Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-26
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


-Mackerel bave appeared off the Pacific
coast.
-Delirium tremens kills four people per
day in England.
England and ireland together drank
4aG0O, 600 gallons more beer than Germany
last year.
The great bell of Moscow (Which has
never been hung) is 81 feet high and 6s feet
in circumf ference.
Indians enlisted in the cavalry service
are easily disciplined. learn the drill readily
and soon acquire the esprit de corps.
The famous Anaconda mine having
swallowed several fortunes, has begun at
last to disgorge and is producing heavily
In iceland, with $4,000 population, =
murder which has Just occurred is the first
for Sc years, and the whole island is in an in
tense state OF excitement.
Two hundred and twenty-five loaded
four-wheeled coal cars on the Lehigh Valley
Railroad are said to have constituted the
heaviest train ever hauled over any road in
America.
-Rattlesnakes are raised for their oil by
a man named Jaynes, near Gainesville, Mo.
He has 10000 snakes and the "crop' which
lie kills each year is about 1000. The oil sold
for liniments, brings 81 pint
Compressed air delivered from a fle1i-
BILE hose with a small nozzle at pressure OF
so pounds to the square inch is very effective
in cleaning plush cushions. 1t is so used on
the Union facific Company's road
The expression SIT is me- is idiomatic,
and sit is u is pedantic, is maintained by
authority on English. This is very fiatter-
ing to the masses, but the educated classes
will, in this instance, doubtless, prefer to be
pedantic rather than idiomatic.
The population of the world is about
800, 00OC00 people. One-fourth dies before
the 18th year, and the average duration Of
life is about 33 years. Thirty-three millions
and thirty-three thousand people die each
year. making total of 81. sol each day.
The fact that first strikes American
visitors to Rome is the noticeably modern
character of the Holy City, and the an
tlqult1es have to be looked for. The city
appears prosperous and improving-but
these are not things usually said of it.
-Four-fifths OF the steam engines of the
world have.been constructed within the last
% years. The total horse pow er is estimated
at 40 100000, of which the United States has
10000, Great Britain 1000, 900, Germany,
600.
Corn is king this year to the following
extent in the 10 leading corn growing
Missouri. 20l,l76 600: Kansas 16s $685. 900:
Nebraska, 45,0U4 600: Indiana, 1l6,49O,OC0;
Ohio. 96,23 GOO: Texas, SO 123 900: Kentucky,
e6,o4ooOO, and Tennessee, sl,s24, 600.
An Indian tomahawk was found in the
center of a sawlog 50 inches in diameter at
Moore, Mich. IL is six inches in length and
has blade of roughly forged iron. about
two and a half inches long. The solid
timber over the head of the tomahawk was
ten inches in thickness. 1t is estimated that
it had been in the tree two centuries.
German blood predominates in the roval
families of Europe. The English Princes
are Germans, the Russians are, all the Teu-
tonic Princes are, the King of Spain's
mother is German. so was the mother of
King Hnmbert, while the reigning house in
Portugal is the 'house of Braganza-Saxe-
CObOurg and Gotha." Germany is the
mother OF Kings, just as Virginia was the
mother Presidents.
Berlin has 21O miles of streets, so that a
person might walk ten days in the German
capital without going up or down the same
street twice. If the 100000 inhabitants were
to turn out at a grand review, and march in
double file, they would form a line 100 miles
in length. If the citizens should all deter
mine to start on a journey on the same day
and at the same time, all the cars in Ger
many would accommodate but two-thirds OF
their number.
old watches of particular value include
those with hogs bristles for regulating the
vibrations, egg watches, all watches with
one hand, with or without ornamentations,
watches without balance springs and with
out regulating arrangements, those with per-
forated cases. those with finely chased cases.
If the chasing be distinct; enameled gold
watches of the finest workmanship, watches
of wood or ivory or with iron or porcelain
cases, and nearly all watches with peculiar
-Pre-Columbian discoverers of America
are claimed by several nations. Chinese
Buddhist monks are said to have landed in
Mexico in the fifth century OF our era
St Brendan. who is said to have fiourished
IN ireland IN the sixth century, is said to
have landed at some unidentified place on
this continent: but Left Ericsson, in the
year 1000 actually made a landing in what is
now Mt. Hope Bay, Rhode Island, and called
the country Vinland. The settlement was
broken up by internal dissensions in 10l2
Madoc, Prince of Wales is said to have
visited this country in 1l70.
AN elephant ranch is the latest novelty
in California, and Mr.. Newbury,
the protector, is enthusiastic about his
plans. He proposes to cultivate the ele-
phant for its meat and its capacity for hard
and diversified work. He says that 'as an
article of food the elephant is superior to
the horse" and most people will be willing
to accept his statement, though not fully
appreciating its force. He says that behind
L tough exterior it hides tender steak.
md that African explorers are profuse in
their praise of elephant outlets. A full
grown elephant weighs about 1000 pounds,
ind Mr.. Newbury counts 5000 of this as
good meat.
The Esquimaux, says a missionary who
has been long among them, are in many re-
'pects superior to the Northern Indian
ribes. They are not numerous, but their
,1anr.d ft0 of TO ho ,f,,fa
They escape the terrible famines that occa-
ionally carry off large numbers of Indians,
partly because the food supply of the Esqui-
naux, consisting of fish and seal, is less pre-
,arious than the moose and reindeer on
which the Indian depends. The Esquimaux
re also more provident, and they lay up n
took of food for a chance period of scare
ty. They are more industrious than the
indian and show greater ingenuity in the
manufacture OF tools, weapons and other
rticleS.
THEIR PARENTS THINK THEM SMART.