NOT A FARMING COUNTRY.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 18, Issue 40, 17 May 1907, Page 8

NOT A FARMING COUNTRY.

) } Qov. Brady's Reports, Say® on Ateß« kaa, Are All Wrong—B4oi» In Metals Onlys* > people read that Alaska la* capable of great agricultural development, they should pass up the statement for rubbish and nonsense,” said Mr. H. Dratnolier, at the Arlington, according to the Washington Post is one of the richest parts of creation In the precious metals, and that is all it is fit for. The Lord never intended it for a farming country, but Gov. Brady has for years, In the indulgence of a hobby, been sending out reports of the wonderful farming possibilities of the territory, simply because he manages to reap a few radishes and cabbages In his garden. The truth is that a very few of the hardiest vegetables can be produced in some special spot that gets an unusual degree of sunshine, but this! is about the limit. “I have been in Alaska for several years, and at the risk of incurring the governor’s 111 will, am here to say that people who go to Alaska In the hope of raising crops are on the highest sort of a fool’s errand. Last summer away up on the Copper river, I met three honest farmers, who had been Induced to sell their places in Indiana and go to that desolate region with a view of cultivating the soil. They planted a ton of seed, but never a grain came up, and when I saw them they were heartsick over their failure. It is a shame to send out such delusive reports. Alaska is all right as a mining country, and not a tithe of its wealth has been taken out, but a man wants to go there exclusively for mining or to view its beautiful scenery.”

WAS CURED BY LAUOMUNQ*

Patient in an Inaan« Aoyhun Had Station Restored by q Good Hearty Laugh,, Some time a®o a patient in an Insane asylum was suffering from extreme melancholia. He did not laugh or smile. Day after day he sat or walked with an expression of settled melancholy on his face. Months passed without bringing any change In his condition. Finally his physician resolved to try a new form of treatment—the laugh-cure. He employed a large, jovial, hearty man to come to the patient’s door every day and laugh. What peals the visitor sent ringing through the whole establishment, of deep, melodious, side-shaking laughter, so joyous, hearty and infectious that everyone who heard was compelled to join it! But the melancholy sufferer looked at the laughing man with the same deep immovable gloom upon his face. One day, while the laughter was convulsing everyone In Ms vicinity, the patient suddenly stopped pacing his room and burst info a hearty laugh. The effect was magical. The light of reason shone once more in his face. He looked around In a dazed way and asked: "Where am I? What Is this place?” The black clouds of gloom had been dispersed. The melancholia had departed. The man was in his right mind again. Laughter had done tor him what the physicians, the drugs and all the treatment at the asylum bod tatted to do, j

SCOURGE OF THE AMAION®

Dreiffl Stosquitoee Rea&ai People Along the Great Bfcres MSam able at All Ttmefl, It Is not a pleasure to live In the wild regions along the banks of the River Amazon. The Indians of that region all suffer martyrdom from the mosquitoes. Nobody in even the worst mosquito regions of the United States can imagine what the mosquitoes of the Amazon region are like. They actually drive the Indians, hardened as they are, from their villages at times. The people drag their women and children into woods and uplands on such occasions, fleeing in headlong terror, and they do not venture back to their homes until daylight Smudges and other similar means for fighting the post aro of no use in the Amazon country when the mosquitoes sally forth for a “night out” They appear then in such hordes that the masses force thorns eiy eg through smoke and even fire,

Curious Justice, Justice in the British possessions OH ) the west coast of Africa is peculiar at times. A writer in a London publication tells the story of a couple of officials— Brown and Jones —who one night were cycling home from the club without lights and were pounced upon by a zealous policeman. Summoned before the districtoommlssioner’s court, they found themselves the only persons competent to try the case. So Brown sat upon Jones and fined him five shillings, adding a few remarks as to the danger of neglecting a salutary regulation. Then Jones ascended the bench, smarting, and, having addressed Brown in terms that would have fitted a murderer, said that he was determined to put a stop to such pernicious practices and imposed a fine of ten shillings. _ ~ Corea's Empress an The empress of Corea is an American. She was Miss Emily Brown, daughter of a missionary, and for some time lady-ln-waiting to the late Empress Miu, who was mysteriously murdered in 1895. After that event the emperor invited Miss Brown to enter his harem. She declined. He then offered to Ms empress, and she accepted* 4 :

CANAL IS 2,500 YEARS OLD.

At Least the Corinthian Was Under Contemplation as Long Ago as That. "Speaking of canals,” said the engineer who had been talking about Panama, “a very interesting canal, and one not much heard of, is that connected with the gulf of Corinth and the gulf of Aegina in Greece. ' “IPs some older than any we have in the western hemisphere, also, for Periander, tyrant of Corinth, proposed to cut through the isthmus as long ago as GOO years before Christ. Superstition stopped him, however. “Julius Caesar and Caligula look it up again when Rome had hold of Greece, but it was too much for them. Then came Xero. and he went at it with vigor, but the work stopped when he died. “Others kept pounding away at it for the next several hundred years, but it was not until 1881 that real work of the Nero energy was put: upon it. Then Gen. Turr, aide-de-camp to Victor Emmanuel of Italy, organized a company and worked on till the money gave out in 1800, the chief obstacle being some kind of flint which dynamite couldn’t break. “About |10,000,000 was spent up to 1890, and then Mr. Syugros took hold, organized a new company, with .8005.000 working capital, and finished the job in 1803; It is only about four miles long, ■but it is GO feet wide at the bottom, about 80 feet wide at waterline, 2G feet and three inches deep in water, and it is cut nearly all the way through solid rock, rising at some points for 269 feet above the canal. “It is like a canyon, and ships do not take kindly to it, the entrance being bad, a strong wind blowing through it as through a great air shaft, and there is at times a strong reverse current. “It is an interesting trip through the canal, and it saves 123 miles of very rough water and 20 hours of time; but so far skippers prefer to go through the peninsula rather than through the canal, though with some changes which will be made it is believed the canal will become of general use as soon as a few ships begin to use it and remove the prejudice now existing against it.”

A NEGRO AND STEAMBOAT.

alvei Man’s Reason tor Believing Colored Man Good Roustabout —Superior to Whites.

“The suggestion came out of St. Louis the other day that white labor had replaced the negro on the wharf and that after long service the black roustabout was about to enter upon the decline of bis sway,” said an old river man, according to the New Orleans Times-Democrat. “All of which, I may add, I accept with a grain of salt, as the saying goes. Somehow I can never think of the successful and really valuable roustabout as anything but a black man. “The negro seems to have been born to the calling. He is, as a rule, fond of the steamboat, and naturally takes to steamboat work. He has always hovered around the river. Of course, you will find negroes back in the hills and scattered around in the higher altitudes, but the vast majority of them you will find quartered in the lowlands of the country, and on the rivers, where he can hear the flutter of steamboat wheels. There is one other fact to be mentioned in connection with the negro’s peculiar fitness for steamboating. “Did you ever hear the steamboat mate talking to the ‘musters’ —say, for instance, when the boat was a little late in pullingout and during the busy season? Hast not, eh? Well, there is something in store for you. somethin;: lurid and forceful, and something that will force you to run tin* gamut of the emotions. The point is that the negro is stimulated and urged on to quicker work by this kind of talk. Profanity is an essential in the mate’s calling. The negro needs it. I was jnsi wondering if the white man won id ever get used to it. Maybe so, but I have my doubts about it.”