CJueen Victoria. It is 18in. thick, and weighs 631bs.

Persian shoes are little wooden platforms, richly inlaid, with a strap across the front for the toes to pass through, often elevated as much as a foot from the ground. +--

llussia is probably the only country that could raise a regiment composed entirely of generals, who number 1,248. They receive in salaries an aggregate of 7,000,000 roubles' a year. * A Munich tailor proposes to lessen the perils of hot climates by c'othing made on approved optical principles. The outer layer is of white materia! to reflect heat rays, and an inner layer of black or other coloured fabric is expected to absorb the chemically active actinic rays. The two oldest secret processes now in existence are probably Ihe manufacture of Chinese red or vermilion, and the method of inlaying the hardest steel with gold and silver, which was practised at Damascus and is Known only to the Syrian smiths and their pupils even to-*lay.