The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Toronto, who weighs 236 kilogrammes. She
measures 70 centimeters round her arm,
meter 80 centimeters round the waist, and
ol centimeters round her ankle. The prin-
cess, who is of the finest ebony color, is
30 years of age, and Notwithstanding the
difficulty she experiences in travelling she
seems to be very fond of it. Not being
able to enter the door of an ordinary
railway carriage, she effects her Journey
by train in the luggage van.
The London Electrical Cab Company
has put a number of vehicles on the street
They are perhaps the most interesting of
public conVeyances at this time. In ap-
pearance the cabs resemble a brougham.
They are handsomely and luxuriantly up
holstered in leather. and, among other
things, each is provided with a looking
glass for ladies and matchbox and ash
tray for men. The motive power is a
storage battery, which is rather heavy and
clumsy looking. One charge of the bat
terry costs shillings, and it will drive the
cab nifty miles. To recharge occupies five
minutes. The driver sits in front, steers
the vehicle with wheel, turns on the
current and regulates the speed from one
to ten miles an hour by a lever. He ap-
plies the brake with his foot, and when
the brake is applied the current is shut
off. The wheels have India rubber tires,
and are only suitable for good streets.
The cabs are lighted within and without
by electric lights. The charge is the usual
rate of l shilling for two miles, or Is Cd
per hour.
-Wooing and wedding in Alaska among
the natives are intesting and peculiar
rites. When a young man is of suita-
bic age to marry, his mother, his aunt, or
his sister looks up a wife for him. He
seldom marres a woman younger than
himself; she is much older, and sometimes
is double his age, and even more. She
is selected from family whose position
equals his or is even higher, says the
Philadelphia Record. When a suitable
woman is found the young man is asked
how many blankets and animal skins he
is willing TO pay for her. When that i'm
portant question Is settled, a feast is ar
ranged in the home of the bride and the
friends of both families are invited. When
the company is assembled the womans
people extol the greatness of their fami-
ly. The young mans marriage gifts
are spread out where they will make a
fine show, and then his family sound their
praises. The ceremony lasts from one to
two days, and finally the young bride
groom takes his wife to his own abode.
Among the more recent and important
arrivals at the Zoo are two young babir-
ussas, presented by the Duke of Bedford
comparatively rare animals, and the
only examples seen at the Zoo for about
fifteen years, says a London paper. The
word babirussa means pig-deer, and the
animal has been so called by the Malays
on account of the remarkable develop
ment of the tusks in the males, which
emerge close together near the middle Of
the face and sweep with a strong curve
backward, frequently attaining to a very
great length. The tusks of the lower Jaw
arise like those of the boar What the
male babirussa needs the upper pair for
is a point which nobody, apparently, can
satisfactory settle. Another popularity
of the animal is that 1t falls short of the
number of teeth usually possessed by the
ordinary pig, having only thirty-four in
all, a fact which indicates that it must
be directly descended from one of the ex-
tinct genera of pigs marked by similar
type of detiuon. In other respects the
be- birussa is not very different from other
wild swine. 1t is a splendid swimmer, has
a somewhat lighter gallop than that of
the wild boar, and when hunted, will
fight gamely and ferociously to the last.
The South African colonists have got
rid of their lions and elephants, but they
have not yet been able to get the better
of the balloons, says an exchange.
baboon, although somewhat like a dog
has all the mischievousness of a man It
is the ugllest animal in all creation The
Beers call him Adonis, and never designate
him under the official name that has been
given him by science. Now this creature
is the curse of the Cape Colony He conn.,
mits depredations for the love of the
thing. Any imprudent tomcat that ven
lures too far away from home is sure
to be captured and strangled for fun by a
baboon Nearly all the Angoras, the
choicest and most costly animals import
ed by the colonists, have been destroyed
Irr L,
share the same fate. The bravest and
most pugnacious of the English canine
breeds are unable to cope with adVersaries
armed with just as powerful jaws and
with immense advantage of having four
hands instead of four paws With a dex-
terity that conspicuously exhibits his sur
gical aptitude the baboon bleeds his enc
my in the throat, and in less than min
ute the duel ends in the death of the
dog. One of the principal amusements of
these big monkeys is to gombol around
the wire fences that protect the tame os-
triches just to terrify them. The panic
among them IS SO great that they often
break their legs in their wild rushes. This
is a pastime which the monkeys seem to
enjoy hugely. A broken leg for an os-
trich means death sentence.
The Washington. pension agency is now
engaged in sending out checks to resi-
uSulS III lOTelSH countries whose names
are on the pension roll, says the New York
Press. The total amount paid each year
to non-residents of the United States
through the pension system is about $780,
900, and the number of pensioners who re-
ceive these checks is approximately 1900.
The bulk of payments goes to Canada
where there are, in round number 800
pensioners, drawing $29O,O00 year. Great
Britain comes next with 665 pensioners, to
whom are paid 100000. Germany has 500
pensioners on the United States roll. and
they receive about $4,000 year; Sl3. coo
are annually sent to Mexico to pay the
eighty-five ex-United States soldiers now
living in that republic; $4,000 goes to
Switzerland, where eighty pensioners make
their home There are thirty-two in AUS
tralia, twenty-four in Austro- Hungary,
Twenty-Five in Italy, sixty-one in France.
thirty seven in Norway, forty-four in Swe-
den, twenty-four in British Columbia ten
in the West indies, ten in Japan, twenty in
the Sandwich Islands, eighteen in Den
mark, thirteen in China and from one to
twelve each in the Bahama Islands. Bel
GUM, Bermuda, Brazil British
Guiana, Portugal, the Central American