MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

West Coast Times, Issue 340, 25 October 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

(rROM TIIK HOME NEWS.) It is curioii3, sa/s a correspondent, that, just as our Eastern pearl fishery began to fail,^ a considerable supply of excellent pearls were derived from the rivers of Scotland. Mr TJnger, of Edinburgh, the chief dealer in thesejScottish pearls, which-, are very beautiful, nnd the instigator of the trade in 4Scotland as now carried on, pays a great deal of« money annually, chiefly to the peasantry in the neighborhood of the pearl-producing rivers," for these Caledonian gems, many of which are of great individual value, the best kind ranging in price from Lfl to L 50 — as much as LIOO, indeed, has been obtained for a fine specimen. It is not unlikely, I think from the impetus "given to the fishery by the dealers, that the streams of Scotland will speedily be exhausted, for mussels in Scotland are not found in beds 7 as in" the ' sea, but individually or iv very small' clusters, which ,of Course are greedily seized upon and at once destroyed in the hope of obtaining a few of the gems. As regards the productiveness of the Scottisli pearl-mussel, a practical hand states that one pearl on an average is found in every thirty shells, but as only one pearl in every ten is saleable, it requires the destruction of 130 shells in order to find that one gem. Of course shells are occasionally found that contain a great many pearls, but these are an exception to the rule, and it may be easily calculated how long the capital stock ofany river will^stand out against the determined efforts of the peasantry surrounding it, when they-'know that by a little exertion they can pay their rent by collecting pearls. . Apprehensions are entertained In America of the drying up of the " father of Waters." A Minnesota journal asserts that old steamboat men declare that the signs of the past four or five seasons point to^the permanent drying up of the Mississippi river, reducing it from a stream'navigable for the largest boats the whole season to one of uncertain navigation like the Missouri, passable at certain seasons, and the rest of the year shrunk to a mere creek, winding along- among sand-bars and shoals. There is certainly some change taking place in our climate that is affecting our lakes and rivers. The average of water is steadily decreasing. Our "June rise, 1 ' once as certain as the coming of the month, has totally ceased. Rains which would have once swelled the river vseveral feet now do not seem to affect it in the least. All the western rivers are , gradually shrinking up. But the development of our railroad system makes river navigation no longer the necessity it once was. , v A slab to the memory of the late Lord Palmerston has just been placed in the "Statesmen's corner" of Westminster Abbey, directly over the grave. It is oi beautifully polished granite, neatly and effectively ornamented round the borders with flower- work. It is about eight feej long by three wide, and in the centre £ large cross has been cut into the slab. Th< only inscription on it, which is recorded or the left border of the memorial, is " Henrj John, Viscount Palmerston, October 18 186 J." Il was recently stated in. a French journal that it is a Parliamentary train which conveys. English Memtfers of Parliament up to tpwn ancji back" again at night. A letter from a Brazilian officer describes _ some of the - beauties of soldiering mi South America :—": — " Amphibious creatures abound. In my own tent I have already killed four sn*ike3. Every morning I find myself accompanied" by a body guard of fifteen or twenty monstrous toads, which have quietly speut 'the night under the corners of the hides that serve me as a bed. Enormous alligators promenade regularly from lake to lake everj night. In a major's tent, the other day, one was killed 'that measured about sis feet in length, and an unfortunate Bra zilian soldier was unexpectedly taken of: his legs by one of of these horrible crea- , tures and carried into the nearest lake." The English language seems likely to hi amplified, if not improved, by the luxurian imagination of our American cousins. Ai American paper gives the following specimen of the last new things ,in New York slang. A fast young man when thirsty— and fast young men are always thirstj —asks for " a wash ;" when he eats "he wrestles his hash ;" when he is drunk he is " swipsey ;" when be gambles he H slings the pa-steboards :" when he sleeps he is "under the blinks;'' and when he steals he '• goes through somebody."* His friends are " gay ducks," no 'slouches,' •" bully boys," and "bricks'." His enemies are "hits" and "suckers." A clever writer is said to "sling a nasty .pen,' a* good dancer to throw herself into a v dangerous " attitude. A man is •" nibs" and a woman a " hen," During the last twelve moiiths the number of railway' travellers in France lvus been 71,000,000. In that period one traveller in every 15,000,000 has been killed : and one un every 900,000 wounded. This is a much smaller propoUidh of casualties than occurs to travellers on ordinary roads. | " Home News.' 1 - At a -typefounder's feast, held at the Crystal Palace the other day, Mr Caslon mentioned the curious fact that matrices from punches originally cut by William Caslon in 1725 were now tuken down for daily use, after having been 'laid aside since 1772 as obsolete — fwarly fifty years after their first invention — " for,'' said Mr Caslon, " with the returning taste for the beautiful in form — a necessary consequence of the greater popularisation of art in our times — the old-faced type' had come to be regarded as the most elegant letters within the range of typography." An inquest was held a few days since at Appleford, Berks, on the body of an infant child, aged six weeks. The child was placed by its mother in a cradle, and shortly afterwards the cat jumped in and laid on the child's face. The mother, not appending any danger, but rather pleased than otherwise at' what she thought the cat's affection, went and* called a neighbor to see the two lying asleep, and on their going into the house I they/ound, on removing the cat, that the infant had been smothered. The jury returned a verdict of— "-smothered by a cat." - . y A shocking domestic tragedy was enacted the other night in Bethnalgreen. About 10"" o'clock a woman suddenly appeared in •the street, covered with blood flowing from gash in her throdt t and from wounds on h#r hands' and arms,, and said to some neighbors, "See what my has done !" She then became iifseasible, and was taken to tlie London Hospital. The police, on entering the 'woman's* house, found her husband (whose name is Geo. .Moyce, a shoemaker), with his throat cut-, and the windpipe 'so completely • severed j that he died shortly afterwards. The I woman has not been able to speak sufficently to give an account of the transaction, but is expected to recover. The unhappy couple were the parents of six children, the eldest under twelve years of age. / < J