Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 September 1884 — The Chinese Island of Hainan. [ARTICLE]

The Chinese Island of Hainan.

AN enormous ranch m Mexico has just been purchased for $1,000,000 by, a syndicate of English and Scotch speculators, of whom Lord Tweedmouth is one. It extends over 1,600 square miles. An Irishman who was shipwrecked on the Gulf of Mexico lost his life in a singular way. He had a cork leg and when he fell overboard his leg rose to the surface and held him head downward until he died from rush of blood to the head. In Nevada there are hundreds of Artesian wells, averaging less than 200 feet deep, and costing, including boring and piping, less than SSOO. Each of them flow 50,000 gallons of water a day, and will irrigate five acres of plowed or fifty acres of meadow land. All the wells are on top of the bed-rock, and there is shown to be a stratum of water underlying the whole State. The California ostrich farm covers 200 acres, has twenty old birds and eighteen young ones. The proprietor is hopeful of a large profit, One-half the feathered product of Africa is marketed in the United States, and the demand is increasing. Each bird ought to yield fifty long white feathers twice a year. The feathers have to be washed and curled, and are then worth $4 to $6 each, wholesale. The New Orleans “World’s Fair,” to be opened next December, was first intended to commemorate the centennial of the shipment of six bags of cotton from Charleston, S. C., to England, in 1784; but its scope has been enlarged so as to embrace all industries. The buildings will be larger than those at the Philadelphia Centennial; the machinery hall alone will be 1,300 feet by 900 feet, and cover thirty-two acres. The editor of the Kentucky State Journal wantsto bet somebody that before another hundred years are past there will be trotters in this country that will make a mile in less than two minutes. It is to be hoped that the Journal man will find some one to take him, that he will make the sum a large one and let us hold the stakes. There is a chance for the stake-holder to enjoy himself before the money is called for. r ——— -— —

There are a number of women planters in Madison Parish, Louisiana. Mrs. M. A. Gibbs lives on the Hecla plantation, which she manages with great success. Miss Ln Lucas manages a large estate, and personally superintends a large force. She spends most of her time in the saddle, and looks after, her plows, hoes, drains, levees, stock, and mill. Madame Ames is regarded as the best woman in the parish, owns a tract of 1,000 acres, and has 800 acres under cultivation this yejJU At this time, when cut flCwers fade so soon, it is well to know that if a small bit of the stem is cut off and the end immersed i:«i very hot water, the flower will frequently revive and resume its beauty. Colored flowers are more easily rejuvenated (than white ones, which are apt to turn yellow. For preserving flowers in water, finely pulverized charcoal should be put into the vase at this season. When vipes are growing in water, charcoal will prevent foul odors from the standing water. The manufacture of “buffalo. horn” furniture has become an industry in New York. The horns are not those of the bison, as is commonly believed, but are from the cattle killed in the abattoirs. They are sold at the slaughter houses for a little more than what the button manufacturers give, are cleaned, dried scraped, and polished. The cost of making these horned goods is less than that of carved wood, but they bring two or three times more than the latter. The new industry is almost monopolized by Germans from Saxony. Recent returns show that out of a total estimated population of 26,921,703 in England and Wales there were 4,273,304 children on the school register last year, of whom 3,705,388 were present at the annual inspection, being an increase on the previous year of 83,692 and 162,646 respectively. The number of certified teachers was increased from 35,444 in 1882 to 37,288 in 1883, the assistant teachess from 10,071 to 12,390, while the number of pupil teachers was reduced from 28,285 to 26,428. The total cost of maintenance was £5,817,466, against £5,572,820 in 1882. * Mr. Peru, a Parisian pianist of extraordinary daring, has laid a wager that he will play in a cage of wild beasts. His selection will be from Beethoven and Chopin. Wagner he deems dangerous and calculated to arouse the kings of the forest to a sense of what is due them. A berceus of Choyin may lull them to sleep; such is his hope and reliance, and a sonata of Beethoven (not the Appasionata) may complete the work begun by the berceuse and reduce the royal beasts to*a dense degree of somnolence. Whether the trumpeting of elephants and roar of lions could be heard or not over the

clash and clang of some of Wagner’s inspirations is a mooted point wliich Mr. Peru has not yet decided to his own satisfaction.

According to a return issued by the French Minister of Commerce the working population of France is distributed among the various branches of industry as follows: Collieries (342), 106,415 hands; peat works iron mines (353), 8,468; other metal- e liferous mines (60), 4,4*23; iron works (359,) 57,000; china andwearthern ware factories (412), 18,708; glass houses (162), 23,421, paper mill ai cardboard factories (536), 32,655; gas works (612), 10,575; candle manufactories (157), 8,603; soap works (339), 3,509; sugar works (512), 63,526; textile factories (5,024), 353,383. Agriculturemot given.. Colliery and iron works stand highest, which give employment to over six times as many as the iron -works. A Farmer in Solona, California, is possessed of a peculiar fancy in regard to the feline tribe. He believes every cat has a design on his life, and takes occasion upon seing a cat to dispatch it as quickly as possible. He visits hotels, stores, and private houses for the sole purpose of killing his alleged enemies, and even offers a bounty as high as $5 for the possession of any feline which he cannot kill without incurring the enmity of its owner. He frequently goes about with his pockets full of cats’ claws, legs, ears, livers, etc., and often laments that he cannot kill all of the “nasty varmints.” His queer actions have attracted the attention of the authorities, who have taken steps towards confining him in his right place —a lunatic asylum.

The remains of Schubert and Betlioven are to be removed with great pomp and ceremony from their present place of interment to the Friedhof Cemetery, in Vienna. The life work and story of Bethoven is too well known to be repeated, but the incidents relating to Schubert are only being understood to-day. The appreciation of Schubert came late. Believed at his death to have been nothing but a song writer. The melodic excellence of his instrumental work was a later discovery. Bis misfortunes ancL his poverty seem to have arisen pretty much from his own fault. His early death, at thirty-one, closed a career which might have made him as great as the greatest of the musical masters, had he but lived to a maturer age.

Our Northwestern farmers having been notified that they must expect a serious competition in wheat-growing from the ryots of India and the AngloSaxon settlers of Australia, the turn of our Southwestern corn-planters is but a question of time. An economic society in St. Petersburg has just petitioned the Czar to set aside some state lands fortlip scientific cultivation of a plant named epilobium, and the continuation of experiments for improving its fiber. The reason at the basis of this petition is that certain Russian naturalists claim to have made a discovery in reference tp this plant which may revolutionize the cotton trade of Europe, The epilobium more popularly known as the “willow herb,” from the shape of its leaves, has hitherto been cultivated solely for its flower, which grows from the top of the pod. The Russian savants now claim that this pod can be made to yield a fiber possessing many of the valuable qualities of cotton fiber. In the -experiments already made this fiber has been ginned, spun, and woven successfully on a small scale. The enthusiasts,.who hope for so much for the plant go so far as to claim that the result of the discovery will be in time to avert the necessity for the importation of cotton into Russia.

Ih a late number of the Chifia. -ftpview is given an account of a journey through Hainan, by Mr. Henry. As in other outlying possessions of China, the native tribes have succeeded in a measure in holding their own against übiquitous Chinese. The northern part of the island is described as a large plain, while the central and southern portions are mountainous. Here the aboriginal tribes, the Les, take refuge. They are cordial and hospitable to strangers, and are probably of Malay origin. There are fifteen or sixteen different tribes, known under distinct names, varying more or less in dress, language, and customs, but all evidently belong to one homogeneous race bound together by common ties, and, as a rule, living on friendly terms with each other. The flora and fauna appear singularly rich, and hut little investigated. In a visit of a few weeks the late M. Swinhoe noted 172 species of birds, nineteen of which were new to science, and were first described by him. The leeches are an especial plague to the traveler. They are desscnbed as of a grayish brown and earthen hue, and vary from ' half an inch to an inch and a half in length, and swarm from the ground on all sides. Along the path, on the ends of grass blades and branches of shrubs, they may be seen holding by one end, while they reach out their whole length feeling on every side for their prey. The instant they touch foot or hand, or any part of the body, they take fast hold and can only be detached by the application of fire, or when they are sated witli blood.” The natives carry bamboo sticks, with which by a quick motion, thef can ''sometimes detach them. Although the people appear fro enjoy a fair degree of rural prosperity, there is very little foreign trade, and the climate is bad.