Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-27
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| "A Charlotte, Mich, boy, 10 years old,
weighs go pounds.
Japan has 1000 newspapers. Not .
single journal existed there 25 years ago.
There are more ducks in the Chinese
Empire than in all the world outside of it.
Hail storms do not occur in we'll
wooded districts, according to the observa-
tions of noted swiss forester.
The largest reservoir or artificial lake
in the world is the great tank of Dhebar,
which covers an area OF 81 square miles.
| A queer old man in San Francisco, al
| though he has the whole of rickety tene-
ment TO himself habitually sleeps in an old
Saratoga trunk four feet long.
/ Two Frenchmen, the brothers FORE,
| have Invented a new kind of harp, made en-
| tirely of wood. Instead Of strings the in
| ventors use strips of American f1r.
| -Doniphan, Kan, is said to be the only
J town in the world that had q river and two
! railroads and lost them ali at a swoop. The
! shifting of the Missouri river channel did it.
The Shan Chinese, a people living be-
| tween Burmah and China, show their love
| for their parents by killing them and eating
| thrIn to save them from the misery of old
| asc.
The coasters of the Fiji Islands will not
eat until they can sit fiat upon the ground
| directly over a triangle made of three small
| fish bones; then they handle the food with
! the left hand.
AT Munich there is hospital which is
entirely supported by the sale of old steel
| pen-Dibs. collected from all parts of Ger
| many. They are made into watch springs,
| knives and razors.
"A hotel has been built in Hamburg en-
! tireIy of compressed wood as hard as iron,
and rendered absolutely proof against both
| fire and the attacks of insects by subsection
| to chemical processes.
The cannibal tribes near the Niger
| delta, in Angola, and in the Kongo Basin,
| are probably the only natives of Africa who
| habitually eat human flesh. They, however,
are numbered by millions.
Women are excluded from the galleries
japanese newspaper says, "they might be
moved by the debates there to further polit-
ical agita tion in the Empire"
Canada only lacks 237, 900 square miles
to be as large as the whole Continent of Eu-
rope; it is nearly 30 times as large as Great
Britain and Ireland, and is 10000 square
miles larger than the United States.
Stoves are compelled to do double
service in Russia. to warm two rooms at
the same time. They are built in the walls,
between two rooms and thus the apart
ments on each side are warmed by the same
stove.
Two Grand Rapids fishermen have dis
covered cave IS feet long and 40 feet wide
in hillside Silver beads, a copper hatchet
and copper kettle were found, and settlers
| say there are traditions of treasure being
buried there.
"A man in Muskegon, Mich, has gone
| TO making cuspidors of his own invention,
| which can be sold two for cents, or
| 80 cents dozen - so cheap that people
| will throw them away, instead of cleaning
them, after use.
Six partridge eggs found in a cornfeld
near Lexington, Mo-, were placed under a
hen and matched. \ motherly little bantam
hen has taken the birds under her wing
and, from the fuss and noise she makes over
them. seems to take delight in her downy
charges.
Young men in Mexico, when paying at
tentions to the young ladies, can do so at
very little expense. They are quite eager to
invite them to theaters,4 parties ETC. And
no wonder; for 1t is the custom in that coun-
try for the lady's father to pay for the tick
ets and furnish the carriage, etc.
In the japanese capital there is a
gigantic image of woman, made of wood
and plaster, and dedicated to Hachiman, the
god Of war In height it measures 81 feet;
the head alone, which is reached by wind
ing stairway in the interior of the figure,
being large enough to comfortably hold 20
persons,
The word "newss was not derived from
'new,n but from the initials of the points of
the compass. Early newspapers carried the
initials at the points Of a cross at the head of
a column, signifying that the matter con-
tanned therein was from the four quarters of
the globe.
A German rhymster has produced a
rhymed version of the discovery and explo-
ration of the Kongo Basin, which has re-
ceived much favorable notice, both for its
fair merit as literary composition and for
the considerable degree OF accuracy of the
facts narrated
The jumping and pole-vaulting feats Of
our contemporary athletes seem but the work
of babies and pygmies when compared with
the extraordinary doings of the old-time
acrobats II history is TO be believed,
PhaylluS of CrOtOna could stand and make
JG-foot jump on the dead level.
In person and attire the serupulous
cleanliness of the Malay woman is proverbial
throughout the Orient Twice daily she
bathes, changes her garments, and washes
and rinseS her luxuriant black hair whose
glossy lengths, frequently touching the
ground, render this no light undertaking.
"A brave young lady of Abilene, Kan,
saw a team walking away with q wagon the
other day. Stepping into the street she
SelZeQ Gne relnS anu DrOu90G Ln6 team 10 q
STOP What was her surprise to see an able
bodied young man arise from the box of the
wagon and thank her for her kindness, say
ing that he had been driving all night and
was taking nap, trusting to the team to go
all right.
Ivan Lvovitch Bakhmutoff arrived June
% in Moscow from Vladivostok, having trav-
eled all the way ON foot. The distance is H.
600 versts and it took him one year and Is
days to make it. He had to pass through
the wilds of Siberia, and at one time he
spent 40 days in succession in the prairies in
rain and storms. He wore out 10 pairs of
shoes on his long walk, and fed mostly on
crackers, getting piece of meat very sell
dom, only when he came to large city.
The most interesting African explora-
ton now in progress is that of the French
and German expeditions, which are on the
way to the Central Soudan, to visit the pop
ulous Mohammedan empires in the region
of Lake Tchad. This region is one OF the
most inaccessible parts of the world; and we
have had scarcely any information from the
Central Soudan for some years. The great
significance of the present expeditions is that
they will endeavor to open up direct COM
munication between the Soudanese States
and the outside world. 1t is probable that
wear or so will elapse before we know what
success they will attain.