The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


only, which is very rapid because of the
intense heat, the dry atmosphere and
| the dry winds which are constantly
blowing down from the gorges between
the mountains.
"A nurse, one Otto Schmidt. in the
German Hospital of New York, is the
most tattooed man on earth. He
would make a Fiji Islander green with
envy. Ee stood for twenty days in a
studio where human frescoing is done
and had~250 designs put onto his body
with polychromatic inks. He is COW
cred with hideous dragons, coiling SER
penis, brilliantly colored fish, frogs
and butterflies, birds of gorgeous
plumage, beautiful landscapes and
flowers, together with several dainty
figures of Japanese maidens. These
entirely hide the white skin and make
his body a work of art to be wondered
at.
There are two ways" said a bird
dealer, ''of teaching a parrot to talk.
One way is to put him in a darkened
room, to sit in a corner and to repeat
over and over again the word you want
him to acquire. A clever parrot will
learn word or a phrase after some
four or five hundred repetitions, while
for some 1t takes a week or more. You
must keep still in the room. No sounds
from within or without the house, save
your voice monotonously repeating this
phrase to be acquired must reach the
parrots ear. Some people teach their
birds in a we'll lighted room, speaking
from place of concealment in a closet
or behind a door. This method is not
so good, because in the light the par
rot's attention is distracted.
"A dispatch from Greensboro, N.
c., says: On a large farm of sixteen
hundred acres near this city John S.
Sparks, the owner conducts a queer
industry, that of raising Angora goats
as food for lions and tigers. The farm
is mostly mountain land, and the two
hundred goats imported by Sparks have
been turned loose to clear the noun
tain sides of shrubbery and noxious
growth so that it can be turned into
pasture land for herbivorous animals.
Lions, tigers, camels, elephants and
other animals will Craze on this land.
After the goats have properly fitted
the farm for this purpose they will
be turned into food for the beasts.
Since the goats have been placed on
the farm they have increased very fast,
and shown such wonderful industry in
clearing land that the owner expects
excellent results in his breeding of wild
animals. The young kids are sold in
large quantities for food to the in
habitants of the neighborhood. and
quite revenue is also derived from
the fleece of the goats, which is long
and as fine as silk.
The report of the discovery of val
liable coal beds in the short mountain
chain in Egypt lying between Suakim
and Sinkat, is not only one of interest,
but one which will be likely to have
great bearing on the future of the
land of the Pharaohs; in fact, it's inn
portance cannot be sufficiently estimat-
ed in America, with it's inexhaustible
supplies of fuel but scarcely tapped.
The discovery comes in the very nick
of time to act as an additional boost
to the movement for new railroads for
opening up the country in the upper
reaches of the Nile. With coal within
her borders, providing the deposits are
as valuable rs stated, a new era, and
a manufacturing one, will open up for
Egypt. AS it is, the progress which
has been made within the past twenty
years Is somewhat extraordinary. New
avenues of trade are being opened up
every year. The great stretch of coun-
try once dominated by the mahdi and
his hordes is already sending its pro-
ducts either directly through Egyptian
the Red sea, while the projected Sua-
im-Berber Railroad, of which the
construction is to be begun next win
ter, Will afford a new outlet to the sea-
With the discovery of coal the problem
of manufacturing enterprises will be
comparatively easy of solution. Truly,
there are many plums coming to Egypt
in three modern dates of hustle and
traffic, and plums which would have
made the mouth Of a Rameses run wa
ter for very envy.
The redemption experts of the
Treasury Department had curious
case the other day, which shows that
ignorance and a too trustful faith may
sometimes prove costly, says the Wash
1ngton correspondence of the Brook
Ign Eagle. Several packages OF dirt
were received at the department, ac-
companied by letter saying that mix
ed up with the earth were thesremains
of 800 in greenbacks. Some poor fool
thought that money would grow and
multiply If planted in a pot of earth
He tried the experiment by cutting
up into minute particles several green
backs, aggregating in value about $1OO.
The pot full of earth was watered and
cared for regularly until the attention
or sane person was attracted to the
fruitlesS proceedings. The experts of
the redemption division searched faith
fully through the packages of dirt and
found several pieces of paper money.
Not enough was obtained. however, to
warrant the redemption of $100 worth.
The redemption division, by the way.
is surprising all past records of ex-
changing new money for old. For the
past three years there has been a ire
mendouS demand throughout the coun-
try for notes of small denominations
The bills that were issued in response
to this demand are now finding their
way back to the treasury for redemp-
ton, and this accounts, in a measure,
for the heavy receipts. During the
month of April. 1901 the redemption
division handled 1858 ,134 pieces of
money. During the corresponding
month of this year there were han
p died 9,242,092 pieces. The working force
of this division has been lately in
creased in order to keep up with the
big volume of business.
In Ecuador curious hammocks
have long been in use, and Mr.. Perry
NJ. de Leon, United States consul gen
eral at Guayaquil, thinks so highly
of them that he wants to see them
used in this country. Their special
merits, he says, are the strength, del
icacy and elasticity of the fiber Of
which they are composed, and he ex-
presses confidence that if they were
imported lin quantity by some enter
prising merchant the results would be
gratifying" The raw material is de-