POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



573 



smaller images, each twenty-five feet high, 

 stand in front of the larger one. The total 

 weight of metal in the main figure is about 

 450 tons, and this is said to consist of gold, 

 500 pounds ; tin, l&,2&1 pounds ; mercury, 

 1,954 pounds; and copper, 986,080 pounds. 

 The large images are not cast in single pieces, 

 but are built up of numerous small pieces of 

 irregular shape, which are cemented togeth- 

 er by a substance of unknown composition, 

 that takes on the same tarnish as the bronze. 



Forestry in the Cape Colony. — No care 

 was taken of the forests of the Cape Colony 

 until 1880, when many valuable tracts had 

 been nearly destroyed. Measures were taken 

 in that year for their future preservation, 

 and the Count de Vaeselot, who had had a 

 large experience in French forestry, was ap- 

 pointed forest superintendent. He divided 

 the forests into districts and these into sec- 

 tions, in which the felling should proceed so 

 that the regrowth of the first section should 

 be given time to develop into mature trees 

 before the axe should be used there again. 

 By this system the entire shutting up of any 

 forest for a time is done away with. The 

 period for the " revolution " of felling is 

 fixed at forty years. The forests severally are 

 watched over by a staff of foresters and in- 

 spectors, under whose supervision all cutting 

 goes on, and who attend to the raising and 

 planting of young trees. The Government 

 has established large tracts of plantations 

 and nurseries from which the forests and 

 private holders are supplied; has begun a 

 reafforestation of Table Mountain ; and has 

 instituted an " arbor day," which is observed 

 with great enthusiasm. 



The " Heaps of Joy » of Saint-Pilon.— 



Tourists have often noticed little heaps of 

 stones on the higher peaks of Mont Sainte- 

 Baume, Provence. They are called casiellets, 

 or little castles, and are either composed of 

 several stones forming a sort of rude pyramid, 

 or of one large stone inserted in a fissure of 

 the rocky soil. They are most frequent in the 

 vicinity of the Oratory of Saint-Pilon, where 

 they are found at an elevation of nearly one 

 thousand feet. Dr. B. Feraud has learned 

 that they are also locally called moulons de 

 joye (heaps of joy), and that, besides being 

 intended to testify to the successful ascent of 



pilgrims to the summit of Saint-Pilon, they 

 were frequently designed to propitiate St. 

 Magdalen, to whom prayers are made on the 

 spot for approval of the special maiden 

 whom the worshiper may desire to marry. 

 In the latter case the mound is visited by 

 the builder at the end of a year, and if he 

 finds the stones undisturbed, he considers 

 that the saint approves of his choice ; but if 

 the heap is broken up, it is generally regard- 

 ed as a decisive barrier against the intended 

 marriage. In this superstition Dr. Feraud 

 sees a survival of the ancient usage of erect- 

 ing stone monuments, such as altars, pillars, 

 menhirs, etc., to commemorate some impor- 

 tant personal event. 



Sign-Talk in New Guinea. — An explora- 

 tion was made some months ago by Mr. 

 Theodore F. Bevan of the Philp and Queen's 

 Jubilee Bivers, hitherto unknown affluents 

 of the Gulf of Papua, in southern New 

 Guinea. In the course of his voyages the 

 traveler met several bands of natives who 

 had apparently never before seen white men, 

 intercourse with whom brought out some cu- 

 rious characteristics and capacities of the 

 sign -language. At Attack Point, on the 

 Aird River, the progress of the party was 

 opposed by some sixty nude Papuans, who, 

 after a little hesitation, bore down upon them, 

 " alternately splashing the water into the air 

 and beating time with their paddles against 

 the sides of their canoes, also shooting vol- 

 leys of arrows at us. . . . This attack was 

 decided in our favor, without any bloodshed, 

 by a judicious use of the steam-whistle and 

 a few shots fired wide and high." The sav- 

 ages were painted, decorated with feather 

 head-dresses in addition to other ornaments, 

 and wore white groin-shells to partly conceal 

 their nudity. At Tunui, on Philp River, the 

 natives dressed their persons and canoes in 

 green boughs in manifestation of their 

 friendly feelings, and were responded to by 

 the whites with dumb motions and words 

 likely to be recognized by them. The next 

 step from this side was to bind a slip of 

 Turkey-red cloth, a piece of sharpened hoop- 

 iron, and one or two trifles upon a wooden 

 batten, and let it drift down-stream. " One 

 native, bolder than the rest, paddled after 

 this parcel, and, after cautious inspection, 

 appropriated it, and donned the red cloth as 



