WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 176, 11 August 1876, Page 15

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

The 'Army and Nary Gazette' says: "We believe that the French army, in spite of what has been written in this country on the subject, is making great progress in every way. Work is being done silently and well. We have justj ust seen the letter of an accomplished French officer, stating that the work until a few days ago was really too hard, and dwelling on the extra amount of duty necessitated by the training of reservists. We see that in Paris the cavalry regiments are being drilled to take the rail at night time, and by the lantern dimly burning a squadron rides up to the station, dismounts, piles arms, unsaddles, installs its chargers in the railway boxes, packs up hay and corn, and takes its place in the carriages. Once ready for a start, orders are taken to disembark, and man and steed are broken to this new service — conveyance of cavalry. An important measure of unification in the armament of the German army is about to be effected. The Bavarian, G-eneral Podewils, inventor of a system of muzzle-loading rifles formerly in use with Bavarian troops, has just constructed a metal cartridge fitting both, the regulation Werder (Bavarian) and the Mauser (Prussian) rifles. This cartridge has been issued already to the Bavarian troops, and is likely to be adopted also in Prussia." Eev. Eobert Wilson, in the ' Popular Science Monthly/ describes a natural basin on the " Woodboo" plantation, about forty miles from Charlestown. Walking towards a clump of tall cypresses, you suddenly find yourself on the brink of a miniature lake, the ground being firm up to the water's edge. An irregular basin, about fifty yards long by a dozen wide, is hollowed out in the blue limestone rock which underlies the soil but a few inches from the surface, and this is filled to the brim with slightly opalaine yet perfectly clear water. The bottom slopes abruptly from either side to the middle, where it is fully twelve feet deep, and there exists an irregular fissure extending the whole length of the basin, and varying from two to six inches (apparently) in width. The basin swarms with fish of every variety common to the waters of the region, and of every size. Schools of fry keep near the edge, hundreds in number, while in the deep waters may be seen full-grown perch and bream, catfish, black bass, pike and alewives. Watch the bottom for a while, and you will see these fish issuing from the fissure in the rock, the larger bass (four to eight pounders) never venturing far from it, and darting into it at the least alarm. I well remember a pike nearly three feet long, which I have often struck with a fishing cane, but which I never could capture. The largest fish will not take the hook, on account of the exposure to view ; but the smaller bream, perch and bass bite with great eagerness, and I have often caught from twenty to sixty in an afternoon, selecting the best fish by sight, and placing the baits at their very mouths. Sometimes the baßin is almost empty of fish ; an hour afterwards enough will be visible to overstock a dozen ponds of equal size. By day, eels are rarely visible, and you may stir up all the patches of grass along the bed without discovering one ; at night they are frequently caught, the negroes sometimes "gigging" them of the largest size. The temperature of the water is the same winter and summer — about 62 cleg.— and the fish bite best in the coldest weather. A singular phenomenon can now be seen in Clarion County, Pa., on a small stream known as Catfish Bun. For a long time inhabitants of that locality have noticed a commotion on the surface of the water, like that made by gas bubbling to the surface. These bubbles have been seen for many years, but no particular notice was taken of them until recently, when the quantity of escaping gas increased, and the surface of the stream for several rods Was covered with bubbles. A strong smell of gas also impregnated the air in the vicinity. Last month the place was visited by several gentlemen who had heard of the phenomenon. They became convinced, that it was gas, and determined to test its burning quail* ties. A bunch of rags was obtained at a farmhouse and thoroughly saturated with kerosene. To this a match was applied, and the burning ball thrown into the stream. Before it reached the*sun. face of the water, the gas ignited and a slight explosion followed. In a few moments the body of the gas burned steadily, and in every portion of the stream small flames sprang up where the gas escaped in moderate quantities. Since that day the gas has continued to burn, and the area of the stream covered by it has increased until now the fires extend a quarter of a mile up and down the run. Catfish Bun is a sluggish 'stream, bounded on either side by steep wooded bluffs. At night the scene along the burning stream is magnificent. The fires light up the dark forests, and sparkle on the waters, making a spectacle rarely witnessed. This stream is contiguous to oil territory, and the only satisfactory theory of the source of the gas is that it rises from petroleum deposits beneath the water, as the same phenomenon, although the gas was in less quantity, has been noticed in Oil Creek, — Oil City Letter tg New York ' Sun.'

The recent religious statistics published in France show a considerable decline in the number of Protestants. Before 1789 there •were 1,000,000 in the kingdom; now, although the population has increased, they only number 562,000, and are divided into two classes, Orthodox and Liberals. The Orthodox refuse the Liberals the right of appointing ministers salaried by the state, and persist in reserving that privilege for themselves.