OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 810, 9 September 1887, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

LONGEVITY IN GENII ANY. The Berlin Statistische Korrespondenz, by way of celebrating the Emperor of Germany’s ninetieth birthday, has recently published a list of all the known persons in the Prussian kingdom who are older than the sovereign. At the taking of the census of December 1, ISBS, there was one man of 120 years, another of 118 years ; a woman of 117, and another of 115 ; two women of 112 ; two man and one woman of 111; five women of 110; one man and four women of 109; three men and two women of 10S ; two men and ten women of 107 ; thirteen men and seven women of 106; and quite a large number who had attained to their 105th. The total number of persons who gave their age at 100 was 160. The province of Silesia appears to be exceptionally favorable to longevity. Ont of the 1073 male persons between their ninetieth and ninety-fifth year in alt the Prussian provinces one in five is a Silesian, and out of the 306 men between 95 ancTlOO years old 51 are natives of Silesia. Out or the 2766 Prussian women between the ages of 90 and 95, 371 are Silesian. There are 99 women in Silesia between 95 and 100 years old, and 30 Silesian women who have exceeded their 100th year. The centenarians are thickest in the district of Oppeln. They are also numerous in the provinces of Posen and East Prussia ; but the western dominions of the King of Prussia, and particularly the Rhineland and the manufacturing districts of Eberfeld, Crefeld, and the Dutch frontier, are not so favorable to extraordinary length of life. / SINGING SANDS. In one of the South Pacific Islands are some wonderful singing sai-ds. These sands are in a small desert. In the centre of the •desert are about a dozen cocoanut trees, and about five miles distant is the ocean. Ka Pule, a native guide and myself reached the trees’ abont noon. Our horses as well as ourselves were about used up, travelling through the deep sand under a blazing sun. As we lay stretched at the roots of the towering cocoanuts, the trade wind set in, cool and refreshing* from the ocean. Notyvithstanding tie heat and our wearied condition, j£here was an enchantment about the situation that caused me to think of the beautiful stories I had read in my childhood. I began to feel the soft touch of slumber, and all at once I heard a faint musical tinkling as if troops of fairies were coming to greet us as they used to do the enchanted princes m the olden days. I tried to locate the melodious sounds. In all directions there was nothing but hot, glowing sand. I looked up—there was nothing but the beautiful tropical sky and the tremulous atmosphere. Still louder sounded the music ; it was all around us ; it filled the air. I gazed toward the ocean, and there, apparently a short distance away, was a beautiful lake, with its waves dashing on moss-covered stones. It was not there • when we first arrived at the place, and I - became half convinced that it was the work of enchantment. Ka Pule had fallen asleep, and, gazing at the - lake and listening to. the music in the air, I rested my head against the rough bark of a tree. As I did so I heard the distant gurgle of a brook. I could plainly hear the water splashing over the glistening stones and dying away in quiet eddies. I was more and more bewildered, and at length awoke Ka Pule. I told him what I had heard, and directed his attention to the late. He explained that the seeming lake was a wailiula or mirage ; that the sound of gurgling waters came from an underground stream, and that the music was caused by the stirring of the flinty sands by the wind. Anyway, the whole experience was beautiful, and I have often said that I once made a visit to fairy land,—Stockton Mail. AN OLD FORM OP CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Death by precipitation is one of the oldest inodes of capital punishment. It prevail d widely over the earth in primitive times, traces and traditions of it are found here and there in different countries, and in localities far apart. We can easily understand how tbi3 should be 30, for in ancient times towns and villages were almost exclusively built upon elevated rocks and heights, for the sake of security. The nucleus of a town was usually a large isolated rock, such as the rock of the Parthenon at Athens, the rock of the Palatine at Rome, the rock of the Chiiteau at Nice, aud the rock of Zkm nt Jerusalem. Precipitation amonjf ifi-@ je<z. « wan one form of stoning which V/m few recognised legal punishment for jfttdsed * stoning,' as the | Mishua i&toiritf W f was regarded as merely

a term for breaking the culprit's neck. It was made imperative that ‘ the house of stoning’ as the place from which the criminal was cast down was called, should be at least 1 two stories high ’; and it was the duty of the chief witness to precipitate the criminal with his own hand. If he was not killed at once by the fall, the second witness had to cast a stone on his heart; and if he still survived, the whole people were to join together in putting an end to him with a shower of stones. This precipitation constituted an essential and humane feature in the act of stoning. Both inodes we must regard as an exceedingly primitive custom, the most natural method in which a rude people would wreak their vengeance, or inflict deserved punishment. It was of a piece with the prehistoric custom of castiug stones upon the place where the dead were buried, and so piling up a cairn there. - Quiver. PROTECTING ANIMALS FROM FLIESAt this season of the year the annoyance caused to animals by flies and mosquitoes often amounts to positive agony, and in all time, in what is called good corn weather, it is sufficient to prevent the stock eating enough to keep them in good condition. The animals will stand in the water or pass the greater part of the day in the shade, rather than expose themßelves to the sunshine, going out to eat only when driven by hunger. They quickly lose flesh, tin flow of milk shrinks, and a loss is incurred that cannot be easily made good again. At all times a good feed of grain is beneficial to stock, but it is especially so when flies are very annoying, since it will do much to prevent age of flesh and milk. Horses and milch cows maybe protected, in a great measure at least, by wiping them all over with a sponge dipped in soap suds in which a little carbolic acid has been mixed. Bulls confined in stables often suffer enough from the attacks of flies to drive them half mad, and there is no doubt that the continued fretting caused in this way develops a savage disposition. The most satisfactory results have followed from sponging with soap suds aud carbolic arid mixed. —Chicago Tribune. AS OTHERS SAW US. This is how we appeared to the intelligent foreigneraboutthe year 1496, It willbeobserved that the views of intelligent foreigners have undergone surprisingly little change on many points during the last four hundred years or so. The remarks occur in a report drawn up for a Venetian Ambassador to the Court of Henry VII, by a gentleman of his suite. 1 The English are, for the most part, both men and women of all ages, handsome and well proportioned; and I have understood from persons acquainted with these countries, that the Scotch are much handsomer ; and that the English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them ; they think there are no other men but themselves, and no other world but England ; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that “ he looks like an Englishman,” and that “it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishman ;’ and when]they partake of any delicacy with a foreigner, they ask him ‘whether such a thing is made in their country V They take great pleasure in having a quantity of excellent victuals, and also in remaining a long time at table, being very sparing of wine when they drink it at their own expense. And this, it is said, they do in order to induce their own English guests to drink wine in moderation also; not considering it any inconvenience for three or four persons to drink out of the same cup. Few people keep wine in their own houses, but buy it, for the most part, at a tavern ; and when they mean to drink a great deal, they go to the tavern, and this is done not only by the men, but by ladies of distinction. The deficiency of wine, however, is amply supplied by the abuudance of ale and beer, to the use of which these people are become so habituated that at an entertainment where there is plenty of wine, they will drink them in preference to it, and in great quantities. .Like discreet people, however, they do not offer them to Italians, unless they should ask for them; and they think no greater honor can be conferred, or received, than to invite others to eat with them, or to be invited themselves ; and they would sooner give five or six ducats to prov'de an entertainment for a person, than a groat to assist him in any distress. They all from time immemorial wear very fine clothes, and are extremely polite in their language ; which, although it is as well as the Flemish, derived from the German, has lost its natural harshness, and it is pleasing enough as they pronounce it. In addition to their civil speeches, they have the incredible courtesy of remaining with their heads uncovered, with an admirable grace while they talk to each other. They have a very high reputation in arms, and, from the great fear the French entertain of them, one must believe it to be justly acquired. But I have it on the best information, that when the war is raging most furiously, they will seek for good eating and all their other comforts, without thinking of what harm might befall them. They have an antipathy to foreigners, and fancy they never come into their island but to. make themselves masters of it, and to usurp their goods.’ THE LIVING EARTH. In a paper published in the Indian Engineer an illustration is given of the life that dwells in nature, the phenomenon of earth quakes being cited. The peculiar terror of an earthquake lies mainly in the suddenness of its approach. Volcanic eruptions are usually preceded by vast rumblings, or jets of steam, or other unmistakable tokens. Hurricanes and cyclones, in like manner, have heralds that annonnee their coming. But with an earthquake there are no prepremonitory symptoms. The groat earthquake which took place at Lisbon in the year 1755 found the people engaged in their ordinary occupations. All the shocks were over in about five minutes. The first shock lasted about six seconds. In that brief space of time moat of the houses had been thrown down, and thousands of men, womeu, and children crushed beneath the ruins. At times the ocean lends fresh terrors to the scene. Thus at L-'sbon a wavo of water over fifty feet high rushed in among the houses, and covered what still remained. In the

island of Jamaica on a similar occasion 2,500 houses were buried in three minutes under thirty feet of water. Recent delicate scientific experiments have disclosed the fact that the surface of the land is never absolutely at rest for more than thirty hours at a time. Thus those great earthquakes which make ppochs in history are merely extreme cases of forces that seldom sleep.—lron. BISHOP FRASER. He gave up the Episcopal Palace, eleven miles off, and planted himself in Manchester. At once he became a favorite on the platform. To the consternation of orthodox Churchmen, one of his earliest appearances was at the annual meeting of the Manchester City Mission. But he soon after shocked the teetotallers, when, at a meeting on the licensing of public-houses, he said : ‘Yesterday I preached in a very full church. My voice was a little out of order, and I was a little exhausted. At lunch the clergyman said : ‘I think a glass of bitter beer after thai sermon would do you good.’ I thought so too, and I drank the bitter beer, and felt the better for it. So, you see, lam not one of those who, as the old ditty runs, would rob a poor man of his beer, provided it is good and wholesome, aud he knows when he has had enough. You might as well try to sweep away all your town-halls or co-opera-tive stores as all your public-houses.’ ‘The factory hands and working people,’ writes Mr Hughes, ‘were taken as it were by storm, and had installed him long before the end of the year in 'a place in their hearts which he never lost.’ After one of his meetings a sturdy dissenting operative, waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs, seized him by the hand, remarking ‘ Ah, Bishop, thoad’st mak’ a foine Methody preacher ! Said another to him, after a charity sermon : * Bishoo, there’s a pound for thee.’ Bishop : ‘Thanks, my friend-for the charity?’ Operative : ‘Nay, nay, for thyself.’—London ‘ Literary World,’ on Mr Thomas Hughes’ ‘ Life of Bishop Fraser.’