FACTS AND FANCIES.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIX, Issue 3956, 12 August 1918, Page 1

FACTS AND FANCIES.

Dragons and Unicorns.

Although they have always had • had reputation in the West, dragons are in China and other Eastern coun* trise regarded as more or less beneficent beings. The unicorn, on tbt other other hand, was an old conception as the type or myth of a noblf herb. For centuries its horn was regarded as an infallible antidote against poison, and the food of the French kings and queens was touched with an object purporting to be a portion of the horn of the animaL Unicorns were supposed never to make their appearance save in a well-governed country, and there was no tradition that they had ever been seen in England.

West Indian Sponges. One of the staple industries of the Turks an,d Caicos Islands is sponge fishing:. The sponges are obtained by. diving", and the boats used are fitted with glass . panes in the bottom, through which the presence of sponges is easily detected. Every evening the sponges hooked during the day are placed root downward on the deck of the sloop to drain, exposure to the - sun hastening the death of the sponge and the removal of the outer skin and what was the living animal tissue. If. after being' firs* taken from the water. or, as fs said, when green, the Sponges are packed together too closely, the inner substance does not drain properly, especially in mud sponges, and this causes what is known as dead heat, a disease which renders prolonged treatment necessary to prepare them for the market. A Giant Seaweed. The giant of the seaweed family* and the largest known species of marine algae, bears the scientific name of Nerocystis. It ocacsionally attains a length of 300 ft., and it keeps afloat on the ocean's surface on account of being buoyed by bladder-like enlargements of the stem, which are filled with air. As the plant grows older these globose., bladder-like excrescences swell into great retort-shaped • cylinders 6ft. or 7ft, in length, and j between 4ft and sft. in diameter. ' Where this plant' grows in any con* I siderable quantity it becomes impossible for small craft to pass through them on account of the density of this floating mass of vegetation. The j natives ' of tropical islands, are acj customed to make use of the bladder- ' j like enlargements mentioned for watei vessels and for storing away grain. How Tithes Came. In the early days of the Saxon Church the practice of tithe-giving was introduced. It became the custom for a certain part of the fruit or increase of the earth, and of beasts and of men's labor, to be given to the parish priest in recompense for his office. Gifts of wood, corn and hay , came to be. usually >: designated the tithes and they were at first purely freewill, offerings. In the primitive British ■ Church the practice did not obtain. The clergy, says Bede, took of them whom they instructed only as much as might serve their necessities; the monks of Bangor. lived strictly by the labor of their own hands, like Paul of Tarsus. On the other hand, in a letter from Bede to Egbert,, written in 734, mention is made of priests, in remote Northumberland villages, taking tribut without rendering? any sort of "service. Etiquette in Lapland. Quaint customs abound in Lapland. Mr. Hedges Butler narrates that the Laps generally go to church twice a . year—at Easter, and on the first Sunday in, December—driving in reindeer ■ sledges, or. travelling on skis pulled' by reindeer. Mr. Butler describes a , wedding, at which the bride was attired in red, with a red silk sca.rf and . tassels, white shoes, fur gaiters, and red gloves. The wedding feast consisted of reindeer meat, reindeer tongues, and reindeer cream and coffee. At midnight the-reindeer pulkas came, and the newly-wedded couple drove away under a full moon to their new home in the mountains, a , distance of about thirty Kilometres. The burials generally take place at Easter, the coffins remaining during the winter in a small tower or building outside the church. The wailing, and groaning of the men and women at *hese times of mourning resemble thA. •*■ hcsullnp- and barking of dogs. Milky Way Glories. -~ - The Milky Way, or Galaxy, is an apparent ring extending entirely around the universe of stars visible to the largest telescope. It is composed of suns in literal millions. They are so remote, that as seen from the earth they appear to be quite close to each other, while really they are separated by millions and billions of miles. To the eye the belt of soft light looks a continuous band of cloth and pearl, but telescopes have the effect of bringing objects nearer. This separates the filmy cloud into many millions of glittering but minute points on the black background of space. At a distance, forest trees seem to be closer together, but as they are approached they sepa- , rate and stand alone. It is next to impossible to describe the matchless • beauty of the Milky Way as seen in a telescope of great power. Carpet a large room, with black velvet. Throw, down and scatter all over the black floor a bushel of minute diamonds, rubies, pearls, sapphires,, opals, amethysts, and other gems. Then turn onihe light. You would have a fairt imitation of the superficial glories of' the Galiactic hosts. ■ ■ -,