General Gatherings.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1902, 4 June 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

General Gatherings.

I An onoient copper mine, which was Gret worked l,18:i yeara ago, h about to be reopened in Mueatshi, Jdjmn. Old Japanese manuscripts of undoubted authenticity mention this mine. Its galleries and levels are in some oases just 83 they were 700 yeare ago. Egyptian manuscripts were obiefiy written on papyrus, made from a water plant which haß now, hko the lotus, disappeared from Egypt, but whioh U abundant on the Upper Nile. Parchment is paid to have been invented at Pergamoß (159 v.c ). Itoame into general use for manuscript about the eighth century. On taking eff the roof of a house at lla.lstead, near Cambridge, which bad been on fire, it was found that a quantity of straw had been carried by birds between the roof arid ihe ociling, and this had been ignited from a hole ia the ohimney. Altogether the birds had taken up three or four eacks of rubb.'bh. The largest gun lathe in the world is being built by Meßer*. William Selierß and Co., of Philadelphia, for the naval gun shops at Washington. The lathe will weigh 500,000 pounds, and will be I^3 feet in length. Its greatest height will be 12 feet, its greatest width 10 feet six inches, and its boring capacity 16 inob.es. The Kimberley Kaffirs are said to smoke cigars with the lighted ends in their mouths. They light a oigar in the ordinary manner, tuck the tongue in the cheek, and, putting the lighted end in the mouth, gradually consume the whole. They say (hat their method is warm and comforting, and greatly preferable to the way of the foreigner. The Chinese are very particular about lucky and unlucky colors. They liked English sawing needles, but would not buy many of them because they"%cra wrapped in black paper, black being an unlucky color. A printer need green paper for the Chinese oalendar, and his trade Btopped alrnont immediately. He fiqally diccoversd that green was an unluoky color. The battle fought at Marathon, a plain on the coast of Attics, in September, 490 b.c., is one of the most important in history. Oa the Greek side there were 9 000 or 10.000 Athenians and 1,000 Plafrcins; on the Persian ride at least 100,000, and peroap3 200 000. There ftll of the Persians G4OO, and of tho Creeks only 192, who were buried under the mound whioh btill remains. In Germany the violet has long been held in high honor. Throughout Southern Germany during the Middle Ages the finding of the first violet was celebrated by elevating the flower upon a pole and dancing round it. In some places the custom has been kept up even in modern times. Some of the amounts diatributed under the provident head by the trades unions are considerable. In 1G years six 3ooicties diatributsd L 4,205,094 in travelling, relief, siok benefit, superannuation, funeral, accident, and sundry allowances. Under the general head of "provident bemfina " or '■ benevolent ohj^ctc," 13 societies distributed in 10 yeara 7.400,071; while for strike or dispute pay they only expended L 451,816. Professor Nordenskjold, of Arctic fame, will Eoon start from Australia in two email sailing vessels, having auxiliary etesm power, for an exploration of the Antarctic Ooean. The vessels will bo thoroughly equipped with every device found useful in ice navigation. The locality has not been vipited since James Race's expedition in 1811, although the English ship Challenger wenfc aa far Bouth as latitude G5 deg. 42 mm. in 1874. The first discovery o! the coast of Maine was made by the Northmen as oarly as the ynr 900. The first attempt to ssltle upon i the territory was made by the French under j Da Alont, who, having received a grant from j tho Ki;jg of France, planted a Urge colony on I Neuiral Island, in the river St. Ciois, to j which ho gave that name in IGO4, but the location beng unfavorable, it wab abandoned the next year. I A disease, which the physicians say they know only from books and are quite unable to cure, and whioh they diagnose as Asiatic " black tongue," baa made its appearasco as an epidemic at Kirklin, Indiana. After a elight fever, the tongue becomes inflamed and Bwolien, then turns blaok, and finally is attacked by decomposition, v?hen a most pain!ul death ensue?. Some cases have ended fatally 40 hours after tho first seizure. Ciptain Lord Talbot, who is in command of tho depot troop of tho 11 ;h Hussars at Canterbury, is promoted to the rank of major in the 11 vh Iluatarti, after 1G joar&' service in the regiment. He became captain in 1881, Bnd Wd3 recently adjutant of iho Middlesex Yeomanry Cavalry, which corps ia partly recruited from the south-eastern district, one troop being raised in Sassfx. Mrs Adft "Ueinotfc, of Grand Rapids, Mich., took her 17 yesr old son to a dime museum, where one of the attractions was a " William Tell" act. On tho following day she playfully put a potato on her head, remarking to the boy he couldn't bhoot it cff. The boy found a revolver, and timing it, pulled the ! tri^er. The revolver Wfl3 not empty. The bullet Jo.iged in the woman's neck, and she subsequently died. The olJost of all European hotel 3 io the Hotel des Trois Rois in Balo, W6ll known to travellers of every nationality even at the preecnt time. It dates back t3 ad, 102G, in which year the Emperor Conrad 11., his eon Henry 111., and Rjdolphe, the last king oi Bargundy, were quartered in what was then a aimple tavern. The presence of these thre9 imnarohs gave it the name — a name it haa retained evar since, and to which it doe 3 full honor.

One oi EJison'd lateeb inventicnH will ba exhibited at the next electric exhibition at St. Petersburg, and will consist of a speaking watch. The dial is made to represent a human face, and the interior contains a jjhonograph. The mouth opens and tells tho hems, tho half-boms, and tbe quarters in a qtiikingly humar voice. It can also be set ax \ c, particular hour in the morning to remark | i several times runnir g. '• It is time to get op ! " " It i 3 time to get up I" The Gbineee pawnshops in the vicinity of | Hankow have been printing and disseminatj ing a pamphlet called " The Devil Mis- ; sionaries OuKhi to Be Killed." Thi3 pamphj let accuses Europeans oi every Bpeciea o! orime, state they cause all the calamities of China, from the Taiping rebellion to the floods and droughts, and is full of the moaS filthy expressions. The pawnbrokers who printed and disseminated this — and who, by tho way, all hold mandarin buttons — have put in tho defeuco that it 13 a virtuous book. A cunnicg Yankee thisf made his eecape from custody in a peoulinily daring manner. He wae being conveyed from Chiccgo, 111., t 0 Madifon, lad., and, for greater Pccosirj . thedetective handctflft-d hirofielf to '•■ - ,r. During the journey the dctecti' i . . ;1 soundelcep. Obmvirg this tb<> !'. .) ■ .]y examined the pockets of his cusi. . . * . :cle his money, and the key which i.n' c .f.i the handeoffs He then handcuffed the '.-elective wiiboi-t awakening him, end at the next station quietly Kft the cars. Apropos of the theory that Mrs Abbott derives her marvellous power from magnetism, the famous French conjurer Rtbut- [ Houdin had a trick of lifting with which he abeolutely bewildered all the brains of all tho Arab jugglers and priests in Algeria, whom he was 8f nt to astonieh by (he French Government. B°.but-Houdin had a small box which be placed on the stage. The Arabs selected their Btrongect man, and he was asked to lift the little box. He took it up with ease. He was asked to put it back | and lift it again. But when it was put down | again, the Arab could not move it. After | straining his muscles like whipcord, he ! | covered his face and fled shrieking, declaring I | tho box was bewitched. It was merely j i magnetised. Haudin had the appliance I j under the stage bo nicely arranged that the I acr of lifting and replacing tho box the first | time completed the current. S3 j