Periodicals.

Otago Witness, Issue 1341, 11 August 1877, Page 4

Periodicals.

chambers's journal

is a welcome sound when the mail has arrived to botL. young and old in a household during the long winter evenings, and we do not wonder at it. So much intereating matter in so small a compass we do not get anywhere else. The present number has some capital chapters of the " Last of the Haddons," a novel which will undoubtedly take a high place among lovers of fiction whenever it comes to be published as a whole. One of the best papers is an account of "Cameron's Walk across Africa." This is a digest of the work done, and reads better than most lengthy reviews. Of '* Poisoned Arrows," we learn —

Accounts given by the missionaries of the probable nature of the poisons used to render arrows noxious, appear to show that the natives of the North New Hebrides and Banks islands do not themselves attach importance to the effects of the substance with which the arrows are poisoned, but Beem to regard the innocuous human bone, forming thß point of the weapon, as a powerful agent in producing deleterious effects. The poisons, according to the evidence of the missionaries, are derived from vegetables ; the plants used in Banks islands being ('Toe," a species of Euphorbiaeeae, and "Loke," a climbing plant, allied to Strychnia. The same evidence declares the fact that the usual effects of wounding with arrows so prepared are inflammation, and occasionally tetanus ; but the important remark is also made that the natives of tho South Pacific are very subject to tetanus "after wounds not produced by poisoned arrows," aud that this disorder is also common among the natives independently of wounding. Professor Halford, of Melbourne TJniyeraity — an authority on snake bites— gives evidence to the effect that dogs ana pigeons exhibited no evil effects after being wounded in various wayß by poisoned arrows obtained from the Solomon Inlands, and by the substances obtained from these weapons. That Dr Messer's observations on this subject therefore afford good grounds for believing that many of .the reports relating to the deadly nature of the arrows used by the South Sea islanders are decidedly erroneous, there can be no reasonable doubt. And that many of the cases of so-called poisoning are due simply to mental fear, and the physical irritation inducing tetanus seems also a fair inference. But there can be no doubt that at the same time travellers and missionaries, by careful observation, might furnish scientific mcii with secure data upon which to establish sound conclusions.

" The Coming Obelisk " announces its own meaning, and all will do well to read the paper, which tells us how modern engineering skill is overcoming the real difficulty of bringing this interesting memento of antiquity to the' shores of Great Britain.

" The Jungle and its Inhabitants" will be read first in the number by all juveniles, and quite right too.

The dense thick bush and tall reeds and grass which surround the j heels or solitary jungle lakes, are a- favourite resort of buffalo. There they feed on the rich herbage, and approach the w*ter by long tunnels in the grass and reeds. The extreme danger of encountering these creatures is graphically described by_ Capt. Baldwin, who one evening, accompanied by a native,' went down to one of these jungle lakes, and hearing something move in 1 the long srrass, had the temerity, to enter a tunnel. Up to his ankles in mud, and with scarcely room to move or turn, he was straining his eyes to discover the game, when there was .a suddea crash through the brushwood, aud before he could bring his rifle into position, "I was hurled," he says, "to the ground with astonishing quickness by a tremendous butt on the right shoulder, followed by a pair of huge knee 3on my cheat, crushing me down. The buffalo then < oTomenced butting me with his huge head. 1 was covered witb foam from his vile mouth. Most luckily the ground was very soft, or I must have been killed. I had fallen on my back, but managed, by clutching the root of a small tree, to draw myself from under him ; but as I did so and turned over, he struck me a terrible blow on the back with his foot, breaking two ribs ; and then I was powerless, aud imagined all hope of escape to be over. He gave me a bid wonnd on the left arm, another dangerous one under ths armpit, a third on the hip — all with his horns ; and then I found myself lifted off the ground aud thrown a tremendous somersault in the air."

Stunned and bleeding, our unfortunate sportsman was pitched upon his head, and landed upon a law thorn bush at ths edge of the lake. More dead than alive, he had yet sufficient presence of mind to remain perfectly stilL A few yards off he could see his shaggy foe, sniffing all over the scene of the late tragedy. Satisfied with his victory, the buffalo then raised his head, listened intently for a few minutes, and to the inexpressible relief of his victim, trotted off in another direction. Faint and dizzy, but feeling that he must make an effort to escape, Captain Baldwin rose, staggered about 30 paces, %nd then fell over in a dead-, faint When he revived a little he found his Hindu servant, wLo had been far too terrified even to try to help him in his hour of need, crying over him. and trying to bind up his bleeding nrm. In a moment he remembered all that had happened ; and motioning to the man to be silent, he got him to help him to his feet, and with his assistance, staggered 50 yards farther, when exhausted nature again gave w&y, and he fell to the ground, able only to murmur in a faint voice: "Water; bring me water!" The Hindu ran down to the lake with his master's hat, which he filled witn water, and having given him a little to drink, p^urei the rest of it over his head. He then cat his linen coat into strips, dipped them in water, and with them bound up the wounds as well as he could. "Now," said his master, "put your rifle at full cock on the ground beside me, and run for assistance as fast as you can," * An "Irish Mistake" is a laughable

account of how a gentleman was shot at by mistake, and how the shooter apologised humbly. To the "Three Wonderful Railways" the Oamaru people are attempting to add one more, still more wonderful.

"Imported Beef and Mutton" is in .Chambers's best style,

The retailing at present is a puzzle. We are told from time to time that the butchers cry down the American meat in order to keep up the high price of English and Scotch beef and mutton ; that they sometimes sell slightly tainted English meat under the name of American, to bring down the fair fame of the latter ; and that more frequently they buy the foreign meat and sail it again as English. The butchers deny these allegations, and the public are left to find out the trutk for themselves the best way they can. ( At the Cold Stores, as they are called, of the Meat Agency Company, above described, the price for sides, quarters, and large joints varies from about 6Jd to 91 per pound — small joints being higher per pound than large, and meat for roasting higher than meat for boiling. The demand for the latter being .much less than for the former, a rapid sale for the whole is found to be difficult, unless buyers are tempted by a lower price for round, brisket, and other boiling-pieces. As a small joint of the best roasting beef is tenpenca per pound, the reduction below the price for English beef is certainly not considerable, especially as the sellers do not send the meat to the consumers' houses. If the trade establishes itself on a firm footing, there will probably be retail stores in various parts of London (and other large towns) for the sale of American meat ; or else the regular batchers will sell American- as well as_ English meat, each at its owu proper price. One thing is certain, as already hinted, that unless the Americans send firstrate qualities of meat, they need not send it at all. Another thing they must attend to is, thatjin cutting up the meat it must be neatly dressed. On this score we have heard serious complaints. The quarters of beef are too often not properly trimmed for market, at least not sufficiently so to please English wholesale dealer?.

"Making pretend " ie almost equal to Herbert Spencer's essay on the "Tricks of Trade."

, "M?king pretend "in wholesale and retail trade is now carried to such an extent as co be a serious evil. Where woollen goods arc sold as " all wool," detipite the shoddy and cotton which enter into their composition j where calico is laden with chalk in crder to angment its weight j where professed flax and silk goods have a large percentage of cotton, and alpaca goods are made of weol which was never on' the back cf an. alpaca — we are justified in doubting whether ,the fib comes within the range of allowable '^making pretend ;" the articles may possibly ba worth the price charged, but nevertheless they are put forth under false names. .The law courts tell us that there are some • millera, V rogues in grain," who -do not | scruple to mix up with their corn a cheap substance known among (them by the myste* jriousjiame of "Jonathan." Batter is sold ;of which 70 per cent, is not butter. Tea, j coffee, cocoa, and chicory are rendered cheap by adulterants. London bear and London gin (we will leave provincial towns to speak for themselves) are often terribly sophisticated, to give apparent strength by j the addition of drags little less than poison- , ous. The frauds of trade find th3ir way into '& greater and greater number of departments and branches. " Cream of the valley gin." the.. "dew off Ben Nevis," "fine crusted ;port," " pure dinner sherry": — we might expense a bit of exaggeration in the names, projvidedthe liquids themselves were genuine. .'"Solid gold chains," made of an alloy containing oniy six ounces of real gold to 18 of baser metal, are now displayed in glittering array :n shop windows ; and many "real gold " articles have only a thin film of gold |to cover a substratum of cheap metal. Soon' 'after the Abyssinian war, when some of King Theodore's goldeirtrinkets were exhibited in England, Birmingham or London or both .produced " Abyssinian gold " chains, watches, ;or jewellery in which real gold was conspicuous by its absence. Following- this precejdent, the same or other makers introduced :"Ashanti" gold jewellery after the little :war in which Sir Garnet Wolseleywas en.gaged; and the auriferous quality of the one wa3 about equal to that of the other.

THE EDINBURGH REVIEW

is hardly up to its usual standard .for the quarter, though an interesting review of "The Life and Letters of Charles Kingsley" goes far to redeem it from the charge of stupidity. The following is characteristic :—: —

-But in all thi3 there was much that was opposed to the custom, much which wa3 repugnant to the prejudices, of the clerical ; world. An outcry was raised against his i preaching and teaching, as subversive of the principles of Christianity, as mere heathenism, pagan morality, rationalistic infidelity. A few words or sentences taken away from their context and twisted and contorted seemed to' confirm such exclusive opinions, and theological dogmatism and hard names with little meaning were hurled at his head by the more igaorant slaves of conventionality and punctilio. And they were not always received too patiently ; bo far as they affected himself only, Kingaley, cared but little, but when they seemed likoly to affect his work, to endanger the good that he felt he was doing, he replied, and .with a straightforward boldi ness which has been misunderstood as a loss of temper. But his utterings, though ! vehement, were certainly not passionate ; he probably never penned a line more care.fully considered and more thoroughly meant than when, refusing the courtesies of war to an assailant who had anonymously published statements grossly insulting- and manifestly untrue, he adapted a quotation from Pascal, arid answered in plain words "Mmtiria im,' pudentissimi" — thou liest most unblushiugly ; cr when he added, " Whosoever henceforth, either explicitly or by insinuation, says that I do not hold and believe ex animo, and in the simple and literal sense, all the doc* trines of the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Eogland, as embodied in her Liturgy or Articles, shall have no answer from me but Father Valerian's, Mentiria impudentissimb."

Of Wallace's Russia we learn „ Upon the whole, although we took up this book with great expectations, we have laid it down with considerable disappointment. Much more might have been made of the materials Mr Wallace has taken pains to collect, part of which he still holds in reserve. The style is diffuse, and the work clumsily put together, with strange digressions, which, though sometimes amusing, are inappropriate. But we think highly of Mr Wallace's candour and veracity — the more so as his statements of fact frequently ' destroy, the effect of his reasoning and his opinions. In his zeal to study the peculiar condition of the peasantry, he has left untouched the principal elements of the power and policy of the Russian Empire ; and there still remains a wide field for his inquiries and observations before he can claim to have made Russia known to the British public