GENERAL INFORMATION.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1929, 20 March 1905, Page 2

GENERAL INFORMATION.

! There are thirty-eight letters in the Russian alphabet.

The frigate bird can fly for a week without once stopping to rest. * Blind men outnumber blind women bv two to one.

The vulture is the natural sca-tfen-ger in all tropical countries.

It is calculated that the men and women of to-day are nearly two inches taller than their ancestors.

More than 118 million pounds of tobacco are smoked in England yearly in the form of cigars and cigarettes.

Between Madagascar and the coast | of India there are about 16,000 islands, only 600 of which are inhabitI ed

Ants have brains larger in proportion to the size of their bodies than any other known living creaI ture.

' Japanese soldiers fight noiselessly. ! They have no bands, no drums beat I reveille or tattoo, and in action they ! utter no cheers.

i The most expensive railway to travel on is the Congo, where the fare is £2O for 250 miles. This works out at about 1/8 per mile. *i* \ Camels are perhaps the only animals that cannot swim. Immediately after they enter the water they . turn on their backs and are drowned.

j At all Russian railway stations j "grievance books" are kept, in which passengers may enter complaints. | The books are sent to the central 1 office once a month, and all complaints are then investigated.

The tails of fishes are much larger than their fins, because their tails are their chief instruments of mo-

' ion, while their fins are employed j more to direct their progress and I steady their movements.

People in the Arctic Regions can converse when more than a mile apart. The nir being cold and dense is a very good conductor, and the smooth surface of the ice also favours the transmission of sound.

It is a curious fact that the wildest members of the animal kingdom generally make Lhc tamest pets, and vice versa. The curlew, for instance, is one of the wildest of birds, but in captivity few creatures are tamer. The sparrow, on the other hand, is an exceedingly diflicult bird to tame.

The British professional classes arc the tallest in the world. The average is sft. 9£in. United States males follow, and behind them come males of all British classes. Most European natives average for the adult male sft. Gin., but the Austrians, Spaniards, and Portuguese just fall short of this standard.

The largest flower in the world is found in Sumatra. Its size is fully three feet in diameter—about the/. size of a carriage wheel. The five petals of this immense (lower are oval and creamy white, growing round a centre filled with countless long, violet-hued stamens. The flower weighs about 151b., and is capable of containing nearly two gallons of water. The' buds are like gigantic brown cabbage heads.

The English walnut is said to be the most profitable of all nut-bearing trees. When in full \ igour they will yield about 3001b. of nuts to the tree. The nuts sell on the average at aboul 4(1. per 1!,. !f only l.wentySeven trees are planted uii an acre the incotxte would be about £,lX£> per «*■». IASUi