The Halifax Comet. — 1898-03-19 (Halifax, West Yorkshire, England)

ATHLETICUS.  T1:014113,in Oencrat. N ex-sea captain, now living in Sydney, many years ago was in charge of a ship carrying some convicts. The convicts mutinied, murdered the crew, and ordered the captain to navigate them to the islands, and, being a prudent man, he did so. When satisfied as to their course, the convicts deliberated, decided that he had behaved himself well, and put him ashore on the first large island they came to. He was a musician and took his violin with him. A threatening crowd of savages greeted his arrival, but Orpheus played to them till they thought him a god; brought him unlimited pigs and yams, and bowed in adoration. Finally he married the chief's daughter; succeeded him and ruled the island for years, till a ship called in and he sailed away.—Sydney Bulletin.  * *  There is a good chance for a sportsman fond of yachting and shooting. The six Selvage Islands, to the north of the Canaries, are in the market. The present proprietor lives in Maderia, and is open to offers. The sport of killing the puffin  ~...;:17,' g :.4 9 ' _  . . . • . Q) I ' a) ••••' I o ~.. o gi o 1 .0 m C.) •RI 6 sa c.; 4 7., o .; sai a) 4 t... 210)._  -1 % 0 0 co 0 0 --..0 0 14 0 a) re+ lis'  . . . . .  •r.. E 4 im 1,4 co 3   is the chief attraction of the islands, beyond the climate and the opportunities they offer for a beutiful summer lounge. Someone should purchase the group, erect a sanatorium on the largest island, and run the Selvages as a health resort, with the puffins thrown in.—Pin,anctal News  * t, *  Passengers to Bulawayo by the new railway experience somewhat of a novelty in crossing the Shashi River. A correspondent writes that when he wished to go over there were three to four feet of water in the river, and consequently the engines could not cross, or the water would have extinguished the fires. The method adopted was to make a train equal in length to the width of the river, and then an engine was placed at the rear, which hustled the train across the river, so that it extended its full width. Another engine—or, more literally speaking a brace of engines—was waiting on the far .side, and these were coupled to the train and dragged it out. It was a new way of fording a river by rail. The bridge at the Shashi has been completely washed away, and at one time the water was eight feet over the old bridge. Too much credit cannot be given to the engineers and the station master for their energy and courteousness, for the way tney walked through the river in order to guide the trains was worthy of Britons.--Balawayo Chronicle.  * * *  Two small stowaways, who came before the Melbourne City Court for stealing passages from West Australia by the s.s. Barcoo, reversed the usual tactics of their class. Instead of spending a week squatting in several inches of bilge water and subsisting on tinned meats broached from a convenient case, they strolled into the saloon, took possession of an unoccupied cabin, and lived on the fat of the laud— or, rather, the sea—until the fatal hour when tickets were collected. At the moment the officer demanded the tickets one of the youngsters was in the act of ordering a steward to bring him an extra allowance of beef tea, while the other was borrowing a cigar from a genial pas-;enger. The bench looked on the lads with a lenient eye, and fined each £l, or, in default, three days' imprisonment.-- British Australasian.  A school class were asked what makes the sea salt. One scholar was equal to it. His hand went up : " Please, sir, the 'errings."  * * *  BILLY BLINK (boxiny instructor): "Great Scot That was an 'outer' you gave me. But wot's that in your glove, I say?" AMATEUR (just learning) : " Oh, that's a horseshoe—l put it there for luck."