MASHONALAND.
A Part of Africa Destined to
Come to the Front.
A Three-Thousand Acre Farm
for Twenty-Five Dollars.
G. E. Attwood, for twenty years a
esident of Natal, Mashonalaud and
lher parts of East Africa, who has
lad many curious experience there as
a gold and diamond miner and while
engaged in other occupations, is at the
American exchange. Mr. Attwood
says the gold and diamond mining in
dustries are at a somewhat low ebb.
The gold mines are suffering a col
lapse, and the diamond lields have
nearly all been bought up by big syn
dicates who control things.
lie thinks Mashonalaud is the coun
try of all others in that part of Atrica
destined to come to the front.
"It is no country for a married
man," lie said, "but for a voung man
it offers great inducements. It is a
wilderness now, and that is the reason
there is so good a show. The British
East Africa Company, organized on
something like the linos of the British
East India Company, has been grant
ed immense areas of lauds and other
rights. A great number of very rich
men are behind it, and they are goiug
to build a long railroad to open up the
country.
"This is what affords opportunities
there. The country is very rich. An
acre there will produce more than any
family can use. Maize or Indian corn
is the principal crop, though mangoes,
sweet potatoes, oranges aud many
other things givu a prodigious crop.
Oranges are very fine, aud they are so
cheap that they are only worth 6 cents
for a hundred. No irrigation what
ever is required. Tho 6oil is quite
sand 112.
"No improved implements arc used
in the cultivation o£ the maize. It is
all done by natives with hoes. Here
tofore it lias been 110 use to attempt to
grow much, because it could not be
got out. Still what has been grown
has brought $1 for every 200 pouuds,
and from that up to more than $2. It
is ground into flour a good deal and
makes very flue bread. The oranges
never will havo a market except pure
ly local. To attempt to sell them on
tho Atlantic seaboard of America is
useless, because the California product
can beat them there eight or teu days.
'•Now, if a young man has but £SOO
and will goto Mashonalaud ho can
secure 3000 acres of this magnificent
land by paying down §25, staying a
part of six months of each year for
two years and expending the remain
der of his SSOO on the land. Then he
gets his title. Some of tlio laud down
near the coast is worth ns much now
as it is here, and a great deal of tliis
cheap land will be valuable in two or
three years. At present they don't
think any more ot 3000 acres there
than you do of ten acres here. It is a
good opening, though, and tho land is
bound to come out ull right.
"At present the Americans are doing
most of tho business in East Africa.
Not that they are there, for they are
not; but they sell the goods. The
supply comes from New York prin
cipally. Doors, window-frames,
glass, household furniture aud mauy
other tilings of (hut class they sell.
It's a big trade and pays well.
"As to these lauds in Mashonaland,
a man cau stay on his ranch aud get
all the gamo he wants to live on.
Roebucks and any amount of antelope
and diflereut kinds of deer roam there
in great pleutv, and there is also a
great deal of fine feathered game. It
is a country very attrac;ivc in more
ways thau one; but children don't
thrive there somehow, aud I have
brought mine here to see if they won't
do better."—[San Francisco Exam
luer.
A Man of Unique Usefulness.
Professor Charles Sprague Sargent
is the son of a Boston banker, aud his
first experience in gardening was
gained in managing his father's hand
some estate in Brookline, where h
showed so much skill aud taste in
landscape-gardening, as well us
knowledge of botany, that lie was in
vited to become tho head of the
Botanical Garden at Cambridge.
There, being full of ideas, he at first
dismayed Dr. A«a Gray by the decisive
changes lie undertook to make; but
tho elder botanist was soon convinced
that everything the younger one did
was for tho advautago of tho place,
since from tho first ho showed unusual
breadLh of view, and ability. His
thoroughness and success in this de
partment suggested him as the most
desirable, indeed, as the only compe
tent man to manago tho Arboretum.
Ue was therefore made Arnold Pro
feasor of Arboriculture in Harvard
University.
Since then his fame as a dendro
logist has increased, until lie is even
better known and quoted as an
authority in the Old World than iu
America. Owing to his high reputa
tion and the knowledge acquired by
liiin in his direction of the Arboretum,
in 1880 the United States Government
put him at the head of the Forestry
Division of the Tenth Census, the re
sult of which was his remarkable
report of its proceedings published by
the government in one of its quarto
volumes. This contains a most com
prehensive account of the condition
of the timber of tho country twelve
years ago. It tells of our forests, of
their bibliographical history, econo
mic worth and uses; describes tho
different woods of our native land,
and commercial value; gives an
account of the lumber industry, the
detail of forest fires, and a liott of
other things that iuilueuco the com
merce of the country, and is accom
panied by colored maps showing
forest growth nnd density in differ
ent states. [Century.
Washington's Awful Dignity.
President Washington wont to tho
sessions of Congress iu a splendid
coach, formed like a hemisphere, with
gilt panne'ts 011 which were carved
Cupids, flowers and fruits. This
gorgeous vehicle was drawn by six
cream-colored horses superbly capari
soned and supplemented by a coach
man aud two footmen iu whito and
scarlet livery. This spectacle drew
crowds to tho street whenever tho
President passed. On the occasion of
receptions President aud Mrs. Wash
ington (she was called "His Emin
ence's Consort") sat on tho raised
platform like a throne, aud in a stately
way received the salaams of the
people.
The only man who ever attempted
to be familiar with President Wash
ington was Governor Morris, who, on
a big wager that he wouldn't daro
walk up to Washington, slap him on
the shoulder, and familiarly accost
him, went boldly up iu a crowded
room to tho dignified George. He
didn't slap George upon the shoulder,
however, for his courage failed him,
and he laid his hand 011 the President
and mildly said: "Well, General, you
are looking very well to-night*" In
stantly Washington turned round and
gave Morris a dark frown and dagger
look from out his eyes, which made
that worthy shrink into a corner thor.
oughly embarrased. [St. Louis Star-
Sayings.
How -Mountains Get Their Names.
Mountains and mountain ranges in
the United States, and, indeed, the
world over, have usually beeu named
not by the mountaineers themselves,
but by the dwellers in tho plains, who
saw the mountains as a more or less
distant prospect. It sometimes hap
pens that a mountain or a mountain
range bears two names because of
different aspects present to dwellcrsjon
each side. The several Blue and Blue
llidgc Mountains wero named mani
festly by those to whom the ranges
presented themselves against a more
or less distant horizon. One of tho
Green Mountains in Vermont is
called Bald Face by dwellers in tho
Adirondack region about Paul Smith's,
a name justified by the aspect of the
mountain from that part of tho wild
erness. Our own Adirondack Sugar
Loaf could never have beeu named by
a dweller upon its own top. Tho
Orange Mountains took their name,
however, not from thoir sunset aspect
as seen from tho lowlands, but are
only another evidence of the affection
with which Dutchmen cling to the
name orange, au affection which has
led them to fix that name on the map
in whatever part of the world they
may have tarried. —[New York Sun.
Boand to Get it Right or Die.
In Boston's swell circles there is a
family whoso butler has given to it a
unique position. Michael had not been
In Boston very long before ho became
imbued with the classic learning of the
"Hub," and he immediately put his
learning to use. Mrs. Marble-Hall
was to give a reception, and of course
Michael stood at tho door. One by
one the guests camo in, and, like
Parker in "Lady Windermere's Fan,"
Michael announced tho names very
distinctly. But at last Michael was
stumped. Mr. Butler looked at the
guests aud hesitated. He rubbed his
hand against nis forehead aud must
ered courage to spoak before tho
crowded guests, aud in a sepulchral
voice lie cried, "Mr. Foote—and—tho
Misses Feet."—[Boston Budget.
A fisheries and shooting exhibition
is to be held in the Loudon (England)
Royal Aquarium.
ARCTIC QUEST.
Efforts to Unearth the Secrets
of the North Pole.
Coming Expeditions by Peary
and Other Explorers.
Interest in Lieutenant Peary's sec
ouil Arctic quost will be increased by
the announcement of a plan of opera
tions quite as simple and practicable
as that for his previous journey. That
journey was one of the most success
ful in the record of Arctic exploration
in tho value of the results attained by
simple means anil at a small cost, and
was unattended by tlie fatalities and
anxieties which have so often marked
such enterprises. Tho explorer not
only pushed farther 10 tho north on
the east Greenland coast than any
other traveller has done, but deter
mined tho trend of that coast and the
existence of great glaciers in the
northern fiords, located the end of the
interior ice cap, and otherwise in
creased the sum of popular knowledge
of tho polar regions. Tho success
achieved was not the result of chance,
but of the wise adaptation of
means to an end, and with the
adoption of similar methods,increasod
experience and a longer absence, may
doubtless be repeated with still more
important results. On his next ex
pedition Lieutenant Peary will estab
lish his headquarters 011 the north
coast of Inglefiold gulf, which 110 ex
pects to reach in the latter part of July,
a base which will afford more direct
access to the ice cap,and from which
a party will bo sent out in tho autumn
to cache provisions for tho next sea
son's journey. Ten men will make up
his party, and with six or seven of
these, tho advance inland will be be
gun in March instead of May, as in
the previous expedition, and donkeys
or ponies will be taken in addition to
dogs. The party will strike at once
for Independence bay, on the north
east coast of Greenland, the
most northerly point reached on
tho former journey, and will
then be divided, three men
pushing southward along tho coast to
Capo Bismarck, to return thence
across the interior ice cap to tho camp
on Inglefield gulf. At tho same time
Lieutenant Peary with two men will
follow the coast northward to the
farthest point reached by Lockwood
and Brainard of the Greely expedi
tion, so that the whole north coast of
Greenland from Cape Bismarck, in
latitude 76 degrees 47 minutes, where
the Germans stopped, 10 latitudo 83
degrees 24 minutes north, will be
traced and its contour mapped. Tho
task will, of course, bo adilOcult one.
but Lieutenant Peary's plan of sledg
ing inland instead of along the shore
ice will render it easier, since much of
the shore can be traced from tho inte
rior highlands while short cuts are be
ing made.
It is possible that the expedition
may reach the pole itself, since if the
condition of the ice is favorable, or
there are islands scattered boyond
Greenland which will facilitate his
methods of travel, Lieutenant Pear*
tvill push as far poleward as possible.
But whether 110 advances northward
from Lock wood island or not, he ex
pects to survey the most northerly is
lands and to complete the delineation
of the North Greenland coast without
1 break from the former point to Cap ;
Bismarck. It will bo seon that this
plan of operations differs radically
from that of Dr. Nanson, who in a
small, strongly built vessel is during
the present year to follow the route
taken by Do Long in an eilort to drift
with the ocean currents across the
pole, a plan far more hazardous aud
uncertain of important result. Lieu
tenant Peary will, however, have an
imitator in Mr. Frederick G. Jackson,
who proposes during the coming sum
mer to lead a British expedition to
Franz Josef land, which, in
his belief and that of other emi
nent Arctic authorities, offers the
safest, most accessible and most prac
ticable route to tho pole. For all that
is known to the contrary, Franz Josef
land may extend to the pole, the Aus
trian explorers, Weyprccht and Payer,
having seen high land north of 83
degrees, and Mr. Jackson confidently
expects to push further north than the
Austrian limit before moving into
winter quarters. Like that of Lieu
tenant Peary, his party will bo small,
and the journey made with sledges
and dogs, with a chain of depots es
tablished in advance, and if the laud
is found to end short of the polo, at
tempt will be made under favorable
•ouditions to push on ovor the ice.
The expedition will, of course, have
the wish of everybody for its success,
for if it fails of its main object, it can
liardly be barren of beueficcnt rosult,
the reaching of even 84 degrees north
involving the making of important
geographical discoveries.—[New York
Observer.
Coyote Scalps Money.
Among the arrivals from San Luis
Obispo County is T. J. Terhuue of
Painted Rock, in the foothill aud
mountain region near the Kern County
line. Mr. Terhune has for almost
two years douo nothing but roam over
the wild sections of the South, bunt
ing for coyote scalps. Mr. Terhune
eays he has realized about S4OOO for
scalps.
"1 found it a very interesting em
ployment," said Mr. Terhuue, who is
about thirty years old and a hunter
from boyhood. "At first I took
things easy. Tho coyotes were so
plenty that I didn't have to bother my
self to exert much skill. I trapped
them easily, shot them down when
they came around my camp, and alto
gether did well. Sometimes I got as
many as fifteen scalps in a day, and I
have made as much as S2OO in a week.
This was in tho dry region in tho
western part of Kern County. Theu
I had about equal success in tho foot
hills of Santa Barbara County.
"Pretty soon, however, the coyotes
bogan to get scarcer. This was not
till well on toward tho close of the
first year after the bounty law was
passed. By that time so many nuntcrs
and trappers were out that it was evi
dent it was going to be a question
eventually as to skill.
"I went to Santa Barbara and
bought some of tho fattest pork I
could find and a lot of strychnine.
Then I started out in the coyote re
gions again, cut the pork in small
pieces, in each of which I placed a
little strychnine, and fastened them on
brush, and occasionally on stick 9
placed in the ground.
"Then I dragged the old carcass of
a bear I had killed around where tho
meat was. The coyotes got on tho
trail of this, scented the pork, ate it,and
were dead before they could get into
their holes. I have foand eight dead
coyotes 011 a circuit of this kind not
to exceed a quarter of a mile in
length. Little and big continued to
fall in this way, and I cleaned out
B ome of tho best hunting grounds
before the novices kuew how togo
to work. For the past four or five
months the scalp business has dropped
off a great deal owing to the fact that
the coyotes had been hunted so much.
"I think, however, the law ought
still to exist, for the moment the
bounty is taken off scalps nobody will
liuut them, and they will increase so
rapidly as to devastate the sheep."—
[San Francisco Examiner.
Suilorincn Bombarded by Aerolites.
A meteor si/.zing from the heavens
camo within a few feet of striking tho
coasting schooner Earl P. Mason, off
Capo Ilaiteras on the passage from the
Satilla River, Georgia, for Philadel
phia. Tho crew say that it was one of
tho most magnificent spectacles they
ever witnessed. The moteor burst in
many pieces and scattered its seething
fragments all around, some of which,
as they dashed into the sea, made re
ports that sounded like a cannonade.
Particles of the meteor as they flew
through the air with the appearauce of
red-hot chunks of iron struck the
water with hissing sounds and disap
peared only to send up masses of
steam where they hail gone down.
The condition of the atmosphere
during tho fall of tho meteor was most
peculiar. There wore gaseous odors
all around, and even the surface of the
ocean glowed as if it were ablaze.
The heavens, too, appeared to be on
lire. From the zonitli to tho surface
of the water there wero long trails of
sparks along tho clearly outlined path
of the meteor. It became necessary
for the vessel to "lay to" under storm
trysails until tho atmosphero had as
sumed its normal condition. Tiio ves
sel's compass was affected, and the
needle fluctuated without regard to
the cardinal points.
The official log of the Mason, as
written and reported by Capt. Brown,
shows ' at the meteoric shower had
boc:i preceded by a terrific gale. Tho
mainsail was blown to tatters and tho
foresail was taken into save it.
When the wind, which blew at tho
rate of GO miles an hour, bad subsidod,
the meteor burst athwart the heavens,
us abovo described, with a tremendous
report, and lighted up the firmament
with a supernatural glow. During
tho sailors' awo-stricken observance
of ihis phenomenon a heavy sea
boarded the vessel, stovo 111 her boat
and damaged the decks.
At an experiment farm in Asmara,
Africa, under the direction of the
Italian government, an acre of shallow
stony soil was sown with 172 pounds
of native barley, and yielded 2,200
pounds.
PEARLS OF THOUGHT.
It is a strange religious truth that
the other fellow ia always the "here
tic."
Many small-minded persons are like
those babbling brooks that drive no
mills.
Suspicion comes quickest to the man
who is himself capable of wrong
doing.
The bloom and freshness is allowed
to disappear too soon from the rising
generation.
A favorite theory of yesterday
should not stand against a golden
truth of today.
It is much more natural tocomplain
because of what wo liavo uot, than to
returu thanks for what we have.
The world comes easy to handsome
people, while those who are merely
blessed with brains have to fight for
recognition.
How different is tho expression of
the supcrbus muscle when it performs
its 112 uuction in the eye of a worm and
in the eye of a woman I
It is a torrible misfortune or a hor
rid retribution for a man to have a
face of such fixed impressiveness that
it merely serves as a figurehead to his i
body.
Faith, 110 doubt, is a much cheaper
signal of character than is commonly
supposed. Wo believe what wo are
worthy to believe. What wo are un
worthy to believo we cannot believe
however hard we try.
When the creative pattern is woven
in its fullness by the creation, all the
experiences of history collected and
adjusted in their mutual relations, and
the harmonized whole unvoiled in the
consciousness of every creature, that
illuminated and all-justifying crisis
will be the true judgement day which
will set a solidarity of time in the sol
idarity of space.
Salt as a Dissipatiou.
Salt, the least liurmful of condi
ments, if such a necessary article of
diet can be termod a condiment, is
by the medical profession, recognized
as a species of dissipatiou in its ex
cessive use among women.
Everyone knows how fiat and
flavorless all food becomes when tho
system is a trifle deranged; it is jus'
then, when men resort to bitters and
burning sauces to tone up their jadod
appetites, that women find their solo
resource in the apparently innoceut
salt cruet.
It is the old story of giving an inch
to yield an ell, and before the victim
knows it, her palate demands a double
or triple quantity of the mineral to
savour every morsol tho cats.
Some go so far as to salt not only
the substantial dishes, but tea, coflee,
fruits and sweetmeats.
They begin by taking a pinch extra
now and then to piquo their tastes,
and before long tako a bit to keep in
tho pocket, or buy a crystal to nibble on
the sly.
Nature's revenge 011 her weak
daughter is as insidious as the result
her immutable laws have suffered. She
fiies her first sigual of distress in a
deadening of tho skin, replacing tho
pink glow of health by a dim yellow
ish palor. Lips and cheeks blanch
alike, this chango being iicccoinpanied
by a deepening of every shadow 011 the
face. This is as nothing, however,
to the destruction this morbid habit
works 011 a woman's crowning glory,
her hair.
And it is astonishing how sensitive
tho hair is to every fluctuation of one's
health. Soon each time the comb pas
ses through, it brings out long shining
strands. No lotion or tonic is effec
tive in checking the loss, and unless
corrected, the abormal amount of salt
in the system will produce baldness.
Even now quite a number of women
aro under treatment, some avowedly
and othors secretly, for this form of
excess.
Timid Birds Keudercd Fearless.
In defense of thoir young even
birds become fearless aud sacrifice
their lives with a promptness which,
as a sort of suicidal instinct, might
seem rathor paradoxical, if it were
not for that by-law of nature which
always sacrifices tho interest of Indi
viduals to the interest of the species.
A partridge hen with a covey of half
grown chicks never hesitates to fling
herself into the path of a pursuing
dog in order to give her youugstcrs a
chanco to escape in tho thicket, and
the Mexican weaver-thrush flics even
at the head of a snake seen to ap
proach her nest with predatory pur»
po»e*. Too often that devotion is re
warded with death, but the serpent
accepts the vicarious sacrifice, aud tho
orphaned nestliugs are almost sure to
lie reared by other birds.—[San Fran
cisco Chronicle.
(SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
The candle power of searchlight W
reckoned by the hundred millions.
Professor Dewar of London has I
succeeded in reducing air to a solid.
The number of ferns now known
on the island of Madagascar is 826
true ferns and forty fern allies.
If every particle of moisture wore
wrung from the atmosphere it would
coyer the entire globe to a depth of
less than four inches.
Marble covered with sea water is
often found after a while full of
small holes. Doctor Trimble has dis
covered an insect which bores these
holes.
Horses suspected of being affected
with glanders have been vaccinated in
Berlin with mallcin, and the results
were so good that the inspectors of
the military veterinary service are
being instructed in its use.
Vegetables that produce fibers are
numerous in Nicaragua, but the ones
most cultivated in all hot climates are
thoso belonging to the agave family.
In Nicaragua it grows more vigorous
ly and exuberautly than in any other
country.
Dimples probably result from do
fectived evelopment of a muscl".
When the muscle is called into use the
defective portion fails to respond and
a hollow is loft, into which the flesh
and skin of the cheek, for example,
fall, and thus the dimple is formed.
Granite is the lowest rock in ihe
earth's crust; it is the bed rock ol the
world. It shows 110 evidence of ani
mal or vegetablo life. It is from two
to ten times as thick as the united
thickness of all the other rocks. It is
the parent rock from which all other
rocks have been either directly or in
directly derived.
For surveying wrecks, seining fish,
reconnoitring for concealed torpedoes
or most any submarine work the in
candescent electric lamp, with specially
insulated socuet and cable, is bound
to bo extensively used in the future.
Experiments recently carried on _
off Toulon, Frauce, showod excel
lent results. Lamps were burned at
a depth of six fathoms which brightly
illuminated 100 feet of ocean-bed.
• A Few Buffalo Still Left.
Professor Horu&day, the naturalist,
estimated the number of the animals
running wild at the beginning ot the
year 1891 at 1000, and this is certainly
a liboral estimate. About fifty are
known to be in Colorado, where, in
October, 1891, a ranchman, for whom
justice still calls in vain, is kuown to
have killed five. Iu 1889 the
legislature of Colorado enacted a law
providing severo ponalties for any one
who should kill a buffalo before the
year 1900. The stato game warden
recently made an effort to bring the
individual who admitted that he had
killed five of the animals to justice,,
but he "could find no one who would
testify agaiust him." These Colorado
buffalo are suid to be in four "bunches",
—one iu Middle Park, ono in the
Kenosha range (the herd numbering
perhaps twenty) ten or fifteen are at ,
Halm's Peak in Routt county and the »
remainder at Dolores.
On the James river in North Dakota
and south and west of Jamestown
there are four or five animals, all that
arc left of the little herd which made
its last stand near Fort Totteu. Mani
toba is said to contain a small herd,
but as quite a number of animals were
recently shipped from Winnipeg to
Garden City, Kansas, where "Buffalo"'.
Jones has gathered a considerable
number, and is endeavoring with'
some mcasuro of success to increase
them by breediug, it may bo that thi>
Manitoba herd has been counted
twice.
Tho Yellowstone National Park con*
tains a large herd —Ihe largest, per
haps, in existence anywhere—aud 4 theyr
are said to bo slowly increasing in
numbers.
Forty-sevou buffalo are owned by*
C. Allard, a rancher in the Flathead!
country, on Crow creek, Montana.
These auimals aro herded with tha
domestic cattle. Hero and theret
throughout the country, iu parks 015
zoological gardens, a fow are to ba|
found. These are all that remain oil
that mighty host which covered tha
plains of tho West within the memory
of men not yet 35 years of age.—*
[Harper's Magazine.
Lifelike.
Photogniphei —1 have just been,
finishing souio photograph* of your 1
wife, Mr. Sin inker.
Mr. Shrinke — IIMVC, eh?
Photographer —Yes, and I must sny,
they are speaking likenesses.
Mr. Shrinkei —Thov wouldn't
her if they weren't.—[B >stonCourier,,;