189; 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



347 



these ten porary slnpiuates, tlie ship's 

 compauy of the boat that is hauliug 

 thetu )'o:r.t. "Gwau, uow, and shiue u]) 

 that bngbt work, you long time dub!" 

 they will shout to a deckhand when the 

 officer of the deck is aft and out of hear- 

 ing, and "Get down to your bunker, you 

 grimy flatfcot and rake out your coal" 

 is the kiud of thing the man of the 

 bhick gang below hears from the pas- 

 sengers whenever he tries to smoke a 

 peaceful pipe on the topgallant forecas- 

 tle. 



One of the immemorial customs of the 

 navy jacks is to secrete in the ditty bag 

 of thedischia-ged shipmate who is about 

 to go ashore a can of corned beef, a few 

 potatoes ami perhaps one or two other 

 articles («:' s-^a food. This is done in or- 

 der to reu:iud the discharged man when 

 he opens his bag ashore that in the 

 opinion of his shipmates he will be un- 

 able to earn enough to eat on land if he 

 takes it into his head not to ship over, 

 and that they have, therefore, taken a 

 small measure to shield him from star- 

 vation with a little navy grub when he 

 has spent his pay day. Discharged men 

 try all sorts of schemes to keep this stuff 

 from being placed in their bags, but 

 nevertheless they nearly always find it 

 there when they get ashore. — Washing- 

 ton Letter. 



The Home of the Hot Devila. 



The 2;reatePt nalural w-ouder in Java, 

 if not in the entire world, is the justljf 

 celebriited Gheko Kaiidha Gumko, or 

 "heme of the hot devil?," known to 

 the world as the Island of Fire. Th's 

 geological eccentricity is really a lake 

 of boiling mud, situated at about the 

 center of the plains of Grobogaua, aiid 

 is called an island because of the great 

 emerald sea of vegetation which sur- 

 rounds it and gives it that appearance. 



The "isia'id" is about two miles in 

 circumference and is situated at a dis- 

 tance of alu'ost exi;ctly 50 miles from 

 Solo. Near the center of this geologic.-.l 

 freak immense columns of soft, hot mud 

 may l^ seen continually rising anel fail- 

 ing like great timbers thrust thirrj^h 

 the boiling substratum by giant hi>Lt s 

 and then quickly withdrawn 



Besides the phenomenon of tie ' oil- 

 ing mud colt:mus there are s- r : ; i : , : 

 gautic bubbles of hot slime t. .r i 

 like huce balloons and keen i. ;i a .', ,. 



of constant explosions, the intensity of 

 the detonations varying with the size of 

 the bubble. In times past, so the Java- 

 nese authorities say, there was a tall 

 spirelike colun;u of baked mud on the 

 west edge of the lake, whi^h constantly 

 belched a pure stream of cold water, 

 but this has long been obliterated, and 

 everything is uow a seething mass of 

 bubbling mud and sl:me, a marvel to 

 the visitors who come from long dis- 

 tances to see it. 



Weighing an Elephant. 



An Indian writer relates an interest- 

 ing anecdote conceruine Shahjee, the 

 father of the first ruling prince of Mab- 

 rattas of Hindustan, who lived at 

 about the beginning of the seventeenth 

 century. On one occasion a certain hi^h 

 official made a vow that he would dis- 

 tribute to the poor the weight of his 

 own elephant in silver money, but the 

 great difficulty that at first presented 

 itself was the mode of ascertaining 

 what this weight really was, and all 

 the learned and clever men of the court 

 seem to have endeavored in vain to con- 

 struct a machine of sufficient power to 

 weigh the elephant. At length it is 

 said that Shahjee came forward and 

 suggested a plan which was simple 

 and yet ingenious in the highest degree. 

 He caused the unwieldy animal to be 

 conducted along a stage, specially made 

 for the purpose by the water side, into 

 a flat bottomed boat and then having 

 marked on the boat the height to which 

 the water reached after the elephant 

 had weighed it down the latter was 

 taken out and stones substituted in 

 sufficient quantity to load the boat to 

 the same iine. The stones were then 

 taken to the scales, and thus, to the 

 amazement of the court, was ascertained 

 the true weight of the elephant. — Ani- 

 mal Friends. 



There are -u the several German uni- 

 versities 2,000 foreign students, of 

 whom more than 400 are Americans — a 

 larger number than of any other coun- 

 try 



Laughing cheerfulness throws sun- 

 light on all the paths of life. — Richter. 



A single poppy plant has been known 

 to produce 32,000 seeds. 



