" "Twas the Night Before Christmas' the Oceanic Islands, 1,898,700 sq. kil., and (Clement C. Moore) in Pennsylvania | 7,420,000 inhabitants; and the Polar ReGerman, gions, 4,482,620 sq. kil., and 80,400 inhabitants. 'S waar die Nacht for de Chrischdaag und dorch es gans Haus Verreegt sich ke' Thierli, net emol en Maus; Die Schtrump waare schnock im Schornschte gehunke. Von Zuckerschleck draame un was mer, doch, wott; Der Moond uf der Bruscht dem neug' fallne Schnee Wie laab for'me Windschtorm-der wildscht das mer seht, Un im Schornschte, do kummt'r wahrhaftig schun raus! Un der schmook schteight in Ringlin so scho in die Hoh. The Earth's Population. The eighth number of the publication, Die Bevölkerung der Erde, founded by Behm and Wagner in 1872, was arrested by the death of Dr. Behm in 1884, and was not completed until the present year. It gives the total population of the earth at about 1,480,000,000, divided as follows: Europe, with 9,729,861 square kilometres, has 357,379,000 inhabitants; Asia has 44,142,658 sq. kil., and 825,954,000 inhabitants; Africa, 29,207,000 sq. kil., and 163,953,000 inhabitants; America (North and South) 38,334,000 sq. kil., and 121,713,000 inhabitants; Australia and Tasmania, 7,695,726 sq. kil., and 3,230,000 inhabitants; The most densely populated country is Belgium, with 533 to the square mile. Then follow in Europe, the Netherlands with 355, Great Britain and Ireland with 319, Italy with 270, the German Empire with 233, Switzerland with 184, France with 182, Austria-Hungary with 169, Denmark with 146, Portugal with 123, Servia with 116, Roumania with ninety-seven, Spain with eightyeight, Greece with eighty-seven, European Turkey with eighty-two, European Russia (without Finland) with forty-eight, Sweden with twenty-seven, and Norway with fourteen. In Asia, French and Portuguese India have 489 to the square mile, Japan has 270, China proper 231, British India 195. In America, the greatest density of population is in the French possessions, which have sixty-four inhabitants to the square mile, the West Indies come next with fiftysix, and the United States with eighteen, though the Statesman's Year Book, for 1891, makes the density 21.5; Mexico and Central America have each fifteen, the South American States range from 10 down to 2.5, and British North America comes in last with only 1.6 to the square mile. Australia has one inhabitant to the square mile, and New Zealand counts five. (Scientific American.) Cave-Dwellers.-1. In Spain. At the Royal Geographical Society's meeting in Madrid, a curious paper has been read by Dr. Bide, a medical man, who has recently explored a wild district in the province of Caceres, still inhabited by a strange people, who speak a curious patois and live in caves and inaccessible retreats. These singular remnants of some prehistoric race have a hairy skin, and have hitherto displayed an inveterate repugnance to mix with their Spanish and Portuguese neighbors. Lately roads have been pushed into the district inhabited by these "Jurdes", and according to Dr. Bide they are beginning to learn the Castilian language, and to appear at fairs and markets in the province in order to purchase a few modern commodities and agricultural implements. (Pall Mall Gazette.) In 2. In Central Asia. The Russians have How Names Grow (Vol. viii, p. 240). made a singular discovery in Central Asia. Standing Rock. Years ago, according In Turkestan, on the right bank of the Amau to the Indian tradition, a buck and his Daira, in a chain of rocky hills near the Bok- squaw were on a journey down the Missouri haran town of Karki, are a number of large river to visit some relatives at a distant caves, which, upon examination, were found point. Where Fort Yates now is the buck to lead on to an underground city, built, appa- saw a young squaw of surprising beauty, rently, long before the Christian era. Accord- with whom he fell desperately in love. ing to the effigies, inscriptions, and designs spite of the tears and entreaties of his lawupon the gold and silver money unearthed from ful wife he refused to proceed on the journey among the ruins, the existence of the town or in any other direction, but resolved to dates back to some two centuries before the stay right there with his new-found passion. birth of Christ. The edifices contain all The deserted squaw exhausted her entreaties kinds of domestic utensils, pots, urns, vases, and her tears and finally arose to leave the and so forth. The high degrees of civiliza- place alone. As she did so she fell back in tion attained by the inhabitants of the city is the spot where she had been sitting and shown by the fact that they built in sev- turned to stone. There she has remained eral stories, by the symmetry of the streets ever since, a standing reproach to her faithand squares, and by the beauty of the baked less lord and master and to all his kind. By clay and metal utensils, and of the orna- a faint stretch of the imagination the standments and coins which have been found. It ing rock from which the agency gets its is supposed that long centuries ago this city, name can be made to take on the outlines of so carefully concealed in the bowls of the earth, provided an entire population with a refuge from the incursions of nomadic savages and robbers. (Scientific American.) Chile or Chilli (Vol. viii, p. 55; Vol. vii, p. 299). According to Ximenez, (Cuatro Libros de la Naturaleza, 4 to., reprint, p. 117), among the Mexican names of this plant were Quauhchilli, Tlilchilli, Tzonchilli, Milchilli, etc.; also Chilli, (p. 146). IS. DELLA B. Round-the-World Distances.-There are 1,100 steamships traversing the four great Ocean routes. The first is that across the Alantic, another is by Suez to India, China and Australia. To go around the world that way takes eighty or ninety days and covers 23,000 miles. The passage money is $1,000, and the traveler who wishes to go in comfort and ease should take another $1,000 with him. Another sea route described is that by which you start from San Francisco and sail around the American continent to New York. The journey is 16,500 miles long, it takes 100 days to cover it, and the fare is about the same as that around the world. To go around the Cape of Good Hope to Australia and back around Cape Horn is about 25,000 miles, and can be covered in eighty-one days. The cost is only $750. (Seaboard.) a woman. (Helena Independent.) Quitman, Ga.-Several years ago, in a sparsely settled portion of the great State of Georgia, there was a little settlement of thrifty farmers. One bright spring afternoon, near the edge of the primeval forest hard by, upon an immense pine log, was seated a buxom country lassie with rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. She was busily engaged arranging a bouquet of wild flowers. Now, it so happened that a young artist from Boston was down in the neck of the When he saw the woods making sketches. pretty country maiden seated upon the log he felt that if he could get that picture upon canvas his name as an artist would become famous. A twig snapped beneath his foot. She turned, saw him and sprang to her feet as if to run. He advanced rapidly towards her, hat in hand, and introduced himself. They sat down together side by side on the log. Soon his arm stole around her waist. Quit man!' she said, but as she did not draw away he pressed her closer to his manly bosom and began showering kisses upon her ruby lips, she meanwhile repeating the cry Quit, man!' between the smacks. One of the boys from the settlement journeyed that way on his return from hunting and saw and heard. He quietly retired. That was on a Saturday. Next day at Sunday-school the boy told the story. From that day every one spoke of the settlement as 'Quit Man' settlement, and to-day it is a thriving town, still bearing the name of Quitman. So says the Savannah News, but I guess some of your correspondents will have a different tale to tell. A. D. E. Anagrams (Vol vii, p. 261, etc.).— The merry wives of Windsor, How women Washington crossing the Delaware, A hard- comes the clown of the party for the re- Can Animals Talk? (Vol. viii, p. 272).- The last days of Pompeii, Past homes of into the midst of a thousand feeding blackItaly pied. An Old French Canadian Custom.-A feature of last week's social life in Biddeford was the "burying" of Ash Wednesday by the French people, a custom peculiar to Canada, and this is how it is done: The host and hostess of the party busy themselves in frying "flapjacks", and after a big stock has been piled up the party is seated at the tables and there is a gastronomic contest to see who can eat the largest number of these "flapjacks." The winner gets a suitable prize, while the one who eats the fewest be birds, and I never succeeded. I have reversed the conditions more than once, and, being concealed, have had them pass within arm's reach, and then I took notes of them. as fast as possible. That they talked faster than they ate was evident, and my disguise never was effective for long. They always suspected that something was wrong, communicated their suspicions, and now the mystery-one and all rise from the ground as one body. Not always, but so frequently that a telegraphic signal is evidently theirs that informs a thousand maybe at the same moment. Without this power, this possession of rudimentary language, a flock of birds would be at the mercy of every enemy, and they are legion.-Dr. C. C. Abbott in Montreal Star. TO CORRESPONDENTS. J. S.-For Bone-Fire, see Vol. iv, pp. 286, etc. M. M. H.-For Dummy Clocks marking 8.18, see Vol. vii, p. 296. D. W. N.-See ante p. 247. COMPETITOR.-Replying to your two inquiries : (1) Yes, proper names will be accepted; you may count any word (or properly inflected part of any ard dictionaries. Thus, (if they were palinword) given in any of our three American standdromes), word, words, wording and worded would be acceptable. (2) Pray do not send us words of one letter: Spelling a word backward or forward implies a motion backward or forward from one letter to another; this being out of the question in the case of one-letter words, they will be excluded from our contest. A MEDIUM OF INTERCOMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, GENERAL READERS, ETC. Copyrighted, 1891, ly the Westminster Fullishing Co. Entered at the Post-Office, Philadelphia, as Second-class Matter. American Notes and Queries PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY $3.00 per year. $1.75, 6 months. $1.00, 3 months. 10 cents per number. NOTES. OCEANOGRAPHY. The beds of oceans. -Ocean depths. River detritus in ocean bottoms. Animal THE WESTMINSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY,life in oceanic waters.-Depth off the Azores. 619 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Communications for the literary department should be addressed: Editor AMERICAN NOTES AND QUERIES. All checks and money orders to be made payable to the order of The Westminster Publishing Company. CONTENTS. NOTES:-Oceanography, 289. Americans Commemorated by Generic Plant Names-Legal Customs in Norway, 291. QUERIES:-" Pontoppidan "—Bothie of Toper-na-FuosichCourt of St. James-Lattermint-Who Was the Idiot? - Authorship The Oldest Survivor of the 1812 War-Lace-pin-Sooa- Rivers-Muck-a-muck- Nieuwerkerke-Moccasin-Vei Slave Authors-Smart Aleck-Cattle Calls-The Richest lutionary Soldiers, 295. COMMUNICATIONS:-Verbal Snares-Plural of Caiman, 295-Authorship of Several Hymns and Songs-Senti mental Botanists, 296. XIXth Century Jottings-Isle of Dogs-Napoleon's Personal Appearance-Evolution of the Lucifer Match, 297. The First Steamships-Primitive Railroad Traveling, 298. Smoking in Church Food Proverbs-Epithets of Noted People-How to Deliver a Sermon-That Number 13, and Various Other Superstitions, 299. Pets of Noted People-Heir Presumptive-Parallel Passages-Anagrams in Science, 300. The Trinidad depression.-No deep sea organic life in the Baltic.-The currents in Denmark strait. · The science of oceanography is still young and, strangely enough, it was not naturalists but engineers who first began to explore the ocean depths. It was when the first submarine cable between Europe and America was laid that the scientific world turned its attention to the study of the ocean abysms. The English vessel, Porcupine, in 1869, fairly ushered in the era of deep sea research. Then followed the memorable expedition of the Challenger in 1872, and later came a crowd of investigations in every sea. It may be said that in their broader features the contour of the ocean bed and the phases of deep-sea life are now revealed. Here are some of the most interesting facts that have been learned. It was supposed a few years ago that the ocean bottom was largely a counterpart of the land features of the globe, with its mighty mountain ranges pushing up toward the surface of the sea, and deep valleys and glens sinking to almost unfathomable depths. This is found to be true only to a limited extent. Here and there, to be sure, mighty mountains push towards the surface or rise above it, forming islands; and then again the bottom sinks in a narrow trough, as off the Northeast coast of Japan, until it seems as though the sounding line could never meas and the Arctic Ocean grows shallower the nearer the pole is approached. AMBER 1888 STURK 888-9 120 the tra wl, only twelve Arctic Circle feet wide and drag S SHERARD OSBORN INVESTIGATOR 1887-90 GREAT NORTHERN 1882-88 SWATARA 18891 60 RAMBLER RECORDER 1088 USTRALIA EGERIA DART 1889 very short distance, as many as 150 specimens of the higher forms of deep sea life have been obtained. It has long been known that the group of animals characteristic of the upper part of oceanic waters is entirely distinct from the forms of life near, and at the bottom of thesea. The Challenger investigators thought they had established the fact that another distinct group of animals exists in the intermediate depths between these upper and lower forms of life. This theory seems to have been upset by the work of the Albatross. The naturalists of this vessel have found that the forms of sea life in the upper portion of the ocean waters may descend to Very interesting facts have been discovered with regard to the great distances from land at which the sediment brought down by mighty rivers is spread over the sea bottom. Those giants among rivers, the Niger and the Congo, produce most marked effects upon the nature of the deposits at the bottom of the ocean. Buchanan has found that the sea bed for hundreds of miles from land, from the Gulf of Guinea to Loando, has been filled up to an enormous extent by the dark colored, soft muds brought down by the riv-a ers; and off the mouth of the Congo the shore mud has been traced to a depth of 18,ooo feet at a distance of 600 miles from land. In the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea the sediment from the Indus and the Ganges s spread out over the greater extent of the depth of 1,200 feet or so from the surface, but there then succeeds a barren zone which continues to within 360 to 300 feet from the bottom where the deep sea animals begin to appear. As a rule, these deep sea animals have no eyes, showing that they have no need of |