The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-11
rrrMs OF INTEREST.

wholly Of cosmoguuv. f2l Shu- King. the
acts and wise maKims OF Naoa. Shun and
other Chinese kings and philosophers who
are now held IN great venerauon. go Shi-
King which contains 3Il sacred poems. t4.3
Ee King, or The Book OF Rites, which is
repository Of ma1iins and directions torevery-
day life OF all sorts and conditions OF people.
81 Chun-Tsien. which IS q history Of the
time OF COnfucius. These books taken col
lectively, are usually referred to in lists Of
Bibles Of the World" as The Five Kings"
The word king, In this connection simply
means book"
There is a little reptile belonging in NADIA
gascar known as the sciulitar snake, that is,
the curling sword. Running along the back
from head 10 tail is a blackish horny sub
stance, which bends with the convolutiOns OF
the snakes body as readily as would we'll
tempered steel spring. and throughout its en-
tire length II bears an edge as hard as flint
and sharp as razor. They are not poison
Gus but when one OF them springs on man.
which he is very likely to do, he will soon
have a leg of unless cracked on the pate
Some snake specialists claim that the pres
ence of this reptile on the island is the reason
that there are no large quadrupeds to be
found there at present, the curling sword in
back ages having taken off legs faster than
they could be created.
OF all very small creatures. says the Whole
Family, the ant appears to be the most gifted
with intelligence. At least 1t certainly ap-
pears so to me. One OF the proofs of this is
the way in which in a battle they carry of
their dead. This they do as carefully as real
soldiers, caring for them in the rear out of
danger. They will help each other fight and
never mistake friend for foe, even in the
dark. They march in regular army way and
have officers and have no doubt give orders
IN some way. Another thing found out about
the ants is that they keep pets. The pet is a
kind of cat or dog of the family-a very small
ant not a quarter as big as the usual sort.
sometimes they get on the backs of the
others, between their legs and all around and
about. and remind nj kittens liz tie
that our children have to play with. The ant
loves fun; he takes another ant up IN his
arms carries him awhile and then filings him
down all IN heap, and then they go on their
way as happy as two school boys who have
had wreStle. The ants keep nurses These
are ants which the others have captured in
war. They are made to wait on the wounded
Ingenious as many of the field and water
trials of strength and endurance that make
up the sport OF to-day may appear they lack
says the New York journal. the novelty of an
old game played by the inhabitants of Namur.
These people evidently favored rOuRh-and-
tumble sports. The quiet interest attached
TO checkers and shuttle board evidently had
no allurements to the people Of Namur. They
wanted something with quicker and more de-
clsive action and when they invented the
battle on stills they certainly got IL. The
youths OF the place arrayed in flowing gar
ments and carrying flags, drums and horns
would mount upon stills and face each other
in battle array. Surrounding them were the
maldens. At given signal the combatantS
would close upon each other and. in as gen
tlemanly manner as was possible'under the
conditions OF the game, proceed TO hammer
the life out of any one in reach. While this
delightful recreation was progressing the
maidens, in their language, would loudly
shout: Sic him Tige Smash him in the
facet" and similar expressions of encourage
ment. After battling given time, that side
which had the greatest number Of warriors
left standing on their wooden pins was de-
Clared the winner.
White people the world over have used the
dark lines and spots on the face of the moon
as a basis OF coniuring up all sorts of fanciful
pictures, says writer in the St LOus Repub-
lie To some they appear as an aged man, bear
ing bundle Of sticks or fagots on his back;
to others they represent the face of a beauti-
full woman The hundred and one other moon
myths cannot be considered in this note"
which is solely intended 10 explain Indian be-
lief. The red men, who inhabit the whole
Western Continent between the Rocky
Mountains and the Cascade range, believe
that the spots on Lunas face represent the
form OF gigantic toad. and tell the following
story TO substantiate their queer ideas:
"In time long past a little wolf, being
desperately in love with toad, went a-woo-
ing one night and prayed that the moon
might shine brightly on his adventure. His
prayer was granted, and by the clear light of
the moon he was pursuing the toad, and had
almost caught her, when, as q last chance, she
made desperate spring for the face of the
moon (Which appeared much nearer than
common, and succeeded In reaching that lum-
mary, where she sets until this day, in plain
view Of oil the wolves OF the world, which
nightly howl in their agony whenever they
think Of how the toad outwitted their ances-
tor"
Scattered over the breezy downs of the
Nilgherries, in little villages OF wickerihouses
that look at a little distance like nothing in
the world so much as colony of beehives,
lives a community of 600 or 100 people who
according to the Bombay Times. are various
ly believed to be the descendants OF one of the
lost tribes of Israel the aborigines Of South
ern India and community of Manichasens.
| They believe in q strange trinity and hell, a
dismal stream full of leechcs. and this they
must cross by means of q single thread 4 he
soul burdened with sins is too heavy for this
slender support and the sinner falls into
| the stream but the thread sustains easily
! the souls of the good. The
! funeral of Toda for that is the
| name of the singular tribe, is as odd in its
way as the religious belief. His body is
wrapped in 4 new cloth and his toes tied to-
! gether with red thread; grain, sugur, tobacco
and money are wrapped in his funeral toga to
provide him for his journey across the Styx
and the dark plain beyond. Two bufaloes
are slain beside the corpse and the dead
mans hands are placed upon their horns: a
! piece Of his skull, his hair and his finger
nails are removed to be used later on at the
great celebration of the death OF all those
who, during the twelve months, have taken
f, the leap over the great precipice into the
bOttOmlesS abyss" When these tokens are
removed, clarified butter is smeared on the
fragrant wood of the funeral pyre and the
body is burned to ashes and the ashes scat
tered to the four winds.
Occasionally, says ST. Louis Republic
writer, 'would-be smart Aleck" (of the
same species that asks about seeing stars in
: the daytime'O will ask the question: What
was the name of the person born in Noah S
| Ark, and whose son was he:' il any of
| Noahs numerous progeny first saw the light
| of day while the ark was cruising over the
mountain tops of Asia during those forty
semi historic days which separate the antedi-
| luvian from the diluvian periods it seems
| that fact. If'you are Of this opinion and have
| great confidence in your biblical knowledge
make q search OF your library for the name of
| the ''ArlS-born man" First, you will lind that
your Bible does not even mention the occur
| renee and that your biblical handbooks are
equally us silent. The Bible cyclopedias in
my collection do not even give a hint of the
fact of such birth or Of the name of the
person thus born. Lawson s Bible Cyclone
| dia is. especially rich in patriarchal biog-
raphy giving full lines" OF biblical charac-
tiers of note and a supplementary list of per-
sons mentioned in the Scriptures OF whom lit
| tie is known, yet in all this vast array the
ARK mans name is not to he found. In one
| of the six existing manuscripts of the An
| cient Saxon Chronicles, however, at the
very end, l find the following: 'Bedwig was
| the son OF Shem who was the son of Noah
and he, Bedwig, was born in the Ark" In a
| note on page 81 of Herbert's ''Nimrod," vol
| man." ''kybeck is the Ark. ana as CuSh was
an in 70 A p tarft ~