BY THE YELLOW SANDS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2409, 3 May 1900, Page 71

BY THE YELLOW SANDS.

(Longman's Magazine. )

j A big. black object comes sai.ing roi;nt!) the rocks at the corner of the little bay, j sailing through the air upon rapid'y-beat-1 ing sable wings, that carry him quickly j over the very face of the burnished se?.. He flies so close to the water that I ivncy I he miiPt be interested in peering 'down 1 into the mysterious depths, and is watch.j ing keenly as he almost brushes the surface ,of the -".rater with his body — a cormorant ! -" Settle jic-re, within" sight, you black beauty !" I inwardly pray, and, lo ! as though he had heard my prayer and was propitiously inclined, the black wings suddenly ceased to beat, tJiey remained extended bui motionless, the big body rose a little, swept onwards for five yards, t tending downwards, then slid with scarcely a splash into the water, and the great 1 bird floated, a blotch of shining jet, in the silver-blue of the sea.

"Now dive and fetch up somethinglet's _ see -what you can do in the fishing line,"' I pray once more, inarticulately but intensely. Verily all nature is in an indulgenx inocd. to-d-ay, or my prayers have a wonderfimy persuasive power about them, for almost before I have tima to frame my wirti into unspoken words down, like a .ttoiie, goes the cormorant, and for a minute or more disappear? from sight.Where wil' he turn up again — here, closer to me, or out, nearer France? '"Be an English bird, cormorant," T whisper in my heart—- .stick to the English shore and fish in British wate'is. England' is mistress of the waves, and "' ° There he :s.: s. and,' by a :i that's propitious, thirty yards nearer sLore ! But liis dive wes fruitless ; if he was hungry when he disappeared, he is hungry still, unless be lound and ate something down below which I do not think likely. Trya«ain' cormorant! ' a ' No need to press mv friend— down he goes a second time, and a second time he hums in vain. Off he dirts for a third attempt— he is not, easily discouraged. This time patience and ps^everance are rewarded. Up conies my fisher, and in his great jaw?— well, n is so large that if one had not seen -him go down and fetchit up, one might easily speculate as to Avhether the fish had 'brought ' the bird or (lie bird the fish. A huge, wide, flat creature of the dab or floundei persuasion, that kicks and struggles fore and aft like a napping sail, but which Master Cormo-" rant has gripped very ligL'ciy by the middle. No use to struggle, my friend ; though your position. I admit, is' most unenviao.e, and .must be exceedingly unpleasant. You have my profound sympathy. Why, my black friend is surely not attempting to bolt thai great flapping thing? Please, don't attempt it, my good creature, for you'll assuredly choke, and thofc would ba a thousand pities. By all that's appalling, he is going to try, though. Not only does he* try, -but he actually 'succeeds. (Starting from -Ms great grip upon the 'middle portion of his ' victim— the first grip by which he dragged it from its bed at the bottom'of tlie sea 10ft down, where it had covered itself with sand in hopes of escaping the observation of cuch bad characters as my friend here — starting from _ that first huge mouthful, the, cormorant has actually contrived to bolt thagreat fish — 9in by 12in, and lin deepswallowing him gradually, but in marvellously quick time, by means of a series of gulps, each of which sent him :i stage upon his journey into Avernuf.

It is a surprising and almost an appalling Fight. 1 looked to see my black iriend choke ; 1 looked to see ths water churned by great wings and feet, as with agonised endeavour he strove to rid himself of the :nonstrous thing he had foolishly thought to consume «ith impunity.' He must infallibly cKoke and. struggle and die asphyxiated— a victim to greed— and his enamy, though now reduced to a mere mangled mass of fins and bones, will be avenged. But, lo ! there is no choking, nc struggling — the thing undertaken is succellfully carried out — a last big gulp and the dib has disappeared, and the ogre that ate him is still gulping and swallowing, though of his victim there is no more to be seen. Then come a shake or two of ' the neck, % fluttering of the wings that sends bright drops flying, a couple of scooping dips of the" head in.to the _ water, setting a small stream running down- the ' broad bock — and the whole thing is over and\ done with. "Te Deum laudamus !" says my friend.' '■ I have dined, ha ! It -was a "struggle, but I did it, and I am happy."

— The largest insect known to entomologists is a Central American moth, >alled the Erobus strix, which expands its wings from llin to 18in.

— 'As many as 2000 rag-pickers find employmenb about the streets of New York. They are mostly Italians, who ha\e displaced the Irish and Germans who used te do the work. Their gatherings of rags are valued at £150,000 a year. The hand-cart dealers do a business of £600,000 a year. The aggregate rag trade of that city amounts to £6,000,000 a year. A prominent dealer estimates the number of rag-dealers at 800.