Ancient English Canoe.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1863, 14 June 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

Ancient English Canoe.

Ah interesting relic of the past has just been unearthed in the parish of Pulborough, Sussex, in the shaps of a canoe, which was partly embedded under the Eiver Arun, and partly in land on the south side of that river. The boat i 3, says Nature, of solid oak, and hewn from a single massive trunk. That it wa3 made before the knowledge of metal is evident, as there is not a trace of building or planking. It must hava been hollowed by means of the stone axe and of fire. Further evidence in favor of the antiquity of this boat appears to be afforded by the various accumulations which had formed over that portion of it which was embedded in the earth. These strata, to the depth of nine feet, have been ascertained to be loam, yellow clay, a thin layer of laaves, followed by a stratum of blue mud, beneath which lay the boat embeded in drift sand. The prow portion of the boat lay in the river, and this is by far the most dilapidated. The stern is comparatively intact. The present dimensions of the boat are fifteen feet by four feet, but originally it was probably eighteen feet long.

I have told you how fast asleep Havana w£9 as we entered in the hot noon. Dinner over I lit a cigar and sauntered out to the Prado, or chief public place close by. What a transformation 1 It was now night, and Havana was indeed awake. The change wad at first bewildering. The vast Prado was a blaze of light from line upon line and row upon row and cluster upon cluster of lofty gas lamps. There were thousands of them shining down with mellowed softness on magnificent palms, soft greens, nestling shrubberies gleaming marbles from which fountains spouted in the now cool, clear air, and high above it all the deep azure lit by the stars of heaven. Up and down the Prado sauntered or sat a myriad of mortals. The military band was playing around the marble statue of Isabella la Segunda. Thousands of ladies were there, some of them wearing the graceful mantilla as a head covering, but most of them in costumes brilliant in color and Parisian in make. It seemed that all the world was one large parlor, with the ladies of Havana " at home "to visitors every evening. Men who have hearts to lose had better keep away from Havana, or they will lose them early and often, for there is a witchery in the air and the "Habaneras" are the very witches of witches. They are more dangerous far than the yellow fever, and, libellers say, are almost as easily cavigh.b.-^Exchangc.

The official returns show that the healthiest class of people in Great Britain are the inmates of prisons, where simple diet, regular hours, and exercise are compulsory. But the", cases of insanity among the convicts are. out of proportion to the number of otherjjlments. . To commit a crime a man must baTlnore ox less mad. .