GENERAL INFORMATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 506, 5 October 1912, Page 3

GENERAL INFORMATION.

T In China a mile is anything from the equivalent of our quarter of a mile to a mile and three-quarters, according to the province in which it may happen to he. The highest waterfall in the world ;aay te found in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico. The cascade of the Basaseachie falls no less than ■'7B feet at one drop. The largest and oldest chain bridge nth 3 world is said to be that at K.ingtung, in China, where it forms a, perfect road from the top of one mountain to that of another. In England placing the thumb to the nose and extending the fingers is sign of a derision. Among certain tiili tribes in India it is the most jxpressive manner of showing respect. It is estimated that for perfumery purposes each year 1,860 tons of Dran;e flowers, 030 tons of roses, LSO tons each of violets and jasmine seventy-five tons of tuberoses, thirty tons of cassia, and fifteen tons of ioniui's arc used. The first omnibus was run in Lonioa on the 4th of July, 1829. Its route was from Paddington to the □ t/. The early omnibuses were callid "shillibeers" —Shillibeer being the P-anio of the man who started them. Eie was an undertaker in the' City Road. The thumb, according to professional palmists, is an unerring index of ihc mind. If a ! persan is trying to deceive you, he will invariably -'aw his thumb in towards the palm. On the other hand, if he is telling the truth, the thumb will be relaxed and point away from the palm. Among the Turks, bath money forms an item in every marriage :ontract, the husband engaging to allow his wife a certain sum for bathing purposes. Should it be withheld she has only to go before the cadi and turn her slipper upside down, and if the complaint be not then redressed it is a ground ior divorce. The authorities at one time were so convinced that Europeans could not live in India without alcoholic stimulants that they actually prohibited the formation of temperance societies amongst the soldiers. The theory is now. altogether changed, and the English soldiers in India include no fewer than 20,000 total abstainers. There arc two sorts of tattooing in use among the women of the Congo. One is common to all the members of the same tribe, and indicates the origin and birthplace of the subject. It is an infallible and perpetual certificate of birth and nationality. The other sort of tattooing is simply fantasy and coquetry. But among certain tribes there is a third kind. The women record upon their bodies the epochs of their existence. A horizontal line marks marriage, oblique lines the birth ci ciiuuren, a vertical line weaning, another line change of residence. Thus the autobiography of the woman is written upon her person, and regarded with pride if it is full of events.