WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 22, Issue 29, 14 April 1911, Page 2

WORLD-WIDE NOTES.

IA. NEW WHITE RACE OP PEOPLE

j For many years there have been rumours of a strange white race in South America. There have been legends that they live in a hidden El Dorado or Golden City, and put to death any stranger who approaches it. The Indians of the Amazon reigion all believe firmly in their existence, and the story has assumed many very wonderful and fascinating aspects. Major P. H. Fawcett, has' just returned from South America with perhaps the first), authentic facts,\ meagre.- as they are, to show that such a race really does, exist, and that it is the most important task before science to-day to unravel its history. What light may be thrown upon the ancient civilisations of the New World by study of these astonishing people not even the most imaginative can foretell. They are believed to be an exceedingly fair beardless race, with very red hair ; and some believe they may be descendants of Norsemen. THE ARMY DIRIGIBLE. The Army dirigible balloon Beta, ' which made a sensational flight over London in the “wee sma’ hours,” is better known to the public by its first name-—“ Baby.” Now it hasgrown up. That is to say, it has been lengthened from 80ft. to 104 ft., : and its name has been changed from ! Baby to one more suited to the airj ship’s greater dignity. The Beta is ■ the second airship built at the Army ißalloon .Factory. It is all-British, j only the engines being made outside !the Parnborough works. The Beta ! carries five passengers in a car of i cast steel swung from the body. The noee is blunt, and the shape tapers !to a relatively thin tail. With enj gine of 30 to 35 h.p., the vessel sails • comfortably against a moderate j wind. On May 26 a passage of an hour’s duration was made over j Parnborough Common, when the as- \ sistant-superintendent of the factory said: '‘The Beta was not intended to demonstrate anything new in the science of airmanship or to do very long flights. It is for use as a training-ship for army airmen, and in this capacity has given the greatest satisfaction.” Let us hope there is a better future in store for it than that which befel its predecessor the, much trumpeted but ill-fated Null! Secundus, which, it will be remembered, was completely wrecked In a gale at the Crystal Palace. GOLD LEAP : OLDEST INDUSTRY. i An industry or art that seems to have reached us unchanged from the ancient; Egyptians and Greeks is that of beating gold into this foil for decorative purposes. Mr. John Mastinl, has been investigating the subject, and states that the origin of gold' leaf is lost in antiquity- but , that the material was . used on the ■ skin, tongue, teeth, etc., of some of the most ancient mummies ever discovered. It was placed also on tombs, monuments . and the like. Gilding with sheets of hammered gold and skins of gold was known as early as the eighth century 8.C., and from the eleventh century A.D. at least the process -of bringing ,the gold) into the thin( sheets, or skins has ' been substantially the . same as j to-day. The same, thin gold leaf appears even on Greek pottery of the fifth, century,' and'-Egyptian coffins of the third. STURGEON RELEASED AFTER j 30 YEARS CAPTIVITY. | A sturgeon, nearly 6ft. long, for more than . 30 years a captive, has been released in the Columbia river because it had outgrown its quarters ,The big fish, quite small when captured in 1880, was placed in a pond. A number of years ago the pond filled with grass and weeds, the water becoming so shallow that the back of the sturgeon was blistered by exposure to the sun. It was then placed in the basin of a fountain, and this remained . its home until a few years ago. For years it had swum around in a circle, and many people believed that when it was released it /. would continue to swim around" in a’*circle by force of habit. When dropped into the Columbia river it hesitated for a moment, bewildered, then swam straight for deep water. .: RIVAL OF STOVAINE. i An American surgeon, Dr. John J. Hurley, has announced a new anaesthetic which permits operations on, the brain, eye, or ear while the patient is conscious. It is a n injection of a solution of cocaine, adrenalin, and a salt solution, beneath the membrane of fibrous connective tissue around all bones except at the ' articular surfaces. The operation | under this anaesthetic is said to be bloodless as well as’painless, and I the patient may be given a full meal just before the operation. Operations at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary are said to have proved the great value of the dis- ! covery. One woman, on whom a ! delicate operation of the ear was being performed, started laughing, and it became necessary to suspend work until she calmed down. COCKATOO 112 YEARS OLD. ■ Cockatoos -are well kriown to live to patriarchal age, and probably the oldest bird in the world whose age can be traced with certainty flourished in a well-known hostelry at Tom Ugly’s Point, near Sydney, N.S.W. , When he had feathers enough to distinguish bis species he was recognisable as a lemon-crested cockatoo, ibut as he has been under “bare 'poles” for half a century, a few liv-

ing people can remember when he had more covering than he shows at present.. He was owned for eighty years by a well-known master mariner, of Sydney, who- died at the Solomon Islands in 1887, aged eighty-nine. The bird was presented to the captain when the latter was nine years of age, and he was then informed that cocky was just the same age. The bird was left as a legacy to Mrs Bennett, of Sydney, but she did not get him until 1891. Since that, period the bird has lived at. George’s River, within sight of where Captain Cook landed, and where “the first fleet” anchored about the year of his birth.

None of his faculties is weakened, and he is as loquacious as youngsters of his tribe who may be a hundred years younger. In hilarious moments he will flap his stumps you could not call them wings—and yell, "Til fly—l’ll fly ! By gee, I’ll Ay i" a palpably mendacious statement.

THE INVENTION OF BLOTTING ■ PAPER.

Blotting-paper was discovered purely by accident. Some ordinary paper was being made one day •at a mill in Berkshire, when a cereless workman forgot to' put in the sizing material. The whole of the paper made was regarded as being useless. The proprietor of the miM desired to write a note shortly afterwards, and ■he took a piece of waste paper, thinking it was good enough for the purpose. To his intense annoyance the ink spread all over the paper. Suddenly there passed through his mind the thought that this paper would do instead of sand for drying ink, and he at once advertised his waste paper as “blotting.” There was such a big demand that the mill ceased to. make ordinary paper, and was soon occupied in making blotting only, the use of which spread to all countries.

We came across a wonderfully fine bird on a lady’s hat the other day, and our investigation of it led to the conclusion that chickens furnish an immense deal of the material that now goes to adorn the. milliners’ windows. In fine, manufacturers of millinery goods buy poultry feathers in great quantities, and by skilfully contriving convert them into artistic likenesses of wild birds. Here, for example, was a parrot which was an absolute fake, being made up in all of its parts from barnyard plumes —save only for the eyes and beak, which were of glass and celluloid respectively. However, it is a pious fraud.

Mr. Alick Parton, Bennetts Bank, Wellington, Salop, says : Whilst employed at Berrington, near Shrewsbury, I had a most marvellous escape from death through the careless use of a revolver.

The firm I represented had, and now have, a target on their coal trucks as a trade mark. Leading up to the siding 0 n which the trucks stood was a footpath, and at times when the siding was full it was impossible for' anyone on the railway side to see if any persons \y ere coming.

It happened so one day, when a signalman-porter appeared to be trying his hand with a revolver on the target mentioned above. I had just put one leg over the stile leading into the atation-yard, and in a line with the trucks, when a' bullet took a little piece out of the top rail of the stile. I went to remonstrate with the shooter. He pulled the revolver out of his pocket to get me to extract the cartridge, when he must have touched the trigger, for the bullet went through my coat sleeve, entered a petroleum barrel, and the oil spurted all over me.