POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



857 



tion are most various, so that the system by 

 which some have been improved may fail 

 entirely when applied to others. So with 

 the plantations of eucalyptus, they succeed 

 in one place and not in others. We know 

 nothing precisely about the nature of the 

 cultivation which should be adopted in order 

 to produce in a given species of malarious 

 soil a final modification of its physical condi- 

 tions and chemical composition which shall 

 render it incapable of producing the poison- 

 ous ferment. At present we are feeling our 

 way, with the result that often we obtain 

 useful results by means of high cultivation, 

 and as often not." Dr. Tommasi-Crudelli 

 recommends arsenioua acid and the alkaline 

 arseniates as the most efficient protective 

 agents against malaria. 



Changes at Niagara Falls. A reference 

 to the earliest published accurate account of 

 Niagara Falls that of Kalra, the Swedish 

 traveler, in the "Gentleman's Magazine" 

 for January, 1751 shows that changes are 

 going on there more rapidly and on a grand- 

 er scale than has been estimated. Kalm 

 describes a fall of one hundred and thirty- 

 seven feet, with " a series of smaller falls, 

 one under another," for two and a half 

 leagues below. Much of this series has now 

 disappeared, and the main fall has been raised 

 to one hundred and sixty feet. He describes 

 the horseshoe as only slightly concave, and 

 adds : " Above the fall, in the middle of 

 the river, is an island, lying also south-south- 

 east and north-northwest, or parallel with 

 the sides of the river ; its length is about 

 6even or eight French arpents (an arpent 

 being one hundred and twenty feet). The 

 lower end of this island is just at the 

 perpendicular edge of the fall. . . . The 

 breadth of the island at its lower end is two 

 thirds of an arpent (eighty feet) or there- 

 about." This can not be Goat Island, which 

 is ten times as large, but must refer to 

 Luna Island, which, if the description is 

 correct, has been greatly reduced since it 

 was written. Goat Island appears not to 

 have been touched by the falls at that time. 



Social Life in Masai Land. Mr. Joseph 

 Thomson states that the most remarkable 

 distinctions characterize the various epochs 

 in the life-history of the Masai people of 



East Africa. The boys and girls up to a 

 certain age live with their parents, and feed 

 upon meat, grain, and curdled milk. At 

 the age of twelve with the girls and between 

 twelve and fourteen years with the boys, 

 they are sent from the married men's kraal 

 to one in which there are only young un- 

 married men and women. There they live 

 in a very indescribable manner till they are 

 married. At this stage the men are war- 

 riors, and their sole occupation is " cattle- 

 lifting" abroad and amusing themselves at 

 home ; the young women attend to the cattle, 

 build the huts, and perform other necessary 

 household duties. Both sexes are on the 

 strictest diet. Absolutely nothing but meat 

 and milk passes their lips. Spirits and beer, 

 tobacco, and vegetable food, are alike es- 

 chewed. So peculiar, indeed, are they in 

 their notions, that they will not even eat the 

 meat of any wild animal. Moreover, the 

 meat and milk are never taken together. 

 For several days the one is their sole diet, 

 to be followed by the other after partaking 

 of a powerful purgative. On killing a 

 bullock, they drink the blood raw, which 

 doubtless supplies them with the necessary 

 salts. In eating meat they always retire 

 to the forest in small parties accompanied 

 by a young woman. So pleasant docs the 

 Masai warrior find this life that he sel- 

 dom marries till he has passed his prime, 

 and begins to find his strength decline. 

 The great war-spear and heavy buffalo-hide 

 shield, the sword and the knob-kerry, are then 

 laid aside. For a month he dons the dress 

 of an unmarried woman, and thereafter be- 

 comes a staid and respectable member of 

 Masai society. He goes no more to war, 

 but devotes himself to the rearing of a 

 brood of young warriors. His diet changes 

 with his mode of life, aud he may indulge 

 in vegetable food, drink beer or spirits, and 

 smoke or chew tobacco. At death, the body 

 is simply thrown out to the hyenas and vul- 

 tures. 



Fndcrgronnd Wires and Atmospheric 

 Electricity. M. Blavier remarks, in a note 

 to the French Academy of Sciences, that 

 while it is only in exceptional cases that the 

 influence of storms is observed on under- 

 ground telegraphic lines, there are neverthe- 

 i less sometimes produced, in offices connected 



