The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-02-23
THE irrigation works of Colorado are

THE irrigation works of Colorado arc
on a great scale. The "Grand River
Ditch" in western Colorado, at the be-
ginning, is thirty-five feet wide ut the
bottom, fifty feet wide at the top, five
feet deep for the first ten miles, then
diminishing until the last two and u
half arc sixteen feet wide ut the bottom,
with three feet deep of water. The
grade is II little over twenty-five inches
to the mile, which gives n strong current.
One company engaged in the irrigatirg
business has constructed over 100 miles
of canals in the Rio Grandc :allcy ut a
cost of $3.50, 000.
IT is so difficult. to distinguish be-
tween Chinese faces that the courts of
San Francisco are likely to be imposed
upon, some other Chinamnn than the
one charged with offence sometimes APP
pcaring to answer. A case of the kind
happened only n few days ago, when a
Chinese merchant sent a substitute into
court to be tried. The deception was
discovered, however, and both men were
punished. 1t is now customary to cX-
anime closely all Chinese offenders when
they are arrested, and take an inventory
of all molds and scars on their faces.
A LATELY published report on the
British army gives the number of re-
cruits inspected for 1888 at SO, 436, of
whom 1885 were rejected as unfit for
service. There seems to be no further
reason for the popular belief that Ireland
fights England's battles, for the recruits
born in England numbered 773 per
1000. Scotland gave but 81, and Ire.
land 1875 per 1000. The number of
short men offered was unusually large,
so much SO as to give rise to a question
whether En%glishmen were decreasing in
stature.
FISHING at Nassau is accompanied
with some cccentricities. At certain
seasons of the year the jew fish lies dor
mant about the sandy bottom and refuses
to take the bate. The native fishermen
seeing through the transparent waters
the fish in this condition dive down and
place a stout hook in his mouth! The
fish cannot well refuse the bait in these
circumstances.
PROF. a.. LANDMARK, director of the
Norwegian fisheries, has studied the
%capability of salmon to jump waterfalls.
He has seen a salmon jump sixteen feet
perpendicularly in the DRAINS River, at
Haugscnd, where two great masts have
been placed across the river for the
study of the habits of the salmon, so
that exact measurements may be effected.
A PETITION has been filed in the
Fulton Ca, Superior Court, by Il
woman, who asked permission to change
her present name, which she received
with her second husband, to hat of her
first, "who was an affectionatc, true
md devoted husband" while her sec
ond (now dcad), she AYERS, made her
life a burden.
A CLEAR case of ~''frceZe OUT comes
to us from Amcricus, Ga. Two men
seated themselves on a large block of
ice on q wager which should remain
thus seated the longest. One of them
hunted warmer quarters after sitting it
out forty-eight minutes, and the other
contestant got the belt.
WITHIN the century ending in 1927
forty-two persons died in the town Of
bingham, Mass, aged 90 years and up
ward. Two of these were ccntenarians.
The compile of these statistics himself
died in 1S47 in his nine-first year.
bingham has just celebrated the 250th
anniversary of her settlement.
CHOLERA failed to strike a single one
Of the 1900 women employed in the
national tobacco factory at Valencia,
Spain, though the disease ragged vio-
lcntly in that city, and the Medical World
recalls that tobacco workers were also
noticed to enjoy exemption from attack
during an epidemic at Amsterdam.