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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The braid is doubled on itself, and a 

 large, quick-firing fuse inserted, and 

 the whole is bound with a fine thread. 

 The bundle is wrapped in paper and in 

 this shape is sent to the seacoast. A 

 variety of cracker which is very popu- 

 lar in China is the " twice-sounding " 

 cracker; it has two chambers, separated 

 by a plug of clay, through which runs 

 a connecting fuse. There is also a fuse 

 extending from the powder in the lower 

 chamber through the side of the crack- 

 er. When the cracker is to be fired, 

 it is set on end and fire applied to the 

 fuse. The powder exploding in the 

 chamber throws the cracker high in 

 the air, where the second charge is ex- 

 ploded by fire from the fuse extending 

 through the plug between the two 

 chambers. In the manufacture of these 

 the clay is first packed in with a punch 

 to form the separating plug. The 

 lower chamber is tlien loaded with pow- 

 der and closed by turning over the 

 paper at the end. The upper chamber 

 is loaded and closed with clay. A hole 

 is punched in the side of the lower 

 chamber with an awl, and the fuse in- 

 serted through this opening. 



An Encliaiited Ravine. — During 

 his archaeological researches in the Uloa 

 Valley, Honduras (Memoirs of Peabody 

 Museum), Mr. George Byron Gordon 

 made an excursion to the wonderful en- 

 chanted ravine, Quchrada Encantada, 

 which was famous through all the coun- 

 try for its weather wisdom. It was 

 situated in a deep valley, and, Mr. Gor- 

 don says, " sends forth a loud melodi- 

 ous sound which may be heard many 

 miles away, and is regarded by the peo- 

 ple of the region as an infallible sign 

 of rain. In fact, it is a regular weather 

 bureau, with this peculiarity, that it is 

 always reliable; for the sound is so 

 modulated as to indicate by its pitch 

 whether the coming storm is to be heavy 

 or light. The amount of promised rain 

 is in exact proportion to the volume of 

 the sound, and thus it proclaims to the 

 accustomed ear with unerring precision 

 the approach of a passing shower or 

 heralds the terrific thunderstorm of the 

 tropics; and this is no fiction, but a 

 fact, which any one may demonstrate 

 for himself by going and listening to 

 it." Tradition says the ravine was the 

 abode of a golden dragon, and that in 



former times " it was lined with golden 

 pebbles and the sands at its margin 

 were grains of gold, and it was the 

 custom of the golden dragon to rise oc- 

 casionally to the margin of the pool 

 and receive the offerings that were 

 made to him by the people. If they 

 wanted rain, they would bring their 

 oflferings and lay them on the golden 

 sand behind the pool or cast them on 

 the water; then, while all the people 

 chanted a prayer, the dragon would 

 rise from the cave where he dwelt in 

 the depths of the pool, and take the 

 good things that were ofTered him, and 

 there was never a drought or a famine 

 in the land. Then, when the Spaniards 

 came and the people were driven from 

 their homes, the golden pebbles and 

 grains of gold disappeared, and the 

 golden dragon, retiring into the utter- 

 most corner of his watery cavern, with- 

 drew forever from the upper world. 

 There he still lives, and, as formerly, 

 controls the clouds and the winds that 

 bring the rain. The spirits of the In- 

 dians, too, still hold their meetings of 

 an occasional evening by their accus- 

 tomed pool, now lost in the solitude of 

 the forest, and it is the sound of their 

 chanting that makes the voice of the 

 ravine." The pool is formed by a cat- 

 aract tumbling down the side of the 

 mountain and making a final fall of 

 fifty feet, and the sound of the tumbling 

 of the waters forms the basis of the 

 pretty legend. 



The Work of the Field Columbian 

 Museum. — Making only a selection 

 from the numerous items of general in- 

 terest in the Annual Report of the Di- 

 rector of the Field Columbian Museum, 

 Chicago, for 1897-'98, we find mentioned 

 the fall and spring courses of nine lec- 

 tures each, as having been more largely 

 attended than ever before, hundreds of 

 persons having been turned away from 

 some of them, and in one case nearly a 

 thousand. Tlie library- contains 9,003 

 books and 0.G30 pamphlets, and has had 

 some valuable additions, particularly in 

 the department of Americana. The ad- 

 ditions to the collections include speci- 

 mens from Egypt, Italy (ancient Etrus- 

 can and renaissance Venetian), Portu- 

 guese South Africa, Pacific islands, and 

 Alaska, the department representing 

 which now numbers more than ten thou- 



