General Gatherings.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume 2, Issue 2, 10 June 1892, Page 7

General Gatherings.

ONE-tenth of the world is still unexplored.

Peru was discovered by Perez de la Rua in 1515.

In Portugal married women retain their maiden names. •»

The forest area of the United States is estimated at 481,764,598 acres. Thh Bible has now been translated into 66 of the languages and dialects of Africa. . DauARY-lane was one of the fitst places in the metropolis visited by the plague in 1665.

A ton of dirty rags is worth about £lO to a rug-dealer.

In 24 years the Canadian railways have been multiplied six times. In the United States in the same time the mileage has beenincreased four times.

Newfoundland, whioh was discovered by John Cabot in 1497, was first called I'rima Vi«ta and Baccalaos. It is not generally known that Mr, Rsikps claimed to be a descendant of the famous Sir Richard Whittington, “ thrioc Major of London town.”

It is said that disease of the heart is very prevalent in Munich, where the consumptionof beer amounts, on the average, to 565 litres per head aunually.

In 1890 the exports of tea from India were 102 million pounds, from China 74 million, and from Ceylon 424 million pounds.

Liege, it is stated, consumes nearly four million cartridges and 40 tons of powder ayear in testing firearms.

Near Foochow, China, during the months of February and Maroh, 1891. 10 000 peopleperished of the influenza.

The fat of the ostrich, mixed with flour and the yolk of the egg, is a rude but savory South African omelette. GuiTA-percha has beoome so scarce that, there is not enough for the inpulation of' submarine cables, and either fresh r-ourcea of supply or a substitute for it must be di*. covered. •-

The period of a “ generation has beenlengthened ; it üßed to be 30 years, and laterincreased to 34; now, a scientist says, theaverage term of human life has increased in the last 50 years from 34 to 42 years. In Vienna 2,111 persons live under theroof of one building. It is an apartmenthouse called the Friehaus. There are 1.500rooms so arranged as to make 400 dwellinghouses, with 130 staircases and 30 elevators*.Intoxication among physicians is not tolerated in Georgia. Any medical man whohas once been oonvicted of drunkenness is forever disqualified from practising medicinein that State.

A new steel cuirass, impenetrable to th 9 bullets of a rifle, and covering the breast only»will be introduced in the Austrian army, and perhaps throughout the armies of the Triple Alliance. It can be folded up and packed in an ordinary knapsack. Chickens and duoks want shade as woll as* sunshine, and thrive better for it during the summer. They are always on tho watch forworrns.and greedily devour every insect that falls from the trees. They are fond of fruit, andoonaume the windfalls, which harbor the insects that are so destructive to fruit. M. Trouve has constructed an electricwalking.stick, of which the knob consists of a small electric lamp in a thick glass bulb, the battery bemg two cells of a peculiar shape down the cane itself. The lamp gives sufficient light to read a newspaper in a train, or to light one’s self upstairs at night. There is etill living at Downham, in Norfolk. a man who took part in Napoleon’s expedition to Moscow (1812), He is an Italian, and after ceasing to be a soldier became acourier, and so formed the acquaintance of: an Englishwoman, whom he married, and this led to his settling in England. He isvery nearly a centenarian. The Russian Ministry of Public Instruction has recently discussed and virtually adopted a resolution permitting the employment of women as apprentices in The candidates, will, however, be compelled to pass an examination in Latin, according to the standard of the first four classes of' the Gymnase before being permitted to praotioe.

In a curious old pamphlet oalled .“Lenten Stnffe,” the author says ; “ The discovery of red herrings was owing to accident, by afisherman having hung some in his cabin,, where, what with hia firing and smoking in. that his narrow house, his herrings whioh. were as white as whalebone when he hung them up, now looked as red as a boiled lobster.”

The following advertisement appears in Dutoh paper :. “ Matrimonial.— Wanted, a. dark, thin, vicious, vinegary-looking lady, rich, aged over 60, to enter the bonds of matrimony on the 12th of March rext with an energetic Klerksdorp man, ace under 30. Send photo and testimonials to ‘ Clairvoyant ” offiae of this paper.” ’

.Although the social tendencies of Drtiarylane were downwards throughout the seven*, teenth century, it had at Kiast two famous denizens. On May Day, 1667, Sam Pepya saw Nell Gwynne “ standing at tier lodging* door in Drury-lane in her smock sleeve* and bodice,”, and seeming “ a mighty pretry oreainre.” Twenty years before there tad been lodging in Drnry-lane a certain her of Parliament namml Oliver Cromwell.