ARE WOMEN WISE ?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11925, 25 December 1900, Page 7

ARE WOMEN WISE ?

The nature of the answer to this question will greatly depend upon the personality of the individual to whom the query be addressed. If you ask the crotchety old batclielor or the woman-hater you will receive a most passionate "No" for an answer; and if you ask the love-sick young man you will receive an equally passionate " Yes" as a reply. But the batchelor, the woman-hater, and tiie ladyworshipper must ail answer " Yes " to the question, " Was Mrs luherwood, of Armagh srreet, Christehureh, wise when she took Bile Beans for Biliousness to cure herself of a disordered liver/ Mrs lshenvoqd writes: — '■ lor a considerable time past 1 have suffered from one of the mime-rouE? ailments traceable to a disordered liver, indigestion and biliousness being the complaints most trying to me; for which I have tried many remedies, but without success, and it was only when I began to take Bile Beans that I became conscious of the fact that liver-disorders, like most ailments, are curable when the right remedy is secured. Bile Beans are without doubt a sure and speedy relief for indigestion and biliousness, lhey are mild and pleasant to take, act naturally, are easily worked off; they give no piun, and leave the patient refreshed. For a general aperient and tonic remedy they cannot be surpassed. I can strongly recommend their use to all suffering from biliousness and indigestion, and have every faith in them as a specific for any o f the many complaints arising from a. disordered liver. Gratitude to you for the benefit I have derived from the use of your medicine compels me to write to you, and you have my full permission to publish this letter if you think others will uo _ likely to benefit from a perusal of it" Jinny million doses of Bile Beans were taken miring the year ending February, 1899, which proves that both men and women have been ivise in curing their ills by the people's popular price preparation.—Advt. — A statistician has made the notable calculation that in a programme of 20 waltzes four polkas, and two quadrilles a dancer voulcl cover close upon 12 miles. That is not i bad distance tor an evening's amusement. — A curious point in Swedish criminal law ■s that confession is necessary before capital Hinishment can be carried out. If, however, lie culprit persists in protesting his innocence n the face of overpowering evidence, the irison discipline is made extremely strict and cvore itntit the desired confession is usually >btained.

(By Philip Geiishel, in the Argus.) CAPE JSTOME, Spring, 1900. .THE GOLDEN SHORE. Some people will tell you that the Cape Nome gbld'field, on the Behring Straits, is played out. If tlioy do, don't believe them. There is more gold being dug out here than during last year or the year before. Although to live in the place is/a hell upon earth,' it is calculated that from Nome, Bluestone, and one or two places further north alone; the coast. 20 million dollars' worth of gold will be sent to the United States assay office in Seattle. Compared with what it was when I was here a little while ago. wo live in sybarite luxury. You can actually get fresh meat twice a week (that is, if voii- cnn afford it), and preserved vegetables any day you like from the Alaska Commercial Company. The whole place is in a ferment, and thousands of men are scattered along the beach digging away as hard as they can. They work until they fall asleep, for during the "three months of Arctic spring the sun never goes down. Very soon the ice will close in, and then they will have to wait during a long winter until July, 1991. Further north along, the coast towards Cape Prince of Wales, the sands on the seashore have been found to be as rich as at Cape Nome. One man named Hilliers vnshed out 10.500d0l of gold from a patch 45ft square, and he only removed 6in of panel in doing so; 50dol to 500dol per day is about the average.wage being made by pan workers. Anvil Creek is one of the richest creeks in the place, and the claims here have each produced something like two million dollars. No. 1 claim on Discovery Creek has been worked up to ISO.OOOdoI, and is owned by Jafet Lindeburg. Snow Gulch has several rich claims owned by three pioneers. Those men. Lindeburg. Lindblom. and Bryntcson, are called the "Big Three." They have been in the district since the beginning, and are each multi-millionaires. Busier. Extra Pry, Lillian, Osborne, Basin. Ol'ioier. and other creeks have produced gold in quantities never dreamed of before. In very few instances has bedrock been worked upon, and in general no greater denih than Ift has been reached. The gold sepms to lie packed together just beneath the surface. There vet remains to be worked the strata, under the tundra. That will require machinery. A lot of this has been bromrht in this sprincr. but half of it was found to be useless, and it is lying anywhere alone tlio beach. WHEUE THE COT.n TOMES "FUOM. Rome scientific people from the States have been trying to find out where the gold entnes from, and they go about asking finest ions o f the minors. They get. a wag of the head, and " Dunno. I reckon _et's thnr. an' thot's enough fur me." It is a difficult Question to answer. The gold is much coarser than <ho water, which might load one to holievn that it came from the sea. because the finest particles are found i'it t'lifl furthest point from the shore. There are two or three payable streaks, and the gold Hp« in n. stratum of ruby or dark grey «n-nd. The bedrock consists of a stratum of cliw. One of the theories advanced is that- the bed of the ocean in this part is thick'with sold, and as the sea gradually recedes it is left \r. the sand. This may be correct, for it is found that the tundra and the soil contain geological deposits, which show clearly that one time this formed part of the' bed of the ocean, but as the sot, receded it has been overgrown with moss and various other Arctic plants. the it.n'DHA. The tundra is a mossy, tufty morass, enntinning mud. slush, mosquitoes, and gold. Underneath is frozen gravel. By thawing machine; the gold is obtained at about Bft Mow the surface, on what was the ancient bench of the Behring Sea. All the gold taken from the beach up to the present has been extracted chiefly by means of the rocking process. In no" place have the lower 'grade sands been worked, men nrefprring'to touch nothing that, paid l»ss than SO'lol' a day. Now, as the work of a rocker and two men does not in If) hours exceed the washing of two large tubs, you can easily understand how little of the country has been disturbed. A SINK OV VICE AND VIIJ.AIKY. Nome of the present day is a swarming =iuk of vice and villainy. The military are here. They do their best, but they cannot look' after' everything. There is no harbour, and the surf breaks right on to the front of the town. The Snake "River runs through the place, but only small boats can «o up; this. When a steamer arrives she anchors about a mile out, and huge surf boats bring her passengers ashore. If the sea is rough, they have to stop aboard, or rim the risk of being drowned. Storms hsivp. a nasty habit of coming on very suddenly. mid a little while ago three-quarters of the place was destroyed by the wind and hue? waves, which came clean over the beach and swept away the buildings, lliere •> not enough wood to erect huts, so for miles along the shore the place is dotted with tents: something like those you see when you travel on a country railway, and each with a chimney sticking out through the roof. Every one of these went down, and things altogether got mixed up. A HTOE GAMIIHNf W'-N"-The whole place is under martial law. with General Randall in comnv.uid. It was just -ibout time that a good man came here' for IWore he arrived there was on an average a little bit of shooting once a day. There" were not enough soldiers for 50,000 people, who come from all parts of the world, and everyone brings a' revolver or a Winchester 'Some of the scum of the States have found their way to Nome and the adjacent districts. Every kind of vice is practised, and it is not exactly a place where a young Men's Christian Association would go'ahead. So long as only a little occasional gunninc and robbing "oes on in the town good order is considered to prevail. Now ar.d then something happens, and a man is arrested. But outside Nome along the beach to the north anything may happen. The two principal sources of fights arc jumped claims and gambling. The gamblers are of the tin horn element, ond run brace camps, which ar° impassible to beat. Hie owners of the "crop" fames use loaded dice. Black .Tack and Stud Horse poker are played with marked cards, wmle faro is dealt out of "fixed" boxes. General Randall is not a man to stand nonsense, ar.d when he says hs i« going to do a thing he dots it—he has his troen.s behind tiinr They patrol the streets with loaded rifles In'fact. vo\i can't go anywhere but yon see a soldier, and if a miner tries to draw a gun he is shut down on quicker than immediately. But, for all that, now and then in one of the saloons some man calls another name?, and he falls under with a bullet through him. The place is overrun with gamblers. thu"S. cut-throats, and women of all sorts, who" have come in this spring. There are also sundry lawyers, Esquimaux, doctor?, Indians, druggists, negroes, musicians, professional muses and nurses who are not professional, laundries, stores, two m three log-hut banks, and places of all kinds and descriptions. They even tried to st:n\ an insurance society, -but so many people <rot killed that the capital ran out. and thn manager bought » pick and shovel and went digging' on the beach. He said the " insurance ' business didn't pay m the Arctic regions; the risks weren t good enough." 'They have built a railway along the beach, and the train consists of one engine and two trucks. It's only a immature sort of affair, and at, first when the little thiiK' used to come puffing along the miners sat down along the line and laughed at it Then several of dliem held up the train' once or twice. They said it re minded them of home. A^v » while Hie driver got complaining. He didn t like six-shooters always being pointed at him when he looked out of the. window. Besides some of the gold it was carrying was taken, so a military guard was puton board. . What all the people are going to do when the winter comes on is hard to say. Four-fifths of tlhem will clear out before

then, for the thermometer goes down to 45 degrees below zero; in fact, it gets so cold that you can't smoke a pipe—the nicotine freezes and stuffs up the stem.' They say 10,000 people will winter here. If they do more than half of them will die. there will be a fair amount of food, but they cannot work. Everything is frozen solid, and you can walk out on the Behring Strait across to Siberia, if you like. The 'whole place is overcrowded and in a .filthy state. Smallpox and typhoid fever are raging, and the military are doing everything they can to put the town, in a sanitary condition.