The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1891-01-02
SOME CURIOUS THINGS.
ODD AND BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS
FOUND IN THE FAR EAST.

BEADS.
The forest dwelling peoples of the fur
ther east have an odd instrument for
making fire. Very seldom, SO far as we
observed, do they employ the proverbial
method Of rubbing" two sticks-wbich |
Is not rubbing ut all. Near the coast |
every man carries a bit Of pitcher in the |
siri box or bamboo slung at his waist, |
chip of plate, English or Dutch, and
q handful Of dry fungus. Holding this |
tinder under his thumb upon the frag- |
ment Of earthcnware, he strikes the side |
of the siri box sharply, and it takes fire. |
But this method can only be used by |
tribes which have such communication |
with the foreigner as supplies them with
European goods. The inland peoples use
q more singular process. They carry |
short cylinder Of lead, followed roughly |
to a cuplike form ut one end, which fits |
a joint of bamboo. Placing this cylinder |
In the palm of the left hand, they fill the |
cup with tinder, adjust the bamboo over |
it, strike sharply, remove the covering rs
quickly, and the tinder is alight. OBJ
servers who take 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, earthenware is
hardly needed except for luxury They
make charms and fetiches of dried clay.
MEASURING VALUES.
But in Borneo the Dyak peoples have
a class of foreign earthenware singu.
IarIx, ty,fa No,
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
Malay signifies cannon, twenty feet
long, perhaps, and Dyak signifies o
vessel eighteen inches high or more.
These things are measures of value,
divided into imaginary fractions. There
are three varieties of this earthenware-
the gust, which represents about $500
sterling, the naga and rusa, much less
valuable. The first is certainly Chinese,
and the last probably, but perhaps they
never came from the continent. At some
date unknown the north of Borneo was
occupied by Chinese colony which
must have numbered millions. This
great time, when third part of the isl
and was cultivated and densely peopled,
may have been 800 years ago. But the
first paragraph in the ANNALS Of Bruni"
recognizes n powerful Chinese kingdom
of Batangan in the Fifteenth century,
we are not to digress into that fascinat.
ing theme, however. The Celestials
were eXterminated about two genera
tions ago; an old friend of ours, the
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 Nasa
may be Hindoo or japanese, Of very re-
mote antiquity; both peoples had great
settlements in ths fsls.y at some TINA
Buddhist remains Of imlhey have left
GUS Things, for reasons that have been
suggested. But the recollection calls ia
Mino some extraordinary objects of tho
same class, In n sense, which are treas.
~sed on the other side of the world.
WONDERFUL BEADS.
The Aggry and the Popo beads, which
serve for jewels in West Africa, are glass
assembling earthenwaro Of unknown
manufacture, of immemorial ANTIQUITY.
and beyond modern skill to counterfeit.
.Most European nations, probably, have
tried their hand at initiating the Appry
Dead. The shrewdest chemists and the
eleverest artificers of Venice and Bir.
1hlngham have done their best; the not.
ters OF England, France and Germany
nave exhausted their resources, but in
vain. 1t does not seem such q difficult
enterprise, however. The beads are ir
regular in shape and size; many bays
befn sawn in two. Thsy have an opaoue
grOund-ochre yellow IN the most vain.
able species-but SO various that thi,
point gives no trouble. A rough orna.
meiat of circles in another hue runs
through the Material from side to side q,
end 20 end. Gcre, again, imitation seems
easy, to the craftsmen Of Venice in par.
ticular; but appearances are deceptiye
evldontly. The Popo bead, less valuable.
but valuable enough, is blue glass, trans.
parent, but so manufactured that it show.
q DUH yellow against the light. These
Things sre all found in the earth; but. SO
Tar as can be ascertained, they neve,
turn up in company with bones or otbe,
signs of burial, which, to our mind, is the
most curious fact of all. That they ara
ancient Egyptian is certainty.
Many hundreds, if not thousands, ,wers
taken in tue sack of the palace at Coo.
massie, strung, in general, upon that
very pretty cord which we mentioned.
with gold nuggets beaten ffas, and cubes
OF coral anu tufts Of colored silk inter |
spersed. Very handsome they Looked.
no doubt, upon the smooth brown skin
OF tne royaI danes. A pretty bracelets
from Coomassie Is made of triangular
pieces cut frsm the rib Of n shell, snow
~hlte' strung in groups alternately with
curiosities saved in that loot bear onlw q
miserable proportion to those which men
or taste admired in the palace and the
Dig houses OF tho caboceers. But one stood
was carried away-as memorial for tbs
Princess of Walos-amonp the hundreds