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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



animals not constantly killed and the skins 

 shipped to England in the summer, when the 

 fur is almost useless. The coat, especially 

 of the kangaroo, is close and soft like plush, 

 with beautiful tints of French gray, warm 

 red, orange, and rose color. The famous 

 " boxing kangaroo " attracted a good deal of 

 attention some three years ago. It earned 

 an immense sum of money, sometimes given 

 as 20,000. It had not received any special 

 training ; its keeper eimply took advantage 

 of the fact that a tame kangaroo who knows 

 its master will always " box " when invited to 

 do so, putting up his short forearms to ward 

 off any imaginary blows. This kangaroo set 

 the fashion for the sport, for the animals at 

 once were sought after for sparring exhibi- 

 tions, and for a time all the kangaroos in 

 Europe outside of the menageries nightly 

 drew crowds to their pugilistic feats. Kan- 

 garoos easily adapt themselves to the Euro- 

 pean climate ; they thrive well in the zoo- 

 logical gardens, and have even been success- 

 fully kept on private estates in England. 

 Their graceful poses and their soft, beauti- 

 fully tinted coats make them objects of gen- 

 eral attraction. 



Roadside Orchards. The experiment of 

 planting fruit trees along the sides of pub- 

 lic highways has been tried with satisfactory 

 results in several German states and in Aus- 

 tria, and the products of the plantations 

 have been the means of adding considerably 

 to the revenues of the Governments thereof. 

 In Saxony the profit derived by the state 

 from that source during fourteen years is 

 estimated at about four hundred thousand 

 dollars. Planting of forest trees by the sides 

 of the roads has been abandoned in Wiir- 

 temberg, and the plantation and care of fruit 

 trees are regulated by law. The trees are 

 placed hi the care of the abutting proprie- 

 tor under the supervision of the highway 

 inspector. In Bavaria and the Palatinate 

 each road man is duplicated by a horticultur- 

 ist, for whose qualification special instruction 

 is provided, and who has to pass a competi- 

 tive examination. In some regions the lines 

 of the railroads are also planted, and in 

 others the minor roads and even private 

 roads. The system has made the most rapid 

 progress and reached the highest develop- 

 ment in the grand duchy of Luxemburg, 



where special classes are held every year, 

 under a professor in the agricultural school, 

 for teaching the inspectors and road hands 

 the theoretical and practical elements of the 

 orchardist's art. 



The Dalai Lama. Mr. St. George R. 

 Littledale, who traveled in Tibet in 1894, 

 learned from an interpreter that the Da- 

 lai Lama then reigning was about twenty 

 years old, and was to come of age in the 

 succeeding November. The Rajah of Lhasa, 

 who was acting as regent, would then lose 

 his power and retire into private life. The 

 last two Dalai Lamas had died between the 

 ages of eighteen and twenty, which seemed 

 to be a peculiarly fatal period in the lives of 

 these potentates. The present regent had 

 held office for forty years, and might per- 

 haps have given interesting details of the 

 last illnesses of two of his sovereigns. The 

 Dalai Lama, however often the dignitary 

 may be reincarnated, never really dies ; the 

 incarnation descends to some infant, whom 

 it is the business of the lama priesthood to 

 discover. When found, he is brought to 

 Lhasa, surrounded by crowds of lamas, who 

 educate him for the position he is so seldom 

 allowed to fill. The Dalai Lama of Mr. Lit- 

 tledale's time was discovered as a baby at 

 Thokopo, five days from Lhasa. The Teshu 

 Lama at Shigatze was a boy of twelve or 

 thirteen, who during his minority was under 

 the tutelage of Lhasa. When a Tibetan 

 lama dies, they carry the body to a moun- 

 tain, cut it to pieces, and the vultures do 

 the rest. The Dalai Lama is embalmed, and 

 gold and jewels are inserted into his face. 

 The three great incarnations the Dalai 

 Lama, the Teshu Lama, and the Taranath 

 Lama are all equally holy, and their sedan 

 chairs, when in Lhasa, are each carried by 

 eight bearers, while the two Chinese manda- 

 rins are allowed only four bearers apiece. 



Quick Growth of a Myth. A pertinent 

 illustration of the way myths and legends 

 may grow and expand is illustrated by the 

 story of Alexander (the Great), of which Mr. 

 E. A. Wallis Budge has published the Syriac 

 and Ethiopic versions. No instance of the 

 development of fables, says the Athenaeum's 

 review of one of these publications, can be 

 more instructive; for we start from a real 



