Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 363, 23 April 1903, Page 2

Traveller.

FRENCH WRESTLING. "WgIKYERES (writes a correspondent) is Jff*tfP on 9 tnose Pi* o63 which provide MrJk amusement for all olasses. Royalty has appreciated to the full its delightful climate and ecenery. Still, it may be questioned whether there are any who visit Hyeres solely for the wrestling. Should any contemplate doing so, they would be well advised if they stayed away. French wrestling is a thing all to itself wonderful and worthy of an artistic nation. It has no affinity with the art as practised either by ■''* girt Jan Eidd,' our Devonshire or Cornish men, or that doughty Cumberland champion who was ready to fling everybody and ' fought' them afterwards. Its Absurdity. . - Every country—almost every county—has its different style of wrestling, but the French system, it has been well said, ' for downright absurdity bears off the palm.' One of the Bpeeial points about it is that to be conquered it is necessary that both shoulders of the fallen man shall touch the ground at the same time. To any one imbued with English ideas of wrestling, the effect of two men rolling on the ground seems rather brutal, bat the real struggle, when it comes to a struggle, is, after all, child's play compared with, for example, a Lancashire match. In this instance nothing very exciting occurred. Neither champion attempted a * Cornish heave,' a • double Nelson,' or any intricate 1 locks,' for the French rules are directly antagonistic to the very elements of a struggle, as we understand it. In fact, as some one aptly said, the match seemed to consist mostly of crawling about the floor. Possibly the company was more interesting than the entertainment, for at a wrestling match, be it Trench or EEglish, even as at a boxing match, party spirit runs very high, ana though the room was by no means crowded, the f entle restraint of the police was required to keep enthusiasm within proper channels.

'GIB.' To the ancients Gibraltar was an object of awe and veneration; to the moderns for twelve hundred years it haß been a bone of contention and a coveted possession. It has experienced fifteen BiegGß, and its history in a great measure centres round those eucctssive conflicts—a stirring record of capture and recapture. Gibraltar has been known since the days of Pt'cenician navigators. In the primitive geography of the early Greets and Romans it, was Calpe, and formed one of the renowned Pillars of Hercules that for centuries wers believed to be the western boundary of the habitable globe. The twin pillar was Abyla, a lofty eminence on the African side near Ceuta. The town is ori the lower grounds of the noith-west side; it is closely-built, and most of the houses are painted black to deaden the dazzling rays of the sun, with bow windows and flat roofs, and ,white strips painted across them to mark the different floors. We are so much accustomed to think of Gibraltar as a fortress that we are apt to overlook the fact that it is besides a considerable town and a flourishing seaport. It has been a free port since 1705. The bay is spacious, with good anchorage, and is visited by about 7,000 ships annually, and is important as a port of call, coahn? station, and place of protection for vessels trading with the Mediterranean, Spain, Morocco, and North Africa. Its total population numbers some twenty-six thousand, including from five to six thousand soldiers; and ail are under the direct military rule of the Governor. Expenses of government are met by small port dues, duty on liquors, and rent of Crown property. EED TAPE IN FRANCE. The city of Paris has just piven -a curious example of the enslavement of the French to ted tape. In the year 1866 the Gobelins quarter was very badly supplied with water, and the city resolved to sink an artesian well at a place known as the Butte aux Cailles. When *he war broke out the works were suspended. At that time the well had been sank 200 metres withrut any trace of water having been discovered, and the works had cost the bagatelle of francs. Some years after work was resumed, and has been carried on more or less constantly ever since. The well has now reached a depth of 787 metres, or nearly half a mile, and all that has been obtained is a yellowcoloured water, which comes cut of the ground at a heat of 90ieg. Fahrenheit. It is so strongly impregnated with iron as to be useless either for drinking or washing purposes. Not Wanted. But the most extraordinary part of the whole affair is that the district was years ago abundantly provided with water from other sources, so that even if the well should furnish good water, no one would know what to do with it. The works have now cost over seven hundred thousand francs, end the well will probably cost a million before it is completed. In order to derive some benefit from this immense expenditure it is now proposed to construct a swimming and other, baths on the spot, and thus utilise the hot spring that has beon tapped. A more extraordinary administrative muddle has rarely been seen, even in France, where bureaucracy reigns supreme. THE PEEOBRAJENSKIS. The most famous regiment in Russia is that which bears the same of Preobrajonsxi. The men of it are all picked giants. They wear the mOBt gorgeous uniform in the Russian army, and their band is, perhaps, the finest military band in the world. It is also the oldest regiment of the Russian army, dating from the time of the Great Peter. Its origin is curious, even more curious than that of the Gordon Highlanders, which had a duchess for its recruiting sergeant.' With a shilling between her teeth, the Duchess of Gordon stood in the Castlegata of Aberdeen while her clansmen came one by one and took the King's money and a ducal kiss. Peter, pursued from childhood by the hated cf his sister, and having providentially escaped many attempts against his life, was Bent to a little village named Preobraj enski, about a hundred versts from Moscow. There the future Emperor made the acquaintance of about fifty young nobles, wbo lived riotously and committed the wildest extravaganoes. It was intended that he should adopt their ev'l ways, and by leading a debauched life render himself unfit for the throne. But instead of letting himself fall a victim to their ways lie transformed them, and with their help made a sort of fortified plaee of the little village. Gathering together the young man of the town, he made them the nucleus of a military corps, at the head of which he placed the fifty young nobles

With their hslp, and with the help of recruits from two neighbouring Tillages, Simenooskoe and Ismaiilovski, Peter managed to win his way to the crown. Such was the origin of the famous Russian Imperial Guard.