GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 33, 18 May 1878, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Not many months ago, a foreign minister in Loudon invoked the aid of one of the smartest Scotland Yard detectives, to find a young girl who had inherited a fortune of 250,000 dols. At the end "of six weeks the detective returueij, and gave in his resignation. He had found the girl and married her. Siuglo ladies often cross tho water under the special caro of tho captain of the >hip, and if a lovo affair occurs among the passengors the captain is usually the confidant of one or both parties. A very fascinating young lady was placed under Morgan's care and three young gentlemen fell desperately in lovo with her. They were all equally agreeable, and the young lady was puzzled which to encourage. She asked toe captain's advice. " Como on deck," he said, " tho first day it is perfectly calm—tho gentlemen will, of course, all be near you. I will have a boat quietly, lowered down ; then do < ou jump ovorboard, and seo which of the gontlemen will bo the first to jump after you. I will take care of you." A calm day soon came, the captain's suggestion was followed,ami two ot the lovers jumped after the lady at the same instant. But between theso two the lady could not decide, w exactly equal had been their devotion. She again consulted the captain. ■ Take the man that didn't jump;—he's tho most seniible fellow, and will mnko tho best husband."

The Maryborough Chronicle is responsible for tho following :—" A family residing mar town, and owning a Urge

I stock of poultry of rather erratic pro- [ pensities, remarked that, since the Le- , ginning of the rainy season, those which are fuuud laid in odd DOQfci t of the garden were invariably affected with a softening of the shell on the side nearest to the ground, similar to the effect produced by soaking in strong vinegar for the purpose of performing the well-known conjuring feat of passing an egg into a deianter without br>'akin.j it , in the majority of cases the shell was not merely softened, however, hut eaten completely away, aud the inner skin perj forated so as to allow of the abstraction of a portion of the contents. Krom the I fact that the eggs thus attacked wete usually found to bo swarming with ants,

; the latter were naturally credited with ' being in the tapping process, though the , modus operandi was not, at first understood. There seems to be no doubt, I however, that these tinycreaturesemploy i the formic acid with which their bodies | arc charged to effect a breachlhy chemical I action on the carbonate of lime composing the hard aud smooth shell. Although the quantity of acid secret) d by each individual ant is very email,it is conceivable that by force of numbers, and assisted perhaps in some measure by the moisture from the Bull under:.eath, they may suo ecd in applying enough and of sufficient intensity to corrode the shell and enable them with their powerful manddibles to tear through the underlying membrane. We can, at any rate, offer no better explanation of a- phenomenon which is quite worthy of investigation by competent scientific observers.

A correspondent sends us (Queensland Times] the following:—AsaruleCtilonials arc apt to sneer at the mere supposition " new chums" heiug possessed of any real or imaginery kuowdedge of sheep, whether as regards their breed, habits, or the shephciding of them ; but there ought to be exceptions to all rules, and I am satisfied that the new chum I am going to allude to, has, in his own mind, made a greater discovery asregards the social habits of the sheep than any Queenslander ever did. On the station where this new importation is employed it is the habit to yard the sheep every night, to which duty he had got to attend. One evening, at supper, the conversation took a religious turn and one individual was desirous of knowing if the aboriginals had a god they worshipped, " No doubt of that,"repliedoumewohum, " for the very sheep have a god they worship." " The sheep!" all hands inquiringly remarked. " Yes ; the sheep," was cue iCjdy, " and I can prove it, and show you their god ; for. as 1 was bringing thorn to tin< yard to-night, the first one made a rush to a stone, bowed down before a, and licked it; thou all the rest made a rush at it, pushed ami shovedone another from it in their anxiety to worship, bowed themselves before it, and licked the stone as fast as opportunity permitted.'' Li that, he had added, did not prove that sheep had a god, he did not Know what would. He further remarked that the stone was no ordinary one, either, but such a peculiar stone '.hat he had it carefully conveyed home, and the first, time he goes to Ipswich he is to take it to the watchmaker's to ascertain what it is. I wonder if an Ipswich jeweller ever got rock-salt to analyse ; for it is needles to tell colonials that a piece of that useful and common commodity was our new chum's god.

The following statistics respecting the Suez Canal have been oollected by Professor Leone Levi:—" This new commercial pathway was opened to trathc in 1171), an.l from 1870 to 1876 the net tonnage passing through it rose from 436,609 tous to 2,096,772 tons, while the receipts rose from £200,000 in 1870 to about £1,200,000 in 1175; and in 1870 alter the shire and debenture holders had received their 5 per cent, dividend a small balance of profit was still loft, to become larger in subsequent years. The result was therefore in every way satisfactory. The canal had been the means of saving au immense amount of time, and time was money. Already 2,000,000 tons of shipping was passing through it in a year, and this at the low estimate of £SO a ton for the value of ship and cargo represented £100,000,000 of capital upon which there was a saving of two months' interest, or from £300,000 to £500,000 a year. Descanting upon the particular commercial advantages of the canal, the Professor stated that by shortening the line of navigation and with the abolition of the export duty an important trade hail sprung up in wheat between England aud India. The opening of the canal had also given an enormous Stimulus to the building of steamships. In 18G9 they had 918,000 tons of steam vessels, while in 1870 they had 2,005,000 tons. Hence the suproineoy of England in the Suez Caual. On the other nand Franoe had only 200,000 tons, Germany 180,000, and ad other European Status together perhaps 400,000. The trattie of the United Kingdom with India, the Struits of Coylon, China, J .pan, the possessions of the Dutch in tiio East, the Philippine Islands Australia, &c, all of whioh sooner or later would have to use steamships, amouutcd in 1870 to £151,000,000, or 2* per cent, of the cntiro trade of the United Kingdom. Add to this the trade with continental ports tic irei home and u great part of the American trade and it was easy 'to sue that Uiu Jays of t> ai, m o ' ships were fast pausing away." Tin' death of a horse from fright is thus des. rilied by a Victorian piper : " Some sensation was caused after the first performance at Cooper and Bailey's Circus by the processions of six elephants, which were takou down to the Lake

Colao. The anima's seemed to thoroughly enjoy the few minutes they were allowed to remain in the water. The sensational part of the affair occured soon after the elephants left the menagerie. William Drew, the son of Mr. Crew, the wellknown carpenter, was riding along Gravesenlstreet at tho time, and the horse catching sight of the, to him, strange looking animals, gave one plunge, reared almost perpendicularly on his hind legs, and then suddenly dropped dead. His rider fntu.-iately escaped without bodily injury, Several other horses appeared much disconcerted at the sight of the elephants." A Calm la journal contains a letter from a correspondent who professes to have been a .stammerer from childhood almost to manhood, and who wishes to to give other sufferers the benefit of the treatment by which he was cured. He says : " Uo into a room where you will be quiet and alone, got some book that will interest you, but not excite you, and

sit down and read two hours, aloud, to yourself, keeping your teeth together. Do the same thing every two or three days, or once a week, if very tiresome, always taking care to read slowly aud distinctly as possible, and make up your mind that you will not stammer. I tried this remedy, and read for two hours aloud, with my teeth together. The first result was to make my tongue and jaws ache—that is, while 1 was reading ; and the next to make me feel as if something loosened my talking apparatus, for I could speak with less difficulty immediately. The change was so great that every one who knew me remarked it. I repeated the remedy every five or six days for a month, and then at longer intervals, until cured. The Mount Alexander Mail informs U8 that in a town situated not one hundred miles from Castlemaine, an individual whose days were in the sero and yellow leaf, took to his confidence and home a lady many years younger than himself, and possessing those attractions

which rendered it probable she would long survive the partner of her joys and sorrows. In a moment of luxuriant delight the good man thought he could not better show his affection and gratitude for domestic joys than by making over his house and land to his better half, to keep as a souvenir when he had shufUed off this mortal coil. It happened, however, that the wife, though much younger in years, was older in constitution than her lord and master, and not long ago she discovered such signs of weakness as prognosticated her departure from this teraigenous scene. In contemplation of the change, the g >od man, although a model of good nature, possessed a frugal mind, and delicately hinted to the property as being no longer useful to a person about to leave for a far bettor inheritance. To the astonishment of the good man, he w.is informed that the lady had transferred the laud in question to one of her daughters by a former husband, who now held the fee simple of the property. The result is that the man who, in a moment of good nature, signed away his house and land, now finds himself a stranger and a pilgrim in a land were he thought himself of some consequence.