Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1894 — Signal Whistles. [ARTICLE]

Signal Whistles.

The inhabitants of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, have evolved a whistling code by which they converse with each other at a distance. Each syllable has its own appropriate tone. The whistler uses both Angers and lips, and it is/asserted that communication canyfbe kept up at a mile’s distance. , Whistling is confined to Gomera Island and is quite unknown to therrest of the group. The adoption ofbthis mode of carrying on conversation is due to the I geological formation of the island, as it is intersected by numerous gullies and ravines. As there are no' bridges across these, intercourse between neighbors is often rendered difficult. A map living within a stone’s throw of Another may have to go many miles round to make a call upon his neighbor, and the Inconvenience of this led the people to i cultivate this manner of communicating with each other. “So your son John is courting a woman at last! I’m afraid, however, that he’ll be too bashful to propose' to her.” “He won’t need to propose; ! she’s a widow. VyHew York Press.