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What spectators declare is the most rudely picturesque bazaar in the world is the Gandjur fair held at Barga in Manchuria, the meeting place of east and west. A camel market is a conspicuous feature, but automobiles have been introduced and one taxicab driver is said to have made $2,000 in six days, operating his car day and night, hardly stopping for food or rest. Ready-made houses, manufactured by Europeans, and resembling in some respects the mail-order variety popular in this country, have also appeared. They are made of wood, the parts being standardized for quick assembling. The native Mongol dwelling is known as a "yurt." It is constructed of skins with a hole in the domed roof for the smoke to pass out from the fire, which is built in the center of the earthen floor. Foreign-made furniture has also been displayed in recent times. Much of the merchandise is hauled to the fair in native carts. The wheels are interesting details of these vehicles, the felloes being fashioned of a wooden stick from a single pole and bent into circular shape. Although the few automobiles that have appeared have proved popular in general, the exhibitors do not like them, for the machines frighten the horses and oxen.

 

Scarlet fish, hermit crabs and jazz fish journeyed in luxury recently from the Madeira islands to the London zoo, for they swam in big tanks filled with continuously flowing steam-heated sea water, to duplicate as exactly as possible their natural surroundings. Nearly ninety specimens were successfully transported. A large wooden tank was divided into compartments and fitted with steam pipes, while fresh water was pumped into the tank and kept at constant temperature by the steam.

 



As a substitute for the slower method of removing insulation from wire with pliers or other tools, a stripper now on the market is intended to save time and work. It has two notched steel jaws, which are snapped around the wire simply by depressing a floor pedal. This cuts the insulation without touching the wire, and an easy pull slides the covering off. 