708 
MISCELLANEA. 
Fidelity Rewarded. 
The will of Mary Anne Johnson, late of Well Walk, Hampstead, 
spinster, who died recently, has passed the seal of the Preroga- 
tive Court of Canterbury. The personal estate of the testatrix 
is sworn under £25,000, and the will contains the following 
singular bequests : — “ I give to my black dog, Carlo, an annuity 
of £30 a-year during the dog’s life, to be paid half-yearly. 
Unto each of the cats, Blacky, Jemmy, and Tom, I give an an- 
nuity of £10 a-year, to be paid half-yearly. Margaret Potson and 
Harriet Holly, my mother’s old servants, to take charge of the cats.” 
Query — what will the authorities at the Legacy Office do 1 As 
it respects “ Legacy Duty,” the legatees are certainly “ strangers 
in blood” to the deceased, and in that capacity are liable to a duty 
of 10 per cent, on the value of their life interest; but the Legacy 
Duty Act, on the other hand, says nothing about duty payable on 
legacies bequeathed to dogs and cats. — Globe. 
Dumb Dogs. 
In coming from Sechelles we touched at Juan de Nova, where 
I had an opportunity of seeing, for the first time, an island of 
purely coral formation. It is of a horseshoe shape, about twenty 
miles long and from half to three quarters of a mile broad, with 
extensive reefs around it, abounding with turtle. 
Dogs of different kinds have been left there from time to time, 
and, finding abundance of food in the turtles’ eggs, young turtle, and 
sea-fowl, have multiplied prodigiously, so that there are now some 
thousands of them. I can testify, from personal observation, that 
they drink salt water, and they have entirely lost the faculty of 
barking. Some of them that have been in captivity several months 
had not yet lost their wild looks and habits, nor had they any 
inclination for the company of other dogs, nor did they acquire 
their voice. 
You may, perhaps, have heard of this before. If so, my notice 
will confirm your knowledge ; if not, I hope the facts, being of my 
own demonstration, will prove interesting. On the islands the 
dogs congregate in vast packs, and catch sea-birds with as much 
address as foxes could display. They dig up the turtle eggs, and 
frequently quarrel over their booty. The greater part of them 
droop their tails like wolves, but many carry them curled over 
their backs. They appear to consist of spaniel, terrier, Newfound- 
land, and hound, in various degrees of mixture, and are of all 
colours except pure white and brindled. 
A Letter , dated Port Louis, Mauritius, from 
C. Clarke, Esq., to Professor Bell. 
