UNKNOWN

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 532, 11 January 1913, Page 2

UNKNOWN

Shillings were first issued in 1504.

Wigs were worn ,by the Egyptians and the Syrians. V

Sugar has been eaten in China for at least three thousand years.

A particle of iron or steel may be extricated from the eye by holding near it a powerful magnet.

Ten thousand French vines yield but 400 gallons of wine" a year. The same number of vines in Cape Colony will produce 2,500 gallons.

The world's annual output of fine/gold is worth eighty-four million pounds; the British Empire supplies sixty-one per cent. '

Pineapples are so plentiful at Natal at certain seasons that they are not worth carting to market, and so are often given to pigs.. '

The wives of Siamese nobleman cut their hair so that it stands straight up from their heads. The average length is about one inch and a. half.

A simple and effective emetic?—the materials'being usually at hand—consists of, half a glassful of warm water, a heaping ul of salt, and another of mustard.

The Russian State sceptre is of solid gold,■■'-three feet long, and contains among its ornaments two 'hundred and sixty-eight diamonds, three hundred, and sixty rubies, and fifteen emeralds.

A non-inflammable cinematograph film is said to have been invented by M. Berino Borzykowski, a. photogvaphic chomist. IBy tho use cf.boroid, it is stated, it will be possible to give exhibitions in schools with safety.

A Turin jeweller has made a'tiny boat formed of a single, pearl. Its sail is of beaten gold studded with and the binnacle light is a perfect ruby! An emerald serves as a rudder, and its stand is a slab of iyory. It weighs less than half an ounce, and its price is £IOOO. (' "

Some 270,000,000 tons of coal were raised, from the pits of Great Britain during 1910—sufficient in bulk to build a wall around the United Kingdom 60 feet high and 12 feel!'thick. The heat Riven off by, the sun in one m:n.:te is estimated to be of greater mechanical value than the whole of, the coal raised in >,one year.

' There is a soap lake in Nicaragua." This sheet of water,, the- lake,of Nojpa, contains, a strong . of bicarbonate of potash, bicarbonate of soda, and sulphate of magnesia. The water, when rubbed against any greasy object,., at once forms a lather: It is used as a hair, wash, and enjoys a local reputation as a cure for external arid internal complaints. '

A Gigantic Hotel. New York will shortly possess the large:', hotel in the work!,' built at an outlay of nearly three million pounds., the site alone costing- one million five hundred thousand pounds. It is planned to have one thousand six hundred rooms and one thousand baths, atid the structure,which will be erected in a central district, is to be twenty-five storeys high.

The World's Laziest People. There" is no doubt that the Malays are one of the laziest people in the world. Except in rare cases they will not take the trouble\to learn when they are young,'and afterwards if they have learned, they will not exert themselves to apply their knowledge td any i.bjcct which requires a sustained effort. That they possess energy is known ito any one who has seen Malays engaged in any enterprise, which savours of sport. They do not mind the trouble if there is only some risk and excitement in the work. Tho Theatre in Pdrtugal. The heavy Government tax imposed on all' places of entertainment in Portugal obliges the poor to circumvent the the l.iw if possible and so it often happens' that a \thcatre is run .as a club, and the tickets arc shared out among the members. The native talent of the village provides both the orchestra arid the actors. No actresses appear as Eastern idcas : of female seclusion arc sufficiently strong to forbid the girls appearing in public, so the female parts arc taken by smooth-faced boys. The orchestra consists mainly of guitars, and although not one in ten of the adult population can read or write, not one in ten is ignorant of how to play the guitar or some other musical instrument.

A Cur:ou3 Colony. / The Colonia Cosme, on the Paraguay, iibovc Asuncion, is one of the most .curious in the world. The members of the colony make or grow everything they, need and import nothin (x- The workmen "do seven hours' work a' rlav. and cam, not money, but time. Their wages arc hours and half hours. Thc=e they till thev have a week in hand and then £0 offl" on an excursion. If a man wants a chair or tabic, he pays for it in hours of work, which arc deducted from the balance to his credit. Three men went off up the river in a canoe for throe week'* holid.A*. They sold their canoe at Asuncion for a-pound, and came hone overland in ten days. Indeed in the best houses in the vUulagre? on thVway* - and^'E^'^'V^l