Here and There.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 8958, 6 December 1905, Page 4

Here and There.

Ti..<- wettest place- in (ho world, accord-ir-v; to tli-, I'.ussian Meteorological .Journal, ax" alt-tr.-i'-ted ill tl:-> Fu-vue Scientiti'|ue Paris. Septemlvr 25). is Chcrrnpunji. in :>:,. Indian (ir.ivince tit Assam. From 1895 :•> n?3 tli.i av,-r.i!;e annual rainfall was i 1.223 mrtnis irn-nrly 37 f.-et). Next came •h-- .-nviroiM of iSofnhny with 6.35 metres r-.tsiially. Hut ii should be noted that at r: • ,;.-it:o:i of ])<-!> :nds<'!ri in Kamernn !0.4?, i m-Te.-, >35 feet) of rain fell annualv. . ! ri, flv in s'lr.iiii'-r. The wettest year It: Ciierr.ipiiiiji was 14.7C9 metres >43 feet) r: ISM 1 id ir. Di-luindscha 14.135 metres :■; ■ ..!: in W-2. Ir. tii- latter place there .■•! le, :\ ■- .ii- day of .June 16. 1902. 456 •••:;':;•■ "r.-. -„vr 1J fe<-t) of water—!imr s •'■r: t! v.-::o!f arjiuril average ill the i'lrtsiai: 1-asiu. . . . The neighborhood

-.;" ivar:.-i !»-a.-> and hiirli mountains is tli; prtrv-ijii ,-.-iu>.. fif the.-- extraordinary pre--ij.i:-iri-.!. . I: he e.xne-'.ed that the •\".e!>-o!i .•;' meteorological oK-ervation will show „:•'. r 7.0:-.-.s of rainfall more intense rii.-iii ins I;<-en hitherto believed, as in Java i:;d Sumatra."

Tii- I!'••vcroit-rs are a community of -vorkers 'i:i Kn*t Aurora. New York) who Tin'.y- l.e.nitifiil books and things. Their -.-ork is ,-laim«d to le thr- i)roduet of the ■ s, r ,„ ll'.-—Fbad. Heart, and Hard. In tilings mad" by hand there arc no dnpli- • at-fr. o i l-rides there is a quality of -•n'im.nr araelu-d to articles thus prodtt<- -d t!:a; never clings to fabrics made in -asr nuairities by steam. The l>o<)ks are rttvaria-'v iirintfd r,n the I**l paper. •■'..•;;.- i-.l t!i- initials ar» hand-illumined. .\rt. t'ey .say. is the expression of man's ~-,- i; t I-:-; work, ard t!:e articles made - '.v will "iv- jov .-.c-ain to the indivi.iua'F 'tFir.f ixxs^^-s'it. C.,i,.r> 1 I!o.-!ias. v. former director of ''iris IV.lyteehtite. which is the French '.Vtvilv.-.-: . I;; endeavoring to prove the ■ruth of Fit: theory of incarnation, lie has •vpn->ti:-v| many p.-r.-ons. and. according ■•, the I Hi!;.- i:x|>resn. has made them bc';ev.-- that tfiey are a.t many as fifty years ..oiinc- r th.-ui" they really are. One wotean of thirty-five while in the hypnotic .-rate dcs-ri'-'-tl incidents in her life that ■cttrre-l when she was twenty, of F'T .-onfinnation at fourteen, and of the theft of a halfpenny when younger, flradualiy f-h<> reini-ped into baby language, and ' words became nninteliigilile. anil later I .■-!«• could only make signs. Afterward? sFie spoke in the deep voice of an old man and in the falsetto of an old woman who lived in her village ii'-arly a century

At the recent liontgen congress in Berlin a special committee adopted the following terminology for the new ficience: Hontceno-rraphy is photography by the rays: Ron'tsenoscopy is observation by Kontgen rays; orthorontgcnograpliy in place of orthodiagraphy. TContgconotherapy and the verb to Tontgc-nisc In their obvious meanings.

Fishermen are. many of fhem. remarkally .supers!itiotts. For instance, in some iisliinir boats whistling is forbidden and neither milk nor burnt bread is allowed tin hoard. F.vcn the name of that unlucky animal the hare may not lx> mentioned and .1 common method of punishing an enemy is to throw a dead hare into his boat. Some fishermen believe in luck attending an <idd-miml>ered crew, but the good fortune will be neutralised should one of the number have red hair.

Thackeray once saw Xapoleon on the Island of St. Helena. The novelist—he was liorn in Calcutta in 1811—was on his way to Ivngland as a child. "Our ship touched at an island where my black servant- took me a long walk over rocks and iir!!> until we ;i.iv.- a man walking in a garden. "That is he,' said the black man: •that is P.onaparte. lie eats three sheep every day. and all the little, children ho rr.n lay hands on.'" That black serving man was not the only person of the lime ;r. Fxeljnve the story which he told. One of ti-o natural curiosities of Switzerland is Lake Morat. which turns blood red f-vrry tenth year. For centuries this freak was, regarded by the Swiss with superstitious dread, and not- until scientists f::rn<--d their attention to tile matter was the NJicf in the supernatural partly removed. Kven now some of the more ignorant persist in regarding the omen as one of evil import. The reddish color is pven ih? water by a minntc plant closely related to the red snow. Every tenth

year this plant liegirs to propagate, and so quickly does it grow that in a short time the whole lake is a crimson tide. Tiie plant is so minute as not to be perceptible without the aid of a microscope, and there was some foundation for the early Mief that the lake had turned into a sea of blood.

Two Frenchmen, who have just retnrneil from Teheran, and who while there were privileged to see the Persian peacock throne, thtis describe it: "A 6ign was given that the gates of paradise were to he opened for us. Wo wero in the throne room. 3 room containing Jewels and troid that would have astonished Aladdin. Tlw carpets were of silk, the chairs of gold —there were fifty golden chairs. We eat in one chair with back, arms, and legs studded with pearls, turqnoises and emeralds worth £IOO,OOO. We stood by and discussed and marvelled over one of the 6even wonders of the world—the peacock throne. It is the 6ize of a massive bed, with seven legs. It is entirely of cold, exqnisitely chiseled and incrnsted with thousands of precious stones. The two steps, sides and legs glisten with jewels. The raised back "is nothing but a rnase of gems, with a scintillating circular star on the top, and two little birds, which can only by conrtcsy bo described as peacocks, on either side. It is the most costly throne in the world and is said to be worth £5,000.000. In the throne-room there were bowls full of pearls. There was a globe containing serenty-five pounds of gold and 51.566 gems that- cost £320,000 to make and is valued at £947,000. The sea is of emeralds, Persia of turquoises, Africa of rabies, India of amethyste, and

i? n .*i. n ri itfd France of diamonds. There I tiaras iewellod swords and neaps 01 uo 1 cut array of wealth au.ountu. S \ t0 says Andrew Whiten in Klar Mechanics, "while engaged in .„ i,„ =<.t in tie around largo enu I ,„ old ** that • T'l would outlast those tot -JHabt. e » d u Pj "•" : I detennuied to improve u.e -i l . . at hand to test the matter Do 1 "■•••" ; cd aU the inverted ones; and as theieiKe , wLto be built in the ne.ghbori.ood, I watched ihe result. Examining the feme ! C i years after it was bu.lt co.i- j 5 m", as the inverted ones were prac- ; ticaUv sound while the others showed xei, Per.s,a\pala« nt Tohwan .^ nothing of, the oxnuisito old l'owian art is io be «,«.!i. 1.. pant* is furnished in the wor»ih.... ]'-■• It v r Tim furniture is upholster, i )■■- ?K S - -^K3 s ,do and the war museum - °, ,,,e [-flft Snost* atrocious pro*.*-..-hock-full of t...- ' lhere 1S : , %vl,„klions. Lnder jjl'.u» «<*- el = bought ;-• collection of cheap papof '- , )L .acn-U T>->ris Of course the famous >. .. i;v thrr.no is Ikw, but it is J»ot an ano*.. and the priceless gc-ais M ?!..? ."l««£it have long disappeared and •>««) y ■ pbced hv imitations. The pictures "hudder. One really fine landscape I ; <, w had lx-eil tijKiiled. by <>■ pr.pt.-r eating of a sleeping beauty pasted .'ft t'l-

centre!"' ~..-• The Empress Eueeme has just given instructions for the sale of her property near Bordeaux to the ivood-merehants ot that city. The property in ipiestion was acquired bv Napoleon 111. in 1807. ami con tains about sixteen thousand acres. It liar, been "tenth" improved by opening up roads and planting trees, and it comprises the whole of the Commune of feolfenno the church, the Town Hall, and all the buiidincs The wood merchants of Bordeaux have long coveted it. for there are more than four hundred thousand trees m fine condition on the estate. The Emperor William is extreme!? modest and simple in his domestic tastes, but life at the Imperial court ot l.ermanv under his rule represents the summit, "of Itixurv- and magnificence an<l he takes keen delight in all tins show and tlisnlav. tlw like of which lias not au cciual in the* world, nor has anything resembling it been seen for centuries. Hie Emperor is nearlv always surrounded by a group of 30 noblemen of the highest rank, nil of whom occupv some position at court, l>e<nnning witli 'Count Wedel, the Minister of'"the Imperial Household, whose unbroken line of ancestors dates back to the eighth century. Apart from thus array of aristocrats most of whom are princes, his Imperial Majesty lias an exclusive military suite. a naval suite, and a secret military cabinet. The Empress has her own household, consisting of a head mistress, a chief mistress, anil half a dozen other i. istnv-ses. all of whom are princesses or counters. Hesidcs that, there is the head of the household, a master of the household, two vice-masters, a master of ceremonies, with vice-masters, and. in addition, .1 medical suite. Each of the Kaiser's sons has his own household and his own suite of attendants, though on a smaller scale. All these, satellites are bound in their intercourse with their .Sovereign to observe the closest etiquette, the lines of which have to \yc followed by the Imperial Chancellor, as well as any workman. Every officer has to stand at' attention whilst being addressed by the Emperor, even if the malversation lasts an hour, and men who are not officers must remain bareheaded. It is said that an American millionaire so affronted the Kaiser when addressed by him by wearing his hat at a rakish lilt, and by keeping his hands deep down in his |K».-kofs ithis hapjiened on a yacht) that he. abruptly broke off the conversation, and turned on hi.s Iieo! without completing his sentence.

An excellent story is just now being told (says M.A.P.) of the (Jerm.in Emperor, whose power of being enthusiastically interested in every function he attends was <;nre comnienl'-d upr-!i by a foreigner, who intiuired how it was that his Maje-ty was able to display such unbounded enthusiasm ;dK.ut such everyday occurrences as births, marriages, and deaths. "Ah.'' s.iid a friend of hi.s. "that is part of the Iv'.-ci s wonderful character: for, whenever he attends a christening, he thinks be is t'n-' baby: whenever lie honors :;• weddiny with hi.s "presence, he imagines that he is the bride; and whenever he attends a funeral, somehow or other he invariably manages :o e;et hold of the idea that lie is tincorpse."