POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



429 



Book -Worms and their Food. — The 



book-worm — that is, the larva that eats 

 books and binding — is named, according to 

 Mr. Sydney Klein, Tenebrio mol/itor, and is 

 a coleopter. It is attracted by the gluten 

 in the paste used in binding the books ; and 

 Mr. Klein says that a dark flour — the " whole- 

 wheat" flour — coming from America, and 

 rich in gluten, is used largely for making 

 paste and in the manufacture of cardboard. 

 Hence the tenebrio is likely to find rich 

 pastures in the books of to-day if he is ad- 

 mitted to them, and they are not "medi- 

 cated." Light is thrown on this subject of 

 medication by the observation of Mr. Rus- 

 sell Gubbins that the tenebrios have an ap- 

 parent choice of colors. His tenebrios " had 

 a decided preference for dark-colored pa- 

 per," while " light-yellow paper, almost with- 

 out exception, escaped." One of the papers 

 that escaped was a light green — an arsenical 

 paper. The light-yellow paper was probably 

 colored with chrome -yellow, chromate of 

 lead. So it appears that the insects may be 

 fought by exercising judgment in coloring 

 the papers which are to receive the paste. 



Curious Central African Peoples. — The 



Rev. T. J. Comber, a Baptist missionary, has 

 given to the Royal Geographical Society an 

 account of his voyage, in company with the 

 Rev. George Grenfell and in the missionary 

 steamer Peace, up the Congo to the Ban- 

 gala, and up the Bochini to the junction of 

 the Kwango. The width of the river, from 

 Stanley Pool to the Bochini, varies from 

 twelve hundred yards to two miles. It is 

 swift and strong, and navigation has to be 

 performed carefully, on account of up-crop- 

 ping feldspathic rocks An interesting feat- 

 ure of the first days' sails was the little 

 clusters of huts on the sand-banks in twos, 

 fours, and sixes, inhabited by Ba-Buma peo- 

 ple, who sold beer and caught fish. The 

 people are ruled by a queen, Nga Nkabe, 

 whose husband, or " prince consort," Nchi- 

 elo, " knows his place, and sits quietly by, 

 smoking his pipe meekly and philosophic- 

 ally, while his wife rules." She is tall, 

 brawny, and dignified, and about fifty years 

 old, but " did not seem to think it beneath 

 her to take her paddle, and, entering into a 

 little canoe with another woman, to go her- 

 self to cut us a bunch of plantains." Her 



great desire was to possess a double - bar- 

 reled gun, and she was evidently pleased 

 with a present of cloths, a big bell, a sol- 

 dier's great-coat, and some brass. The Ba- 

 Buma were the best specimens of the Af- 

 rican encountered on the journey. The 

 women wear brass collars weighing from 

 twenty - five to thirty pounds. The most 

 primitive people seen by the travelers were 

 the Ikelemba, about the great Ruki River, 

 who go about with bow and arrow, or spears 

 and shield, or a murderous sacrificial knife, 

 wearing hats made of monkey - skins, of 

 which the head of the animal comes to the 

 front of their heads, while the tail hangs 

 down behind. They are cruel, ingeniously 

 cruel, and indulge among other amusements 

 in chasing their human victims across the 

 country as our hunters would chase a fox. 

 Another exercise of their braves is inflict- 

 ing " death by the knife," in which the head 

 of the victim is so adjusted that, when it is 

 cut off by a blow of a sickle-shaped knife, 

 it i3 tossed by the spring of a sapling high 

 into the air. In strange contrast with these 

 revolting practices was " a pretty little per- 

 formance by children, lasting several hours, 

 and consisting, first, of clever dancing, and 

 then of a little bit of operatic acting, after 

 the style of a Greek play, the chorus part of 

 which was very prettily rendered by little 

 girls of eight to twelve years old. A strange- 

 looking bier was carried in on the shoulders 

 of four men. On the top of it was some- 

 body or something covered over with red 

 baize cloth. Sitting up at one end was a 

 little girl looking sad and mournful. This 

 bier (a native bamboo bed) was placed on 

 the ground and surrounded by the 'chorus' 

 — six little girls. A plaintive song was 

 chanted by a woman who came to the side 

 of the bier, which was chorused by the 

 little girls. It was really pretty and effec- 

 tive ; the idea of a drama in Central Africa 

 surprised us altogether. We could under- 

 stand but little of the words sung, but 

 caught the frequent repetition at the end of 

 the chorus of ' Ka-wa-ka ' (' He is not dead '). 

 After a time the spells of incantation were 

 considered to have worked, and there was a 

 noticeable heaving and shuddering in the 

 covered mass at the girl's feet. The red 

 cloth was drawn aside, and a girl was dis- 

 covered, her chest heaving quickly and her 



