572 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



been in various occupations, and even noble- 

 men were represented. A third of them 

 were boys and young men, while the major- 

 ity were between thirty and fifty years of 

 age. Two had been in the United States 

 one as a labor agitator, while the other had 

 never gone a day without work here, if he 

 wanted it. Other men were in the colony 

 " because they had been unable to find even 

 a bread-and-water existence." They had 

 sought work, always in the large towns, but 

 leaving aside the smaller places, where the 

 farmers were asking for laborers. Most of 

 the old men had trades, " but were too old 

 to ply them satisfactorily." One had come 

 to trouble through politics, another because 

 he was unfortunate in his family life. One, 

 who had indulged a ruthless passion for 

 cruelty and killing, was distinguished for his 

 devout piety. The men expressed their hos- 

 tility to the church, the monarchy, the army, 

 and the police. Very few of them were out- 

 and-out disbelievers, but nearly all had their 

 own private religious ideas, and were per- 

 fectly sincere in stating them. Politically 

 they were revolutionists, republicans, or so- 

 cialists. They all thought they knew what 

 ailed the world, and what it needed for its 

 regeneration, but it hardly ever seemed to 

 occur to them that they had any personal 

 responsibility in the reforms suggested. They 

 seemed to consider themselves as something 

 aloof from society, justified in making all 

 manner of criticisms, but not required to 

 look into their own failings and sins. Tramps 

 have this same trait. They will talk for 

 hours at a hang-out campfire about what 

 ought to be done to make the world better, 

 and at times with a clearness of perception 

 and earnestness of argument that are unex- 

 celled; but let a little personal introspec- 

 tion or criticism be suggested, " and a silence 

 comes over them like that of the grave- 

 yard." 



The Bordeanx Vineyards. As described 

 by C. L. Marlatt, in a report to our Govern- 

 ment on wine-making in France, the vine- 

 yards of the Bordeaux district extend along 

 the Gironde and Garonne Rivers, and their 

 products are classed and known according 

 to the situation of the plantations or the 

 nature of the soil. The most famous of 

 these tracts, that of Medoc, extends from 



Bordeaux to the sea and between the rivers 

 and the Landes. This tongue of land, al- 

 most a peninsula, is entirely planted with 

 vines, and for a distance of fifty miles and 

 five or six miles in breadth the land is occu- 

 pied by vineyards. These are separated into 

 small communes, each of which bears some 

 celebrated or ancient name, as Margaux, Saint- 

 Julien, etc., and produces its distinct and 

 well-known brand of wines. The wines vary 

 also according to the vintages, the qualities 

 being affected by variations of seasons. The 

 wines as they are quoted in the market usu- 

 ally bear the name of some chateau or other. 

 These chateaux, the fame of some of which 

 has become world-wide, are for the most 

 part simply country seats, in which the pro- 

 prietor resides from time to time. The term 

 chateau was formerly applied to old mano- 

 rial residences, and the antique appearance 

 and baronial style of architecture of some of 

 the houses is still suggestive of this associa- 

 tion. Oxen are generally used in the rough 

 work of the cultivation of the vineyards, 

 while the more delicate operations are per- 

 formed by women, who in their neat dresses 

 present a very picturesque appearance among 

 the vines. Some of the cellars in which the 

 wines are stored are very large, and the long 

 rows of hogsheads in them have an imposing 

 appearance. In them the wine is bottled, 

 and stoppered with an especial cork bearing 

 the name of the ch&teau. The best wines 

 are kept here for long periods of time, in 

 order to develop the special qualities, coming 

 only with age, which give them their repu- 

 tation. 



Early Writing Materials. Quintus Cur- 

 tius is cited by Dr. Biihler, in his work on 

 Indian-Aryan Philology, as affirming that 

 birch bark was in use among the Hindus 

 for writing at the time of Alexander the 

 Great. Its employment began in the north- 

 west, where the extensive birch forests of 

 the Himalayas afforded abundant material, 

 and gradually spread to the other parts of 

 the peninsula. The oldest examples of it, 

 says Mr. A. A. Macdonnell in The Academy, 

 are twists found in Buddhist topes of Af- 

 ghanistan and in the Bower MS. of the fifth 

 century a. d. According to the testimony of 

 the ancient canonical Buddhist works, leaves, 

 probably those of the palms, were the 



