, 1876-11-10
Tho Worlds Merchant shippinn

From the returns on the prograss -,
British shipping, recently issued bv a.
Board of Trade, we learn that the sb;-
ping of the British Empire aggregatp.
LA, 257 tons, of which 6,087. .7Ol 49,
belong TO the United Kingdom. T5ns
the United Kingdom owns nearly 6va'
sixths of the shipping of the Britisb
Empire. Other maritime countr;oa
that is, the United States and all ~
nations OF Europe, except Russia, Spa;n
and Portugal, possess an aggregate ton-
mage of no more than IL ,225S2l1 +ona
The shipping of the British Empire n
mere capacity, therefore, without refer
ence to the quality, age or character of
the vessels, is equal to wo-thirds of tba
shipping of all other maritime conn.
tries. Next to ourselves, the Unifad
States have the greatest merchant nav
Taken altogether, it has tonnage of
4,772, 2l7 tons, but of this total no NOR
than |, ,553, 1877 tons are engaged in tbe
foreign trade. The remaining {. $50 000
tons are employed in the lake. ri; err aIJ
coasting trade. Into this latter trade
no foreign vessel, and even no foreign
built vessel, is admitted; and the i'm.
mense seaboard and vast lakes and riv.
ers, being thus retained for the excln.
sive employment of United States shin.
ping, of course support very large
fleet. But the marine engaged in the
foreign trade-which, being open IN
competition, is alone comparable with
our owns, it will be seen. smaller
than the merchant navies of our colo
nies and dependencies; and it shows NO
tendency to increase. Next to the Uni.
ted States, Norway possesses the great
est tonnage, 1,245, ,223; Germany Dos
sesses the next largest, loss, ,263; ana
France AMIDST equals Germany, 1887.
273. Thus France, with her vast sea-
board, occupies only the fifth rank
among maritime countries, if we reckon
by tonnage only. We need hardly saw.
however, that it is the steam fleet which
at present determines the maritime rank
of a country. In steamers we are still
more superior to the rest of the world
than we are made to appear by the fore
going statistics. The steam tonnage of
the British Empire is 2,072 ,S04 tons;
that of the United Kingdom alone.
1,940, 1877; while all other countries own
no more than 1888, 345 tons. Thus the
United Kingdom alone has a greater
steam navy than all other maritime
countries together. As before, the Uni
ted States stands next to Great Britain.
with 976, 1878 steam tons in the coasting
trade, and 191 ,9S9 in the foreign trade;
a total of ,168, ,967. France now, how.
ever, takes the third place, with 194,545
tons, or little more than the American
tonnage in the foreign trade. Very
close upon France comes Germany,
with 1S9, 1898 tons, while Norway, which
takes precedence of both Germany and
France in aggregate tonnage, is left far
behind in the race here.-LondoHE Econ
Onist.
The WOMEN OF SERvIA.-A CORE
spondent of a London paper says of the
Servian women: "They wore on their
heads red kerchiefs, with the ends hang
ing down their backs, and bound on
their heads by velvet hllet, embroid-
cred with coins, in which were frequent
ly stuck flowers, chiefly of red and
white, but invariably with the brilliant
apron sewed down to the skirt, and often
with the gaudily embroidered stom-
acher; or, perhaps, breastplate would
be the more descriptive term, studded
with coins on black velvet. The work
ing dress Of the women in the fields is
a short jacket, braided and slashed in
the fashion, and of the cut of that worn
by the men; red and yellow kerchiet
crossed over the bosom; o petticoat,
striped mostly in the parallel stripes Of
Moorish pattern, but occasionally IN
checkers, which makes the pattern
tartan; a tapestry-like apron of brighter
colors than the petticoat; and bare legs
and feet. The men are q fine race
tall, with certain stateliness and self
respect in every gesture; their faces are
almost always good, and often quite in
tellectual and chivalric; but in muscu.
lar development, the peasant woman Of
Servia can give their husbands stone
and beating"
VoRAcIoUs.- BY way of making an
experiment, took five little sparrow
hawks from q. high tower, and put them
in cage on the balcony. The parent
bird Immediately brought them food,
and was not surprised to see that this
food consisted of twelve mice, four large
lizards, and six mole crickets. A meal
of like>size was brought every day tora
month: At one time there were fifteen
field mice, two little birds. and young
rabbit. Last year I made the same ex-
pertinent, with the same general result,
one meal consisting of twelve young
nightingales, one lark, three moles, and
one hedgehog. The parents always ate
the heads of their prey, and pickee
from the bodies of the dead birds some
of their feathers. In the case OF the
hedgehog, the only part not eaten py
these voraeious little creatures was the
II i. l.. --l...nl, Ton mIlGn