146 



KNOWLEDGE 



[July 28, 1882, 



llora-e Jones loft to go Lome. On getting clear of the 

 stockade and out into the bush, his walk was perhaps a 

 tliought tortuous, but he kept on as straight as he could go 

 (which was not, perhaps, saying much) in the direction of 

 his own home. lie had not, however, proceeded very far, 

 before he became aware that some (hin;/ was progressing 

 close by his side, going on when he went on, stojiping when 

 he stopped. The effect of the whisky toddy began rapidly 

 to evaporate, and pulling himself together he nervously 

 eyed his mysterious companion, lie was walking at this 

 time among trees, and the moon was hitlden by clouds, so 

 that all he could see with certainty was that whatever, or 

 wlioevor, it was that was accompanying him, was very tall 

 and of undetined figure. Well, he proceeded in this way, 

 getting every instant more collected, until he came to a 

 clear and open space, the moon at that instant breaking 

 out from behind a cloud. To his dying day, he has often 

 said, he shall never forget the sight which almost made his 

 heart stop, and which rendered him as sober as a judge in 

 an instant. Close beside and almost touching him stood a 

 native, a superb figure of a man, quite six feet high, naked 

 to the waist, but with his head cut otF, and the blood 

 shimmering in the moonlight as it trickled down from the 

 stump of his neck which remained ! With a shout or 

 shriek Horace Jones turned and ran with all his might to- 

 wards the Scotchmen's, as being the nearest point of refuge, 

 never daring to turn round and see if his ghastly companion 

 were following him ; he battered with his hands at the 

 door on reaching it, and as soon as it was opened fell 

 forward into the house in a fit. When with some ditliculty 

 he was rcsuscitat«d, he told his entertainers wliat he had 

 seen, they in their turn remarking as an odd coincidence 

 tliat, at the .^me time something appeared to have got 

 among the stock, which became as it were frantic. When, 

 however, Jones calmed down a little, I rather fancy that 

 they had some more whisky toddy. lie of course spent 

 til'! night there. On returning the next morning to his 

 own home, and ttdiing his brother Francis what had 

 happened, he was so unmercifully chaffed, and his super- 

 natural experience was so definitely predicated to be 

 the result of an earthly spirit, that lie held his tongue, and 

 bi-gan to (juestion whether there really might not be some- 

 thing in that hypothesis. Months passed, every thing went 

 on as usual, and he forgot all about it. 



Alxiut a year afterwards the Joneses wanted a chimney 

 built in their log house, and they called in the aid of some 

 natives to do the work. While paying the chief man, 

 Fnincb, who spoke Maori like one of themselves, asked 

 liiiii how it was that the natives, while .squatting all about 

 the neighbourhood, never came and encamped upon that 

 clearing, which, with a beautiful river running through it, 

 r-.'-omcd to present a singularly eligible spot for such a pui- 

 |»o.s'-. " Well," was the reply, " 1 will tell you why we 

 never come here. We have a tradition that in ages gone 

 1-y our tribe was at war with another tribe, and that they 

 used to fight hereabouts " (this Frank Jones has since often 

 told me was probably true, as you could not put a spade 

 into the ground without turning up human bones) "and" 

 went on this naked savage " they say that our chief was 

 treacherously sold to the enemy, who cut off liis head, and 

 lluit h'. walt:s lutrt of a nirjld without kin head, and that is 

 why wc never camp upon this clearing." 



And then Horace Jones remembered what he had seen 

 on the previous Christmas Eve. 1.'. H. M. S. 



[It seems to us the only admissible interpretation of the 

 story is that the native tradition had been mentioned, but 

 forgotten, till the stimulus of the whisky brought it to the 

 surface — so to speak. Po.ssibly it hsid been mentioned 



during the excitement of some former " bout." Of course, 

 it would be interesting to know by what process of mental 

 trickery the corresponding image was " made up " — possibly 

 from some animal which had run beside Mr. Horace Jones. 

 But the capacity of the excited and whi.>iky-disturbed mind 

 to form such images is amazing. — Ed.] 



A THEORY OF FORESIGHTS. 



OUR esteemed correspondent, " F. T. P." writes to 

 point out that the second of the larger drawings 

 on p. 114, No. 37, is incorrect; instead of the disc 

 representing the bull's-eye being round, it should be 

 distorted by the encroachment of the diffraction fringe 

 upon it, on the right side. This, of course, is the vital 

 point of the whole thing. Unfortunately, our engraver, 

 seeing in the rather rough picture sent him what looked 

 like an ill-drawn disc, corrected the drawing, and made 

 the disc circular, whereas it should have been shaped 

 like the moon when some nine or ten days old, the 

 defect from complete circularity being on the right-hand 

 side. The pictures, unfortunately, did not accompany the 

 proof, or the error would have been detected, " F. T. P.'s" 

 description being very clear. Also on line 6, col. 114, 

 for " fitting " read " being," and in last line but one of 

 the h'tter, for " image " read " mirage." These corrections 

 should be made, the right side of the lowermost black 

 disc being reduced by a crescent of white (paint or the 

 like) till the breadth of the white fringe on that side is 

 equal to the breadth at top and bottom. " F. T. P.'s" 

 communication is so valuable, and his method so well 

 worth knowing, that we cannot but regret the inaccuracy 

 of the most important diagram, obviously though the 

 text suggests the necessary correction. It is important 

 that all diagrams not drawn precisely as they are meant 

 to be engraved, should have explanatory notes. For 

 instance, we have shown an engraver " F. T. P.'s " later 

 drawings, sent to show how the discs should be, and he 

 tells us that he could certainly represent both tlie black 

 spots by circular discs. 



HOME CURES FOR POISONS. 



YKGETABLE I'OISONS. 



OUR purpose in describing the chief vegetable poisons 

 in our last was to indicate rather the ellects of 

 specific poisoiLS, and the best method of homo cure, than 

 the botanical distinctions of the several poisonous plants. 

 Several correspondents write to point out methods for dis- 

 tinguishing poisonous from non-poisonous varieties ; but 

 the subject is too wide to be dealt with in a few scattered 

 notes. Hereafter a paper may be written on that subject 

 specially. It will have to bo illustrated, as the technical 

 terms necessarily involved in written descriptions would 

 only be intelligible to botanists. 



Two correspondents write to say that Deadly Nightshade 

 is not common in our hedges, though Woody Nightshade is ; 

 and one "presumes" that Bitter-sweet, or Woody Night- 

 shade {S'olanum Dulcamara), was mi.stakenly intended. 

 The description should have shown that Deadly Night- 

 shade (Alrofia Belladonna) was referred to throughout, 

 and not Woody Nightshade. The word " common " was 

 ill-chosen, however; for though Deadly l^ightshade is not 

 unfrequently met with in hedges and thickets in various 

 parts of England, it can hardly be described as commonly 



