The Dickinson press., 1889-12-14
SOME CURIOUS THINGS.
ODD AND BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS
FOUND IN THE FAR EAST.

1he forest Dweuer's Method OF Starting
Fires-Cumbersome "Coins" of the Dyak
Peoplcs-NIany and Interesting Kinds of
Beads.
The forest dwelling peoples of the fur
ther east have an odd instrument for
making fl-e. Very seldom, so fur as VIC
observed, do they employ the ~proverbial
method Of "rubbing" two sticks-which
is not rubbing at all. Near the coast
every man carries q bit of pitcher in the
siri box OF bamboo slung at his waist, n
chip of a plate, English or Dutch, and
ahandful of dry fungus. Holding this
finder under his thumb upon the frag-
ment of c%arthenware, he strikes the side
of the siri box sharply, and it takes fire.
But this method 4 only be used by
tribes which have such communication
with the foreigner as supplies them with
European goods. The inland peoples use
a more singular process. They carry a
short cylinder of lead, followed roughly
to a cuplike form at nj end, which fits
n joint of bamboo. Placing this cylinder
i'll the palm of the left hand, they fill the
cup with finder, adjust the bamboo over
1t, strike sharply, remove the covering rs
quickly, and the finder is alight. Oh
servers who take n narrow view have de-
clared that the earliest art practiced by
human beings after they escape from
mere barbarism is pottery. These races
have long passed that stage, but we do
not recall any evidence that they use the
art. The fact is that, in countries which
produce the bamboo, earthenwarc is
hardly needed except for luxury. They
make charms and fetiches of dried CLAY.
MEASURING VALUES.
But in Bornco the Dyak peoples have
q class of foreign carthenware singu-
larly interesting. AS Malays employ
brass guns for their currency, so the
Dyaks employ antique vases. In neither
instance do the actual %'coins" pass from
hand to hand, since by brass gun a
Malay signifies a cannon, twenty feet
long, perhaps, and a Dyak signifies a
vessel eighteen inches high or more.
These things are measures of value,
divided into imaginary fractions. There
are three varieties of this carthcnware-
the gust, which represents about $500
sterling, the maya and rusa, much less
valuable. The first is certainly Chinese,
and the last probably, but perhaps they
never came from the continent. Atsome
date unknown the north of Borneo was
occupied by a Chinese colony which
must have numbered millions. This
great time, when a third part of the isl
and was cultivated and densely peoplrl,
may have been 500 years ago. But the
first paragraph i'll the Canals of Bruni'
recognizes Il powerful Chinese kingdom
of Ba1angan in the Fifteenth century,
we are not to digress into that fascinat-
ing theme, however. The Celestials
were cXtcrminatcd about two genera
tions ago; an old friend of ours, tic
great Chief Casing, still carried ten pig
tails attached to his sword of state
trophies of his fathers valor, probably.
Chinese merchants have tried again and
again TO counterfeit the old jars, as have
the Dutch, but they never succeeded in
passing off their limitations. The Maya
may be llindoo or japanese, of very re-
mote antiquity; both peoples had great
settlements in the island at some time
beyond human memory. They have left
Buddhist remains of importance here
and there.
We secured no samples of these curl
GUS things, for reasons that have been
suggested. But the recollection calls to
mind som extraordinary objects of the
same class, III Il sense, which are treas
ured on the other side of the world.
WONDERFUL BEADS.
h Aggly and the Popo beads, which
serve for jewels in West Africa, are glass
resembling c~arthcnware of unknown
manufacture, of immelnorial antiquity,
and beyond modern skill to counterfeit,
Most European nations, probably, have
tried their hand at initiating the Agerv
bead. The s%hrewdcst chemists and the
cleverest artiiiccrs of Venice and Biz
mingham have done their best; the pot
tiers OF England, France and Germany
have exhausted their resources, but in
vain. 1t does not seem such u difficult
enterprise, however. The beads are ir-
regular in shape and size; many have
been sawn in two. They have an opaque
ground-ochre yellow in tho most valu-
able species-but SO various that this
point gives no trouble. A rough orna-
AH''i VI AL tllOlIlCI uuC IulS
through the material from side to side or
end to end. Here, again, imitation seems
easy, to the craftsmen of Venice in bar
ticular; but appearances are deceptive,
evidently. The Popo bead, less valuable,
but valuable enough, is blue glass, trans
parent, but SO manufactured that it shows
adult yellow against the light. These
things are all found i'll the earth; but, SO
far as can be Sscertained, they never
turn up in company with bones or other
signs of burial, which, to our mind, is the
most curious fact of all. That they are
ancient Egyptian is u certainty.
Many hundreds, if not thousands, We're
taken in the sack Of the palace at Coo
massie, strung, in general, upon that
very pretty cord which we mentioned.
with gold nuggets beaten flat, and cubes
of coral and tufts of colored silk inter-
spersed. Very handsome they looked,
no doubt, upon the smooth brown skin
OF the royal DANES. A pretty bracelet
from Coomassie is made of triangular
pieces cut from the rib of Il shell, snow
White, strung i'll groups alternately with
these small hattened nuggets. But the
oaNCo III tlldt lOOC pear ONLY n
miserable proportion to those which men
OF taste admired in the palace and the
big houses of the caboceers. But one stool
was carried away-as memorial for the
Princess OF Wales-among the hundreds
adorned with silver which lay in all d.
rections. Very charming were many of
these-the Ashantee artist seemed to de-
vote his best attention to the stools.
Seven were piled, as if for removal. in
the courtyard Of a great house, each
plated with repousse work, showing
much saste and ingenuity of design.
These people have ''gifts."-Saturday
Review.
The Corpse Ran Away.
A Baltimore dispatch to The Chicag,
Herald says: A telephone message t,
h Central station last night conyevef
the information that a man had bee,
killed in the Baltimore and Potoma,
tunnel, and requested file nrnsanoo oe