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New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4667, 28 October 1876, Page 5

Attention has just been drawn in the press to the slow rate at which the population of France increases compared with other "nations. The question was Bret mooted by a correspondent of V'Explorateur, who referred to a statement of the Bishop of Wellington, New Zealand, with respect to the rapid increase of the white population in that colony. It is observed that had it belonged to the French the European population would probably now be counted by hundreds instead of thousands. In support of hia statement the writer in L'Eocplorateur refers to Marquesas, to Mayotte, with its admirable roadstead, to Nossi-be, the gateway to Madagascar, and other French possessions, and says that it has already become a question whether these islands must not be abandoned. The native population is becoming extinct, and no Frenchman can be induced permanently to settle there.

Mark Twain as a Horse Buter.— At a lecture in JSew York, Mark Twain related an anecdote in relation to buying a borse, which he told as follows : —i bought the horse at auction; they called it a Mexican plug. I did not know what that was, but supposed it was all right. The brother-in law of the auctioneer took me to one side and said : " Now, I could cheat you,,but I won't; I see you are a stranger. New, that here is a genuine Mexican plug, and besides, he can out buck anything in the country." I aid not know what "bucking" was, but I wanted a horse that could excel in something, so I bought him. The next afternoon I thought I would ride him, so I brought him out, and two men held his head and another man held him down to the ground by the tail, and I mounted ; and just; as soon as they let go, that horse' brought all his> feet together in a bunch and lowered his back, and then suddenly elevated it, throwing me some feet into the air. I went straight up and came straight down and lit on the saddle ; and up I went again, and still again. This time I lit on the neck of the animal and hung fast. Then he rose on his hind feet and weut through all the gymnastic performances he knew of, and finally ended by throwing me up again, and while I was up in the air 1 heard someone say, "Ah, how he bucks!" So that was bucking. Before I got down, some one bit that horse, and when I got down he was not there. Plenty of friends gathered around to offer me sympathy j they always do when you want to be alone. I wanted to sit down and I did sit down ; and I was so sore and bruised and shaken, I put one hand to my head, the other to my stomach—and if I had had 16 hands I- could have found places for them. One friend said, "Why, you might have known he was nothing but a Mexican plug." ' Yes, I did know it.' Another, " Why, you could see that animal bucked." Yes, that was what I bought him for.