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<$hq Herald and §julwrtis(| Newnan, Ga., Friday, Oct. 28, 1887. THE TURTLE AT HOME. THE MEXICAN HAMMOCK. the How the Bahama Negroes Harvest Crop—Capture of a Prize. The green turtle of the metropolitan restaurant, when it does not come from the remnants of the roast veal and fried chicken of the day before, comes chiefly from the Bahamas and from Nassau, the Only city of the Bahamas. They are harvested also in Cuba, Hayti and at many joints on the southern coast, but in the Bahama Islands they seem to find the richest feeding grounds. Circuit Justice L. D. Bowles, of Bahama Island, whose experience has been ample, telling how the amiable and luscious beast is raptured in his neighborhood, says: “These families who live in the out islands and do all the turtle fishing that is not done by the strictly business schooners and men from Nassau, have for a home a house whose walls are built of coral limestone, roughly plastered to gether and roofed with palmetto thatch. There are probably twelve or fourteen in the famity, and they all live in one little room, pretty nearly bare of furniture. Nobody but papa and mamma rise to the dignity of a bed. The rest can sleep any where. When not asleep, nearly all their lives are spent out of doors. Behind the house is some big tree, where mother cooks and washes and father whacks her and fhe children by turns, unless, as oc casionally happens, she is !>oss, and dots the whacking herself. They have not much need of money, for they can grow oranges, bananas and other tropical fruits in plenty, with corn and sweet potatoes, and fish is to be had for the catching. But the out-islander stands sometimes in need of clothes and groceries, which have to be paid for. As turtles will either produce cash or its substitute, he occa sionally goes off on a turtling expedition, .^fter days of postponing and putting off, lie finally pulls himself together, and of! lie goes, pressing all his family into the service. There is not much need to close up the house, for there are no robbers, and no probablirintruder except the hogs, which don’t count. Still he probably shuts it up, for de look of de ting,’ for the darky is very punctilious about cer tain matters. “The turtle beach may be many miles away, but most likely lie has a boat, in which lie manages to reach it in the course of a few hours. All the party have bare feet, but otherwise are dressed much the same as civilized people. Ex ternal decency is one of those matters on which the Bahamian negro is most scru pulous. ‘ ‘Arrived at the turtle beach, he puts one of the hoys in the boat and lets him row along it, while the rest of the party walk, keeping a sharp lookout for turtles. Sometimes the beach is ten miles long, and perhaps the party draw the whole of it blank, in which case they beach the boat and camp out for the night. Per haps they have the luck to see a monster green turtle before they have measured half the distance. If the party is.in luck and sights a monster female turtle of 500 pounds, laying her eggs in the hot sand a little ahead, the party divides at once and the chattering ceases—silence is a necessary element of success. One- lialf of the party make for the water to cut off her retreat; the other half steal noiselessly up and turn her on her back —a tough job in the case of a turtle as big as 500 pounds. Once on her back she is helpless, and some of the other party go olf in search of palmetto leaves or tough grass with which to tie her fins, while the others stand round and talk to her, jeering and making game of her for lorn condition, taking care, however, to give her mouth a wide berth, for she is still able to bite with considerable effect. When the others return they cut slits in her fins and tie them back tightly to gether. Thus secured, she is carried on board the boat and given in charge of the boy, while the land contingent start on their road rejoicing, in search of another victim. Before going on, though, they will lunch oil the eggs their prisoner has left behind her. These eggs are a deli cacy much prized in Nassau, but proba bly by the time they get there they will have gone bad, and it is only on rare oc casions, when turtles are caught in New Providence or its immediate neighbor hood, that they are found in the market. “The eggs disposed of. the party moves on once more, and ]>erhaps, just at the close of the day, catches a hawksbill, a good deal smaller in size, but quite as valuable, for this time the value is in the shell, not in the weight. This is a good day's work; the family row home con tented, and place their turtles in a cool place to await the chance of a ship to carry tligm up to Nassau.” Another way of catching turtles is the pegging of them in shoal water—that is, striking them with a grain or two pronged spear. This way is adopted by vessels engaged in the turtle fisheries, but it can only be used in the case of green turtles, as it damages the shell. Besides the green turtles and hawk- bills, there is another species called the lubberhead, which is of no practical use at all. The flesh of both the latter spe cies is considered valueless, but the natives manage to make substantial meals out of them all the same. Most of the turtles taken are females, for it. is the females only that come ashore for the purpose of laying their eggs, the . males remaining usually in much deeper \water. The female is easily distinguished from the male by her tail, which is so •'hort as to be absolutely nominal, while bis usi'^’ averages six or eight inches in length.—New York Sun. How It In Made, and Attendant Pcoulia* Circumstance-. “Snug pile of hammocks, isn't it?” asked a down town importer of a re porter, pointing to a stack of bales on tho i sidewalk in front of bis place. “Yes, rather. What are they? Mexi- i can seagrass?” “Sea nonsense! Hammocks are not | made of seagrass any more than floor | matting is. These are Mexican ha::i- ! mocks, hut they tire made from the liber I of the lieniquen plant, a species of eae- j tus that flourishes in the state of ^ r.ca- I tan. All Mexican hamnn-cks arc made 1 there, and more hammocks are exported ! from there than from any other place in the world.” “How are they made?” asked the re porter. “They are made entirely by hand and with primitive implements,” continued the dealer. “With a couple of straight i poles, a home made shuttle, a thin slab of native zapoli wood, and a pile of heni- quen leaves the Indian of Yucatan is pro pared to accept contracts for hammocks by the piece, dozen or hundred. The poles are placed a certain distance apart, according to the length of the hammock to be made. The thin slab of wood is rapidly fashioned with the aid of u small macliette into a tonk.'is or stripper. By the aid of this tonkas the fiber of tho thick, fleshy heniquen leaf, which is a species of cactus, is denuded of its cover ing, and a wisp of liatchkill or rasped fiber is the result. “The liatchkill is bleached in the sun and then becomes soskil. These are then separated into 6mall heaps, containing about the same number of fibers. When the entire supply on hand is thus laid out the operator takes up the fibers, and with a dexterous roll between the palm of the hand and the knee transforms them into heavy cords or kuns, as the natives call them. “Out of this cord the hammocks are made. The cord is wound around the two poles which have been planted in the ground and the work is turned over to the women. They, with their wide shut tles, accomplish the balance of the task in a remarkably rapid and thorough man ner. When a pile has accumulated the contractor comes around and gathers them up. “The relations between the operator and contractor are very peculiar.” said the dealer, “and would exist nowhere else in the world. In order to get the hammocks necessary for his trade the contractor must often pay for them three months in advance, as it is only when the natives owe money that they will consent to work. In order to get a chance to owe this money the native will promise to furnish the contractor, whom he knows, with a number of hammocks at a certain time if the contractor will advance him a sum of money. On this money the en terprising native can live in idleness for several months. The contractor agrees to this. If he doesn’t he can get no ham mocks. But once the native lias bound himself to supply the goods they will lie forthcoming at the time stipulated. Should death intervene, his relatives per form the contract. 1 ‘But this advance system is a sore drain on the contractor, who is rarely a person of ‘large capital. He must of necessity accommodate the native^, and he needs outside help to do so. This help he ob tains in the shape of advances from the merchants in Merida, to whom he turns over the hammocks he secures at a con siderable advance over the amount they have cost him. These Merida merchants in turn send the goods to their New York correspondents. ‘ ‘The hammocks are carefully sorted in Merida before they are baled for ship ment to the United States, which absorbs almost the entire production. Last year it amounted to nearly $50,000. All the districts of Yucatan produce a greater or lesser quantity of hammocks, hut the Tixcoco district is by far the largest pro ducer, sending out, it is calculated, every year as many as the balance of the stato put together. The finest specimens of tho hammock maker’s art, however, come from Chemax. But few of these ever find their way to the United States. They are so eagerly sought after at home that there is no necessity for sending them away, especially as good prices are realized on the ground. “Hammock making in Yucatan is evi dently a very old art,” concluded the dealer. “While on a visit there some years ago I found hammock hooks and beams in nearly all the ruins of the grand prehistoric cities which lie buried in the forests. Of their history and the history of the races which peopled the sea cities all trace has been lost, but the interesting little flirtations which originate and are carried on in the cozy retreat of the ham mock of today I doubt not had their pho totypes many hundreds, perhaps thous ands, of years ago in the forests of Yuca tan, for evidently the Yucatanians of those days all swung in hammocks.”— New York Evening Sun. The Norfolk Dialect. The natives cf Norfolk speak in a sing song voice, with a rising inflection, which reaches its highest pitch on the last word of the sentence. I am assured by people learned in the Norfolk dialect that tho vocabulary contains but little slang, and that many of the words that I used when a boy. and which sound so oddly now, are pure Saxon. Nevertheless, if you visit Norfolk you must be prepared to hear a rivulet called a “beck,” a house flannel a “dwile, ” a pitcher a “gotcii." a ditch a “lioll,” a small tub a “killer,” a narrow lane a “loke, ” a small field a “pightle” and strong beer “nogg.” You will be addressed on all sides as “How du you du, bor?” the last word being a contraction of neighbor. The braying of a donkey will sound no more melodious to your ears because it is called a “dickey.” while a Norfolk gill ia none the less attractive for being called “mawther.” A Norfolk man will “crowd” a barrow, not wheel it; while his little son will “jifile” at church, not fidget. Spring lambs down there are “kedgey,” not sprightly; while ducks enjoy themselves in a “swidge” instead of a puddle. The tart and juicy gooseberry becomes a “tliape,” and the ringdove a “dow;” the jackdaw a “cadder,” the seagull a “cob” and the snail a “dodman.” The Norfolk people “mardle” instead of gossip; they are “slake,” but not idle; they build “stuggy” when they build strongly. They “shuck” peas, “would “shug” (shake) a cocktail, if such a thing were known there, and “skink” (serve) out beer: while water just frozen is said to be “laid.” The mist and fog which rise over the fen country is called “roke;” and if you faded to understand this very pure Saxon it is more than likely the honest Norfolkese would put you down as a little ‘ ‘slianney, ’ ’ or slightly crazy.—Home Journal. Drinking Instead of Bating. “Beer wagon drivers eat less and drink more than any class of people living. ” The speaker was a big brewer and knew what he was talking about. “Yes,” he continued, “the wagon drivers drink beer so frequently and so continuously that they are almost constantly in a drowsy condition. They drink mechanically whether they want it or not, and I never knew one to refuse an invitation to have more. They seem to think it is their duty to swill all the beer they can put down. They get into the habft at the brewery. Every brewery has what is called a taproom, which is nothing more nor less than a free bar. Beer is always on tap there, and the employes have free access to it, with the privilege of helping themselves whenever they please. When ever a breweryman goes to the taproom for beer he never drinks fewer than two glasses. These are turned off in the twinkling of an eye. The men drink so much that they lose their natural inclina tion to eat like other people. They seldom eat a hearty meal, a bite now and again between drinks being sufficient to appease the appetite. There are few brewerymen who drink less than a hundred glasses of beer a day, and I know of some who never go to tied without taking in that number and twenty-five more.”—Pliila- delphia Bulletin. Gaining or Losing a Day. In sailing round the world eastward the days are each a little less than twenty- four hours, according to the speed of the ship, as the sun is met every morning a little earlier. These little differences added together will amount in the course of the circumnavigation to twenty-four hours, giving the sailors an extra day, not in imagination, but in sober truth, as they will have actually eaten an extra day’s food and consumed an extra day’s grog. On the other hand, in sailing westward, the sun is overtaken a little each day, and so each day is rather longer than twenty-four hours, and clocks and watches are found to be too fast. This also will amount, in sailing round to the starting point again, to one whole day, by which the reckoning has fallen in arrear. The eastern ship, then, has gained a day and the western ship has lost one, leading to this apparent paradox, that the former ship has a clear gain of two whole days over the latter, supposing them to have started and returned together.—Cham bers’ Journal. The Camels of Texas. 3 the United States government lall herd of camels into Texas idea of using them and their oss the so-called Great American The camels prospered and-mul- but when the war came they ttered through the state and in and manv of became wild, s have solved the Great Ameri- ,'rt problem, and the camels have nto innocuous desuetude.—New Saponification and Scrubbing. There are bath fanatics who ignorantly think that life without an epidermis is the only desirable form of existence, The raptures of saponification and of scrub bing are all very well as a luxury, though the inunctions of the Roman thermae were- better, because the oil used after the bath supplied some protection to the abraded 6km. But the fury of tubbing;is only for the strong, and even the strong, if they" practice their rites in a malarious coun try, have been observed to sicken sooner than those who have contented them selves with cleansing, and have not gone- on to excoriation.—Dr. Tins Munson. Coan in Harper’s. Found at Pompeii. The excavations that are being carried forward at Pompeii are giving most in teresting results. In the beginning of the month a wooden case was dug up, con taining a complete set of surgical instru ments, many of which are similar to those used in the present day. A few days later four beautiful silver urns of considerable height were found, together with four smaller cups, eight open vases, four dishes ornamented with foliage and the figures of animals, and a beautiful statue of Jupiter seated on his throne. Besides these silver objects several gold ornaments were also found, such as ear rings and rings. The excavations are be ing rapidly pushed forward.—Rome Cor. London News. •lgian GUis* Workers. i that the Belgian glass work- ow preparing to make glass is shapes and patterns by run- s of it at just the right temper- -ork nicely through steel rollers. , Average New England Man. What the average New England mart of birth and breeding is today it is not altogether pleasant to contemplate. He is usually neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. Thoroughly un-American, and only hybrid English, French or Italian, as his European wanderings have happened ! to affect him. he is. physically fragile, ! nervous and refined to the point of fern- 1 ininity. Mentally be is a victim of over- ; culture and has lost all grasp of matter in I his concern as to manner, earing less foi I ideas than for correct expression, and, ! while the scion of a young people, jaded, i blase and satiated.—Brooklyn Eagle. Kmdiag for Ward Booms. “Since you are curious to know what is read in ward rooms,” writes a naval officer, “I will undertake to give you a general statement. Old newspapers, par ticularly local papers and cheap novels, form the bulk of our literature. There are a few omnivorous readers among us, and now and then a critical one. I have a friend who enjoys the whole of Her bert Spencer, and in my last ship there- were three who appreciated Stevenson, Meredith and Jane Austen. Perhaps something of this latter result was due to missionary effort. ’ ’—W. D. Howells in Harper's Magazine. The Personal Equation hi War. The official records are invaluable and in themselves compose a large part of the history of the war. But they are far from justifying the blind faith with which they are appealed to in some quar ters. Who, from the unassisted reports, would be able to reconstruct the charac ter. the eidolon, of Grant, or McClellan, or Hooker, or Lee, or Jackson, or Hood? —and yet. in war, the personal equation is everything.—The Century. Nearly 200 kinds of now made for teeth. D r old filling ar| Side saddles are slowing going out of fashion in England, and the man fashion way of riding is being adopted by many of the ladies. Side saddles have been ia use since 1388. A Japanenc Execution. As each man stepped from the path on to the plateau his eyes were firmly band- j aged with white paper, the only act ol mercy I saw vouehsaf.xl that morning. ; Finally they ivere ranged in line, the two cripples huddled on the ground, their poor heads as they dropped from shoulder to ; shoulder being roughly buffeted to a ! proper angle by the policemen in charge. •This accomplished, amid a silence so absolute that we could almost hear our hearts beat, the great man on the camp stool rose, and unfolding a large docu ment, read in a loud voice what we sup- i posed to i>e a description of the crimes for which the poor fellows were to suffer and the process of condemnation and sen- ; tence. This was a very long business, and before it had nearly finished the native spectators were laughing and joking upon the appearance of the doomed | men with that callousness to human suffer- i ing which so much blackens the otherwise | amiable and pleasing character of the | Japanese people. At last it was finished. As there were j but' five boles for seven prisoners, two I would be obliged to remain in blind j agony while their companions were being dispatched. Five men were accordingly j thrust forward with the staves and lists | of the police; each man was made to squat on a mound, his clothes—if filthy, ; tattered rags could be called clothes— stripped from his shoulders, his hands tied behind his back and liis head pushed forward over the hole. Our feelings at this awful moment can better be imagined than described, but I think we felt quite as much pity for the two poor wretches left alone to listen to what was going on. without that artificial aid to fortitude which the sight of a crowd sometimes gives, as for tlieir companions on their death seats. Undoubtedly exe cution by the trenchant Japanese sword is as merciful a death as can be desired; but the Oriental nature, as if to compen sate for this erring on the side of mercy, counterbalances it by an undue prolonga tion of the preparations for death, which is worse than a hundred deaths. So in this case. 1 As the poor fellows knelt over their holes the executioner slowly and delib erately took off his coat and bared his arms. Then he took from its silk casing the fatal sword, examined it fondly and lingeringly, from the Yasuri me, or tiling on the hilt to keep the grasp from slipping, along the Kimrnon or the groove in the blade, to the point; held it over a pail while a coolie trickled water down it, and with a great deal of settling of his feet was ready. I felt sick and giddy, but I kept my eyas on the scene. At e sign from the official on the camp stool the executioner raised his sword slightly, hardly half a dozen inches, and almost before I could realize it the man’s hand was hanging over the hole by a single ligament and the blood was gushing forth in torrents. I then saw why*the executioner had not completely severed the head; and the wonderful skill of the Japanese swords men, using, as they do, the most perfect weapons in the world, can be imagined in so arranging the force of the blow that absolute decapitation does not take place. He tore the head off and held it toward the four sides of the square; then he gave it to a coolie, who roughly plastered the severed portion with clay and stuck it on a kind of elevated shelf. In the mean while two coolies were thumping on tho back of the prostrate body to hasten the rush of blood, after which one of the coarse mats was thrown over it and- it was laid aside. • I had seen enough, and I turned my head away as the executioner, after wip ing his blade with paper, approached the second poor wretch.—Cor. Gentleman's Magazine. NO, THANKS! Saving the Odds and Ends. The principle of the indestructibility of matter impresses manufacturers of all classes. It is somewhat allegorical to say so,, but a steer is driven into a stock car at his native ranch, and shortly after he is distributed over the country as dressed beef, canned beef, glue, horn combs, horn, buttons, neatsfoot oil, oleomargarine, plasterer’s hair, leather and fertilizing material. The same way is with a cot ton plant, which does duty as cotton cloth,, a good imitation of jute matting, as cotton seed oil, as oil cake for feeding cattle when the oil is pressed out, and even the little cotton fiber which attaches to the seed is neatly peeled off and used in the manufacture of the clothing, ma terial known as shoddy. In the tobacco manufacturing business, for many years, the stem* taken from the leaves were so much waste, except the small proportion that found its way into the very coarse grades of smoking tobacco, for which there is no longer a market. From the nicotine in the stems is now extracted, by steaming, what Ls known as “sheep wash,” a liquid for kilGhg vermin that: infest sheep. This alone saves the wool interests of America m llions of dollars annually, in checking various diseases. The stems, even after tliB process, are found to be an invalu able fertilizer, and the great western to bacco manufacturers ship to the impov erished farms of the-eastern states thou sands of bales annually of tobacco stems. - -J. J. Butler in Globe-Democrat. Disadvantage of Being Mate. A teacher in one of our deaf and dumb institutes has presented some statistics relative to the sign language which are ®f interest as showing the great disad vantage a mute labors under as compared with one who can articulate. He has counted the average nnmber of words a pupil uses per day and finds them to be 1,118. It is estimated that a mother articulates 27,000 words to her child each day. Even allowing for the parts of sentences made to do duty for the whole, and the many signs used by the mutes to express whole ideas, we can understand in some degree the disadvan tages of even the most favorable condi tions.—Chicago Tribune. I don’t want the earth! I shall be satisfied with a reasona ble fragment of it! Some men would probably gobble the entire globe if they had a chance; but I arh no hog! All that I .want is a fair share of the public pat ronage ; and if, after comparing my goods and prices with those of other enterprising* merchants, the average wayfarer does not yield me the palm for selectness, quality, cheapness and general superiority, why then I will call in my friends, divide out my goods and chattels and retire from the field. In these piping times it is useless to try to do bus iness unless you have money, experience and gall sufficient to sustain you in competition with the Ishmaelites of the mer cantile profession. Recognizing the importance of these val uable aids to success, I Hatter myself that I am fairly well equipped for the fray, and bid defiance to all competitors. . Now, do not be misled by these desultory remarks. I would not have you believe that I am one of the Vanderbilt heirs, or that I have a resident buyer in New York, or that I have been in business since before the war, or that I expect to run an auction house. Neither assumption would be just to me, nor to the veracious medium through which this announcement will find its way to the public. I simply mean that I have a large and well-assorted stock of CLOTHING, DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, etc., and am selling them at prices that will bring tears to the eyes of my esteemed competitors when they find it out. But I can’t help their embarrassment. If they oversleep themselves and allow me to get the drop on ’em in the matter of mercantile bargains, it is not my lookout. I sometimes find it necessary to sit up at night in. order to do this, but it is one of the hardships of the trade that must be occasionally endured. Indeed, I frequently toss upon my sleepless pillow for hours at a time, devising schemes whereby I can best serve my customers with the choicest there is in the land, and at prices that they will be forced to esteem as bless ings in disguise. My stock of Clothing, Gents’ Furnishing Goods, Shoes, Hats, Dry Goods, etc., is fastidiously select, and will bear close comparison with any similar lines kept here or elsewhere. My stock of Groceries comprises everything needed in the way of eatables, and is always large enough to supply the de mand—whether for cash or on time. YOUNG MAN, IF I CAN Catch your eye, I would like to call your attention to my large and varied assortment of Gents’ Furnishing Goods, Shirts, Col lars, Cuffs, Hosiery, Underwear, Neckwear, Handkerchiefs, etc. I keep the latest, nobbiest styles and make a specialty of all goods in this department. The celebrated “Pearl Shirt" is one of my most popular lead ers. Made to order, if desired. I keep also a complete line of samples, including the finest Cassimeres, Cloths, etc. Will take your measure and insure as good a fit aud in as late and fashionable style as can be se cured from any tailor in the country, and at half the cost. I. P. BRADLEY. Next door to Newnan National Bank, Newnan, Ga. FURNITURE I I buy and sell more FURNITURE than all the dealers in Atlanta combined. I operate fifteen large establishments. I buy the entire output of factories; therefore I can sell you cheaper than small dealers. Read some of my prices: A Nice Plush Parlor Suit, $35.00. A Strong Hotel Suit, $15.00. A Good Bed Lounge, $10.00. A Good Single Lounge, $5.00. A Good Cotton-Top Mattress, $2.00. A Good Strong Bedstead, $1.50. A Nice Rattan Rocker, $2.50. A Nice Leather Rocker, $5.00. A Strong Walnut Hat Rack, $7.00. A Nice Wardrobe, $10.06. A Fine.Glass Door Wardrobe, $30.00. A Fine Book Case, $20.00. A Good Office Desk, $10.00. A Fine Silk Plush Parlor Suit, $50.00. A Fine Walnut 10-Piece Suit, $50.00. A Nice French Dresser Suit, $25.00. I respectfully invite everybody to examine my stock and get my prices before buying your Furniture. I have the finest as well as the cheapest Furniture in Atlanta. Write for prices. A. G. RHODES, 85 Whitehall St., Atlanta, Ga. Education In the South. Recent investigations have shown that nearly a .million pupils are in the public j schools of the southern states; that the j amount of money expended annually for ! schools is $11,545,000, and that since 1880 the number of public schools has been in creased from 45,000 to 61,583. In face of these figures the talk concerning illiter acy in the south is without foundation in fact. There is illiteracy, of course, hut nothing like what has been stated.— Mobile Register. . . JOHN W. HUGHES. FRED B. LAW. HUGHES & LAW,- HATTERS AND GENTS’ FURNISHERS!. VALISES, UMBRELLAS, ETC. PEACHTREE STREET, - - - ATLANTA, GA. • TV - - =i==