The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-01-18
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

The English professional classes
are the tallest of adult males, attain.
ing the average height of feet 9A
inches. Taken right through. the En-
glish and American races are approxi-
mately of the same height. Most Eu-
ropean nations average, for the adult
male, feet and 6 inches: but the Aus
trians. Spaniards and Portuguese just
fall short of this standard. d.-Philadel.
phia Record.
The costliest mile of railroad is q
mile measured on the steel portion of
the Forth bridge. The length of this
portion is mile and twenty yards.
and the cost of it was considerably
over $40, 600, 600 The most expensive
railway system in the world is the
Inner Circle" line of London, which
cost, including the purchase of land.
from s3,000,O00 to $4,000, GOO per mile.
The last constructed mile, between
the Mansion house and Aldgate. cost
altogether, including ''compensa-
tions," nearly $4,000. 600.
"A gentleman who has just returned
from the northern part of the county
of Renfrew, says the Ottawa tOnt.)
Journal. where diphtheria was so prev
alent last year, states that the diph-
liberia epidemic has left behind it an
affection almost as dire as itself In
every family where there are children,
nearly all are suffering from an affec-
ton very like whooping cough, but
which does not possess all the pecu!-
iarities of that malady. Those suffer-
ing from it cough till they are black in
the face.
perstition about the Chu river, which
is the local name on the border for the
Chatting. A considerable trade in
drugs is borne along this river, for
which a special class OF boats, COM
posed of very light boards fastened
with wooden nails, is built. The ma
tives say that the magnetic attraction
of the bed of the river is so strong
that We're ordinary boats used the iron
nails would be pulled out Along the
river banks iron is mined in primitive
fashion, and from the geological evil
dence it is believed that the ore is very
rich.
The great steamships plying be.
tween Australia and England are pro-
vided with freezing machinery, by
which mutton. frozen, is preserved and
delivered in London in fine condition.
Australian flowers preserved in ice are
also carried to London. Recently at a
special meeting of the committee Of
the National Chrysanthemum society
held in London, some frozen blooms Of
chrysanthemums from Sydney, New
South Wales, were exhibited. Four
large incurved and other Japanese
blooms, inclosed in great blocks Of ice,
eighteen inches square and eight
inches deep, had been sent by Mr.. r.
Forsyth, of Sydney, a well-known
grower, and were a portion of the
group with which he gained the silver
cup of the Sydney Horticultural Sc
ciety in April last.
"A declaration of marriage in Siam
is simpler even than it used to be in ,,
Scotland. You ask a lady to marry
you by simply offering her flower or
taking light from cigarette if it
happens to be in her mouth, and your
family and the brides family have to
put up at least one thousand dollars
apiece for a dowry. Unlike Japan, the
Siamese women are treated as equals,
but they can seldom read or write
The principal impediment in the way
of marriage is that each year is named |
after an animal and only certain ami
mails are allowed to intermarry. For
instance, person born in the year of |
the rat can not marry with person
born in the year of the dog, or person
born in the year of the COW with a per-
son born in the year of the tiger, and |
there are similar embargos about !
and days.