The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

performed by a theatrical company a.
Athens, but the author hid his identity
under an assumed name. Prince Nicnolas
has artistic as wei as literary ta.vAt, and
al the present time Athenians are admir-
ing his picture at the exhibition of arts
Another monster OF the deep has been
washed up in the Pacific Islands A cor
cspoudent writing from Baratonga says
An enormous fish was washed on The
reef on the east side of the island last
W eek; The creature was about 90 feet long.
This FISH first came CH shore al the dis
tricl OF Ngatan2Ia. on careful eXamna-
ton the chiefs came 10 the conclus on that
il was the fish of the devil, having horns,
50 the carcass was lowed cut to sea again
and cast loose. The next day The fish again
drove on shore at the district of Mata-
vera, abou, four mites 10 the westward.
Here another consultation was held by
the leading natives, who being more of a
radical disposition than their neighbors,
considered that all fish of the sea was
gift by God TO man for his personal use;
the consequence was a big fire, division Of
spoil and a feast 10 all who cared to par
tale"
One of the questions confronting Lord
Curzon, the viceroy of India, says an eX-
change. is how to introduce marriage into
a certain Indian province that has pop
ulation of a million people or so. The
people are called Nairs and reside on the
Malabar coast. All descent is traced
through the female line the descendants
of one female ancestor living together and
holding their property jointly. Even il
an individual acquires separate property
his death it goes to The family pot and
his children get nothing. His highness
the Zamorin and the Brahmins claim di-
vine sanction for the system and will op-
pose any legal measure to make marriage
compulsory. There may have been a time
when the present system worked we'll but
that is past. AS things are female edu-
cation is out of the question and the hon
orable, happy state of wifehood and moth
erhood is impossible. The home has no
existence, while the tie of mutual love
and honor which unites parents and chill
dren is unknown. The custom is known
as "marumakatayam.
Chicago doctors have decided to ask
the City Council to pass an ordinance
making it compulsory on renters of tele-
phones to disinfect the mouthpieces or
each instrument al least once a week,
says the Chicago Record The physicians
have looked infinitely into the matter
through a microscope, in fact-and have
discovered that the transmitters are social
settlements on which dwell in perfect
unity microbes of many nations. The in
Vestigators say they are opposed to colo
nization under such circumstances, and
declare they win depopulate the mouth
pieces or know the reason why. Dr..
Emanuel Friend has examined accretions
from ten different telephones and finds
that they contain eight varieties of bac-
ILL., all of the plebeian class The humble
pus miorobe-the hobo of the world be-
yond the magnifying lens-is most fire.
quent-so plentiful in fact, as to lead to
the suspicion that a local election is at
hand in the realm of germs The microbe
of consumption and of appendicitis have
so far held aloof from the common herd
but DIR. Friend believes he will find them
alter when he visits telephone diaphragms
which are stirred by more aristocratic
lips.
Curious but dangerous freaks of ma
ture frequently found in the deserts of Arr
iona are called Sumideros by the Mex.cans
and Indians, says the Chicago Record.
They are masked pitfalls of quicksands
that occur in the dry plains
and are covered with treach-
erous crusts of clay that has been
spread over them in fine particles by the
wind and baked dry by the sun. The
peculiar properties of the soil retain all
the moisture drained into them after the
infrequent rains and allow 1t to be fill
tered to unknown depths, so that a man
or q horse or a COW or sheep that once
steps upon that deceptive crust instantly
sinks out of sight beyond hope Of rescue.
Ihe SumideroS are on a level with the sur
face of the desert. There is no danger sig
| nal to mark them aud their surface can
| not be distinguished by the ordinary eve
| from the hard clay that surrounds them.
| They occur most frequently in the alkah-
| covered flats, and are often fifteen or
twenty feet in diameter. Sometimes they
! are only little pockets or wells that man
can leap across, but the longest pole has
| never found their bottom. A stone thrown
| through the crust sinks 10 unknown depths
! and no man who ever fell into one of them
| was rescued. They account for the mys-
| FERROUS disappearance of many men and
| cattle
Nothing in nature is more wonderful
than the power of flight possessed by
| birds, says an exchange. Swallows fy
! 100 miles an hour, and there are birds
which speed through the air at $50 miles
| in the same time. Any one who has cross
| ed the Atlantic has noticed the guls that
| follow the ship the whole distance. They
| seem quite tireless and are found at all
| distances from land. Different species in
| habit every Ocean-from the fulmar in
! che Far North to the giant petrol in the
! South. The tiny stormy petrol has i'm
! mense wing power and though seemingiy
| frail has been seen 1000 miles from land
! But the lord of the winged race is the bird
| which uOeS not rest, ana this may almost
| be said of the man-of-war or frigate bfr,i
| He is a navigator who never reaches his
| bourne, and from his almost ceaselese
| fight it would seem as though earth and
sea were equally prohibited to him. To a
| bird with such immense and superior wine
apparatus, the metaphor, ''he sleeps upon
| the Storm" almost becomes literal This
black, solitary bird is nearly nothing more
| than wings, his prodigious pinions meas.
| uTing fifteen feet even surnassipo those
of the condor of the Andes Although
some times seen 400 leagues from land
the frigate bird is said to return every
| night to its solitary roost. But these
birds and the wandering albatross are sea
and ocean species and. with rare excep.
tons are able to rest upon the waters.
Once upon a time sticks of lead were
used for making marks on paper and
wood and the name has survived though
| nowadays all the pencils are filed with
graphite or plumbago. which is simply a