Year: 1878

lue D6dulllu CITY OF HalermO mas q


way more striking than creditable of re-


calling herself to the memory of the


world. If ever year has passed away


without our hearing any mention of Sici-


ly, we may be fairly sure that the time


is ripe for the news of one of those acts
of brigandage which here never seem to
pass quite out of fashion. Of late we
fancied there had been some improve.
ment in this respect. The last remark
able case was in October, 1876, when a


banker of Palermo was captured at dis
tance of some, twenty miles from the city,
and. after detention of month, more
or less, was returned to his family in con-
sideration of sum of 10000 lire, or about
$4,000. Since that time the world has
been allowed to forget Sicilian brigands,
until within the last few days, when the
telegraph has had to repeat to Eu-
rope the headings of the old familiar
tale Each repetition, however, has its
own peculiar feature. The present YER
sion was briefly as follows: Alessandro
Parisi, young man of rich Palermitan
family, was out late one night about two
weeks ago. On his way home, Just as
the clock struck twelve, he was arrested


by four strangers armed with carbines.
For several minutes he struggled against
force and cried aloud, but his resistance


brought him nothing, only blow under
the chin with a carbine. which was
promptly reproved by another agressor
with the words, "VOLete dnlndzzdriO w (do
you want to kill him?) This showed the
victim that it was question, not of muB-
der but of plunder, and he permitted
himself to be dragged about thirty PAGES
to a carriage, a landau withyOne horse,
where he was blindfolded and then driv-
en- off. In about an hour and half the
carriage stopped, and Parisi was taken
into cave, where he was detained for
twelve days while negotiations for his
ransom were being carried on. During
all this time the brigands did not belle
their reputation for certain rough kind


illness in their treatment of victims. He
was fed with macaroni, meat and soup,
and when he showed a lack of appetite,
gentle force was used to make him eat,
on the plea that they must return him to
his home in as good condition as they
cigars, and recounted to him the news
of each day, including the death of the
King and an attempt at brigandage " hich
had, unfortunately, from their point of
view, miscarried. Best of all, they con-
descended to explain their conduct to-
ward him. There was no lack of the
most delicate regard for him, but times
were hard, and they said they were
obliged, from the necessity of living, to
have recourse to people who we're known
to have money enough and to spare. If
their manner of raising the wind left
their benefactors no choice between CIV
ing and refusing, the fault, they said, lies
with the rich, who show tenacity any,
thing but high-mInded in holding on to
their wealth. Finally, after twelve days
had elapsed, Parisi was returned to his
family, who proved the value they set
upon him by the price paid for his ran
som-67 900 lire-or, at the present rate
of Italian paper, $4,000.


The Birth Of a Kangaroo.


The st. Louis Republican says there
are three old kangaroos at the fair
grounds, one, the giant kangaroo, which
can leap from twenty to twenty-six feet
at a jump, with an elevation of the
curve to his line of flight of from six to
nine feet. Then there is a pair of what
is known as the Bennett or bush kanga-
roo from Australia. The female kan
garoo at the fair grounds has a little
kangaroo that has been seen several
times peeping from its mothers sac.
When born 1t was not much over an
inch long and resembled the semi-trans-
parent mouse. 1t was lifted by the
mouth of its mother into the sac, or
marsupium, and placed near the nipple,
which it instictively seized. 1t will
remain there until it is capable of taking
care of itself.


AS soon as born the young are place!
IN the mothers pouch, which is held
open by her fore paws while they are
taken up by her mouth. There is no
vascular connection between the young
kangaroo and the nipple; when separat-
ed by force, the milky secretion is seen
oozlng out; the young seem unable to
grasp the nipple, which is sometimes
replaced in the mouth by the mother.
The teat has a circular enlargement at
the tip, which makes it easy to be re-
tanned. Though the young can firmly
grasp the nipple by the lips, it cannot
draw the milk without the aid of the
mother, which by the action of the
mammary gland can inject this fluid
into the mouth of the sucking. Lest
the act of injection when not coinCiding
with that of suction, should endanger
the life Of the foetus from suffocatiOn,
the cartilages of the larynx are so
arranged that the opening Of the glOttis
is placed upon the top of the cone which
projects, as in whales, into the posterior
nOstrils, so that the stream of milk
passes on each side into the gullet, with
out the possibility of entering the wind
pipe,-a most striking example of
creative design for the protection of this
embryonic creature. As the young
become older, and long after they are
able to Craze about like their parents,
they frequently retreat to the abdominal
pouch, and may often be seen protrud-
ing their heads and cropping the herb
age at the same time with their mother.


KangaroOs are vegetable feeders,
browsing like ruminants, and, like these,
occasionally chew the cud, and when
browsing apply the fore foot to the
ground at other times they rest upon
the tripod, formed by the hind legs and
powerful tail, with the fore part of the
body inclining slightly forward. Mr..
Kalb feeds his kangaroos on carrots, rut-
abagas, cabbage, hay, and corn, and in
summer they take the fresh grass and
clover. The flesh of the kangaroo, like
the opossum, is excellent, and the animal
is much hunted alike by the colonists