PITHY PARS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 122, 17 December 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

PITHY PARS.

An oyster it uot fit to eat till foui years old. * # * * In Denmark girls inau.'C againbt becoming old maids. * * * * Hudson Bay is closed by frost {or 179 days in the year. * * * * A camel can carry twice the burden of an ox, or 400 lb. * # * * A mole will eat 20,000 earthworms in the course of a year. * * * * Of every 100 cases of cataract, 54 are males and 46 females. » * * * Eton's playing-fields are the largest belonging to any public school. * * * * The last use of shields in civilised warfare was at Culloden in 1745. * * * * The Chinese begin dinner with dessert, and eftd with soup and fish. # * * * In 1818 the five-ponnd Bank of England note was Worth only 735. in gold. * * * . The first envelope ever made is in the possession of the British Museum. * * * * The date of the first French newswas 1605; of the first English, # * * * Members of the Privy Council are entitled to the distinction of "Right Honourable." * * * * A horse has forty teeth, twenty-four being grinders, four tusks, and twelve front teeth. * # * # The 132 ships of the Spanish Armada tarried 3,165 cannon and 34,000 6eamen and soldiers. # * * * The oldest known English picture is one of Chaucer, painted on panel in the year 1380. * * * # "Cash" is said to be derived from \he French word "caisse," a chest in /rhich money was kept. * * * # A/c is usually supposed to stand for "account." This is a mistake. It stands for " account current." * * * * Port Said, in Egypt, gets on an average only 2 in. of rain yearly. London has 24in.; New York 33in. * # # * Babylon was probably tie first city to attaifi a population of a million. The area of the city was 225 square miles. « * # * Jewsharps are made principally in Boccorioi. the seat of the industry since the «iit&nth century. A good workman can make seven dozen in a day, and, simple as the little instruments are, no fewer than twenty tools are employed ill their manufacture # * # * The first equestrian statue erected in Great Britain was that of Charles I. at Charing Cross, facing Parliament Street. * * # * The "sea-swallow," a fish found in the Danube, makes a curious, grunting sound; and the maigre, a sea-fish, makee a loud purring. * # * * The Lena, of Northern Siberia, is the straighteet river in the world. It runs for nearly eight hundred miles with hardly a curve. * * # # The King of Spain is the only monarch who does not sign his name to documents and edicts. His signature is simply " Yo, el Rey"—"l, the King."

The ships in which the Britons and the Veneti fought Julius Caesar were of oak, and were painted blue to make , them lesa conspicuous at a distance. # # * * The standard yard, which is preserved with the greatest care among the standards was made in 1760. It is a brass rod, with pins of gold marking the measure. # * # * The first English yacht race of which there is a record was in 1662, when a small boat belonging to Charles 11. boat one of his brotTier s in a match for i'loo. * * * * In the reign of Edward I. barely £l,lOO worth of coin was made yearly in England; during Queen Victoria's reign the average output from the Mint was £10,300,000. * * # * The Parsees are much better educated than any other Indians. In every 10,000 Parse© men, 4,075 know English. Among the Hindus only 64 in 10,000 speak English. * * * # The frigate bird of the Tropics has a spread of wing of 10 feet to 12 feet, can travel 100 miles an hour, and is said to be able to remain on the wing for a week at a time. * * * * The Life Guardsi are known by tho nickname of "the Piccadilly Butchers, on account of the energy they displayed in quelling a riot in Piccadilly (London) early in the lasl century. * * * * Th« very best glass-eyes cost £5 r.piece; a false nose can be purchased for the same money; a pair of false ears cost £6} and artificial hands, with which you can write and eat, can bo knight for £25. * # * ♦ War correspondents were used as fur t>ack as the time of Edward 11. Scribes, specially commissioned were sent with the English Army which invaded Scotland at that time. Ono of them completed his task, but the other was caplured at the Battle of Buftnocburn. * * # # Tbf natural habit ot humafl beings m>pear« to be the use of tlie fcecih on the left «do of the mouth for masticating food. During a lengthened period *>l observation, only ono oerson out of thirteen was found wno habitually treed "both sides ot ftis moutn. * # * * Tho Norwegian whale fisheries extend over nearly the wliolo of the Arcti: 6va. The whales are shot from small steamers, the implement used being th? tto-ealled bomb harpoon, an arrow-shap-vd iron spear, furnished with a line, vlricii i«4wlmrged from a small canuon. The whale often drags the veste\ a long distance, until the creature becomes exhausted and expires. It is then towed to the anchorage and stripped of the blubber.