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A 'SAND STORM.
Grapkic ic Description of a Striking
Scene in an African Desert.
Lofty P' Ilars of Sand Carrying
Destruction in their Path.
Under the fairest skies the desert is an
awesome solitude, but when a storm
comes it is terrible and appalling. I
shall never forget a scene I witnessed
some forty miles beyond the great
Pyramids, I had gained an isolated
hillock, some two hundred feet above
the level of the surrounding desert,
Away to the west, about two miles dis
taut, I descried six or seven lofty pillars
of sand moving swiftly over tho un
dulating plain. The center one of these
w vertical, and those surrounding it,
4 t a distance of 200 or 300 yards, leaned
slightly toward it. The sand at the
base of the columns was lashed by the
furious whirlwind into a surging sea.
Desert trees of the hardest wood were
torn up with their roots and
hurled hundreds of yards away
and high up into the air; even the
grass that grew in the pa h of that ter
rible -storm was shorn clean away from
its roots. The summits of those columns
of sand at length joined, and then burst
forth from their united tops a yellow,
gigantic cloud of sand of such magni
tude and density as to darken, as in a
total eclipse, the face of the bright af
ternoon sun. The sand spout, called by
the natives “zobahah,” shortly after
subsided, but the cloud of sand and
grass, which had been raised high in
the heavens, continued to darken the
setting sun for more than another hour.
The smaller columu behind traveled
•swiftly, increasing in size, until it
reached the site of the break up of the
other, and then added its mite to the
universal destruction.
With my sextant, .as I stood in secur
ity, I measured the height of the center
column of sand; it was nearly one thou
sand feet. Ihe other columns were
rising so rapidly that they soon reached
a height greater than that of thc center
column. When the junction of all
them took place the-eudden eruption of
sand, leaves and grass reached to a total
height of over four thousand feet. These
“zobahahs” are no-t-very frequent, but
when they occur they carry widespread
devastation along with them, and woe
betide the traveler and the tent that hap
pen to stand in their way. Not more
tlian ten yards from the column tho air
is perfectly c–lm, but, within the
sma .,1 circumscribed circle, there
rages such a tempest as will
curry away anything, however firmly
fixed in the ground, into the regions of
the upper air as easily as ordinary
an
gust of wind will blow a piece of paper.
The camel, this wonderful ship of the
deseit, always knows a few hours befoie
whether one of those approaching “zo
bah.ihs is likely to come upon him,
and hia datura! instinct will him
a place of safety, where he lies down
and only breathes tho cool reactive
rent cur
which closely follows -the burning,
081 su ffocating hot air which
panies accom
the “zobahahs.” Tho usual
rawement of these sand spomts is in the
of a wide circle, and the direction
die center of the circle is almost in
ariably tram south to north.
When th esc awful turmoils
d are over,
fi the disturbing elements
UWtd ha ve re*
da 'b normal state, the burning
g aU '* ?Cornes saturated
the with a hcavv dew,
sun is i ess angry, and the African
desert “lore amenable to life in both
men and leasts. Nature’s
uitis wisdom and
ed arc indeed beyond man’s lim
BBdcrstaading. —Mail and Express.
f urious Mexican Beetles.
b industrious Mexican beetle in the
Window of b jeweler on Broad
furnish upper
cs amusement to large
cr °wds almost
It is every hour of the day.
b curious iookiug insect, and even
persons 'Mil versed in natural history
BaEle at first sight to tell exactly
* ,lt ' ar iety it belongs.
c It looks
a cross between big black spider
tod a
a tumble bug.
..J,' »'lh 1 ''' (he h™' leg, 1 " a! *»» » vo'vcty blue back,
a , |>Uor . Around the
fhat ^°i d band a ^ acbcd t° a thread
hoU 10 sect to miniature hu
ttan skeleton. a
and down The beetle crawls up
larit the skeleton with the regu
y of clock work. So precise
Movements arothe
Wtes that nearly every ono mis
it f 0 r a mechanical toy.
frie other afternoon Walter B.
Price
SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS.
and Senator –tadler spent some time
pondering oNer the beetle. “I don’t
believe a piece of mechanism could be
as perfect as that,” exclaimed the Sena
tor.
My. Price, who is a great student ot
natural history, insisted that Nature had
never constructed such a looking in
sect, and as a result of the difference
of opinion a wager was ma le. I
pauied aocom
the two gentlemen into the
store to decide the wager. The jeweler
said that it was a live Mexican beetle
“It is a most curious insect,” he
said, “and it is as busy as a bee. We
have put on a false back of blue velvet
to give it a brilliant appearance. We
do quite a trade in them. Ladies
wear
them as charms to their chains. The
Baroness Blanc set thc fashion of dcT’t
ing them here in New York. I Tut
know just how long they will live
I know of several that are over five
years of age. I am at a loss t 0 under
staud how they exist, for they never
eat or drink. We keep them in a show
case with our watches. Some of them
are very intelligent, and one of the
clerks trains them to do a number of
cute things. If he whistles they will
come and crawl up his arm. They are
as cunning as’possums. Thev turn on
their backhand pretend to be dead when
they scent danger. They sell for five
dollars and upward, according to their
education ”
Five dollars sounds rather cheap for
a beetle trained like a circus animal and
dressed up like a Haytian field marshal,
doesn’t it ?—New York Herald.
A Festival at Samoa.
A naval officer stationed at Samoa
writes in a recent private letter:
“The long waited for tolota, which
you may not know is a native festival
at which presents of food, etc., are
given by the people to the King,
companied with promises of allegiance,
came off today, and I saw the people
gather, all in best bib and tucker, in
some cases a marvel of rich color. Here
is a tiputa in thc most dazzling combi
nation of crimson and grecr satin, and
there a village maiden, abominably
ugly, but with such a headdress, a mass
of bleached hair standing on end, at
least six inches high, looking like
the puffy structure of the dandelion
flower, and decorated with shells; in
front are two horn-like protuberances
adorned with pink and white feathe s.
“The crowd is like one of our own
on show days—universal; every man,
woman, and child in the place and sur
round.ng country is flocking to tho
spot. The fathers and mothers are
glistening with cocoauut oil; their hair
is firmly brushed on end aid scented
with sandal nut; aud they wear stiff
lara- aras, or skirts, which bunch out,
and give them a curiously awkward,
appearance.
“I don’t kuow what you may hear of
Samoa no-w, but certainly Mataafa and
the Admiral are on excellent terms.
Usually tho common people dance before
the King, but an especial honor was paid
the Admiral by the chief’s dancing,
something so unusual here that many
people had never seen it before. A very
grave, dignified-looking man this chief,
wiih a kind face aud eve3 that speak
very pleasantly whon he looks at you.
Tho gale has destroyed much fruit and
other products,and the natives will have
a hard time of it making both cuds meet
for the coming season.
The Center of Bnlb Culture.
The center of bulb culture in Holland,
says Qartenflora , is still at Haarlem, as
it has been during two centuries and a
half. Hyacinths are especially in favor
Just now, and ground suitable for their
cultivation has sold for as much as $13, -
500 an acre, as against $1000 given for
land of other kinds. The expense of
cultivation is placed at about $300 an
acre for hyacinths aud $160 for tulips;
and it is noted that artificial manures
arc never used. Narcissus is also grown
in vast quantities near Haarlem, chiefly
for exportation to England, Formerly
the export trade in cut flower# was enor
mous, one Haarlem firm having exported
in a single scamn 11,000 cases; but an
agreement was last year entered into by
a m ajority of Dutch florists to abandon
the Ala of cut flowers as competing
with tho interests of purchasers of
bulbs. Attempts have been made to
extract the perfume of hyacinths, but
only with moderate success, especially
from the commercial point of view.
Thc Fenian raid into Canada was in
1866 *
THE CHINESE MIMES.
An Oriental Dramatic Company
in New York.
The Players, Their Wardrobe,
and Style of Performance.
A fresh illustration of the cosmopoli
tan character of New York city is
afforded by the appearance of a Chinese
dramatic company at the Windsor
Theatre in a series of select plays from
their own literature. Thespians in the
Orient are as prone to altisonance and
verbal splendor as our only P. T. Bar
num. Each organization styles itself
“The Heavenly Eloquent Company,”
“Tk e Imperial Golden,” “The Pros
perity and Beau,y Fratainit y.” or some -
thi “ ff equaUy magniloquent. Our visi
tor s are no exception, and call them
SClvCS tlle Swiu Ti ° 1 Lo > 0r Soon Han
L ° k ( " The Sublimest Company”),
14 consists of ncarl y fift y male actora
>
y ° Ung and °' d ’ women nCVCr bein " al ‘
Wd to S ° U *’° n th ° s!age ’ Mia ° r fe ‘
male P “ rtS are takett by ^ andyouths ‘’
ones by a class of actors who
bavc counterpart in the American
Wl4 ’ b "‘ ° f * h ° m “ thc
impersonator of good old min
J" 1 days is the neai€st a PP roach *
Of this u . class the present has
company a
notable representative in Tak-A-Wing,
who has long been considered a star of
the greatest magnitude. Ilis voice is a
treble, almost a soprano, and from in
cessant practice, both on and off the
stage, has become permanent rather
than falsetto in character. The pecu
liar gait and carriage of the Chinese
woman, superinduced by bandaging
the feet as well as "by circumscribed
modes of living, are with him seconc
nature, and he reproduces the actions
and manners w’hich Oriental etiquette
forces upon the sex with a fidelity w hich
is
A Chinese dramatic company is as
much a unit as a company of soldiers in
time of war. When they arrived in
New York they did as they do invari
ably, engaging an entire floor in a huge
warehouse in Chinatown, where they
cook, eat, sleep, study and rehearse to
gether. They practice unceasingly, anc
do it in a w r ay that would startle Amer
ican players. Any departure from the
precedents of their stage is met with
scolding and objurgation, fines, penal
ties of extra work, and where the of
fence is very heinous with
punishment. Chinese actors are born,
not made, and from the first time they
are permitted to appear, until they
have become capable and experienced,
their lives are a long experience of
harsh words, privations, and many
stripes. They obtain their reward, how
ever, in wages that are higher in pro
portion to money values in the east than
are the large salaries earned by the pro
fession in Europe and America. In thc
Soon Han Lok the lesser lights receive
$10, the stars $50 and $100, and the
rest from $L2 to $25 per week. As
their mode of living is inexpensive, and
as their admirers indulge in the pleasaut
practice of presenting them with money,
food, tobacco and opium, their lot is
far from unhappy.
The “Sublimest Company” glories
most of all in its wardrobe. Their
pride is somewhat justifiable, as their
many robes and dresses, armor and cos
tumes, although somewhat the worse
for wear and tear, are about as rich and
beautiful as anything ever seen in this
country. In the East, men's attire is
remarkable for color and brilliancy.
The mandarin, the scholar, the noble,
the general and the high official has
each distinctive robes, not only for thc
class to which each belongs, but also
for the occasion where it is to be worn.
The.Sublime is thoroughly equipped in
this regard, having not only all the
standard articles of wear which belong
to today, but also the numerous styles
of tho past. In the Faithful Yassal
they give in this way a very excellent
picture of Chinese life as it was centu
ries ago under the Tang dynasty.
As might be naturally expected, thc
“Sublimest Company” have not drawn
great audiences of Americans to their
performances, and here as on the Pacific
coast, where they first appeared, they
chiefly on the patronage of their
fellow-countrymen. Americans who go
curiosity to see them are quickly
satisfied, and generally wearied by thc
tediousncss of the action.
The Chinese people themselves look
upon their actors more contemptu
than the British nation did in the
day* when the term “player” was one
of reproach. For example, Wong Laa,
a wealthy merchant of the Chinese quar
ter, speaking of the company now here,
said: “Of course it is likely that we will
go to the theatre to see them, but we
go exactly as American gentlemen might
go to see a prize-fight. We have abso
lutely no consideration for the actors, and
not only have no knowledge of them
personally, but we would be rather
ashamed to acknowledge it if we had
any. With you Americans the line ol
exclusion from society is drawn outside
of your first- class actors and actresses.
You might in\‘ite them to your houses,
put you would not so invite the lower
class of the variety stage. In our case
we exclude them all. If I should have
a party of friends at my house, and
should introduce an actor to them,
every one of them -would consider him
self foully insulted.”
The chief play in the repertoiro of the
new company, and one that has long
been a favorite with Chinese theatre
goers, is Shee-Long Tan-Moo, which
means “The Loyal Slave, or the Faith
ful Vassal.” The play, which is of a
historical character, is of the age of the
Emperor Tang Yai Eoon, who, accord
ing to the chronology as compiled by
the missionaries, reigned early in the
seventh century. It was one of the
most flourishing eras of the history of
the couutry.— Harper's Weekly.
The Gypsies.
There is a fascination about “gypsy
lore” which is, perhaps, increasingly
felt now that these nomadic insurgents
are being gradually—slowly it may be,
but surely—absorbed by the environing
civilization. Thc altered conditions of
modern society make their wandering
life more difficult; their language is in
vaded by gnujo elements; mixed mar
riages attenuate the strength of the Ro
many blood, and dotted over the map
of Europe there are now little stationary
colonies of house dwelling gypsies, who
no longer take the road or ‘fold their
tents like the Arabs.”
The gypsies have been clearly visible
in Europe for four centuries and a half.
They have been the Ishmaclites of the
modern world. If at the present day
the law has ceased to treat them harshly
the social pressure is probably greater,
so that it is now or never for those who
wish to make a scientific study of those
wanderers. The prosecutions of the
Zingari have been many and bitter,
Even in the last century they were ac
cused of cannibalism. To their foreign
appearance and strange mode of life
they added the practice of arts that
were regarded as irreligious aud heath
enish.
It will be news to many to learn that
it was not until 1856 that, by the aboli
tion of Romany slavery in Dacia, the
freedom of the Ziugari in Europe was
completed. Colocci agrees with other
observers in regarding the gypsies as
practically destitute of religion, although
willing to adopt nominally the prevail
ing faith of any country in which they
may be sojourners. In England they
are Protestants, in Turkey, Mohamme
dans. Morally they are untrained chil
dren, indifferent to everything but the
satisfaction of the desire of the moment,
whether that desire be the offspring of
love, or greed, or hate.
While there is but little gypsy poetry
among the English tribes, the “gift and
faculty divine” appears profusely both
in Spain and in the remoter part* of
Europe. The gypsy sings thc beauty of
his sweetheart; apostrophises the sun
and stars wita heathen fervor, and cele*
biates the success of the knavish ruses
by which he has gained an advantage
over the busno. Filial affection, also,
finds a place in his songs, While he
shows the frankest enjoyment of the ma
terial side of life, there is often a spirit
of profound melancholy manifested in
these lyrics. The Zingari have always
been famous for their love of music.
The estimate which gives thc gypsy
race a million soul3 is probably far be
low tho truth —London Standard.
London’s Great Growth.
The population of London has grown
from 150,000 in 1603 to 4,500,000 at
thc present time. Supposing that the
recent iate of growth were maintained,
might easily, in the course of
half century, possess a popula
tion of over 7,001,000 . The six prin
railway lines of tho metropolis
annually over 200,000,000 peo
Always to think the worst is the mark
a mean spirit and a base soul.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Recent experiments with sugar as a
preventive of incrustation of steam boil
ers are reported as giving very satisfactory
results.
Physicians say that the best time for
the average woman of our civilization to
marry is between the ages of twenty
four and thirty-six.
Oil to be spread on stormy waves has
been inclosed in a cartridge and fired
from an ordinary breech-loading gun,
giving most excellent results.
The amount of rain with a falling
barometer in Great Britain is twice that
with a rising barometer. Tho ratio
diminishes as we go to eastward.
The E iTl tower is 6aid to have
changed the climate of Paris, As a
matter of fact there has been, coinci
dent with its existence a marked climat
ic alteration.
By the practice of rcvaccination the
existence of smallpox has now become
practically unknown in Germany. Thc
Government makes vaccination compul
sory and ten years is the limit in which
revaccination is practiced.
Australia has a remarkable form of
earth-worm which would hardly make a
good bait for trout. They are one and
a quarter inches in diameter and six feet
in length, and exhale a strong odor
analogous to that of creosote.
The St. Lawrence river, at the point
where it is proposed to build a new
bridge, is 24,000 feet -wide. Tho total
length of thc bridge will be 34,000 feet.
It will be of the Canti-lever pattern, and
its estimated cost is $10,000,000.
John Aitken of Falkirk claims tohav
succeeded in counting the dust motes g;
the air. He says that he has detaJ
30,000 such particles in the thomra
of a cubic inch of the air of a A- m
the outside atmosphere JKB. dry
I y^^her the same me a- urenuBmTyielded
j 2119; after a heavy rainf lie number
was 521.
A century ago only i BBsivu'ieSi of ,or
chids wore known, ?$$$>{- vary nn
perfectly. Now ifclMit .'.Authority
gives the ld,000.|^fii^ cxtremo^Mpi RgMr-4 of known
species at cx ‘
cessive estimate, the im
mense advances which have been mad*
in our knowledge of tiieso interesting
plants, for which collectors now ran
sack the most remote quarters of the
globe. It is said that tho modern pas
sionfor the cultivation of orchids sprang
from the exhibition of some remarkable
specimens at the early meetings of the
English Horticultural Society. ,i
A Fact Concerning Rattlesnakes. J
“1 learned something about rattle
snakes up in McConnell’s neighbor
hood,” says a New Yorker in the Sun ,
“and that was that it i n’t always nec
essary for a rattlesnake to coil itself up
^ c ^ ore it can strike. A girl ut the
bouse where I was stopping one sum
mer wen t *bo yard one day to take
U P aomo xvash she had spread on the
S rasa to dl 7- bha discovered a big
rattlesnake stretched out on a table
cloth. The girl shouted for some one
to come aud kill the rattlesnake, which
hurried out of sight under a neighbor
ing pillow earn. A hunter named Deck
er went out and lassoed the snake and
carried it into the road, where he
s ^ am l cd on hs head with the heel of
his boot. He then took hold of tho
iattles to pull them off of the snake’s
tail, -when like a flash thc snake raised
its battered head and struck back its
eQ b r e length at Decker, Both of the
ser P eQ t s v 7 e3 had been smashed out by
tho hunter, but its fangs struck in
Decker’s sleeve, half an inch above his
bare wrist.
“There was something peculiar about
that snake. The day before it was
killed the farmer who owned the place
where I was stopping was assuring me
that there had not been a rattlesnake
around there in thirty years. While he
was still talking about it a neighbor
came up, carrying on a stick a rattle
snake which he had ji.st killed not
twenty yards above the house. The
farmer was surprised.
44 i Well, said he,’ wo must look out
n <> w . fer that snake’s mate will be here
looking fer it tomorrow, sure. Kill one
rattiesuake near a house, and its mato
will put in an appearance tho next day.
I never knew it to fail yet..’
“The snake that Decker killed the
next day was, of course, looked upon as
tbte other one’s mate, and undoubtedly
was.”