About Fish

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 48, 26 February 1938, Page 14

About Fish

Unwritten history seems to have repeated itself in part of South America. How came fish and seals and sponges into that inland Siberian sea, Lake Baikal? And how came the life that lias now’ been newly found in the freshwater mountain liake, Titicaca, 120 miles long and 40 miles wide and 12,500 feet up in the heights bordering Bolivia and Peru? A brilliantly successful expedition carried out by scientists from Cambridge University, backed by the British Museum, has discovered that up in this isolated lake are wonders of fish and shellfish life, their presence in such astonishing surroundings being beyond comprehension. The only explanation appears to be that the lake was raised, with the life in it, wdien the mountains were raised up in geological times. Lake Baikal may at some distant day in the geological past have been connected with the Arctic Ocean, but it is now more remote from the sea tiian Titicaca from the plains. It receives 300 streams and rivers, and one river, the Lower Angara, flows from it; and Baikal, 386 miles long and from 20 to 50 wide, covering an area practically equal to Holland, is one of the marvels of Asia. It is a freshwater lake, yet it resembles a sea. Seals should emigrate to the sea, but the seals of Lake Baikal never leave its waters. It has sturgeon, a unique trout, and another member of the salmon family, the omul; it has one fish peculiar to itself, the golomynka, from which oil is extracted. It has sponges and shellfish, and creatures which imitate the habits of fish haunting the deep abysses of the ocean, not a difficult matter seeing that this lake has a depth in places of over 5000 feet, though it lies some 1500 feet above sea-level. Titicaca and Baikal seem twin marvels w T ith their living families. Lake Baikal might be explained on the assumption that it once linked up completely with the ocean, but the secret of Lake Titicaca is at present beyond A Fish That Climbs a Tree. A fish that will climb on to the roots of a tree a bask in the sunshine is found in Queensland, Australia, and ror»nd the Indian Ocean. The mud-skipper lives near the low j tide mark on muddy flats, and gets its name from its habit of skipping a yard or so over the mud. Mangrove trees grow in the tidal zone, and at low tide their roots are exposed. The modified fins of the mud-skipper enable it to climb the roots of the mangrove trees and take a sun bath. Huge Tiger Shark. What is probably a record tiger shark, weighing 9531bs and thirteen feet long, with a jaw of eighteen inches, was caught at Mayor Island by Mr R. H. Jones, of Rotorua, from the launch Kingfish. The monster fought for an hour and ten minutes. After it was brought ashore, it disgorged a broadbill swordfish complete with sword, also one kingfish, two sharks and a number of mutton birds. RANGATIRA IS GOING AWAY Te Matai. Dear Hub, —First of all I must thank you very much for the lovely book you sent me for my prize. It is very interesting. Well, Hub, I have some very saw news for you. I'm going away. Mum and I are going back to Mummie’s old home to live. Of course I'll have lots of fun down there but I don't like leaving all my school chums up here. What I am looking forward to most is riding a pony. We will be near a lake and the sea too. I will miss the Cogs' Page very much, but I'll try to write to you occasionally. I am coming into town on Friday, so I'll try to pop in to say good-bye. I also have some more stamps and some silver paper which I'll bring in. Well, dear Hub, I'll say goodbye. Rangatira. We are very, very sorry that you are going to leave us Rangatira and that you are going to miss our Page, • but we will look forward to some interesting letters from you—all about the sea, and the pony. We all wish you a happy time in your new home.

GALLERY OF DOLLS. YOUNG GIRL'3 COLLECTION. Although only 18, Miss Mary Dante, daughter of the Danish magician so well-known and popular in New Zealand, must have one of the most extensive collections of dolls in the world. Although they are rather scattered about the globe at the moment, and she

has not been able to take a recent census, she estimates her collection at rather over 300, states the Hera!*!. Miss Dante has been travelling since she was five with her family, and naturally they have been round “the world and back-again more than once. She has collected dolls in every country she has visited. Some of them have only “face-value," as it were, with pretty colouring, features and clothes, but others are really valuable, including centuries-old Chinese dolls and grim-looking wooden totem figures from Africa. There is a doll from Sweden, which is said to be more like Garbo than Garbo herself, and also a replica o : Maurice Chevalier from Paris. Miss Dante is inclined to think that Russia leads in her international gallery of dolls, with Hungary next, these being clever, colourful and convincing. She likes English and American dolls, too, but says they have no definite characteristics to distinguish them.

ABOUT THE SEA JEWELS FROM THE SEA Great excitement prevails at HagaHaga, a beach some 30 miles from East London, South Africa, for the tides have washed ashore many precious stones. Campers digging in the sand have unearthed rubies, a bloodstone, and an amethyst, also many cornelian beads and ancient china.

The treasure is supposed to come from an old chest which has been wedged in

SKULL TEST WINNER Jewel is the lucky Cog this week. Congratulations from the Den! SOLUTION TO “ON TOUR" PUZZLE 1. Fal s. 2. Sounds. 3. Mounts. 4. Springs. 5. Gorges. 6. Passes. 7. Heads. 8. Ranges. 9. Plains. 10. Reserves. 11. Downs. 12. Capes. Feilding. Dear Hub, —I Lope you had a very happy Christmas. lam in Std. 2 at school and I like i t very much. I spent a fortnight with my friends at Linton and had great fun. I learned how to milk a cow. In the holidays we went to Foxton, the Totara Reserve and Waitarere beach. Jewel. You did have a good holiday, didn't you Jewel and wasn’t it fun learning to milk?

the rocks for many years. At low tide the chest is visible from the shore, bu owing to the bad currents it cannot b salved. The wavßs thunder and breal on the place without ceasing. It i thought that many years ago a hole wa made in the ches t with an explosive and now at certain tides the wave withdraw some of the stones from th interior. Stones (mainly cornelians) have bee: found for many years by the local in habitants, many of the women wearin:

pretty necklets m ade from the treasur trove of this lost chest.

POWDER AND PATCHES Hukanui. Dear Hub, I have mislaid my fountain pen, This one's so scratchy, too, So please don’t blame your Coglet If the writing's scratchy too.The weather is so summery It makes me feel quite fit, The birds are full of gladness And gaily they carol it. The summer roads entice me, l would follow where they call, And if all goes well I hope to Visit Auckland in the fall. That's if funds permit it, I surely hope they do, 'Cos I feel much like a holiday And hope my plans come true. Of course I'll miss quite lots of things, Mostly tennis matches That's what will worry Your roving Powder and Patches. But I really long to travel, I'd like to all my life, Putting up with setbacks And smiling through the strife. I'm coming to Palmerston On Thursday week I thing, That's if everything goes Exactly as I think. Oh! I just can't rhyme this morning The mood is dormant still, And then to rhyme you pages It surely makes me ill. One thing I am thankful for, It makes me so glad To think dear snowy's eye, Hub, Is no longer bad. Our pups are growing monstrous, We all like them, too, The way their eyes can speak, Hub, And their tails talk, too. They wag them when they're satisfied, Least that's what I think, And don’t they cringe when sad, Hub, Bo mournfully they slink. Oh! gee the time is flying, Anne's wedding's very near, I hope the sun is shining And skies are blue and clear. On Monday I was in town, I acted nursemaid, too, For I had wee Jennifer Till ten to five from two. I loved to wheel her up and down, And she often smiled at me, A lady in the street, Hub, Knew I was P. and P. She liked Jennifer very much, And also knew me too, But I didn't recognize The kind lady who Stopped and talked to Jennifer And to me as well, But »/lie time is flying And I can really tell Any more never to-day. The housework is waiting, Oh! wouldn't it be lovely To have a “maid in waiting," But I must end this letter Sincerest regards I send, And now early in the morning This weel.ly rhyme 1 end. Powder and Patches. THE ST. BERNARD Full-grown, the St. Bernard is really a magnificent animal. He stands thirty inches high at the shoulder, and weighs about one hundred and thirty pounds. He is exceedingly strong, and will drag an exhausted man along the snow for a considerable distance. Then his sense

of smell is wonderful. He can detect the presence of a human being buried twenty feet and more below the snow. Although so powerful, the dogs are really very gentle and affectionate. In the height of the summer a number of tourists visit the hospice, and the children that occasionally come with them often indulge in rides on the dogs' backs. One of the more famous of these heroic dogs of the snow country was Bury. Bary was very fond of children, and he gave many a child rides up the steep mountain passes during the ten years he was at the monastery. His intelligence was remarkable. On one occasion he found a child of ten years lying in the snow under the influence of that fatal slumber which precedes death. The dog warmed the child with its breath, and then roused it from sleep by licking its face. This much accomplished, Bary, by lying down on his side, gave the child the obvious invitation to get upon his back and ride. The child did so, and was thus carried to the monastery.

One October when fierce snow storms were sweeping the alps, two of the monks visited Aosta, where provisions were to be obtained for the monastery. On their return, when some two miles from home, on the Italian side of the mountain, an avalanche overtook them and they were buried beneath the heavy fall of snow. At this time Bary was in the monastery, when suddenly he showed great uneasiness and distress, running backwards and forwards, whilst barking at the fathers in the most unusual manner. They tried to understand him, but failed, until at last it was decided to let him out. Off he bounded down the Italian side of the pass (never even looking towards the Swiss side), leaping and barking, until he eventually found the travellers. Both had had a trying ordeal, but the sight of Bary with food and wine, added to the knowledge that they now had a guide to lead a way through the blinding storm, gave them new hope and courage.

Everybody made a great fuss of Bary. He was presented with many medals and his fame was certainly world-wide. Altogether he saved forty lives, and was then accidentally shot. Near the hospice there is a monument erected to his memory. The inscription Teads:—"Bary the heroic. Saved the lives of forty persons, and was killed by the forty-first.' * The community at this interesting institution are all carefully chosen men, varying periods of time—often as long as fifteen years. Indeed, twenty years is the utmost a man may live under such conditions, for on account of the great altitude at which the hospice is situated the air is naturally rarer than in the villages far below. It is indeed a hard life these gallant men and their brave dogs live on the dreary mountain pass. They are verily the guardians of the snow country, finding the lost and giving succour to the homeless.