POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



139 



expected to cost ten thousand dollars, and 

 it is intended to stand in Trinity Cemetery, 

 overlooking the Hudson, and not far from 

 the Audubon mansion. All gifts will be 

 publicly acknowledged. They may be sent 

 to William Dutcher, No. 51 Liberty Street, 

 New York. A committee of the Linnsean 

 Society, consisting of L. S. Foster, C. S. 

 Allen, M. D., and Jonathan Dwight, Jr., are 

 co-operating in this enterprise, to whom 

 gifts may also be sent, 11 West Twenty-ninth 

 Street, New York. 



British North Borneo. — The portion of 

 Borneo ceded to the British North Borneo 

 Company is of about the same size with 

 Scotland, mountainous on the western side, 

 and having large slopes and flats on the east- 

 ern side. Among the mountains is the Kina 

 Balu, more than 13,900 feet high. Several 

 rivers rise near the west coast, and, follow- 

 ing a very long and winding course, fall into 

 the sea on the east. The junction of sev- 

 eral of these forms the Kina Batangau, a 

 noble stream navigable by large steamers 

 for 150 miles. On one of the tributaries 

 of this river, the Quarmote, are the Alexan- 

 der Falls, said to be a grand cataract, but 

 never yet seen by any European. The riv- 

 ers on the east coast run through an unin- 

 habited virgin forest. On the west there is 

 a fair population. From the healthfulness 

 .of its climate, the equableness and moder- 

 ate heat of its temperature, the absence of 

 physical disturbances, and the prodigious 

 natural wealth with which it abounds. North 

 Borneo promises to support a very large pop- 

 ulation. Ferocious wild animals are absent, 

 while large game appears to be plenty. Val- 

 uable timber exists in great quantities, and 

 is accessible ; and, after the wood has been 

 cleared off", the ground will be available for 

 cultivation. 



Philosophy of Comhinatioas of Capital 

 and Labor. — In an address before the Chris- 

 tian Conference which was held in Wash- 

 ington last Dacember, ex-Mayor Low, of 

 Brooklyn, held that the combinations of 

 capital and labor, as represented by the 

 corporation and the trades-union, arc not 

 necessarily antagonistic to one another, but 

 are really different manifestations of the 

 same force — the force which emphasizes the 



interdependence of society as against the 

 individualizing forces of popular govern- 

 ment. If the working on one side has re- 

 sulted in wrong, it is equally the case on 

 the other side ; but the corporation is liable 

 to the imputation that it is without sympa- 

 thies and without a conscience. The work- 

 man is under the disadvantage that in the 

 present minute division of labor his occu- 

 pation has become almost wholly mechan- 

 ical, and in case of the loss of his single 

 function he has no resource. This belit- 

 tling of the workmen's life has doubtless 

 aggravated their sense of antagonism to 

 capital. The same influences which have 

 reduced the workingman in his daily scope 

 have widened indescribably the privilege 

 and opportunity of capital. Has capital 

 appreciated as it should the responsibility 

 and the duty which come with the privi- 

 lege? 



Mother-of-Pearl in the Red Sea.— The 



mother-of-pearl fisheries of the Red Sea ex- 

 tend the whole length of that water. About 

 three hundred boats are employed by the 

 Arab tribes who are engaged in the work — 

 open, undecked boats, of from eight to 

 twenty tons burden, carrying a large lateen 

 sail, manned by crews of from five to twelve 

 men, and each provided with a number of 

 small canoes. There are two fishing sea- 

 sons during the year, one of four and one 

 of eight months, during nearly the whole of 

 which the boats keep the sea. Fatal acci- 

 dents are said to be unknown among the 

 divers, and they are remarkable for their 

 strength and good health. They dive be- 

 tween the ages of ten and forty years, and 

 the practice is said to have no ill effects. 

 Operations are conducted only in calm 

 weather, when the shell can be discovered 

 by the eye at a depth varying between seven 

 and fifteen fathoms. Of late years, empty 

 petroleum tins, with the ends knocked out 

 and a sheet of glass inserted in one end, 

 have been used to assist the eye. The 

 glazed end of the tin is submerged under 

 the sea, when a much clearer and deeper 

 vision is obtained. During the last ten 

 years the find is said to have diminished, 

 owing to the dearth of shells, from ten to 

 twenty per cent in quantity. Shells brought 

 to Jeddah for sale are disposed of at public 

 auction in heaps of about half a hundred- 



