Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are about zoo, 900 houses in Lon
don which on cold days consume 10000 tons
OF coal emitting 450 tons OF sulphur.
Sake drinking is one Of the great curses
of Japan In 1879 the amount OF rice con-
verted into sake amounted to 100000
bushels.
Over 5000 orange trees are said to
have been planted in Mexico last year by
Californians. The oranges grown in Mexico
are excellent.
Red Bluff, Cal, has a 13-year-old girl
who is an expert with an ak. For three
weeks at time she has been known to cut
ana cord tier of wood a day.
of Waterloo veterans France has eight
left There are two who took part in the
retreat from Moscow: and altogether there
are now living Is or 90 of Eapoleon's vet
Grams, OF whom several are centenarians.
The fshhook of 80 centuries back was
precisely similar in every respect TO the fish
hooks of today, save only in the metal em-
ployed, which then was bronze is now Is
steel
The Dead Sea loses every day by evap-
Grafton several million tons of water. This
enormous mass is easily drawn up by the
rays of the sun, the valley wherein the sea
lies being one of the hottest points upon the
globe.
New England and provincial fishermen
have been puzzled TO know what has be-
come of the young mackerel of 1887 and 1888.
as none OF them returned to North Bay in
Hs9 TO 1891 and there have been no tidings
OF them elsewhere.
Along the Spitzbergen coast coal has
been found in layers about yard and a half
thick. The curious discovery was made at
hin9 Bay of the grave of Dutch sailor
with the date l74l as clearly written as if 81
made the day before.
III the motion of the earth were sud-
denly arrested, the temperature produced
Would be sufficient to melt and even yolatilize
it: while, If it fell into the sun as much heat
would be produced as results from the COM
bustion of 5000 spheres of carbon the size OF
her globe.
-Time-sense is very highly developed in
domestic fowls and many WILD birds. as wen
as in dogs, horses and other mammals, which
keep an accurate account of davs of the
week and hours of the day. and have at
least, a limited idea of numerical succession
and logical sequence
The Fans are the only people in edua-
torial Africa who have a currency, and thew
are strong monometallists The money ia
of iron, wrought into pieces resembling
rusty hairpins with fat heads Thew are
put up in bundles of ten, and hundred
bundles is the market price of wife
We'll informed lumbermen declare that
there is more timber in the forests Of Maine
to-day then there was ten years ago because
care has been exercised in the Telling of
trees during recent years. Only good-sfzed
trees are cut NOWADAYS, the smaller being
allowed to stand until they attain a proper
growth.
In 1890 the only States that produced
more than 100000 pounds of paper daily
were New York, Massachusetts, Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio but in 1890 two more States,
Maine and Wisconsin. were added to the
list list. The daily production in New York in
1891 was 1920, ESQ pounds, a gain of 319, 100
pounds over the previous year.
I'm the two Methodist Conferences Of
Maine last year y churches with s27l,s50
worth of property and paying salaries aggre-
eating sS0779, gave 81, sos to church benevo-
lences and s195 for the support of superannu-
ated pastors, while the 23,5A Methodfsts in
the State contributed for the support of vet
eran ministers the sum Of s., ,704-a fraction
over II cents each.
Last summer q German named Cremer
who made journey to Spitzbergen. discov-
cred thick beds of coal there and at Bear
Island. His trip lasted only six weeks, but
it was long enough for Cremer to ascertain
that coal miningis quite possible there, al
though, perhaps, owing to the climate, not
always in a regular manner The thickest
beds of coal are on the east coast of Bear
Island, and are about 500 feet thick.
-Roosters and hens among the Rucuy-
enne tribe of Indians, in the western part
OF French Guinea, are perfectly white. Not
n colored feather can be found among them.
The natives have no tradition of time
when their ancestors had fowls OF other
,olors but the white chickens are probably l-
explained by the fact that white feathers
are the choicest ornaments among this peo-
pie, and they will not wear feathers of any
other color.
In Geneva county, Ala, Jury by its
verdict settled the value of kisses. A young
fellow named William Horton was indicted
for assault and battery on Miss Sallie Jones.
The testimony of the young woman was
that Horton had kissed her against her will.
Horton testified that the kiss was with Miss
had kissed her $50 times before. The jury
a verdict of guilty, and assessed q
fine of $3.50.
In any country where Arabs are num-
erous you will see the word "Faraun'' here
and there on the maps. Thus the name
Quarrel Faraun" is found in Arabia and
in Morocco. Faraun is another way Of
spelling Pharoah, by which name the Arabs
understand some great prince who has bulls
important works like the pyramids, which
.bey believe to be beyond the power of
merely human skill and to be partly the re-
suit OF superhuman agency.
The Parthians and Medes entertained
The notion that persons devoured by wild
animals would not be entirely dead, but
would enjoy at least a partial sort of life in
he creatures which ate them. Probably is
vas for this reason that the Bactrians and g..
dircanians trained dogs for the same pur-
BOSE called "sepulchral dogs which re-
,eived the greatest care and attention; be-
,ause it was deemed proper that the souls of
he deceased should have strong and healthy
rames to dwell in.
Stockton, Cal, has sensation Just now
n the person of young street preacher
Who is well dressed, apparently an educated
nan and o good Bible student and theo-
ogian, who breaches and prays on the,
treets i'll the evening, induces his hearers
o adjourn to one of the churches, where
evival meetings are being held, while he
imself repairs to the saloons of the town,
cts drunk and conducts himself In every
raw like n deprayed man. He is thought to
e insane, as such depths of hypocrisy seem
with any but an unbalanced
lind.
LIGHT HUMOREsQUEs.