Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-12-23

One of the nstrralists who accompanied the
Challenger on her famous scientifc voyage was
Prot. II. \. Mose.ey. Taking compAra,ively
little interest in the Investigations which his
learned companions on board devoted them
selves TO. he made il his business to hunt IN
whatever odd or strange among the people
and animals Of the various countries which the
ship visited. His story OF what be saw and
found on the expedition. reserved for printing
until after his death. has only just been pub
lished in England.
Among other curious things he mentions the
fact that papsl indulgsnces for sins. and even
for crimes. are sold to this day in the Philip
pine islands by me Spanish government They
are disposed Of at the same counters with to-
bacco, brandy. lottery tickets and other arti-
cles OF which the government retains q mo-
popoly. The perpetual right 20 sell indul-
gences in Spain and its colonies granted
TO the Spanish crown by the pope in 1850.
Revenue from this source has amounted TO A.
much ss ESQ, 700 annually. The natives of
the Philippines indulge in extraordinary
, luxury. consisting OF dacks eggs brooied
until the Young are ready to hatch, which are
then boiled 1t Is sickening sight to zee
these embryo ducklngs swallowed whole
at the sidewalk stslls, which are pulled
| high with haif-hatched eggs. taxing
the place of oyster stalls Next after
! playing In pool. They have European billiard
tables for the purpose in the larger towns. bat
long before such lUXgries were introduced they
made billiard tables for themselves ith wooden
beds instead OF slate and Nth cushions OF bam-
boo. the balls being whitfield roughly out of
wood and polished with stones.
/ The author saws tina, it as the fashion 20 de-
J cry Chinese celicscies as nasty-as. for eN-
ample, the Eggs which are picked and buried
for wears before being eaten. Bat Europeans
forget that their own countrymen prefer TO eat
game ar cheese in state o. decomposition.
tho latter often when swarmiug with maggots
and in such a condition that il would probably
sicken Gilman TO look at it." Neari, all
races fancy some form OF decay-d food. One
/ popular prejudice respecting the Chinese
Ia ;es to the piStsI. which 10 supposed 10 be an
extraordinary way OF dressing the hair. Yet
the very same fashion has oniv within the Last
few Years gone out OF general Use among En-
elishmen- Even 20 this dag the royal British
footmen wear plstais.
DRAGONS TEETH
Prof Moselsy took the trouble TO find ont
the nature OF the so-cal,ei dragons teeth and
dragon bones which are sold in Chinese arsth-
ecsry shops for medicine He discovered ,ha,
they were nothing more or less than the fossil
tech and bones of various extinct tertiary
annals. such the msstodou. Kind 81
rhinoceros, an elephant. and Two species Of hi,-
potEeriun, which was an ancestor OF the mod
ern horse. These dragons bones are found on
the mountains and in caves. One OF the mum p
Gus popular beliefs respecting them is that in
the autumn a certain FISH changes itself into a
dragon and leaves behind it its former bones
which are of five different colors. Powdered
they are supposed to cure stomache ache.
dysenterE. faintinS indigestion. to drive
away ghosts and to dispel nocturnal alarms
Perhaps the chief interest in these dragons
bones and teeth lies in the explanation they
afford OF the origin of the mythical dragon
itself. The fabulous beast seems to have
sprung from the finding together In u fossil de-
post of tho bones Of yariou. animals the IN
| ference being that they belonged TO a single
creature. An attempt at reconstrnction pro-
| duced the dragon, which contained in it,
| structure a little Of everything. Similar fossil
bones were long sold ia Europe under the name
OF dragons bones for use medicine. and the
! employment Of grated human skull for RENE
dial purposes survived in England as late as
| 1858.
cASNIBAL FEAsrs.
| The author gives al interesting account Of
the csnnibaiisrn of the New Zealauders They
were probably the most profusely anthropopha-
! gous race that ever existed As many ~ l. 900
prisoners have besn slaughtered bv them at
one time after q successful battle. the bodies
being baked in ovens underground. Young
woman was considered the best eating, but
/ Europeans were not thought so good TO eat as
natives. no doubt because of their VERY mixed
! diet. There is no reason to suppose that i'll
! effects follow the eating Of human flesh any
more than The consumption of snv other kind
/ of flesh. In 1882 the captain of English
merchant ship made an agreement With a tribe
I OF New Zeaianders to land war party on the
/ Chatham Islands not far away. The islands
were inhabited by a weaker race. about !. 500 IN
number. The invaders simply ate their way
through the islands. killing the inhabitants al
they required them Tor food. They forced the vic
| TINS to dig he ovens they were TO be cooked in
and 20 collect wood for the purpose. Their
object in going to the islands TO feed upon the
residents there, New Zealander who had
stopped there while engaged az a seaman on a
| European vessel having reported that the
islanders were plump and well fed. While the
/ New Zealanders considered the palms of the
| hands and breasts the best eating the Fiiiaus
especially preferred the flesh of the arm above
tine elbow and that OF the thigh. Not more
! than twenty-five Years ago white residents are
said to have Joined the natives III their cannibal
! feasts at Ovalau. FIJI
At the Fiji Islands Prof Moseley had an OBJ
! portunity of observing certain extraordinary
fishes, species of goby. which live on land. In
| fact they are drowned by long immersion in
the water. They found in considerable
numbers. hopping about on the mud along
shore beneath the mangrove bushes. III chased
over the water they do not swim
beneath the surface, but skip along on
| top by a series OF jumps made with great rapid
ity. They very uimble on land and difficult
to catch, using their muscular pectoral fms TO
spring with. Their food consists of land in
sects largely.
SHARES TEETH.
Among the interesting things which the
dredges Of the Challenger brought up from the
bottom Of the Pacific ocean were numerous
teeth Of enormous sharks. They appeared TO
belong TO one or more species of genus repre-
scented in the British Museum By pair OF Jaws
which once belonged to a man eater thirty
seven feet long. This is the largest kind of
| shark known at the present day. The great
basking shark, a harmless beast with very
minute teeth. ranging from the Arctic seas TO
the coast OF Portugal, attains a length of more
than thirty feet. All over the surface of the
earth sharks teeth seem TO be thickly scattered.
The floors of the oceans well nigh tesselated
with them. and wherever the pillow
turns up the fruitful soil they are apt 10 be
found. This is notably the case in Virginia,
where the teeth Of gigantic extinct sharks. some
Of which must have been at least ninety feet in
length, are unearthed in great numbers BY
farmers. That notable companion of the
shark. the pilot fish. often mistakes a ship for
large shark and swims for days just in front
Of the bows. After time the fish becomes
wiser and departs, no doubt thinking IL has got
hold OF q very stupid shark and hungriiy won
deiing why its large companion does not seize
some food and drop few morseis for it. The
"sucEer fish" often make the same mis-