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Mataura Ensign, Issue 833, 27 December 1900, Page 4

WHY (i>d. ! OBJECTS ;XOOK IJABGE Itf & MIST ? ". Because;>during. a mist tho air. .is ladenywitfivapo^iwhich forma a mag* mfyinjJ medium through which objectsareviewed. The apparent increase in size, is due to. tjieifact that the vapor in the atmosphere causes the rays of light .:td diverge 1 more, and in consequence of this -they produce on the. eye larger images of thie .objects seen. - • At) the they curiously, enough jltp r pear further -off than they really. 'are because -the 'mist diminishes the-light. reflected- from the objects making them seem dim and thereby giving the impression of distance. 1 WILD ANIMALS WHICH, ABE k6t: ;AFKAJtD ■ : . -, OP<FIRB. ' '". If may be'said-that all wild animals have an inborn dread of fire, partly on account of "novelty and partly through 4he memory, inherited or otherwise, of prairie and forest fires. An animal may, however, become more' or less familiar with fire, and still be in the wild state ; such, for instance, as lions, tigers, hyenas, and wolves, accustomed to seek their prey near the habitations of men. There are cases on recprd'of such animals showing little if any fear ,of fire. Travellers have also obsorved that monkeys- soon get used to it, and will even come and warm themselves at a deserted camp fire. They will sit round till it goes out. They ; see the sticks burning, but they never think of putting fresh ones on. GOOD TEETH. As a general rule good teeth are an indication of good general health and sound constitution. They also imply good mastication, and therefore the ability to eat the rough faro 'which soldiers on active service often have to 'put up with. Therefore in this sense it is always- important that" soldiers and sailors equally should have good teeth. Before the introduction of the breech-loader, however, there was a special reason for this. The ammunition for the old Brown Bess consisted of a brown paper cartridge containing a bullet and four and a-half drams of powder. A familiar order n those days Was " bite cartridges." It stood to reason that a man could not load and fire at all quickly unless he bit off the end of the paper, so that he could pour the powder into tha gun, since otherwise he would have had to put the gun down every time he loaded. Hence the necessity for good front" teeth. It is worthy of note that this necessity was one of the causes of the Indian Mutiny. The paper of the cartridge was greased, partly to keep out the damp and partly to enable the bullet to be rarnined home more easily. Th,e native agitators told the Mohammedan soldiers that they were greased with pork fat' and the Hindoo troops that Cow's fat was used, and that therefore every time they bit a cartridge they lost caste. As a matter of fact sheep's fat was used. GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA. " Louis Botha, Comtnanderrin-Chief of the Boers, is a comparatively young man — not more than forty-two— and was little known outside of his district till the present war. He comes of a Natal Dutch family, and speaks Eng-" lish well. With Lucas Meyer and others, he went to the assistance of JDinhsulu, and afterwards settled in- the new Republic, living near Vryheid. He has always been an out-and-out opponent of President Kruger's, and especially opposed the dynamite-:and other concessions. He is a man' of many fine qualities. He is a farmer by calling, ,Jbut, like so many of his colleagues, a soldier by necessity, and a keen, clever tactician by instinct^ In appearance Commandant- General Botha is a typical Boer, though he 'is not, physically speaking, so fine a man as the majority of his confreres. A grey beard, and a somewhat stern -set expression of countenance, are his ex-ternal-characteristics. He is less than common " tall, 1 but, like ■ our own "Bobs," what he lacks in inches is more than counterbalanced by his .farsightedness, his .fearlessness, and his., spirit of .independence. WINE AND GOLD.' - Until the, discovery of thVJJand and the West Australian goldfields, the gold output of the world, was singularly steady— under thirty -millions — but now it is reckoned at nearly sixty. The value of the European Vine crops is more than three times this amount, for during the last decade of ■ this con-.! tury it has averaged a;, hundred and eighty-three' millidns -sterling,- and this estimate does not include the vast quantity of wine consumed by the winegrowers .themselves' which does not come' into the market. The extent of European "vineyards is about twenty-one million acres of land, and the average product about' eleven hundred, and seventy milli&n gallons. PACKS OF HOUNDS ATTENDING MASS.In France: before the revolution U was the regular custom for every master of a, pack o^ hounds to escort them to mass on St Hubert's Day , t that saint being the patron of. hunting. .The day before the anniversary all the kennels and the chapel ■ were decorated with garlands and -.wreaths of flowers, and each .hound was 'washed and combed. On-' the day. itself the whole pack went in procession to hear mass in the chapel.; ;>5?bV. hounds occupied the centre of ,-tho : choir opposite the picture of the patron saint on the altar and took "precedence ■■' according; "-to purity of breedyf age and merit. • The only M. Fi-H.'Afhb still' loTjseires this" picturesque oldcustom is thci DupheSse d'Uzes, that great amature. of .dogs and horses," who \ gained; ;fo ! painful u, notoriety in connection with the r ' late r General Boulanger. - • « " EMBALMED ALiyK.j Professor IM^spero, theu'renpwned Egyptologist, '-is.. : authority .for _fche statement that' "ainongt. *ihe Boyal mummies- un bandaged-, ipi|iß66 was one of a young man whoshaJ-evidently-been embalmed 'alive. . The -body had been tightly bound in tHree 'places and, thenicoated wifch-bitunjen, lime, and pounded resin, and" thVjtfvwqqnd from head«to; fool with 1 bandages -which had 'beefc soaked in' some glutinous/preparation.^ !-The agonisedk'eipressiori i of the f iiee and; , oth^ef eyjdsgpej g&ye the, scien itiats; "their. 'ejue7;' ; |ffis* ago3wasj ?28.: -TheVgold /orna..ments on iis body, indicated i-'thifcbtf;

~Sr- ■' „.' ? AONBW^YOBK THAGEDIf. .f.A reeentjrsuicide of. "the son of the Bey.: Henry ]\£ Barbour,. rector of the GBiirch'of the ?eloved.Disciple,in New ■York, (writes: the' Argus' s' correspondent under 'date September 28), has excited much public interest, because the, deed ; yras done ih ; obedience to an agreement which called for the death at.thesame time of a beautiful young r womany^an adopted daughter of the M§ Bishop Southgate. Such compacts are frequently reported, but in some-instances the survivor proves to be a murderer, or there is evidence, when both parties have died, that one was an unwilling victim. . Thus, in one recent case here, while a letter purporting to, have been signed by both the man and the woman was found near their .dead bodies, it was clear that th* woman's signature was forged, and that the man was a murderer before he became a suicide. In each of two other instances — one in Syracuse and the other in Toronto— the man survived with a slight wound, asserting thatjbhere had been a compact, and that his nerve had failed him, while there was evidence that he Had really murdered his companion. But young firosvenor Barbour and Helen Southgate did agree to die together, and the young woman survives with a wound that was willingly received, and was designed to be fatal. These two young persons loved each other ardently, but sorrowed because' marriage seemed to be forbidden. Barbour was a college graduate of twenty-seven years, who had failed to earn a living; the girl, an expert musician, speaking several languages, had become estranged from her adopted relatives for reasons not discreditable to herself. Both were dreamers, and the man was a pessimist. And so, as she now tells the story, they agreed to die together. Going to an obscure hotel, they carefully planned tho ending of their lives. It was agreed that he should first kill her with a pistol, and then kill himself. She stood bofore him, offering herself to the bullet, and he shot her in the breast. Striken down by the shook and the pain, she was still conscious, and she saw him turn the pistol upon himself, and lodge & bullet in his brain. Eecovering her strength after a time, she left the place, and returned to her home. It was in the evening, and she safely reached her room ; but before morning her wound was discovered, and she was 'taken to a hospital. The bullet had been diverted by^ the bones of her breast, and her recovery was assured. In the morning Barbour's corpse was found in the hotel room from which she had fled, but her part in the tragedy was not revealed until the following day. Then her own account of all. that had _ taken- place was given to the public. When her recovery is complete she will" seek refuge in a convent. ELECTION STORIES BY CONAN DOYLE. Dr Conan Doyle, at the Pall Mall Club annual dinner, told a story about a man who had been running for a mayoralty, and .who when asked "Were you returned ?" replied : " Yes to the bosom of my family." Eecently he (Dr Doyle) had sought to enter Parliament, but he had been returned to the bosom of his family ; and the ■ first thing his little girl said to him was, " Oh, daddy, I am sorry you did not pass !" Though not, strictly speakan examination, to stand for a Scotch constituency was a liberal education. Having paid a warm tribute to British .officers, Mr Doyle expressed a conviction that the Boers had been the victims of a great deal of cheap Press criticism. In particular he thought they hod been grossly caluminated about the "white ilag" incidents. Nor did he think they had received credit for returning prisoners they were unable properly to feed. In conclusion he expressed the opinion that the Transvaal would ultimately prove the most British of all our South African possessions.