Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 January 1888 — A Fisherman’s Telephone. [ARTICLE]

A Fisherman’s Telephone.

Science Gossip. On some parts of the coast of Sumatra aud the neighboring islands the fishermen test the depth of the sea and ; also the nature of the sea bottom by the noises they heaf on applying the ear to one end of an oar of which the other end is plunged in the water. At a depth of twenty feet and less the sound is a crepitation Similar to that when salt is thrown on burning charcoal; at fifty feet it is like the ticking of a watch, the ticking being more or lees rapid according to whether the bottom is entirely of coral or alternately of coral and mud or of sand. If the bottom is entirely of sand the sound is clear; if of mud it resembles the humming of a swarm of bees. On dark nights the fishermen select their fishing grounds according to these indications. Leap till the last armed nude expires; Leap tor your husbands and for sires; leap for a chance to build; the. fires, Fair ones throughout the land!