Evening Star Newspaper, September 5, 1891, Page 11

A MEXICAN MEXICAN GASTRONOMY The Queer Things Upon Which the! Men and Women Wax Fat. BEER A CENT A GLASS. Fortunes In Pulque—A Wonderful Plant and Ite ProductThe Origin of the Cocktatl— Something About Mexican Brandy—The Motels and How They Are Kept. Spectal;Correspon lence of The Evening Star. EXICO CITY, AU- gust 15, 1991 ico has the best and cheapest beer in the world. You can buy it all over Mexico for acent a glass, and there are a thousand licensed shops im Mexico City. The city gets $1,000 a day revenue from these shops, and 250,000 pints of this liquor are sold here every day. This makes two tumblers to each man, woman and child in the capital, and the consumption throughout the re der of the coun- is proportionately great, The Mexican Jpulque. It is nature's own beer, from the sap of a cactus plant ies as the century plant. This toaheight of from eight to fifteen feet. It is made up of great green leaves, Which are a foot wide at the bottom, and which eight inches thick and eight or ten These leaves start up from the nd een cone, which at the bave and which ends as sharp a needle. It n years for this cone to grow to and if it is left a flower grows now Inst before bi This is done by cutting of the plant, and this leaves a the plant about as large as a two- Into this bowl the sap of the ms, and each plant will pro- to fifteen quarts of Juice per to yield this amount for six nt will produce barrels heads of liquor. This li- 1 beer. It Hows into the gar and as clear as crystal. enty-four hours, however, its color anged to that of skimmed milk. It has > nd it tastes like butter mille. ell and its odor and strength in- rows older, so that for a block pulque shop vou have the smell of factory and you can shut ad the saloons by your nose. it the same efiect as good It makes you feel comfortable it gues to your head. It acts nd kilneys and aids digestion. ke it toward night it cures your in- and I find it an excellent tonie. PUEQUE PEDDLERS AND sttoPs. This pulque is raed in big here are tens of th of acres of the xico City and one rail- usand dollars a day for car- I traveled for tations and I 7T Pu the liquor. ch man had « bag of untanned pigskin on his bac juice was drawn from the plant into this by means of a long gourd, which acted asa siphon. A PULQUE STRIPPER. The Ind:an would poke one end of this gourd inte the hole in the plant and suck theair aud at and then turn it into this dirty pigskis ‘These baga were made of the ide of a whole hog and some of them looked ough they were not more than two or three days oid. The legs and the mouth of the skin were sewed up, and when the bag was full of the Liguor these wobbled about, making the bag look like a live animal. The pulque ferments im these bags. In them it is carried into thecity and it is served either from them or from bar- rels. Phe method lealing it out to the cus- tomers i no more appetizing than the mode of gathering it seson. A dirty Meziean in his shirt sleeves, with his NAVE A DRINE, ‘arms bare to tbe biceps, takes a glass the size of a schooner and thrusts his arm into the Darrel up to the elbow and giver you the pulque oa cam com ‘tt and the result is nes at! shops in which shredy of beef are fried and with his hands dripping. Jour nese you drink MEAT TRAIN. | a bad. ‘These pulque shopsare found in every | Mexican block. They are open from early in | the morning until 6 o'clock at night, and at ¢l joserl by Iaw and are not opened xt morning. Mexico has ex- lice regulations in regard to the The Pulque shops are patronized chiefly by them and you find less disorder in Mexico at night than in any other city of its size in the United States. The high-priced saloons, which sell all kinds of | liquors, are kept open until miduight and later, and I hear the billiard balls clicking and the rich foreigners and well-to-do Mexicans carous- ing in the Iturbide bar room early in the morn- ing and all day Sunday. an cellent p peons or common people. a i PULQUE PEDDLER. The pulgqne product, however, is the most Profitable of any liquor production in Mexico and many of these pulque plantations bring in from ten to twelve thousand dollara a year. I know of one man who gets £200 « day trom his pulque hacienda. The pulque plaut is one of the most useful plants in the world. Its fiber makes excellent thread and the Aztecs use its thorns for needles. ‘They thatch their houses With its leaves and in the days of Cortez they made paper out of it. This paper was like pepyrus “und there are old Aztec manuscripts in existence which were made in this way. A number of other liquors in addition to pulque are produced from the plant, and in one trict ® very fine brandy called mescal is pro- duced from it, and tequila is another liquor, much like Seoteh whisky,which comes from the guey plant. Tne leaves of this plant con- tuin thousands of fibers and these e the strongest kind of bagging and ropes, which are equal in strength to linen. THE ORIGIN OF THE “COCKTAIL.” The title of our most popular drink comes from Mexico. The Aztec word for pulque is Pronpunced much like ocktail, and Gen. Scott's troops called the liquor cocktail and carried the word back to the United States. It is said that the liquor was discovered by a Toltec noble and that he sent it to the king by the hand of his iss Cocktail (Xochitl). The king drank the liquor and then looked at the maiden. The first tickled his palate, the second enamored his heart. It was & case of love at first sight in both instances and he married the rl and started « pulque pluntation. From that day to this the Mex- Jeans have kept themselves saturated with pulque, aud Miss Cocktail is one of the Venuses of Mexican tradition. MEXICAN BRANDIES are very strong. There is one called eguardi- ente, which is made from #1 is as strong as it is cheap. I had a sore throat 8 few days ago and was advised to bathe my neck in this brandy. I found that it made the skin smart and concluded to see how much al- cohol there was in it. I poured a wine glass full of it on to my marble washstand and touched a mateh toit. It exploded like coul oiland blazed away for ten minutes. Two milhon dollars worth of this brandy is made im year. It produces drunkenness very quickly. EXPENSIVE WINES. Mexicans have some good wines, but they are very dear, and an ordinary claret costa $1 a bottle. The chief drinks at meals are coffee and chocolate, and the Mexican chocolate is de- ed with cinnamé and is There is alway and in all the Mexic little tn the chocolate and make the knob go around by whirling the stem between the palms of your heauds WHAT THE wexXICANS EAT. Before I came to Mexico Iwas told that I would find nothing good to eat in the country. Every one said that the hotels were horrible and my friends patted their stomachs and looked at me with commiserating eyes. They said that everything Mexican was a mixture of red pepper and grease and that the only good | hotels in the country were those kept by the | Americans who had gone down there. I ven- tured into the land with fear and tremblin and at first patronized t''* American hotels. fonnd them dear and nasty. ‘The cooking was abominable and the service was worse. I then tried @ Mexican hotel and found it excellent. Some of the best meals 1 have ever had { have eaten in Mexico, and I shall not soon forget a dinwer at Toluca, where a pretty Mexican boy gave me a dinner of ten courses and where the cuisine was equal to that of a good Paris res- teurant. GOOD RESTAURANTS AND HOTELS. Throughout sonthern Mexico I found splen- did hotels. fey were often kept in old mon- asteries, and at Zacatecas I slept in a big room off a cloister where the door was four inches thick and the key weighed a pound. One end of my room opened out on a garden, which tuted the ee: the’ building, and night Icould walk around this in the it and see it soften the outlines of the at Moorish dome of the monastery which Tooked down upon me. The cooking here was «tho same was the case at Guana- Mexicans serve their meals one n table @hote style, and they with soup and end it with beans. p waiter i brings a bowl of soup to you and y ¢ out as much as you want. After soup vou have a half adozen different kinds of meat and vegetables served separately aud you close with a dessert and coffee. Mexi- in dinne! es and they are ‘They are superior to the Boston baked Leans aud every one eats them. They are never eaten on the day they are cooked and they are always serv eat abundance. They close the meal as rice closes adinner in Japan, and I suppose the idea is that the man wo has not enough of other things caa tll up on beans. QUEER MEAT WaGoxs. Oaly the better classes of Mexicans eat meat, ani one of the great fields of American invest- ment is inthe packing interests of Mexico. Ham and beef bring high prices and the meat business of the vity is managed by monopolies. Good beeves are worth from £25 to €50 ahead, and there is more mutton eaten than beef. A great deal of the beef comes from Guanahuato and the meat wagons of this city are mules. Take oue of the greaviest, dirtiest mules you can find and fasten a framework of hooks to # saddle ou bis back. Let this framework ex- tend about a foot above the mule and on the hooks hang the halves and quarters of beeves so that the blood drips from them on the ground and so that where the mules are small the meat almost touches the ground and you have the Mexican butcher cart of the moun- | tains. The butcher or meat peddler wears a [great blanket abovt his shoulders, a broad rimmed hat on his head and his feet are bare. If you buy @ quarter of beef he will carry it into your house on his head, and if you want a slice he will hack off « piece for you and charge you about the same for the neck as the loin. ‘2VERTTHING GoEs. ‘The Mexicans sell every part of the and in every market you will find little cook offered for sale. These are for the Indian eus- tomers, who stand about and eat the morse! with their fingers and without of knife, fork or plate. In Mexico Cit the butchering is more carefully done and beef is comparatively cheap. Youcan get @ roast for 18 contsa pound, but. pork is pensive. The pork business of Mexico controlied by a Mexican, who bas made millions out of it, and he is now putting up one of the biggest packing houses in the world. Ho has his agents all over the city and he imports his hogs from Kansas. THE LAND OF THE FRY. Mexico is the land of the fry. Nearly every kind of meat is cooked in lard and the conse- quence is that lard fs very high priced. It costs $1 cents a pound, and it largely takes the place of butter. “It, is very hard to. find good utter in Mexico. That made by the natives is largely from goats’ milk. It is white and is dressed without salt. A smart American has started a dairy in Mexico City. He bas Jersey cows and gets from 85 cents to $1 pound for his butter, and proportionately as high prices for his milk. My sister accompanies me during my Mexican tour and she has not eaten a bite of butter since we entered the republic, about two months Jt was in connection with her that Thad a very funny experience at the hotel at Monterey. Thad understood that there wasan American dairy near the town, and I noted that the but- ter on the table was of a beantiful yellow and that it tasted much better than the goat butter I had been eating at ober points. I urged my sister to try it, saying that it was American butter and ‘that it came from the dairy, and with thisI took a big bite out of a piece of bread that was spread with it. This momer burly Texan across the table interrupted saying: “Stranger, that ain't American butter, that's "margarine." PLENTY OF CRICKFXS. You find good chickens sll over Mexico, and there seems to be plenty ~f game. Chickens are peddied around in ccops on the backs of men, and now and then you will see an Indian with perhaps two dozen tied together by the legs and thrown over his shoulders. Ho goes with these from house to house and sells them. Es exold in the market in little piles of four to the pile, and not by the dozen, as we sell them, and I note that in some places the eggs are packed in corn husks for shipment. Everything in the Mexican market seems to be sold ‘in piles, and I can find no standard of measurement except the eye. ‘There were piles of four tomatoes, of six little potatoes, of handful of red peppers and of other like things around each peddler, und these peddlers were Indians, and the Indians seemed to be the marketmen of Mexico. FROM HAND TO MOUTH. ‘They carry their wares for miles into the city on their backs, and a dollar's worth of market stuff is carried for days in order that it may be sold here. The buying is done in the same picayune way as the selling, and thiscity of 300,000 people lives from hand to mouth. 1 den't believe there is acellar in the whole town, and every morning the servants go to market and buy enough for the day. They buy for cash and before going to bed you have to leave enough silver with your servants for the morn- ing marketing. It is not fashionable for ladi to de their own marketing and everything is bought by the servants. The result is that housekeeping in Mexico is very expensive, and between the’ prices charged and what the ser- vants weal the outlay is even greater than it is in the United States. ‘THE UNIVERSAL SIFSTA. The Mexicane themselves live much more cheaply than we do. The morning meal even 1s" | among the richest classes consists of only a cup of chocolate or coffee, with plain bread or sweet cake. The Mexicans eat thie by dipping into the chocolate and they often take this mealin bed. Coffee is served in your rooms at ali the hotels if you desire it, and if you live like the Mexicans you will find your charges much less. The second breakfast is served at 12 or 1 o'clock, end at thia all the family sit down, and it is really a dinner rather than a ways served at it, and the ulred different kinds of TRE EVENING MEAL is taken about 7 o'clock, and at this the family meet agattbe second breakfast. No work is done by any one in Mexico for about two hours after this midday breakfast, and the business heurs here are from 9 to 12 and from 8 to 6. Between 1 and 3 the whole city sleeps or gos- and after 7 o'clock you will find none of stores open. Mexican bread is almost ther made by the bakers, is fairly good and tastes very much like the French bread. I have not had & waffle nor a griddle cuke since I came into the country, and I look in vain on every Dill of fare for liot biscuits and pic. 1 do not find the Mexican dishes half as hot as they are painted, and I doubt not but that their cuisine is fully as healthful as ours. Fraxx G. Canresten. —+ee- THE SERGEANTS PROMISE. A Sequel to the Story of “Premonition of Death.” To the Editor of The Evening Star: Reading over the little incident, “A Tale of « Battlefield,” as stated by Dr. Wm. Tindall in the ever welcome Saturday's Star of August 29, on the premonition of death of Lieut. Darlington, company D, first Delaware regi- ment, I send you a line to complete that which I was not aware any one knew but myself. Yes, Darlington and I were tent mates, bosom friends and lieutenants in that old veteran regi- ment, and on the eve of Fredericksburg’s bioody slaughter we promised each other to mark the grave of “Harry's dream victim” by the survivor. I was startied to find the inci- dent in print and exactly correct, except we filed to the right after leaving the cut, out of the old depot, along the canal, moved by the left flank, deployed as skirmishers to open the onslaught on Marye’s Heights. We had gone searcely twenty yards when spherical shell came rolling down the hill. T gave it ample room and it burst right in front of that little company of twenty-three men, killing and wounding eleven, including Lieut. Darlington, The sergeants started to carry him back. but were stoppe canal, where, finding him dead, they laid him down.’ On my return from the heights after dark I learned from Sergt. T. where they hnd left the body. Early next morning I called for volunteers to try and recover it. ‘Selecting five from those offered we started out of the town toward the rebel lines. On reaching the open common and swamp bordering the canal we were met by @ brick fire from the rebel sharpshooters, who hud moved down into the valley after we left the heights the night before. Upon con- sultation we decided to make @ rush across the hundred or more yards to the canal, believing So they would cease firing when we left cover. marking the spot as near as possible where Lieut, Darlington's Body was supposed to have been left away we went, but that fire grew hot- ter, and only four of us reached the friendly cover of the canal bank. I have often won- dered if that rebel line thought we six were going to storm those hills where 19,000 had failed the day before. It wasa cowardly act, However, we were ina fix, and visions of Lib- boy prison loomed up handsomely to those four Yanks cowering under the canal bank. ‘On looking in the stagnant water one of the men saw an overcoat and exclaimed: ‘There's ew Yorker hiding under water.” I had given Liout, D.a couple of New York state buttons for his overcoat a few days before, and it struck mo at once it was Harry. My surmise was correct. We got him out and found another skeil had struck the other leg and knocked the body into tho water after Sergt. ‘ft. had left to join as in the fight. How to get back was a problem. I dared not sacrifice more of the boys, as we had neu adozen left for duty and a court of inquiry might not accept the promise made | my dedd friend sufficient for such » fool-hardy piece of business. We finally decided to start with the body and if they again opened on us one of the boys volunteered to go to them with a white rag on his gun for a flag of truce while we went into town with the body, and if they would not allow him to come back’after hearing bis story he would remain a prisoner. It wasa brave offer. They did not fire and Harry was buried in a church yard in Fred- ericksburg with a board and name cut on it at nis bead: and alone a hero jeoee unless bis relatives, to whom I wrote describing the sit- uation and offering to accompany them at any time in the future, removed him to his dear Peunsylvania home. I have never heard. Lisor. T. Took a Hint at Last. From the New York Herald. It was the time of night when bored belles yawn and beaus linger. Hints innumerable had been*sown on barren ground. Georgie Deadgone would stay. Finally Miss Nosnooze excused herself fora few moments, A minute later the cook, in full regalia, entered the par- lor, and, walking up to Georgie Deadgone, “What would you like to have for breakfast, And the Deadgone, noticing that 1 Hemoaieeaee te HOKSFORD’S ACID PHOSPHATE For the Tired Brain From over-exertion, Try it, HUNTING FOR A SNARK. How Prof. Marsh Found Several in an An- ¢lent Lake Bed in Dakota. ROF. 0. C. MARSH OF YALE COLLEGE and the geological survey, who left Wash- ington this week, has had many a thrilling ad- venture incidentally to his hunts for fossils in the wild west. A choice locality for this sort of exploration is found in the Bad Lands of Dakota, where ever s0 long ago thero was a big luke. Around the borders of this sheetot water, inan ancient epoch, there browsed countless numbers of strange beasts, of species unknown attne prosent day save by their bones occa- sionally dug up. Some kinds were as big as elephants and addicted toa vegetable diet ex- clusively, while there were also to be found in the same region smaller but extraordinarily fierce carnivores, which preyed upon their more bulky but comparatively helpless neigh- bors. There were plenty of smaller beasts, too, of ever so many varieties, all of thom extinct now, among which were surprising marsupials that brought forth their young like kangaroos, when the offspring were ‘no bigger than beans, carrying them thereafter in pockets outeide their bellies until they grew big enough to take care of themselves. ‘THE TALE OF THIS WONDERFUL LAKE isa story of the ages—whole epochs, in fact, which wore required for the gradual filling up of the lake with mud and detritus. While this Process was going on animals of all sorts were continually dying on the borders of the big sheet of water, becoming mired in the surround- ing marshes or drifting into the lake by way of tributary water courses Their bodies sank to the bottom and became buried in the mud, so that, as the Intter was udded to by fresh layers year after year and century after century, it formed a series of strata through which the Surpses were watered like plums in a pud- 8 - If the lake bottom had been herd sand the dead beasts would have quickly decayed, the bones being scattered about and becoming eventually disintegrated. But the mad an- Wrapped them and preserved them more effect- ually than any artificial procoss of mummifica- tion could e done, sv far as the skeletons were concerned, though necessarily the fleshy lly wasted away and dis- AFTER THE LAPSE OF AORS. By and by, after the lapse of ages, the mud in the bottom of the lake came to be a mile in depth, filling up what had been the basin con- tain: ig that sheet of water, until the place be- came dry land. The mud ‘had hardened into stone, but the great Colorado and other rivers forced channels throug the solid rock, leaving towering cliffs on this side and that, while the mighty streams washed everything away be- tween. ‘Thus formed by resittlest® powers. of nature the Bad Lands, as they are called, afford the weirdest desert spectacie to be found any- where in the world. It is there that the paleontologist lovos to Toam, eyeing the ‘fossil-boaring strata” in every bluff to see if perchance a bone shows where it has been exposed by the erosion of the water. He knows that the strange-looking hilis, made once upon s time out of lake mud, are full of astonishing monsters and other ex- tinct creatures of the far past if only he could get at them. If he hits upon a find he keeps it to himself lest some other fellow should come along and rob him of it. Not the miser with his gold is 0 chary of giving it away as is the fossil hunter with information concerning his private mines of bones. PROF. MARSH'S FIND. One day when Prof. Marsh was nosing about the west a comparatively noble red man showed him a tooth. It wasa big tooth, but the mere size of it was not what made the professor's whiskers cnrl in spite of himself. He recog- nized it immediately as the grinder of a mighty mammal new to science. It had been once em- ployed for chewing purposes by what has since come to be known as the brontotherium, a beast ax big as an elephant, but shaped some- what like a rhinoceros, with two enormous horns on its head auda flexible snout like a tapir. ‘THE INDIANS OBJECTED. Only atooth! Butif it had been a diamond equal in size and of the first water Prof. Marsh would not have valued it so highly. He lost no time in organizing a party of frontiersmen who ad been in his employ on previous expedi: tions and or whom he could implicitly rely. ‘The place where the big tooth had been found was a certain locality in the very lake basin described. Indians were very troublesome thereabout at that time. When the Red Cloud agency was reached, not far from the objective point, the whole country was found actually alive with thousands of savages, who were rather disposed to be hostile. Although Prof. Marsh's object was explained to them they be- lieved that it was a ruve and that he was goin, to dig for gold. Several pow-wows were held, and, finally, they refused to let the party pro- ceed. Nevertheless, the expedition struck camp in the night and silently stole away to the bone fields. ¢ Indians did not know of its de- parture until the next morning. COLLECTING BONES IN A SXOW STORM. The party went to work immediately on their arrival at the ground. It was so intensely cold that all hands suffered severely, and it was only possible to escape freezing by most active ex- ertion, As fast as fossils were sccured they were heaped together, piles of stones being laced to mark the localities of the bone col- lections in the event of a snow storm. Snow fell deep, but still the professor and his little band kept at it. Meanwhile the savages had mounted sentinels on the neighboring hills watching the progress of operations. One night some Indians attempted to surprise the camp, but their project was defeated. Occa- sionally in the day time a few Sioux dropped in, professing friendly motives, but really to see what was going on. Finally, the expedition having packed its bones, started on its return to the agency just {m time to escape a raid from a large war ny of northern Indians, who scoured the Bad Lan the following day in a vain hunt for the “Bone- hunting Chief” and his courageous band. At the agency the Indians had decided to be friendly and invited the visitors to a feast, the menu for which included all the delicacies of the season, from grasshopper short cake to fricasseed puppy. THE RESULTS OF THE EXPEDITION justified the hardship and the danger incurred by those who participated init. Nearly two tons of fossils were secured, mort of them rare specimens illustrating entire families of quad- rupeds, concerning which all that is known has been ascertained within a very few days. One of the most notable was the brontotherium al- ready described. It had a long neck, and doubtless animals of this species lived together in herds, cropping the Inxuriant tropical vege- tation that grew in their epoch around the ancient lake. Very likely their remains were washed into the lake by freshets. AMONG THE FOSSILS found were those of animals nearly allied to the rhinoceros, the camel and the horse of to- day] Some important geological points were also’ascertained by the expedition. For one thing it was determined that the ancient lake ras biggor than any two of tho great lakes of the northwest today put together” Tt stretohed from the southern slope of the Black Hills, which formed its northern limit, to near the northern line of Kansas, and its wostorn mar- gin was the Rocky mountains. Long after this cocene lake was filled and dried up another tropical lake covered the nme region, having the same boundaries at the south and west, but extending suuthward as far as Texas. ‘The sands and clay deposits of this more recent lake basin aro of the pliocene age. They are of great thickness, in vome places not less than 1,500 feet. Nearly all of the high table lands from the White river to the Arkansas are formed of the deposits of the pliocene lake. Ithas proved rich in fossil remains, particu- larly in fossil horses; but all the animals found in it differ from those of the lake below as well as from the beasts now living in the world. He Wanted to Know. ‘From Life. oc aif SB ope do ‘gum for all those co} ‘Written for The Evening Star. LOBE ABOUT SPIDERS. Things of Interest About Creatures That ‘Weave Webs—First Among Spinners, ‘WITHOUT THEM FLIES WOULD BE 4 PLAGUE—HOW: THEIR EYES ARE FORKED—PROCKSS BY WHICH THEY MAKE THEIR WEB—RoPES oF 1,000 ‘STRANDS. 66()4, THE NASTY THING!" “What is it, my dear,” inquired her husband calmly, withdrawing his pipe from his mouth. “A horrid spider! It was on the back of my neck!" “Did it bite you?” No, I'm thankful to say.”” “Then why do you call it horrid?” rejoined the naturalist spouse. “Just suppose for a moment that there were no spiders.” “It would be very nice, I'm sure.” “On the contrary, my dear, it would be most unfortunate. Was not a plague of flies one of the afflictions that troubled Egypt on account of the Pharaoh's obstinacy? It must have been caused by @ remarkable scarcity of spiders. Undoubtedly the. most particular mission of spiders in this world is to keep down the multi- tudes of flies which would otherwise swarm over the earth and gobble everything up. Did You ever examine aspider's chewing apparatus? ever; and I don't want to. ‘My treagure, you have no scientific enthu- siasm, Tfear. You should affect the quality, though you have it not. Permit mo to assurs = that a spider's head is one of the most interesting objects in ‘nature when scon under the microscope. In front of the head are two claw-shaped fangs, shut up like a clasp knife whon not in use, but stifily erected when the animal is excited, either to defend itself or to ttract its prey. ' Each of theso fangs is a tube, * the lower end of which is an oval sac full of poison, while the pointed extremity is left open, #0 a8 to afford a venom duct most convenient for the object intended.” MRS. SPIDER AND HER PRET. ‘How learned that all sounds! Do proceed.” “With pleasure, my love. My pipe is out; Til thank youfor a match. Well, as I was about to say, when Mra. Spider—ite always a Mra., because tho male spiders are only about a fiftieth of the size of the females, spin no webs and seem to be useful for no other purpose than the perpetuation of their species in the distaff line—when Mrs. Spider sees a fly caught in her net by the gluten she attaches to the thread, she planges into the unhappy victim her two fangs. At the same instant a drop of poison exudes through oxch fang into the wound and the prey quickly dies. The strength of this venom must be really very great indeed, inasmuch ax so smalla quantity as a single spider secretes will causea human being somuch liscomfort. Spider bites have been often fatal, it is snid, but only'two or three varicties aro dangerous, and eases of deaths from their at- tacks are apt to be insufficiently authenticated. ‘The poison is of an acid nature, as is proved by the fact that litmus paper perforated by the fangs of an angry spider turns red around the holes made by the bites.” HER EYES. “Then, to conclude the subject, the spider cats the fly.” “That is to eay, my dear, she devours por- tions of the insect. She clasps her fangs down- ward tightly so as to squeeze out the soft in- side parts into her mouth. ‘The empty skin she rejects. But I was going to tell you something about the eyes with which Mrs. Spider sees her prey before sho grabs it. They are very won- derful organs of vision indeed and well worth describing. Usually they are eight in number, looking under the microscope like polishedand brilliant hemispheres of diamonds, but their arrangement inthe forehead of the animal varies remarkably. Sometimes they are wet in square and in’ other cases many different forms. Ench eye is covered with a transparent cornea, like that of a human being; it has a crystalline lens and an iris surrounding the Pupil of red, green or brown. The species that go abroad at night have each eye furnished with a curtain, which reflects a bright metallic luster and makes the eyes of such spiders glare in the twilight like those of cats.” ‘THE WEDS OF SPIDERS. “Now, that is rather interesting !” ‘Tam glad you think so, my treasure. Par- haps you will not find it a bore if I tell you fome things T have beard about the webs of spiders. They were the first spinners, you know. You may remember the ancient story of Arachne, who contended with Minerva for the prize at needlework, and not only was de- feated. but was transformed for her pains b; the offended goddess into a spider. I thi Til try another pipe. Thank you; it's going now. Well, as I was saying, spiders have various ways of spinning and weaving. “Some hide in burrows, which they line with aweb. Others inclose themselves in silken tubes, strengthened on the outside with leaves. Others yet weave nests, then issue threads to entrap their prey. Still others of close texture, like hamm nd wait for the insects that’ may become entangled. Cer- tain species spread silken filaments under water to capture aquatic insects. Thero are kinds of spiders known as the ‘jumpers’ and the ‘run- ners,’ which catch theit game by swift pursuit y agile leaps. Others run crab-like, side- ways or backward, occasionally throwing out adhesive threads to entrap their victims.” “How curious USES OF THE SILK. “Isit not? I must get a new pipo stem; this one is getting foul. What was I saying? Ob, about spiders’ webs. The animals not only use their silk for building their neta and dwellings, bus for otier purposes as well. “With strands of it they bind the limbs of a struggling insect they havecaptured. Asingle filament serves to attach to earth certain varieties, while like uero- nauts they flout far off in the calm atmosphere for hours. With softer threads than those em- ployed for other objects they weave bugs to re- ceive thelr. egus and to servo asa nest for the young. This silk is a thick, glutinous, transpar- ent liquid, much like a solution of gum arabic, which can be drawn out into threads, bat in great webs hardens quickly on exposure tothe air. In this much it resembles the filaments spun by silk worms and other caterpillars. “The webs of spiders make a very beautiful material for the weaving of various fabrics, which would have a high commercial value it it were possible to obtain more of it. Unior- tunately spiders eannot be set to spin peace- ably together like silkworms. Put uny given number of the arachnids together and they will fall promptly to killing and eating one another until only one fierce and corpulent speciraen is left alive. 1¢ is only the impracti- eability of providing earh spider with a pen by herself to spin in that prevents their product from being regularly quoted at a high price in the market.” HOW SHE SrIxi “But how does the spider spin, pray?” “The apparatus it usos for the purpose is far more complicated than that of the silk worm. Madam Spider has usually three pair of ‘spin- nereta,’ as they are called, at the hinder ex- tromity of her body, through which the threads are produced. The glands whieh secrete the gummy fluid are situated inside the abdomen, among the intestines. These spinnereta con- tain from 300 to 1,000 fine tubes, through which tho fluid is made to ooze at the will of the ani- mal. ‘Tne multiplicity of strands thus pro- duced simultaneously have a purpose, inasmuch ‘thearachnid must haveits ropes quickly made. each rope consisted of asingle thick flament it would take some time to harden and thus be- come strong. would never do. DESTROYING THE VICTIM. “Suppose a fly, for example, to become en- tangled ina spider's web. No timo is to be lost, the struggling victim by its efforts to es- capo is tearing the meshes which entangle it and would soon break loose did not its lurking destroyer at once rush out to complete the capture and save its net, spt “[ dare say you bave noticed the ‘geometric’ spider webs, so-called, with cables stretched from twig to twig, like a scaffolding, 4 average activity will construct such a net, if in lees than three-quarters of an hour.” “Are there spiders?” “Tone that live in the water. How- ever, there are lots find them ‘about on seaweeds: shore. They are built very peculiarly, havi with sieht cight-jointed lege no taicker Gea the no finest ‘ine bead ‘i better developed, with stout Jaws and furnished at tho sides with & pair incer claws somewhat resembling those of a crab or lobster.” pakann~ one “HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU." ‘The Drinking Habit ts Losing Ite Hold on People in America. From the Cincinnat! Commercial-Gazette. There is lees dissipation among the men at watering places than is generally supposed. In fact, it may be broadly asserted that there is less dissipation among American men than there was in the past, and, furthermore, it grows loss and less year by year. All the work of temperance fanatics and pro- hibition cranks who would revolutionize hu- manity by legal enactment is as nothing com- pared with the influence of growing eelf-re- Spect, education and better breeding. No one but the professional pessimist or the domagogue fails to Tecognize this fact, and it comes about through a higher Average of Sentility, in the better sense of the ill-treated wot Aslongas men are men ghey will eat and drink and have some fun; but there are all gra- dations in the process, from the bummer who falls into the gutter or the savage who fills him- self with firewater and raw dog to the gentle- man who, in a cafe, takes a drink in good fel- lowship with some friends, or in bis club or his home cate his dinner and comforts himself with a glass or two of wine in pleasant compan- ionship. Intoxication becomes more and more dis- Graceful. Among the better classes of men the Visiting of public exloons and the stand-up drinking at bars is falling more and more into disropul Another strong influence to this end is that the drinking habit, even in moderation, counts so sharply against a mau in the business affairs adrinking man?” is one of the first and main auestions put by one man of another with whom any business relation is proposed, he a drinking ma: hen married man?” are the two questions always asked by any business man or firm concerning a pro- posed employe or associate. This no doubt tends to hold many a man to paths of sobriety who, perhaps, has not enough self-respect to do so. ‘They can't indulge be- cause, ina business sense, they “can't afford to.” In old times drunkonness was not considered disreputable among the “gentry.” 0 man was the “four-bottle man Of the oceasion at a drinking Lout was the one ‘put all the others under the table.” not entirely disappeared—not by any means—for hebits and human nature do not change maday. But there certainly has been @ marked alteration for the better. The man who, in an assembly of gentlemen at din- ner or elsewhere, gets. drunk, makes himself obnoxious. He is not applauded, he is not even pitied. He is condemned aud his company fought shy of thereafter. In other respects men’s habits are improving as the country gets older and richer and time is had tor travel and cultivation of the amenities. ee ee eee Prancing, Posturing and Dancing. From Temple Bar. There is not in China at any time overmuch of the charity that thinketh no evil, and where women are concerned there would seem to be none at ail. A handshake between a man and a woman is as badly construed there as was ever & casual kiss in our own divorce court. But Yuan, when describing our social gatherings, does so without any overt condemuation; per- haps he thought that a plain and straightfor- ward description of them would be quite enough. “Besides invitations to dinner, ‘there are invitations to tea are occesionally given by wealthy merchants or distinguished oficials. "When the time comes an equal number of men and women assemble, and tea, sugar, milk, bread and the like are set out as aids to conversation. More particularly are there jnvitations to akip and posture when the host decides what man is to be the partner of what woman and what woman of what man. Then, with both arms grasping each other, they leave'the table in pairs and leap, skip, posture and prance for their mutual gratification. A man anda woman previously unknown to one another may take part in it They call this skipping fanshen (dancing).” ‘The reason for this curious proceeding on the part of our countrymen was well explained by a recent writer in’ Chineee illustrated pa- per, the Hea Pao. “Westorn etiquette re- ” he writes, arties, such as quires,” he says, “the man in search of a wife to write to the girl's home and agree upon some time and place for a skipping match” (scilicet, » dance). ———_—e~. The Prevention of Epidemica, From the New York Tribune. The seventh international congress of hygiene and demography, held in London this menth, was a notable affair. Over 3,000 delegates were pres- ont from all parts of the world. i of subjects was discussed, and a valuable com- parison and exchange of opinions on questions of universal interest resulted. The sectional di us included bacteriology, the relation of diseases of brutes to those of man, infancy, childhood and school life, chemistry and hysics in relation to hygiene, architecture and bedjih, engineering and health. uaval and mili- ygiene and industrial hygien ost noteworthy point of agreement was as to the need of a scientific basis for all pri- vate and public health measures. As the Lon- don Lancet remarks, sanitary reform is too often undertaken with a painfully inadequate regard to scientific laws, and we are not sure that even in this country the reproach is alto- gether unmerited. ‘The subject of “Preventive Medicine” wa perhaps the most widely interesting of all, as it embraced the exclusion and control of rovii epidemics. Sir Josoph Frayrer opened the d cussion and papers, wore road ‘by delegates from France, Holland, India, Australia and the United States, Remarkable unauimity was dis- played as to the inefficacy of the ordinary quar- antine, and the testimony adduced may be ad- vantageously pondered by western sanitariane who rely exclusively on this ancient safeguard for protection from cholera and yellow fever invasions. Bir Joseph Frayrer is said to have “repudiated quarantine, because be thoug! itcould have no possible effect in practice, d Surgeon General Cunningham advanced starding proposition that no exemption the from cholera has ever been proved to be due to quarantine. The motive of these assertions Yes, of course, in the belief that personal communication is not the prime factor: in the spread of disease—a belief that recent hap. penings in this city show is gaining ground among enlightened physicians, Before trained observation was employed in the systematic collation of statisti Tact was param Lately, however, evid extension of epidemi out any trace of importation or of communi- cation be ith so much | tion viously affected. Such was the case, i to Dr. Lawson, at Southampton in 1865, at Ne Orleans in 1873 and in the south of France in 1884, each of these instances having been care- fully investigated on the spot. 1s is & comparatively new theory monishes the individual to calculate quarantine is usually ineffective should be jualitied with the exp! tion that its protec- on is commensurate with the ‘cost Snipa erring where the oe ae peg eapenen is good. in India, as was explained at the congress, any esteangt td eusetadine any tondis Sp wtieoes the real danger and carelessness it safeguards, and this is es Cad BF at ES. GIANT APES IN BOKNEO. Some Curious Facts About Alleged Cousins of Man That Live in Trees. “Vr ACQUAINTANCE WITH APES bas been chiefly made in Borneo,” said Prof. Henry A. Ward, the famous nataral science collector of Rochester, to a Stan re- porter the other day. “That great island is the home of the orang, which is the most arboreal of all monkeys. The animalslive in trees altogether, rarely, if ever, visiting the ground. It takes two good marksmen to shoot one, be couse they dodge around the tranks. They do all their fighting aloft, and it is great fan to sce them drop the armfuls of frait they have gathered in contests for its possession. They sre plentiful in the low lands near the coast. It is rarely that anybody ventures into the inte- rior, because there the head-hunting natives Prowl. Among them each man is required to have secured « head before be is permitted to marry, and on this account the young gentle- ten savages are continually looking about for somebody to kill. This makes traveling dis agreeable. NESTS OF onaxas. “One of the most noticeable features of the landscape in Borneo is the nests of orangs which are scattered about thickly among the tall trees. From their number one might get a greatly exaggerated impression of the plenti- fulness of the species, unless it were under- stood how and for what purpose these roosting places are constructed. The bearts are greatly annoyed by flies, from which they are able Protect the front part of their bodies with their ands, but they cannot keep the vicious insects from biting them in the rear, and so they gather a quantity of leaves and branches aud Make them into couches to repose agai among the boughs. A protection of this sort serves very well for a while, but preseatly its leaves attract the flies, which the orang in #0 anxious to get rid of. Then he is obliged to make another nest of fresh stuff, and so he may require dozens of them in the course of a year. Inasmuch as he docs not take the trouble to remove the old ones, they remain to adorn the tree top in which he swings himself about. CURIOUS METHODS oF FIOMTINe. ing. In their conflicts among themselves, Which are frequent, their effort is always to seize the fingers of adversaries and bite them. Avery beautiful group of there ani- ional Museum, mounted by Mr. Hornaday, admirably illustrates a typical en- counter of the sort. “It is owing to this method of battle that it is almost impossible to procure 8 skin which does not lack some of the fingers. If defending itself against 4 man the beast will alway@ attempt to grab the arme of his human opponent, so as to chew off his fingers. For this purpose its jaw is excellently adapted, being enormously powerful and equipped with huge incisors, THE FAVORITE FooD of the orang is the ‘durion’ fruit, which is, perheps, the most delicious in the world, unit- ing, as it does, the flavors of the peach, the pear and the strawberry. Like most things nearly perfect, however, this fruit has a draw. back—namely, that it ‘leaves a taste in the mouth the next day after it is eaten which is more abominable than can either be described orconceived. To protect itself from the rain the orang crooks its arms over its head. hairon the orang’s upper arm points down- ward, while on the lower arm it points upward, the apparent purpose being to rhed the rain like a thatch when the attitude I have described is assumed. A NATURAL ACROBAT. “The other great ape which makes its home in Borneo is the Gibbon, which is a small ani- mal compared with the orang, weighing only about forty or fifty pounds. It is very frail in its bodily make-up. The head is set squarely upon the shoulders and it looks upward. When walking on the ground it balances itself along like a walker on the tight rope. Its remarka- ble power of grasp and dexterity in using ite hands is equally with the shape of its cranium an index of its superior intelligence, perhaps because it is able to take hold of a greater num- ber of things and examine them. "The Gibbon isa natural acrobat. Its trapeze performances in trees are simply marvelouc. The animals go in droves, whereas orangs live by families, and one of the most interesting spectacles imaginable is to see a troop of them cFossiug a great gap in the forest by throwin themselves in succession through the air, cack one taking a swing or two to gather momen- tum before launching himself. So great is their agility that in executing feats of this sort they seem like birds. Natives in the corntries inhabited by great apes regard them always as human beings of interior types, and it is for this reason that for a long time it wos fold impossible to get hold of an entire gorilla skin, because the sav: considered it religiously ‘necessary to cut off the hands and feet of the animals when they killed them, just as they do with their enemies, ossibly for the purpose of rendering them rmiess in case they should by any chance come to life again.” —— ‘One Way to Save a Postage Stamp. From the Chicago Daily News. “Till wager $5 that I can address « letter and have it stamped and mailed for me without touching it after I write the address, or with- out speaking to anybody,” remarked a commer- cial man at theGrand Pacific, addressing » traveler friend. “Can't play any of your tricks on me,” re- sponded the companion. “No tricks. I want to teach you a point about hotel life. Watch me.” Bigelow hurried up to the counter, seized a hotel envelope and addressed it in a bold, aym- metrical hand toa friend in St. Louis. "Then he suddenly left the counter, leaving the on- velope ready to be mailed near the register. Soon along came Clerk Shaefler. the missive, sized up the penmanshi something about the guest trying to play the house for a postage stamp, placed one of those necessary little pasters upon the envelope and mailed it. “See,” said Mr. Bigelow, “I told you the ‘gag’ would work inalarge hotel. That is an cia trick played by o grec! many chair wares: ers, The clerks find the unstamped envelopes and, fearing that a guest has forgotten to mail an important letter, they send it. That is one way of saving postage, but let us hope it will not spread.” Recent thunder storms have confirmed the old saying that it is dangerous to stand under trees during lightning. Isolated trees are more apt to be etruck than aclump, and especially if they are near water. An oak tree by pond is considered by electricians as offering « pur- ticularly unsafe position. In fact, water and damp ground are to beavoided, as well as trees. It would be safer to lie flat on the ground then to stand upright if the storm is immediately overhead, which can be ascertained by noting that the flashes and the reports are simulte- neous. Indoors it is dangerous to sit near metal objects such a8 mirrors, pic’ and wire Pp at partici Decause th tween thoss attacked and persons pre- | fire al Bro, Woriand of note = “i Eka) bedstend, Lying on this one is in a kine to follow.” After leaving the army Capt. Smart had a large experience in racing matters, and his novels are largely founded on circum- “Orange have a very curious method of fight-" BIRDS WITH BIG NESTS, Austratian Fowls Which Balla ‘Ones and Use Them in Common. Ox oF tHe MOST INTERESTING among the scientists who have been ‘ing Washington is Prof. Henry A. Ward, great natural science collector of N.¥. He has spent his life in traveling all) ‘over the world for the purpose of gathering ‘material for museama The adventures be bas] met with while in pursuit of curiosities in one! far corner of the earth or another would Au many delightful books. In conversation the other day he referred to an expedition he once. made in search of an extraordinary Australian bird which has @ communal nest, a ole flock uniting their efforts in its construction and sharing its conveniences for the parpose of laying their eggs. PAYING WITH BISCUITS. “It was in the neighborhood of Fort Darwig, on Torres straits,” said the professor to a rep resentative of Tue Stan. “I had some native black fellows with me and a lot of biscuits to pay them with. Biscuits go with them for ‘4s well as money, beceuse they care for nothing in life but eating. If you give them, cot! y carry them in their ears, and are more apt than not to wear no clothes at save a band around the left arm to bold bacco pipe that is stuck in it when not in use, One must take care not to let them have any “bixit,” as they call them, until their work a done. having gobbled them, they are likely to lie down at any moment and go to tleep, though it and the occasion be in the middle of the rosd@ ‘one of serious exigency. BRUSH TURKEYS. “These particular’black fellows bed to guide me to # nest of the “brush turkeys.’ I bad never seen oue and was very anxious to de so. On our journey my companions seemed, incessantly to be looking for something to eak When opportunity served th trees for oysters. “The rine and fall of the tides in Torres straits is enormous, and the oysters, which are under water when it is high, being ached to the trunks of trees, are left ten to twelve feet out of water when it is at its lowest. I saw two gigantic kangaroos on that trip and measured the leaps of one of them. Thirty- two feet the tape line showed for each jump, taking it from toe mark to toe mark, as the anis mal left them in the sand. Jt is marvelous to see one of those great marsupials streaking scroes the country in smamense bounds, literally rowing i rough the air with ite mighty bind Timbo hardly seeming to touch the earth in ite fight. The beast really looks as if it was flying, and Iam not surprised that iy Cook's naturalist should have mistaken first kangaroo he saw for « bird. A FLYING DRAGON. “On our way to find the nest J came across @ beautiful specimen of a rare kind of lizard, commonly called the “fiving dragon,’ because it sometimes appears to fy, supporting itself in the air to some extent ax does & flying squir- This one, which had an expecially large and fine ruffle around its neck, crawled into ® hollow log to I upended the when it fell out, and I tol: fellows to pick it up. He did ately carrying it to his mouth bit off ite head. I was very angry to lose «uch « treasure in that but when I scolded the man the-puly that grew in a little dell. Its leaves were ne a what withered, which fact was accounted for when another of my aboriginal companions plucked the plant up by the roots and showed me from them a bright green caters pillar quite a foot im length. latter he coolly held up by one end, dropped it down hie throat, closed his eves in an ecstasy of gustatory appreciation and rubbed his stomach also. A MAMMOTH NEST. “We teached the nest at last and it was well worth seeing. Itwas «circular mound eight feet in diameter. The birds begin the eon. struction of such a one by Betting together big heap of leaves. On top of snd around thig heap they gather earth by scratching it back= ward toward the pile, and itwas in this way wholly that the great mound I describe way built up. All the surface svil had been scraped away for a long distance around for adding +0 the accumulation. When the brash taskeye have thus made their eerth hea season's layit ‘on the top of the mound. Rains come, water retained in this hollow filters rough to the deposit of leaves, which are thus to decompose. ‘The heat of decompor:tion hatches the and the young ‘owls barrow their way out of the moung. not upward. but through the sides. It is a wise brush turkey that knot neste when I tell you thate friend of mine Australia made his whole garden patch one of the mounds.’ cw i From the New York Tribune. They were walking on a hillside overlooking Lake Champlain. “George, dear,” she said, “bow charming it ie to get away from the heated city and its artie ficial life and spend afew weeks among these simple rustics. What are those little hinge growing on those trees? They look like gooxcberries.”” “Those are apples, Mabel.” “George, how absurd you are! Those little thin i country girl and see. jonsense, Mabel, don't displey your igno- one are Apples? I'm going to ask this woe rance. Don't you think Iknow: Thi apples in their first stage, far from ripe yet, small and green. berries don't grow ou trees, anyway; they grow on bushes.” “Dear George, how clever you are to know all those things.” Where did you learn it all? How heavily the trees are loaded’ All but one, Look at that one. Look at that one, George, It has no apples at all on it, What is the rea +on of that, dear?” pic “But, George, how could the apples en one tree ripen so far ahead off the other?” “Perhaps be likes them green.” “Thon why not pick some off the other trees?* 4 little tease it is,” wid he. the wind shook them off. perhay dear. “ Agriculture is a About as safe as poker, I should say “Now, George, dear, just let me see if thig Le gin es tell why thie trog “Lit can you me why has nota On it, while the otherg fairl; iootoar? Pt? are _ an apple tree, ma'am.” Cauth itth And it waan 1. Empty Steadod, never pointe gun toward yourself or person. 2. When carry your gunat the balfy cock. If in cover, let your band shield the 3. When riding from one ground te another, or whenever you have y Drecch-londer, 1¢ azzle-loader,