The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Gauchos, or dWellers in the extern
sive plains of Buenos Ayres, are marvel
ously dexterous with both hands and feet,
says the Boston Transcript Many of them
have acquired through long practice such
skill in using their toes as if they were
fingers that they can fling the lasso and
even pick pockets with them. Some time
ago a Frenchman, who was fishing in one
OF the rivers of BuenOs Ayres, was warned
to be on his guard against the light-hnger-
ed natives. He forthwith kept vigilant
watch upon his companions. but, never
the.ess, one day when his attention was
closely riveted on his float willy Gaucho
drew near and, delicately inserting his
foot, extracted the Frenchman's hooks
and other valuables from his pocket
The Chinese servants ordinarily used
for fetching and carrying We're impressed
into service. and showed courage and
skill, says the Atlantic Monthly They
showed as much nerve as the Americans.
1hey aided at the whips, and in lifting
ana carrying the ammunition. Their
faces We're as impassive as when serving
dinner in Hong Kong harbor. They chat
tered to each other in their own language.
ana laughed in their Celestial way when
shot, striking the foremost shook the
ship, caused the paint to scale off the
mast foot from US, and the angle lines
which strengthen It inside to rattle loud
Iy. "Vely good" said one. and mechani-
cally resumed his task. They too were
curious; and when some man would sing
out from the ports that we had struck
spanish snip they We're as happy as we.
Prof. Ramsay and Morris Travers keep
on finding new constituents in the air. in
the course of their researches into the
nature of argon at University College,
London, says the Springfield Republican.
A few days ago we noted the discovery
of the new gases, krypton and neon; tA4s
occurred in liquefying argon, and in a
recent experiment another and solid mater
lal was frozen out of the argOn, which
proved to have a complex spectrum very
different from. argon, and they named it
metargon. This, says Prof. Ramsay, has
the same position in regard TO argon that
nickel has to cobalt, having the same ato-
mic weight, yet different properties. Neon
seems to be the find they most prize, as
they believe Ii to be the gas with density
between argon and helium which Prot
Ramsay had hunted after in vain, as he
said at the Toronto meeting Of the British
association. What all this signifies is not
clear to the public, of course, and perhaps
not to the scientists, but they are looking
for facts; some time or other what the
facts mean VIII be apparent.
The Brooks Locomotive Works, at
Dunkirk, N. Y, celebrated the completion
of the 3,000th locomotive built by it last
month. The 30OOth locomotive was worth
attention in itself, aside from its number,
says the Buffalo Express. 1t was giant
among locomotives. Last December the
largest locomotive in the world" was
turned out at the Brooks works for the
Great Northern Railroad, and this 3000th
engine is a mate to that. Hence, if the
claim be true, il has no superior in size
In h. &c r,p i
mastodon type, with cylinders p by "a
inches, drivers 50 inches, boiler Is inches
In diameter. Its total weight is 212,750
pounds, and the total weight of engine
and tender S0S,750 pounds. 1t is for heavy
freight service on the Montana division
of the Great Northern Railroad, and will
weigh In running condition, over 100 tons
The length of the engine, over all, is Al
feet inches, and the distance from the
rail- to the top of the smokestack is 1872
feet, or ~ times the hight of a tall man.
In certain provinces of AMMAN the
plains literally swarm with geese and
ducks, says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
This richness has given to several enter
prising co!onists the idea of profting in
dustrially from the enormous quantities
of eggs produced by these creatures and
which the local consumption Is impossible
to absorb. There are factories in several
places which receive the eggs and extract
from them the albumen, which finds so
many uses In the industry and feeding of
Europe. The yellows, submitted to an an
tasepdc process, are received apart and
sent to France where they are employed
in the white leather trade This industry
has had a rapid extension. At the be-
ginning in one factory at Nghe-an, one
scarcely received 1900 to 5000 duck eggs
a day. Now at least $4,000 are received on
the days of the great sale; that is to say,
every five days, and 10000 each interven>
Ing day, which makes a supply of A,OC0
eggs a day. The price, which at first
was but l franc per hundred, has been
raised to l franc Is. That is yet but IS
centimes the dozen. Omelettes ought not
to be dear an Annam
THE life of a Panama hat, that is, If
It is a good one to start with" explained
hat dealer, compares somewhat with
the life of the owner of it, says the Wash
ington Star. One can run through either
in hurry or hang on for a long time If
1t is desired. If carefully kept, a Panama
hat should last all the way from ten to
forty years. / know a gentleman who re-
sides in East Washington who has owned
and steadily worn during the summer
months Panama hat for nearly forty
years. 1t has been bleached every couple
of years since and retrimmed and refined
poses as good as when I first saw it thirty
years ago. 1 know of another Panama
hat now worn by a physician in this city
which has had almost S long a life. Long
before he got it his father wore it,
know dozens of them which have been in
use from ten to twenty years. The lining
wears out, but the body of the hat keeps
good. OF course, care has to be used to
keep them such a long time, but the
Panama itself is almost indestructible
The original cost of the hats that I re-
fer to was not eXorbitant, none of them
costing over $l4."
The Malay race is probably the most
skillful in fishing, and the Philippine ISL
anders are not behind the other branch
es, says the Chicago Inter-Ocean. An IL
lustraton shows one of their favorite
ways of catching fishes which run along
the bottom of rivers bays and arms of
the sea- 1t consists of a long raft, rang
ing from twenty to sixty feet in length,
and from eight to twenty feet in width