and strangely enough she rises, and with trembling limbs follows the lead of her ghostly visitor. Down the staircase, through the wide, dimly-lighted hall, down another flight into a corner of the most remote cellar, leads the ghost and follows the pale-faced woman. A strange unearthly light illumes the place. A shovel stands near.

" Dig!" is the next command. Surely an ungallant ghost! but taking the shovel in her shaking hands, she begins her unaccustomed work. Little progress is made after what seems an hour of hard labour. Panting for breath she pauses to rest.

Again the word "dig !" in a sepulchral tone. ,

Again she resumes the work. Her arms and back are lame, and she can scarcely raise the shovel, but at last—a click of metal, a box. The lid flies off, and gold ! gold! gold ! meets Her astonished gaze. Can it be ? Can it indeed be possible that she has been chosen to bring to light the long-hidden treasure ? that it is all her own?

She lifts her eyes to her supernatural visitor, but he has vanished. Alas ! alas ! Gold has vanished too. She is sitting in her arm-chair, great drops of perspiration on her forehead, and numb with cold. The fire is burning low, and Katie still sings and irons in the kitchen. The rain still beats against the window-panes, and still the query remains unanswered:

"Where is the money coming from?" Was it all a dream ? Was the teller of this tale only a dreamer, waking but now ? If it be so, oh, listener, try to bear in mind the stern realities from which these shadows come, and in your sphere—none is too wide, and none too limited for such an end—en deavour to correct, improve, arid soften them. So may the new- year be a happy one to you,, happy to many more whose happiness depends on you.

How Girls Grow Plump.

The gentle Olive Harper tells how girls and women grow plump and full. The.' go in most decidedly for hygiene, she says, and they take their baths and exercise like prize fighters ; and science, too, comes in a little in the shape of two or three parties who get ■well paid for directing them how to add or diminish then avoirdupois. Exercise and a strict adherence to Banting's precepts are ordered for reducing, and baths of—what do you think ? Baths of cod-liver oil. and Banting again are given for the purpose of adding to one's weight. We asked one young lady how it had affected her. and sh_ said the smell of the oil was well-nigh insupportable at first, but now she only takes it at night, and then gets into bed and holds a strongly perfumed handkerchief to her nose til! she goes to sleep. In the morning she takes a per fumed and very soapy warm bath, and that ends it until night again, and she avers that she has gained fifteen pounds in four weeks.

When we asked her if it was not rather expensive, she laughed and said : " Well, a little, but not so much as cosmetics, and I really feel stronger and better than I have for years. lam willing to pay all I do, you know. I don't, of course, use over two quarts at a bath. It is absorbed, I suppose. To tell the truth, my newly-gained weight has cost me, with the advice, about £2 a pound. That isn't so very dear, now, is it?" And we thought it wasn't.

A Queer Police Order.

Ah exceedingly grotesque piece of police administration is embodied in an order just issued to the proprietors of hotels, restau rants, and tea-houses in St. Petersburg. It requires them to remove the portrait of the Emperor and other members of the Imperial Family from their public rooms, on the ground that their customers do not always pay proper respect to the august features therein represented by taking off their hats on entering and leaving the premises. An official who could devise and promulgate such an edict as that must be capable of anything that would tend to bring authority, not, indeed, into hatred, but into derision. Everybody will laugh at the removal of the Imperial portraits ftom the wails of the public rooms in which they have hung, and thousands will ask, with a sneer, to what depth of decrepitude the majesty of the Czar of all the Russians must have sunk if it needs to be protected from the injury caused by the forgetfulness or bad manners of hasty diners. The Emperor, let us hope, will see the necessity of revoking the pre posterous order issued by the Chief cf the St. Petersburg Police, and will soon relegate that person to a position in which his follies Will be less prominent.

Telephony in Messrs Denny Brothers' Yard.

A very complete system of telephony and signalling is carried out in the. shipbuild ing yard of Messrs Wm. Denny and Bros., who built the Arawa and all the Union Steamship Company's vessels. As they practically "execute the whole of the work connected with the building of ships in their own yard, even to the most artistic parts of the decoration of the saloons, it will readily be understood that a good tele phonic system is of great importance. The means adopted for .inter-communication are quite unique. The telephonic exchange at Dumbarton resembles the ceitral tele phone exchanges in London and else where. Every department can hold instant communication with any other department. But this is the important advantage: By means of carefully-planned signals, it is possible to call to a given spot the head of any department, no matter where he may be at the time. A mast ninety feet high is erected in the centre of the yard, and when any member of the firm desires tho attendance of another partner of the manager, or any other official, he goes into the nearest telephone station (about thirty of which are distributed over the yard), and puts himself in communication with the switch-room at the Exchange. Having been connected with the attendant stationed in a telephone cabin at the mast, a signal, representing the official who is wanted, is hoisted. As soon as this signal is run up, the official called for either sees it himself or is informed by somebody else that his number is .on the mast. All he has to do is to go to the nearest telephono station and connect him self with the person who has called him. Before long further telephonic communica tion will be established with tbe National Telephone Company, Glasgow, so that a conversation may be carried on with any of the thousand subscribers to that exchange ; and by the trunk system of the Company it will also be possible to communicate with the exchanges at Edinburgh, Paisley, and Greenock. To such a pitch of perfection has the telephonic system been brought in Scotland already. Indeed, the longest talking line in Great Britain is that between" Edinburgh and Glasgow, a distance of fifty miles, but conversations have repeatedly been held between Greenock and Edinburgh, via Glasgow, which is a distance of seventy eight miles.

ONE HUNDRED DEGREES BELOW ZERO.

Interesting Visit to London Storage Vaults.

The " British Australasian" contains an account of a visit to the extensive freezing chambers under the Leadenhall Market, recently opened by Messrs G. F. Brooke and Co., Limited:—"ln furtherance of

>ur intention," says the writer, "to give ;hefullestinforn_-t.on we can obtain relating io the importation of food—mutton, game, outter, &c.—from New Zealand ana Aus tralia, we now propose to speak more particularly of the storage of these articles upon their arrival in this country. For this purpose let us conduct our readers, iv imagination, into the great refrigerators beneath. Leadenhall Market, owned by Messrs G. P. Brooke and Co., Ld. This company owns very extensive premises both above and below ground, and after admiring the various good pile 3of poultry, game, cheese, and—of still greater impor portance—mutton freshly arrived from the colony and not yet thawed, for it has come over to this countiy packed in tbe lefriger ators of the lonic. We will, under' the kindly guidance of tho managing director, descend by the hydraulic lift to the double basement. During our descent we catch a glimpse of all kinds of poultry and game stored upon the first basement; then, deeper still, we arrive at the basement proper, and with this we are chiefly con corned ; for here are the engines and the chief freezing chambers, these latter con sisting of square rooms, the walls of which are of brick, with an inner casing of wood, enclosing 10 inches of charcoal, and ren dered perfectly air-tight. Along each cham ber runs a horizontal shaft, with a sliding panel at about the centre, which discovers a square aperture some _ inches across. It is through this shaft that the air of the cham ber is sucked by the engine, and after being compressed and purified, it is expanded and circulates back into the chamber. This process is continued until the temperature is suffieietly low for the purpose intended. We enter one of these chambers, and the sudden chill nearly takes our breath away. The heap of snow and the glittering incrus tations upon the woodwork formed during the freeziug process makes us forget for the moment that we are within but a few feet of a warm and genial temperature. As the dim light of the candle, held by an attend ant, 'which seems to feel too cold to burn comfortably, falls upon the frozen carcases, our thoughts instinctively revert to the times of the Inquisition, and we half-pic ture the horrors which that body could have inflicted had they been enabled to confine then: victims in a temperature lOOdeg. be low zero. Of course it is not necessary to keep the chambers atthisextreme,l2deg. of frost being a sufficient preservative. Thearea devoted to the storage of the various edibles at present comprises 3,200 square feet, and it is intended so soon as the necessary ar rangements are completed to add about 12,000 more. A statement of the storage powers of the existing chambers will give some idea of their capacity. There are special chambers to contain 1,200 casks of butter. Ten thousand carcases of mutton can find ample room at the same time, and fowls and game in practically any quantity can be provided for. Cheese comes also from New Zealand to these re ceptacles in fortnightly consignments of 150 packages, each package containing four cheeses of £ to g cwt. each. On this floor are two Bell-Coleman engines on the dry air principle. The Company find these inadequate to the growing capacity of the stores, and propose adding more power. But these are sufficient to lower the tem perature 3Sdeg. in six hours. This enter prising Company stores chiefly for the National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand. But Messrs Brooke an _ Co. (Limited) lo not confine themselves to the storage of the produce of the Australias. Not long since some 25,000 fowls and 30,000 head of game suddenly arrived from Russia. They travelled, in aa unfrozen condition, and by the time they were unloaded in the Thames there were " signs of approaching change." Within six hours they were all stored, and the engines had reduced the temperature from 70deg. to 32deg., and they were saved. These details indicate the method whereby in future we shall be enabled to extend our calls upon the Aus tralasian colonies for our food supplies to an extent of which the majority among us have formed no conception.

THE MIGNONETTE CASE.

Charge to the Grand. Jury.

The trial of Captain Dudley and the man Stephens for killing and eating the boy Parker on the high sea 3 takes place at Exeter to-day (Thursday). In his charge to the Grand Jury, Baron Huddlestone, after recapitulating the main facts of the terrible story, said:—" I must now tell you what I consider to be the law as applicable to this case. It is a matter that has under gone considerable discussion, and it has been said that it comes within a class of cases where the killing of another is excus able on the ground of necessity. I can find no authority for that proposition in the recognised treatises on the criminal law, i and I know of no such law in the laws j of England " His Lordship proceeded to quote Baron Puffendorff in the | Law of Nature and Nations, the American j case 'The Commonwealth v. Holmes,' Blackstone, and other authorities, and in conclusion said it was impossible to say that the act of Dudley and Stephens was an act of self-defence. Parker at the bot tom of the boat was not endangering their lives by any act of his. The boat could hold them all, and the motive for killing him was not for the purpose of lightening the boat, but for the purpose of eating him, which they could do when dead but not while living. What really imperilled their lives was not the presence of Parker, but the absence of food and drink. It could not be doubted for a moment that if Parker had been possessed of a weapon of self-defence, say a revolver, he would have been perfectly justified in tak'ng tho life of the captain, who was on the point of killing him, which shows clearly that tho act of the captain was unjustifiable. It may be said that the selection of the boy —as indeed Dudley seems to havo said — was better, because his stake in society, having no children at all, was less than theirs. But is such reasoning to bo allowed for a moment ? Cicero's test ?s that under such circumstances of emergency the man who is to be sacrificed is to be the man who would be the least likely to do benefit to the republic, in which case Parker, as a young man, might be likely to live longer and be of more service to the republic than the others. Such reasoning: must be always more ingenious than correct. Nor oan it be urged for a moment that the state of Parker's health, which is alleged to have been failing in consequence of his drinking sea water, would justify it. No person is permitted according to the law of this country to accelerate the death of another. Besides, if once this doctrine of necessity is to be admitted, why was Parker selected rather than any of the other three ? One

would have held that bis state*'of health, and the misery in which he was at the time, would have obtained for him more consideration at their hands. However, it is idle to lose oneself in speculation of this description. lam bound to tell you that if you are satisfied that the boy's death was caused or accelerated by the actof Dudley, or Dudley and Stephens, this is a case of de liberaty homicide neither justifiable nor ex cusable. The crime is murder, and you therefore ought to find a true bill for that offence against both of the prisoners. You will, perhaps, be good enough to say whether, with reference .to the mate Stephens, there is evidence which will satisfy you that he was abetting, or aiding, or sanctioning the conduct of Dudley. In his statutory examination on oath he says that the master (Dudley) selected Parker as being the weakest, that he agreed to this, and that the master accordingly killed the lad. Unless you disbelieve him, you will find a true bill against him as well as Dudley. I may say that Captain Dudley seems to have mado no secret of what had taken place, but to have voluntarily furnished all the evidence against himse'f, although it is quite true that the course taken by the magistrates, very properly, in making Brooks a witness, supplies also evidence for the prosecution. This case having takon place on the high seas, and being a case of British subjects, is one which by statute is triable here. Every person who has read the details of this painful case must be filled with the deepest compassion for the unhappy men who were placed in this frightful position. I have only in this pre liminary stage to tell you what the law is. But if you should feel yourself bound to find the bill, I shall then take care that the matter shall be placed in a form for further consideration if it becomes necessary. I think lam bound t_ do this after the reports of the cases I have men tioned in Puffendorf and in the American reports and the report of the Criminal Law Commissioners. The matter may then be carefully argued, and if there is any such doctrine as that suggested, the prisoners will have the benefit of it. If there is not, it will enable them, under the peculiar cir cumstances of this melancholy caso, to ap peal to the mercy of the Crown, in which, by the constitution of the country, as a great lawyer points out, is vested the power of pardoning particular objects of compassion and satisfying the law in cases . of peculiar hardship." The Grand Jury subsequently returned a true bill.

THE REAL PARIS.

French Criticism of the Gay Capital - Some Facts and Figures.

Nor long ago many visitors to Paris returned home full of enthusiasm for that beautiful city, and anxious to know why London, and New York, and Philadelphia, and other great towns could not be made like the French capital. Now the French them selves are criticising the municipal adminis tration of Paris, and from the account given of it in a recent number of the leading re view, our people can get some useful hints. Withapopulationapproaching2,soo,ooolcss, than a third are natives of the city, for it is a central point for skilled workmen and men ofallpursuitsfromfarandnear. Ithas 80,000 houses, with over 1,000,000 separate apart ments, of which two-thirds are used as dwellings and one-third for business : and of the former three-fourths rent for . less than lOOdols. a year, housing 1,000,000 of its working population. While London has more than 300 building associations, with over 100,000 members, Paris owes its new houses mainly to large speculative corpora tions, which look more to their profit, eked out by long terms of exemption from taxa tion, than to the health or comfort of the workingmen. Even the import-nt matter of public conveniences is left to great com panies, and with their 9,000 cabs, and I,ooo* omnibusesandhorse-cars, and 13,000 private carriages, there is still complaint of a want of cheap and convenient means of transpor tation to the growing suburbs. The great omnibus company, in return for an exclu sive privilege lasting until 1912, and at prices fixed by law, pays to the city 500,000d015. annually. The gas and water companies are also private corporations, with long terms of exclusive right to supply the city, and they pay over 5.000d015. annually into the city treasury. Water is scarce and gas dear as compared with supply and prices in other European capitals ; but in spite of suits brought by the city, the companies hold to the letter of their contracts, and refuse to meet the growing demand for a concession in the interest of the consumer.

Paris has a police force counting over 11,000 men in its service, and the annual arrests made average 40,000, of which number 20.000 are old offenders and3,ooo are strangers. The firemen number 1,700 men, costing _00,O00dols. a year. Over 400,000 persons receive assistance, at a cost of nearly 7,000,000d015., and 125,000 poor are registered as entitled to alms, while 22,000 beds in the hospitals supply care for the rick and wounded. There are charity 'homes" for old men and women, with room for 9,000 inmates, while for children over 1,000,000d015. was spent in fighting the dreadful mortality that cuts off tbe future population in in fancy. Over 5,000,000d015. was spent in 1882 on education for 170,000 children in the public schools, while 70,000 wero in private schools, supported by subscriptions, and taught mostly by clergymen and members of the different religious orders. The in come and expenditure of the city of Paris in 1883 were over 50,000,000d015., and of its receipts nearly 30,000,000d015. were pro duced by a tax called the "octroi"—the " king's eighth " — levied at the gates of Paris on all provisions that enter the city, thus adding to the cost of living. The largest item of exdenditure was the interest on the municipal debt, and as that grows faster than the taxable value of property, now put at . 400,000,000d015., and the direct sources of income, the " octroi," and the percentages of profits paid by the gas, water, and transportation monopolies, the future, with its growing needs for sewerage and drainage, and the other recognised demands of better methods of making and keeping Paris healthy, is a matter of earnest discussion. Much attention is paid to the numerous reforms proposed in this country and elsewhere for a change in existing municipal governments. In Paris there is a council elected by universal suffrage, but its action is largely subject to revision and veto by the perfect, who is appointed by the General Government, and hence a constant conflict, one party trying to make the local authority sovereign and independent, the ether seeking to reduce it to a represen tation cf taxpayers. The decision is still to be made ; but it is of immense impor tance to the future of Paris, and. it is of interest for all cities struggling to balance receipts and expenditures, and at the same time to meet the requirements of great and growing populations crowded in the principal cities of both the Old World and i the New.—"Philadelphia Ledger."

Oiling the Waves.

Tbe Result of Investigations by the British Life-Saving Service.

Some time ago the experiments in "oiling the waves" originated by Mr Shields, at Peterhead, and afterward carried out more elaborately at one or two of the channel ports, excited a great deal of interest in seafaring circles, and, recognising tho necessity of obtaining some authoritative report on the real value of the distribution of oil on the surface of stormy waves the Royal National Lifeboat Institution re quested Captain Henry W. Chetwynd, R.N., Chief Inspector of Lifeboats, ■to make a thorough investigation of the subject. This he has now concluded, and the result has been communicated to the Lifeboat Com mittee in the shape of an exhaustive report. Various conditions of the sea and all manner of oils wire tested, and in reference to the latter Captain Chetwynd says they are all very much alike in their effect. Only very small quantities of oil indeed were neces sary for covering a considerable distance with a smooth, glassy surface. The effect of this oily film on rollers that would endanger the safety of small open boats was_ most material. It entirely stopped their breaking, leaving only the undula tions or roll of a harmless swell, and thereby robbed them of their danger ; but in surf of sufficient magnitude to be of importance to a lifeboat, or such as are ordinarily en countered by them, this effect is very much modified, and frequently entirely absent. On more than one occasion, in a moderate surf which the oilwas entirely "killing," if a larger-breaker than the surrounding ones rose, the oil was powerless to check it, and tho sea broke through it, covering boat, gear, etc., with oil.

Its want of power to overcome the dangerous part of a heavy surf in shoal water (viz., the break) was clearly shown on more than one occasion, even when tho oily film could be distinctly seen on the surface between the breakers. It seemed to fail in a very marked and curious way to have any effect on breakers caused by a heavy ground swell, and not by wind, on the coast of Cornwall. To bo any protection, says Captain Chetwynd, it must be applied to the sea from the boat or vessel in the direct line from which the seas are advancing, and at sufficient distance to give it time to spread and act upon the waves before they reach the vessel to be protected. This could only be done in a lifeboat in two positions, viz., first when anchored and lying head to sea and tide ; and, secondly, when running dead before -he sea for the .shore. In any other posi tion, even supposing the oil to be calming the sea, it would most probably be impos sible to keep the boat within its influence and proceed toward a wreck, or other desired point, at the same time. This difficulty would be considerably enhanced by the fact of the tide or current, on the greater part of the coast, setting with more or less velocity along shore. Under these circumstances, Captain Chetwynd is of the opinion that no practical advantage can arise from the use of oil in the boats of the institution, and he cannot, therefore, recom mend its being supplied to them. With respect to its use as a protection to ordinary open boats in (to them) dangerous surf or breakers, tbe experiment appears to demonstrate clearly that, although it can not be considered a " specific " certain to ensure immunity from danger in all cases, yet in many cases it would prove a very material protection, and go far to ensure the boat passing safely through what would otherwise prove very dangerous, and possibly fatal seas, and on that account alone its adoption cannot be too strongly urged for boats having, or likely to have, to en counter these dangers. As to the effect of oil in the open sea, Captain Chetwynd could not make personal experiments, but from well-authenticated cases he believes that it is considerably more beneficial than off shore, and he strongly recommended vessels to carry oil, with perforated canvas bags for its distribution. The application of oil at harbour entrances is alio advan tageous to a certain extent, but there re main many practical difficulties in the way. j—" London Telegraph."

HITMAN PASSIONS.

What a Homoeopathic Physician Proposes , to do in Science. A physician of the homoeopathic school at Lyons professes seriously to have discovered a remedy for human passions—those moral diseases, such as envy, hatred, malice, anger, jealousy, obstinacy, avarice, etc., which render so many homes unhappy. In a pamphlet to show "how homoeopathy may improve the character of man and de velop his intelligence," he gives some won derful instances of the cures alleged to have been effected by his special treatment, which he declares to be infallible.

In one case a suspicious, jealous, and violent husband who had ill-treated his wife for a period of sixteen years, was cured, unconsciously to himself, by a few globules of nux vomica dropped quietly into his broth, and his wife was soon delighted to hear him hun.n_.ug some operatic airs and addressing her as "cherie," "ma poupoule," etc. After a few days' experience .of this regime the terrible Barthold was transformed into the tenderest of husbands. By a skilful alternation of other medicaments a ras cally husband was corrected of his inherent faults and wilful outbursts of anger. A miserly miser, on being sub jected to a few doses of calcarea carbonica, gave his consent to his daughter's marriage, which he had previously resisted. By the same medicine, varied in his preparation, a young student who was backward in mathe matics was enabled to master the science without further study. The calcarea car bonica, it will be noted, cured a miser and a dolt—both suffering from the tyranny of sums and figures. Tho Lyons physician has an antidote for everything—nux vomica for jealousy, sulphur fordrunkenness, salicea for obstinacy, arseni cum album for malice, and belladonna for imbecility. Those patients who do not happen to be labouring under these in firmities, and for whom the remedies just mentioned might be prescribed for other ailments, will probably protest against their use. But unhappy partners, who believe in the efficacy of this last applica tion of the science of homoeopathy, may be tempted to resort to it as a means of avoid ing a divorce, and certain husbands invoke its aid against their mothers-in-law.— "Galignanrs Messenger."

A Postal Convenience.

There is really no end to the ingenuity dis played in supplying the public wants. The latest example of this is the bright red apparatus, something between a pillar letter-box and a Etreet hydrant in shape, which is now to be seen at each of our big terminal stations. There are voluminous directions affixed, the gist of which is that if you put a penny in a certain slit and pull a certain handle you will find a postcard in a drawer. By putting two pennies in two slits and pulling other handles you may be come possessed of a sheet of paper and a stamped envelope, The temptation to drop in a coin and see what will happen is, in deed, well-nigh irresistible, and 1 find my self drawn towards the apparatus when I see it by a kind of fascination.

A Fight With a Crocodile.

" What _- queer craft! Pm glad T hSveb't got to go up to Khartoum in a thing-.like that." . •':'" ■■*..

So spoke a bearded, brown-faced English officer standing upon the bank of theTJpper Nile, close to the Arab village of Shendy, midway between Berber and Khartoum. Certainly it was a " queer craft,^And -he might well be glad that he had no. got to make a long voyage in ■ it. It -was a .big, clumsy, flat-bottomed barge, almost__as broad as it was long, and steered by a gaunt, ha'f-clad Arab with something that looked like .an overgrown wooden shovel. Hut the rigging was more curious still. A tall, bony native, standing bolt upright upon the deck, served as a mast, while the piece of coarse canvas which he held up at full length in his outstretched hands did duty for a sail. This living mast was kept in its place by two other men, one of whom clasped it around tho waist, while the other held on to his knees with all his might and main.

To use living rigging is not always a safe experiment, and in this caso it proved very unsafe indeed. A sudden {just of wind took the sail aback, and tbe Arab who was serving as mast for it, and who had planted his feet upon the two lower corners of the canvas, in order to keep it stretched to its full extent, found himself entangled in it almost before he knew what had happened. Losing his balance, he fell backward, and rolled over the edge into tho water, dragging along with him one of the two men who had been holding him up. Tho other man scrambled back into the boat almost as quickly as he had tumbled out of it; but tho mast-man was not so lucky. It took him two or three seconds to get rid of the canvas that was hampering him, and those two or three seconds made all tho difference. By the time he had got clear the ferry-boat had drifted a good way down the stream, the steersman having left his post and run forward when he saw his comrades fall overboard.

This of itself would have mattered little, for every Arab in the Nile Valley can swim like a duck. But while the struggling man was swimming with all his might to ward the boat, and the steersman was working the boat's head round to meet him, a new actor suddenly appeared upon the scene, whose coming made the affair look much more serious.

No one had taken any particular notice of a long black log which was lying on the edge of a sand-bank a little way out in the stream. But at the splash made by the two Arabs as they plunged overboard, the seeming log made a sudden movement, dis playing as it did so the vast, scaly bulk, grinning teeth, and small, cunning, cruel eyes of a monstrous crocodile ! -

The hideous creature waddled down into the river so clumsily, that anyone who had been watching it would have been startled by the arrow-like swiftness of its course the moment it touched the water. The poor Arab knew only too well what was in store for him, and made frantic efforts to reach the boat, which was now close at hand. But the monster was too quick for him. Gliding in between him and the approach ing barge, it spun round suddenly and darted right at him, opening its terrible jaws wide enough to show two ranges of spiky teeth that might have crushed a buffalo.

But just as all seemed over, one of the ferrymen took a flying leap from the side of the boat and came plump on the croco dile's back. There he stuck like a limpet, while the long, sharp jambeyah (dagger) in his right hand dealt stab after stab into the monster's undefended side, just behind the fore-shoulder.

Could the crocodile have spoken he would probably have cried out—" Foul play ! two against one !" As it was be showed his disgust plainly enough by his savage snort ings and the furious lashings of it* ponder ous tail, till, finding its enemy was not to bo shaken off, he plunged suddenly under the water. Man and beast went down in a whirling eddy, the ripples of which were dark with blood.

A cry of dismay burst from the crowd that had gathered upon the bank, as they saw tho brave Arab disappear. But all at once the water began to heave and bubble as if some fierce struggle were going on in the depths below, and then the Mussul man's lean, dark face rose again to the sur faco, upon which, a moment later, the crocodile's mighty bulk floated limp and dead, slain by a mortal stab in the throat.

"Aferin ya habioi.'" (Well done, my friend) cried the Englishman, as the conqueror struggled ashore. "Here are twenty piastres (nfty cents) for you, if you can accept the gift of an unbeliever." "No matter for thateffendi" (gentlemen) replied the Arab, with a grin, tying up the coins in the greasy waistcoat which was his only clothing. " You may be an unbeliever, but your money is true Mohammedan."

Ocean Race From New York.

Consideeajble interest has been felt during the past few days in the result of a race between the newly-acquired Cunard steamer Oregon and the National liner America, which had previously mado a very fa6t passage. These two vessels left New Yorth on the Bth, tho Cunaid clearing the wharf about 20 minutes ahead of the America, and as it was tho first time these two steamers had been pitted against each other, heavy sums were laid both in New York and Liverpool as to which would arrive first. At 10 minutes before 12 on Tuesday night the Oregon was sighted off Browhead. She had mado the passage in 0 days 9 hours and 27 minutes, and as the America was not in sight or beon heard of, the Oregon was evidently the winner. She reports having experienced light north-easterly winds and fine weather all through her passage. The following are her daily runß : —October 8, 37 miles ; 9th, 426 ; 10th, 402 : llth, 406; 12th, 410; 13th, 420; 14th, 430; 10th, 278. The America, though visible to those on board the Oregon until dusk on the day of starting, had not afterwards been sighted. Tlie America arrived at Queenstown yesterday morning at half-past 8, having made tho passage in 6 days IS hours and 7 minutes, nearly nine hours longer than the Oregon. Lloyd's signal station at Boche's Point telegraphed yesterday at 8.55 a.m. : —" Cunard steamer Oregon, from New York for Liverpool, landed mails and passengers and procseded at 3.30 n.m. National steamer America, from New York for Liverpool, landed passengers and pro aseded at 8.30 a.m-.

These two steamers are undoubtedly the fastest on the Atlantic. Taking into con sideration the great difference in size, con sumption of coal, and horse-power between them, it is very remarkable that the result should be so nearly equal in a passage of 3,000 miles. Their dimensions aro as follow:—Oregon: 5.375 tons gross, 3,529 net; 501 feet long, 54 feet beam, 3S feet depth; the engines being 2,000 horse-power nominal and about 13,000 horse-power indicated. America: 5,528 tons gross, 2,834 net, 441 ft long, 51ft beam, 36ft depth ; the engines being 1,064 horse power nominal and 9,000 horse-power indicated.—" Times," October, 1884.

THE AXJCXZTxmi)^EVENINCr STAB, DECEMBEB 24, 1884.

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