Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-21
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| -CaIifornia has snake with two heads,
and it is not poisonous either.
In China slips of mulberry bark serve
as money in the interior towns.
The Burmese, Karens, Hangere and
Ghans use lead and silver in bullion for cur.
rency.
"A Kentucky paper tells of seven ears
of corn each Weighing pound that grew on
one stalk.
The number of mail trains leaving and
arriving at Chicago every day is 249, which
is equalled by no other city.
Chicago has q frontage of % miles on
Lake Michigan and navfgable frontage on
Chicago river of about % miles.
"A Maine girl has the faculty, when
blindfolded, of taking a photograph and
accurately describing the person or object
portrayed thereon.
"A Michigan man writes postal card
every day to the President and the Com
missioner of Pensions reminding them that
II years ago he applied for pension and
has not yet received it.
Tea is highly esteemed in nearly every
ancient Asiatfc city near the sea, and was at
one time used as royal gift from the Chi
nese monarchS and great merchants to the
potentates Of the East.
There is 40 sort of cactus consumed in
great quantities by the Arizona Indians.
the seeds of which pass through the body
undigested. The latter are collected, washed,
roasted, ground and eaten, being considered
great dish.
"A pointer is so called because of its
habit sof stopping and pointing at game with
its nose, while the setter gets its name from
like habit, excepting that it crouches in
stead of standing when pointing under sim.
liar circumstances.
-Dalmatian, or coach, dogs are said to
have been first bred in Dalmatia, but it is by
the last quoted name that they are best
known. This arises from the fact of their
being kept in stables and are nearly always
seen running after carriages.
Some of our shy wood birds avoid hu-
nan habitations in their wanderings, but
the wisest go where gunpowder is dear and
pass the winter in the swamp forests Of
lucatan, or even farther South. in the path.
less woods of Guiana and Eastern Brazil.
When Currier Downing, of Ripley,
Mo-. left home 10 years ago he planted an
acorn in the dooryard. When he returned
the other day he found that his acorn had
produced an oak tree nine feet in circum-
ference, with branches extending 40 feet.
The Hawaiian Islands were discovered
by Getano a Spanish navigator, in l542 The
independence of these islands was recog-
nized by the United States in 1920, and more
England and France later in the same year.
Indians are fond of the larve of many
insects and they do not despise slugs as an
article of food. Roasted crickets are n fav-
orite diet with them. particularly in Cali
fornia and Utah. Grasshoppers furnish
many tribes with large part of their SUBJ
SiStence.
In june 1868, the amount of gold coin
and bullion in the United States Treasury
was only s75,OO1OO0; in 1889 it had risen to
over $500, 900 900. In the various national
banks it stood at So 900 0o0 it has risen to $780,
100000. In silver there is a still more remark
able increase
The migratory birds of the Eastern
States have a curious habit of following es-
tablished routes of travel. Countless thou
sands of water birds, for instance. cross the
Mexican border near the mouth of the Rio
Grande, probably to avoid the broad sand
wastes that skirt the upper river valley.
I'm the interior towns of Northern China
slips of the bark of the mulberry tree bear
ing the Imperial "chop'' and stamp which
denotes their worth have long been used as
we use bank notes. Marco Polo found this
kind of money there in his time, and they
still have an extensive local circulation.
During the period of 20 years, from
1867 to 1885, inclusive, there were granted in
the United States 32S, ,716 DEGREES for divorce.
The number in 1867 was 9,937 The increase
during the 20 years was steady and IA pid, the
number for the last year of the period being
25 535, an increase Of nearly l57 per cent in
the 20 years.
A flame, before it falls into one of the
three recognized classes of Parsee sacred
fires in India, has to undergo certain cere-
monials corresponding to the dignity of the
order to which it is destined to. belong.
Thus only thirtieth part roughly of the
expenditure and religious recitation would
cOnSeCrata DadCan
than when n Beheram fire is to be installed.
AS soon as Chinese girl is betrothed
she is placed in different relations to the
world generally. She is no longer allowed
such freedom as hitherto, although that
may have been little enough. She cannot
go anywhere, because 1T would be 1ncon-
venient-she might be seen by some men,
Der of the family into which she is to marry
than which it is hardly possible TO think
any thing more horrible.
On several occasions pipes of peace and
other symbolic nissives have been received
by the President of the United States from
various tribes OF Indians. The Moquis of
of wild honey wrapped in the inner husk Of
an ear of corn. He was requested to take q
piece of the husk, chew it and spit it out
upon the ground in order that the country
might have rain.
A full-grown Greenland whale yields
vessels usually bring it in pieces of 10 or II
blades each, but sometimes, il the voyage
is long, the sailors have time to strip off
each blade and divest it of its hairs. In pre-
pairing them for use the blades are cleaned
and softened by boiling for about two hours;
while still hot they are fixed in large wood
en- vises and shaved into the required Sizes
The most ancient fire at present in India
Is at the secluded village of Oodwada near
Busar, and the Parsees make it point to
repair to the Behe, am fire there in large
numbers during the months that are
specially allotted to the presiding genius Of
fire. 1t was consecrated about Il centuries
ago by the ancestors of the present Parsees
in conmemoration of the voyage they had
in their emigration from Persia TO India
The priests vowed to institute the file in
the event of their ships landing them in
safety on Indian soil The fire is fed at five
stated times during each "a hours with
andal wood. DenZoin and quantities Of
,ther odorous materials, as well as with very