Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 22 November 1894, Page 3

Notes and Events.

The taskmasters ot Egypt bid the Israelites to make bricks without straw when they complained, and they did it. Recent explorations in that interesting country prove this and also what all these bricks were used for. Great mounds have been unearthed which have been found to be great store chambers, solidly Jbuilt square chambers of various - sizes, divided by massive partition walla ten feet in thickness. " The brioks are large, and are made of Nile mud pressed in a wooden mould and dried in the sun. Also they are bedded in with mortar, which is not common, the ordinary method being to bed them with mud," which dries immediately, and holds: almost as tenaciously as mortar. Now, it is a very curious and interesting fact that the Pithoni bridcs.are.of three qualities. In the lower couraes of these massive cellar ■trails they are mixed with chopped ■traiw ; higher up, where the straw may-be supposed to have run short, the day is found to be mixed with reeds, doubtless translated aa ' stubble ' in the Bible narrative ; th*-briokftof the uppermost courses consist of mere Nile mud with no hinsil£ substance whatever.

Superstition dies hard. In Sep. kembtr the harvest in England gfcdcWftd the hearts of the agricultadlt f but, SO it is reported, it rained

on St. Swithin's Day and it rained almost every day on the forty that followed. Result : — The crops were beaten down so that no machine could cut them, the sheaves cut Were drenched, and in the humid atmosphere they refused to dry, the bright promise was falsified. St. Swithin lived in the 9fch Century and was Bishop of Winchester, some busy person removed his remains from the churchyard to the cathedral and it rained forty days in consequence ! And when it rains on the 15th July it is generally supposed it will continue to do so for the greater part of the following 40 days. And people still think so. They want our Captain " Headwind " with his explanations of cyclones and anti cyclones and then would'nt they be wiser ? Max O'RelPs broad impressions of the Englishman as seen in the outlying portions of the empire are summed up as follows : — " India is not a colony in the proper sense of the word ; it is a possession, an asset of the firm John Bull and Co., whereas the colonies which I visited are branches of the said firm. The difference is very distinct. "In India is to be seen John Bull Pacha, a grand seigneur, followed by gaily- robed servitors, who do profound obeisance to him. It is the master in the midst of a subjected people. In the colonies, the conquered races have been suppressed. In Canada you see John Bull quite at home — busy, fat, and flourishing, a pink tip to his nose, and his head snug in a fur cap ; it is John Bull in a ball. It is the seal. In Australia you see him long and lean, nonchalant, happy-go-lucky, his 1 face sunburned, his head crowned with a wide-brimmed light felt hat, walking with slow tread, his arms pendant, hi3 legs out of all proportion ;it is John Bull drawn out. It is the kangaroo. " But it is John Bull still, John Bull Junior, eating his morning porridge, and living just as if he were still in his old island, eating his roast beef and plum pudding, nnd washing it down with tea or whisky. He is hardly changed at all."