Varieties.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 349, 15 January 1903, Page 7

Varieties.

The Dutch colonies have 24,000,000 inhabitants • ■ - France has 18,000 cases of smallpox every year. . Silt in whitewash adds to its sticking properties. The earliest form of the harrow was a bundle of brush drawn by a bullock. The|:German book collectors give the titles of 6,000 books about Gothe. The! army of Bolivia costs the poople of that impoverished country ,£360,000 a year. The list of the world's battles comprises 1,527 regular engagements whose names are worthy of reoord.

1W owl's wise look is the malt; of a physiological oddity, bis eyes being fired immovably in their sockets. In 1364 the Boyal library of France contained twenty volumes, and was the largest possessed by any King in Europe. As early as 2000 bc. the Egyptians understood the use of the battering ram, the scaling ladder, and the movable tower! Philippe le Bel, of France, ordered that no tradesman's wife should wear a gown made of stuff costing more than a franc a yard. ,

English tramways cost £l4 700 a mile Irish .£II,OOO only. In 1835 the English day labourer got Is 81 a day, in 1865 2a 21, in 18.90 2 j 84. Each Englishman owned .£l2 worth of furniture in 1809, against .£34 worth in ■1900; ! . ' .

i England spends .£8,400 000 a year on paupers; Scotland, £900,000; Ireland, £l,40OiO0O; France spends altogether less than £1,500,000. Therpare about 61,000 police officials in the United Kingdom, end they cost the country close upon seven million pounds a year. | The number of letters passing through the London Post Office averaged 50000 daily m 1801, rising to 800,000 in 1840, to 2,600,000 in iB7O, and to 8.300,000 in 1900. Beethoven liked to work either in the fields or in a beer, garden. In summer time he always wrote in the open air, when the weather permitted, and generally with a glass of beer at his elbow. Humboldt describes an oak tree which he saw'in France, which was 90 feet in circumference at the base and was estimated to be 2,000 years old. Some! very ancient books are to be found in th 3 sacred relics of Ceylon. They are formed of palm leaves written upon with a metal pen, and are bound merely by a silken string.. .

. Switzerland is experimenting with an automatic machine for the sale of railway tickets. The tickets are obtained by the usual" device of placing the right amount in the slot and pulling a handle. ; The cutting of diamonds and their polishing are dene with diamond dust mixed with oil placed upon a wheel tbat revolves with great rapidity, the diamond in process of polishing being fastened to a steel arm resting on the wheel. The facets are cut on mathematical lines to j reflect and retract the rays of light, and L there are forty-eight such fleets on every < "-all-cut brilliant. I that during the last twelve I months diamonds have increased in value 20 per cent., Birmingham jewellers have been made acquainted with the fact that next month there will be a further advance, of 8 per jcenjfc. Compared with four years ago the prevailing ,price toHclay is 70 per cent, higher, \ ..'■-..

Carved Ostrich Egg.—>A curious and interesting relic is an ostrich egg that fwasl taken f ro m the palace of Theodore, king ofi Abyssina, when his capital, Magdalu, was captured by the British troops in\lß47i Tae egg is covered with decorations pf : temples and a queer sort of braided desi'iin, all carefully carved, -The principal decoration is' : the' king's signature in] Arabic, cat in broad lines. It is ah empty shell and is suspended by .a, silken Jcord.. The egg is owned "by an English clergyman in Bath. : ' ; Smallest Soldier.—Until a few dayß ago Francoiis Fjnas, of Montmelian,, in France, was- the smallest soldier in Europe, and presumably in the world. Though he is only a; little more than three feet in height,; and of a corresponding weight, he was selected in the usual course as a conscript, : aad hot until his superior officer discovered that he could neither keep 'step ffith his .comrades ■ nor; even o'arry the regimental flag, did he decide te dispense witiiShis services'.... " /-',;■.-, ,-.',

' t Hae your' bs^-mare improved hoy this gjjring P' • &'-'": - r ' : ' •* '" " ' 7NO.J She has fallen behind oh of my humanity.'; -■;/ .-. •> ,?,-• j ' v * What.ddjou mean P' -, r - .- v •; \> '•Ae soon as tgot,hera r bonnet to pro tect herefrom the su,u, she. began, going slow for fear.it wouldn't stay pn sjtraight.' P<*ie!Vi(stim (to "sporting-prophet) : 'A ;aice oue> you are; I -'don't think;" foil told me DampVing' would take a lot of beating for the Cat Up Stakes; and he finished a. bad-last.': ~ - : -[-•'' Spoking Prophet (indignantly) : ' Well," aiidd'du'the? Wasn't his blessed jockey blessed well a-wallopiiw hj m for all he was worth from; the fall of the blessed flag tOjtheblessed finish?' . . .. , Little Ethel (at breakfast): 'My egg. is quite cold; iB yours P' " .' Little Tommy,:.u'Tes, -I wonder how thatis?* :;l •- . Little Ethel: • '!„ expect cook made a mistake and boiled them in cold water/"as A ':'• cheap-jack Melbourne' "butcaer brought his. cart to a standstill the other day in Bourke-street'., An old woman looked i with '-longing 1 -dyes' aV'the pile 'of bones and gristle which the butcher loftily referred'ilirasr'joint?-' and'steaks*' but w&b evidently very poor indeed, for. fhe i hesitated ito #ay? eightpence . ifol* si careful of 'selected biffl.* - * .•"' \ " * i * 'Ere. have fear at fourpenceJ' ', growled the bujtcher. \ It'sl too much,' said thel woman;- ~* , ■■ 'Have'em at tuppence!' - Still the woman hesitated. -J:- .; '■'-*> .■=*.. j Theaft l ' ; wa9 a'lookof mixed with disgnsfron his f ace as hj« mureaofod s *Stilhtoo much? .'Ere, ?anj it, ill turn say hack whilst yon 'em I' '