Defies Time.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8035, 23 January 1906, Page 4

Defies Time.

Teak grows only in India and Burmah, and in old palaces and temples it has held indestructible place for many generations, From the color of sandal-wood it changes with age to walnut brown. Big unpainted bungalows standing upon pillars of the wood, sided with it, roofed with it, latticed with it, defy heat and rain, and grow rich upon their poverty of oil and varnish. Vines enwrap them, flowers garnish them, years add moss and lichen, but nothing destroys save llame. Railway carriage wheels, spikes for laying rails, pegs for bolts, implements of all sorts are made of teak. No one save a shipwright guesses how many parts of a ship are built from this muscle of Nature. The Burmese wood-carver knows his art is almost hewn in stone, when he coaxes leaf and flower, sacred cow and festival cart, grotosque sprites and elves, gods and Buddhas, out of rugged trunks. The little prow of the sampan (native boat), shaped like a wish bone, the plinths of stranger pillars, the embellishments of the temples, the playthings of the children—all these are carved from the indestructible teak.

The Tints of the Ocean. The clouds and the color of the slty are often reflected in the water, but even as the air has the glories of the sunset, so water has its changing hues, independent of mere reflection. Disregarding the tints of brown and olive, which muddy sediment from the land gives to the sea water, there are many other causes for the colors of the ocean, some of which are very interesting. On almost every long voyage at sea, spots of reddish brown color are noticed at one time or another. When a few drops of the discolored water are examined under a microscope, myriads of minute cylinder shaped algie are seen, some separate, some jointed together in scores. Imagine the number of tiny plants which go to make up half a mile of this " sea saw-dust "asit is called ! It is this organism which has given the name to the Red Sea, although it also abounds in other waters. Sometimes the water far from land will be seen to be of a chocolate hue for an extent of several miles, and this is caused by millions upon millions of minute one-celled animals which lash themselves along, each on his erratic individual course, by means of the finest hair like threads of Cilia.

A herd of elephants is one family, and similarity of features can be traced in them with ease. In one herd of twenty-one the trunk of each was long, the same breadth throughout, and not tapered to a point. In another of thirty-five the eyes of all were of one colour. If an elephant becomes separated from bis own family he is not allowed to join another. To such a length is this carried, that when one was driven into an enclosure with others, and sought protection smong the herd, he was driven off by heavy blowi from their trunks,