St. Landry democrat., 1891-12-05
CURIOUS FACTS.

| Londoner.
Yuma, Cal, once produced oysters
| fourteen inches in diameter.
There are twice as many large game
animals in Maine now as there were ten
years ago.
Damascus is to be lighted by cleo
tricity, while Smyrna is to have an cleo
trio railway.
1t took 16S newspaper columns of
nonpariel type to contain the last list OF
delinquent taxpayers of Denver, Col.
The gauge of the Roman chariots 5000
years ago was four feet eight and n half
| inches-same as standard railroad gauge
of to day.
The temple of HON month, at hike
cami begun in 1892 and finished in 1907,
is one of the most famous religious struc
lures in Japan.
Several hundred eagles swooped down
on Bjegord, Russia, and devoured ten
horses, several sheep, and vast number
of smaller animals.
The father of one of the largest prop.
ertv holders in London is buried in a
glass case on top of one of the finest
buildings in the city.
A cat in Texas has developed such an
affection for dog that she is learning
to bark so that she can converse with
him with greater freedom.
A woman in Hancock County, Maine,
who was afraid to drive her horse across
railroad track, was bitterly disap-
pointed in attempting to go around 1t.
Damp weather in town in Kansas
caused package of 5000 postage stamps
to be glued together in solid block,
making it necessary to return them all to
Washington.
Caterpillars from ten to twelve inches
long are said to be not uncommon in
Australia, while species which vary in
length from six to eight inches are stated
to be numerous.
In India, so it is told, the common
custom is for the barber to go the homes
of his customers. He starts out early in
the morning, and, should he find Gus
toner in bed, he shaves him without
arousing him.
There are said to be about four hum
dred gypsies in the Northern States.
The men are nearly all thinkers and pro-
TESS to make living mending pots and
kettles, but fortune-telling by the wo-
men Is the great source of the family
revenue.
The new compound ten wheeled engines
built for the Mexican Central Railroad
by a Rhode Island concern were found
too large to pass the Ratsn tunnel ofthe
Santa Fe road, and they had to be shorn
of every projecting part. Even then they
just managed to pass through.
One of the largest species of pufball
mushroom was found growing on
recent night in Carl Castelliun's garden
on High street, Newburyport, Mass. 1t
measured twenty eight inches around and
twenty-four inches high, and weighed
three pounds and thirteen ounces.
1t is said to be a whole days task for
two men to fell a mahogany tree. On
account of the spurs which project from
the base of the trunk, a scatfold has to
be erected and the tree cut off above the
spurs, leaving thus stump of the very
best wood from ten to fifteen feet high.
When Chinese sets type he places
them in a wood frame 22xl5 inches.
This frame has twenty mine grooves, each
for line of type, and the type rests in
clay to the depth of a quarter of an inch.
The type are Of wood, perfectly square,
and the compositor handles them with
pincers.
Lepers in India were treated with
shocking inhumanity before Christianity
entered that country. Many of them
we're buried alive The English rulers
have put stop to this custom, and for
fourteen years there has been special
Christian mission to the 135, 900 lepers
in India.
There are said to be sixteen species of
American trees the wood of which, when
we'll seasoned, will sink into water. The
heaviest of these is black ironwood,
which is thirty per cent. heavier than
water. A species of oak grows in Texas
and New Mexico which, when green, will
sink almost as quickly as iron.