The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

MISSIONARY who has arrived on the coast
from the interior of Africa says that one of the
Europeans who took part in the disastrous
battle between the Zarewsky expedition and the
Wahehe natives is now prisoner in the hands
OF the Wahehe. Scattered through Africa are
white men who are in bondage or have volun-
tarlly taken up their residence there. DIR.
Nachtigars servant is an example. He deserted
MS master in the Soudan and at last accounts
he was living near Lake Tchad, the only white
man In that part of Africa.
THE ancient oriental passion for boarding sp-
pears from F. G. Harrison's elaborate article on
the circulation of the rupee in the Economic
journal (Macmillanl TO be gradually disappear
ing, and is now believed to be mainly confined
TO the old wealthy families and princes The
original eau Sc, fear of civil tumult, has passed
away, and the presence of an increasing market
Tor Investment, the sweet simplicity of the 4
ger cents, or family misfortunes sooner or later
have the effect of emptying the family vault.
Notable instances of the DISSIPATION Of large
boards have occurred in recent years The
Maharaja of q aior. a Mahratta chief lent the
government upward Of 10000, 900 rupees of
which all but 100000 were 10 native coin. The
Mahara1a OF Burdwan's accumulation (princi-
pally of sicca rupees) has disappeared in litiga-
ton and Investment; and recently large boards
OF Arcot rupees from Madras, and ChilN rupees
from kashmir have passed into our minis In
Bengal several considerable boards of sicca
rupees have been found to exist in the houses of
wealthy landholders on the occasion of their
property passing into the control of the court of
wards. Mr. Harrison estimates the annual
quasl-permanent disappearance of government
rupees due to this cause as now less than 50OO-
oOOand would put it even lower if there was not
reason to believe that in Southern India the
prtestly trustees Of temples still accumulate the
offerings of pilgrims.
a SAILOR on a coasting vessel, which plies be-
tween here and ports on the gulf, says the Gal
weston Tex.) NeicS, has some very interesting
specimens which he secured while on the coast
or 4ucatan. Among them is large jar filed
spiders "a "a
looked upon with greatest fear by the Indians
OF the central portion of that country and
which are undoubtedly the largest ever seen
TIE body of the spider is fully five inches ia
diam ter, and the legs short and thick
| being especially adapted to running and climb
ing They are about two inches long. and are
as big around as IN ordinary lead pencil The
animal is of a grayish- brown color but is most
peculiarly marked by deep red bands which
cross its body, extending clear around diago-
nally from shoulder to hip, crossing each other
at the middle of the back and center OF the
belly: The head is so large that the details can
| readily be seen, and even the dead ones had
such q ferocious aspect that they caused
feeling Of fear. The colorng is peculiarly
adapted to the country, for the body is like the
earth, while the red bands are like many of the
creeping vines which abound among the rocks
| OF the interior. The fierceness of the insect
and the marking on the back have induced the
Indians TO name it the devils soldier, and
they say it Is undoubtedly the worst foe to mau
| In that whole country, making it almost i'm
possible for any one to 90 into the interior for
1t abounds in such numbers that no place is
free from it, and its bite is certain death. Only
one instance is known to Indians where a man
has been bitten and did not die, and this man
was wildly insane ever afterward. The spider
makes its home among the rocks, and when
| anything approaches it rushes boldly out and
makes an attack so fercely that 1t is almost
impossible to escape 1t. It runs with great
rapidity and climbs sticks and trees as easily as
II it were on the ground.
If ONE were to judge by the number of blades
still extaat in a limited area the great Venetian
swordSmith must have done a very large export
business says Notes and Queries This Thought
occurred to me during the Glasgow exhibition
In 1888, where there were at least forty swords
exhibited, all marked with the name Of "An-
drea Ferara -" This odd thing about them was
that by far the greater number had belonged to
moorland covenanters of Ayr or Lanarkshire
aud ha Fl cured at the battle" of DrumcloR or
/ Boutwell, bridge. Now, fine sword-blade was
not thing to be knocked off like the ASSAY
| piece of a Zimmerman, but was a work of high
art and slow manufacture, tempering the steel
| being very delicate process The price of
such an article must also have been high
ana lar beyond the means of moor
| land peasant, as most of the owners
| were said to have been. That such high
| class weapons got into these out of the wav
places was dlticllt to believe. Only the 9th r
| day came on an explanation of the proplem
| in paper Tread before the Royal Archaolog-
zeal Institute Feb - by the Baron de Cosson
+. 5. A. This gentleman has fine collection
knows more about those things than any other
| person in this country. Here are his remarks
on Ferara blades: 1t is also certain that com
mon as blades bearing the signature Andrea
Ferara are in this country. scarcely any of
them are the work Of Maestro Andrea de Fe-
rara. who gained such renown for the superb
temper Of the blades which he produced in his
workshop at Belluni in Venetia, in the second
half of the sixteenth century, where he
worked with his brother, Giovan
Donate de Ferara some of whose blades.
signed Zandona, still exist. Nearly ali
of the blades commonly attributed to Andrea
Ferara are manfestly of seventeenth century
make, and Bohelm states that Andrea was born
in 1880 and died about 1888 1t is possible that
few Of the finest blades existing in Scotland
and England bearing the name of Andrea
te-ara may be his work but as yet know very
few which can possibly attribute to the mas
ter or even to the epoch when he lived and it is
curious that the Italian collections possess very
few even bearing his name. What is certain il
that for nearly fifty years after his death Sol
ingen turned out hundreds of blades bearing his
name for expectation to those countries where
q true Ferara was neld in high repute, lust as II
supplied false Toledo blades to those where a
rapier was preferred to a broadsword D."
DR.. HELEN DRUsKovITCH, the first woman in
Austria to follow course of philosophicaI
ho1 1Oat hor Fr,w