Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-21

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food, and seem to be fourishing quite as
we'll here as in their native wilds. The
owner of this novel farm tells me that he
paid $1,000 apiece for his birds, which
weigh between 800 and 400 pounds apiece.
He says that each female lays an average
of twenty-five eggs a year, each egg
weighing about two and half pounds and
being worth 500. Twice year their
feathers are plucked-only on the wings
and tail, as their bodies are nearly naked
at best, and each picking" is worth about
$500.
Plucking the birds looks like a very
cruel performance, and it is no wonder
that they fight so savagely, sometimes kill
ing the men who attempt it. The only
way it can be done is by driving the bird
quietly into a corner of the corral, where
a man slips a sack over its head. Then
four strong men lay hold of him, quickly
tearing out the feathers, aud cutting those
that will not come. 1t takes an expert to
do it, or the poor creatures would bleed to
death. Their eggs can be gathered only
by strategy. The birds go
WILD WITH RAGE
At the sight of dog, a horse, or China
man, and one or the other of these is in
troduced into the inciosure, and while the
ostrich is occupied in trying to demolish
him, somebody slips over the fence and
steals the eggs. Notwithstanding his
trials the ungainly creature might
have one supreme consolation, if he only
knew it, viz: that he is likely to be still
in his prime after two or three genera
tions of men have gone to dust, the aver.
age life of an ostrich being 140 years.
A brand-new invention has lately been
tried here-that of converting pine leaves
into pulp, for the manufacture of strong
and superior grade of paper. 1t is done
by exposing the leaves TO the action Of
steam under pressure, as follows: The
pine leaves are put into steam-tight yes.
sci, which at its lower part communicates
with steam supply pipe, and at its upper
end with "worm," like that of still
Access to the worm is shut off, and steam
is admitted into the closed vessel so as tc
expose the fibers to its full effect, under
pressure, and also to its moisture and heat
The steam serves not only to soften the
fters, but also to expel all resinous, oily
and spirituous matters from the pores, and
to vaporize them, leaving the fibers intact
When properly softened, the filters are
liberated from their original contents, the
passage to the worm is opened so that the
vaporized substances may escape for pur
poses of distlllation. The fibers are now
| removed from the vessel and mashed int
pulp after the manner in which othel
| vegetable fibers are treated for the manu-,
fscture Of paper, papier-mache, ETC., ant
may be bleached by means of chemicals
Who has not heard Of
THE PHANTOM SHIP
OF California, whose wreck is buried il
the sands of the desert, and whose spectra
masts have Jared many treasure-seekers t.
destruction At the time of its discovery
several years ago, the press raved about it
historians speculated upon it, songster
sang it, novelists wove it with romances
and Joaquin Miller, the long haired rhym
ster of the Sierras dropping into poetry
with the facility of Silas Wegg-celebrateC
1t in these words:
"And said, A ship lies yonder dead;
And said, DoublOons lie sown in sand,
In yon far desert, dead aud brown.
Beyond where wave washed walls look dowI
As thick as stars over head
A great ship, lifting from the sand
And pointing heavenward hand"
This mysterious vessel lies not fal
northward of the line between Upper and
Lower California, in what is known as the
Colorado desert, and has just been redis.
covered by party Of prospectors. 1t was
first seen by Joseph Talbot, who gives il
as his opinion that the desert in which il
is stranded was once part of the Califor.
MIA Gulf; but that at some remote period
an earthquake threw up the chain of hills
across its mouth, entirely altering the
character Of the country The waters
gradually subsidized, but their mark may
still be plainly seen, some sixty or seventy
feet up the mountain sides, all around the
border
The ship may have been piratical craft
which lost her way she may have beer
the very vessel named by Admiral Viz.
caino, and mentioned by Father Juniperc
Sierra she may have been a ship of ex.
ploration, commanded by some Castiliar
grandee, which disappeared in the seven.
teenth century, with million doubloons
on board. None can tell anything about
her, beyond the bare fact that there she is
In the midst of the desert, "lifting heaven.
ward hand to warn or beckon
Though many have tried, no man has YET
been able to reach the spot. For miles
around it on every side the alkali crust
that covers the deep, hot, stinging sand is
not strong enough to support man or beast
There is no water for great distance, and
if man could wade through on foot where
it is impossible to compel a mule to carry
him, he could not be burdened with suffi-
cient food and water to last him through
the expedition, and without which he
must surely perish.
Last year, two determined miners were
sent out, equipped with shovels, tools, and
"grub stake" to dig up the craft and its
treasures. Time passed they did not re-
turn, and finally others were sent to look
for them-after the fashion of parties who
go in search of the north pole, and Others
who go in search of them. The latter,
coming in sight of the tall white masts,
found a pile of fossils and marine shells
monument, erected by those for whom
they were looking; and later, they came
upon two human skeletons, presumably
those of the miners, the flesh picked clean
from the bones by greedy vultures
Early in the coming October larger
party of prospectors are going to renew the
attempt, setting out we'll equipped from
San Diego, and then we hope that the
long-kept secrets of the phantom ship will
be disclosed FANNIE B. WARD.