RANDOM HEADINGS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 427, 19 November 1918, Page 4

RANDOM HEADINGS.

* MEANING OF ESQUIRE). What gives a mar* the right to be termed ''esquire"? The title comes from the French '-ecuyer," a "shield* bearer," but has, of course, long since lost all military significance. According to one authority, the titl« is strictly applicable only to the younger sons of the nobility, to officers of the King's household, to counsellors of law, justices of the peace, sheriffs, holders of commissions in Navy or Army, and graduates of the Universities, though by courtesy it is given also to solicitors, surgeons, bankers, the landed gentry, and gentlemen "of independent means." A QUAINT ITALIAN TOWN. Pavia is not very well known to the tourist. For two hundred years until Charlemagne overthrow them, it was the capital of the Lombard kings, the kings of that one-time Teuton tribe of Langobardi, who conquered Italy, only to be themselves slowly conquered and become Italians, or, more accurately, 'Romanised. It is they who ruled over the great fertile plain between the Alps and the Apennines. In the Church of San Michele kings of Italy were crowned a thousand years ago; here two Germans at least, Henry the Second—loo4—and Frederick Barbarossa—llss —received upon tlu.ir brows that "iron crown of the Lombards'' which conveyed the i sovereignty of Italy. BORN KAN BARK WEARERS, There are no move singular peopl known than the Punan tribe o; Borneo. ;\Io.--t of what has beei learned about them is from hearsay They are ; epiosented as dressing themselves ia bark clothing, wandering about in the forests, and sleeping in trees. They have no houses and'no property, except mere personal possessions. which they exchange by barter. They have the habit of leaping three or four yards at a time, nnd their speed is said to be marvellous. They kill game with a weapon resembling a blowpipe, n.' t !.v the usual method of blowing oi:t ti • a-r.v,..- with the breath, but by striking the end which contains the dart with the palm of the hand. ANSON'S RETURN" FROM VOYAGE ROUND THE WOULD. On June 15, 1744, Commodore Anson returned from circumnavigating the globe, and from a vcya ;• in other respects one of the most extraordinary ever made. Having been sent out to harass the coasts of Chili am] Peru, find to co-opera'e with Vernon for more complete mischii f to the Spaniard; across the isthmus of Panama, he found his squadron in the worst of conditions, not only vmy unseasonably delayed, but villainously stored. In doubling Cape Horn in March. 1741 - a s.;ason when lie had no business in so stormy a region—his store ship, the "Wager, v was \vjw!»»d. and the ies' of his f]e-'t seatter'-d. An-on. howeven-, hardilv tv.nvued hi- vn\ »•••;»!. ' ' • • . mi.- small re- ' mains of his li A, an.l her only ' men, he pui.-u.i! i.is ceumnssion and plundered the coasts of the I'a- ' cilie, burning towns and .»< i>;ing treasure. As tl>A d! -n>ters of \'<>rn..»n put an end to any operations ;a ross Panama, he (I.i: -d to .-.ofro tlv .Manilla e:al!eon. widen annnaliy conveyed spice ] and silver from tf>" iMiiM,Miir Plaids ] to Acapulco, in .Mexico. Cor this purpose he had to travm -e the whole Pacific, and on the way. (lnd : n;v tlv "C< n- , turion" and tlm two other ve.-sels too , much for his reduced crew, he-de- j stroyed them, and continued his voy- , age in the '-Centurion" alone. After , many hardships and adventures he reached China, and anchored at Macao, in Canton Ray, in November, 1742. He < there new-coppered the "Centurion." i and at the proper time sailing thence < with some fresh seamen, he fell in < with the Manilla galleon, and. after a < short but sharp contest, took it. though ■ mounting 40 guns and carrying COO i men. The treasure found on board was valued at £313,000. He sold the' ship in China, pursued his way heme * by the Cape of Good Hope, and after' j incredible hardships and passing 1 through the French fleet without see- 1 ing it, he at last reached Spithead. 1 There were great rejoicings on the an- 1 nouncement of his arrival with silver ' And gold to the amount of a million 1 and a quarter sterling. Anson was' made Rear-Admiral of the Fleet, and to show the nation that at length there was a decided triumph over the ( Spaniards, the whole of this wealth j V&S drawn in procession from Ports-' wrath to London in thirty waggons, ( escorted by the ship's crew, preceded j fey heir officers with drawn swords And with bands playing and flags fly-' ing, amongst them those taken from' ( the Spaniards, and conspicuously that j td the great galleon itself. j