THE EI.KPTI.INT ON A STEAMBOAT. When the i 

 elephant went up the lake on the steamer Lady 

 Elgin, a short Mine since, we remarked the huge 

 traveller might be a somewhat ugly customer on 

 board a boat. It appears that on the passage the 

 wheelsman suddenly found difficulty in changing 

 the boat's course. For, tug and jerk, and bear on 

 as much as he would, the wheel would not budge 

 an inch. 



"Port helm," cried the captain. 



"Aye, aye, sir," responded the wheelsman. 



But still the helm was "hard a starboard," and 

 the boat was taking a turn into the middle of the 

 lake. The captain swore, and the mate made 

 for the wheel-house. Pushing the man aside, he 

 'took hold himself. It was of no use the mate 

 was no more successful than the wheelsman. 



" Port helm ! for God's sake ! Can't you see 

 where the boat is going ?" shouted out the cap- 

 tain. 



The mate declared that something was the mat- 

 ter with the wheel, as he could not stir it. The 

 thing was perfectly inexplicable. The engine 

 was- stopped, and master, mate and all hands 

 went below to see what could be the matter. Af- 

 ter a search of some minutes, it was discovered 

 that Mr. Siam, the " elephant" of the menagerie, 

 not liking the noisy rattling of^ the chains over- 

 head, had taken upon himself the responsibility 

 of giving a new " turn" to affairs. With his 

 trunk wound around the chain he was holding 

 on with the grasp of a vice, and it was with 

 some difficulty that the keeper persuaded him 

 that such liberties could, nqt be allowed. It is 

 said that he behaved well during the rest of 

 ;he voyage. Buffalo paper. 



FISH IN THE ARTESIAN CREEKS. Mr. Dabney 

 showed us last week three beautiful little fish taken 

 from his Artesian creek. 



In shape these fish resemble the bass, and are 

 very red under the mouth and belly, and have 

 shaded . .lark brown color on the sides. 



They have been kept for a week or more iu a turn- 

 blur of water, where we noticed them feeding on 

 the crumbs of Invad. Mr. Dabney says that they 

 have gi'd . -t sin co they were first taken. 



There is no doubt that these fish came from the 

 subterranean stream through the Artesian pipes to 

 upper earth. Mr. Dabney "says that one of them 

 was found iu a bucket which was set under the 

 spout of the Artesian well. 



In many of the Artesian creeks at San Jose these 

 fish have been found; but in Distillery creek, which 

 flows past our domicil, none have been discovered 

 the "Native American" element from that manu- 

 factory j '. being congenial to the life of 

 fishes.- '/. 3 S <5~* ' 



A DOG'S AFFECTION FOR HIS MASTER. Mr. 0. 

 M. Hopkins, late of Scottsburg, who died in Jan* 

 uary last, had a small and sprightly terrier, named 



Nig," of which he wa% very fond. After tha 

 death of his master, Nig grewrmelancholy. Noth- 

 ing the family could do seemed to anluse him. He 

 could not be enticed from the" side of his raistreas 

 but would follow her about everywhere, grave 

 and sedate, as though actually thinking of his 

 dead master. One day a closet containing his 

 master's clothing was opened. No sooner did 

 Nig discover the garments than he frisked about 

 almost frantic with delight, evidently expecting 

 hii master to appear. When the poor animal 

 discovered his error, he testified hia disappoint- 

 ment by piteous and mournful bowlings. In May 

 laat, poor Nig grew more melancholy than ever. 

 All attempts to induce him to leave the house 

 were unavailing, until one day hfo mistress went 

 to visit the grave of her husband. Then he fol- 

 lowed, and on arriving at the mound commenced 

 digging and moaning, testifying his grief iu thd 

 most affecting manner. From that time he could 

 not be enticed" to leave the grave, but stayed daj 

 and night, till he starved to death. He wa 

 found there, stretched on the earth, cold and stiff. 



WILLIAM BUTTS & JOHN O. WHEEL^ 

 EDITORS. 



LOS ANGELES, JULY 11, 1855. 



\ 



Tremendous Shock of an Earth- 

 quake. 



Last eveniug at about half-past seven was ex- 

 perienced the heaviest and most tremcnduous 

 shock of an earthquake ever known in this coun- 

 try and one that will be long remembered in this 

 section, such was its force that large numbers of 

 our one story buildings were cracked from top to 

 bottom, glass and crockery were thrown from the 

 shelves, windows broken, etc., etc. Nearly every 

 merchant in this city suffered quite severely in 

 this manner. Lamps were upset, families seated 

 at the tea-table were dismayed to witness the sud- 

 den overturn of tea-urns and dishes and fled af- 

 frighted to the open 'air. Clocks were thrown 

 down. Indeed, hardly a building escaped without 

 damage to its walls, or destruction of some por- 

 tion of its contents. The shock lasted several 

 seconds and appeared to lift up and twist the 

 ground about, accompanied by a roaring noise 

 like the approach of a hurricane. 



The weather during the day had been some- 

 what cloudy and very unusual for this season. 

 There was a slight fall of rain about 11 A. M. 

 The movements appeared to come from the east, 

 although its suddenness rendered it impossible to 

 determine with any accuracy its direction. Los 

 Angeles never took as thorough a purge before, 

 every house was deserted in a trice. There 

 can be no doubt that had our city been composed 

 of three and four story buildings, it would have 

 been levelled with the ground. Our buildings 

 are geuerally but one story, however, and to this 

 fact are we indebted for our escape from what 

 might have been a fearful catastrophe. As it was 

 walls of two and a half and three feet in thickness, 

 were rent asunder, and a general ripping and 

 crackling took place that created universal con- 

 sternation and brought Miller's prophecies vivid- 

 ly to mind. Our citizens are busily engaged to- 

 day in repairing damages in readiness for another 

 shake. 



1ST Such immense swarms of locusts have latterly 

 visited Odessa, that the city is described as being 

 completely darkened with them. Great damage has 

 been occasioned by them this year throughout the 

 whole of southern Russia^ 



THE KAISER AND THE POPE. A concordat has 

 been signed between Austria and Rome. Judas has 

 kissed Barabbas. . 



GF* Envy is defined as punishing one's self for 

 being inferior to one's neighbor. \ 



/. ^->^,-. $ /r~ 



e ani- 

 We 



e ladies 



clever- 



mself as 



ly com- 



)f which 



. Jack 



and on 



was ee- 



' Jour. 



"WHERE DO THK SPONGES Go ?" They are too large 

 to be sonceale-:'., ai<d too remarkable to be overlook- 

 ed and yet, year after year, we are shipping 

 from twenty to thirty tons of sponges or about 

 twenty-five millions of separate sponges to the New 

 York market without any knowledge of what be- 

 comes of them. We have seen cloth, hats and shoes 



all S aid to be made of the sponge but we don t 



believe a word of it. The demand and the price for 

 this article have steadily increased with the supply. 

 Twelve and a half cents per pound were given for 

 them but five years ago, and now, though the quan- 

 tity shipped has steadily increased, forty cents per 

 par pound are readily obtained, and the demand 

 increases. The value of the last year's shipme 

 has been $15,000. Key West (Florida) Key of 

 Gutf. jS-e^, /' 



