Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/731

Rh greater than that of the Mississippi, and double that of any river in Europe. The magnitude of the Irrawaddy in its mid-portion causes astonishment to every visitor whose ideas are formed from Western maps. Captain Hanney says, on this subject: "To this point no diminution in the volume of the Irrawaddy was perceptible, from which we may infer that all the principal feeder affluents which pour tributary streams into the Irrawaddy were still farther north, and had not yet been reached." Dr. Griffiths was astonished at the size of the river above Mandalay, and expressed the belief that it is probably "an outlet from some great river which drains an extensive tract of country."

Incidents of Travel in Somauli-Land.—Mr. F. L. James, while traveling in the Somauli country, East Africa, had a serious tax imposed upon him, from a custom of the natives to come to the camp every night to be fed. "They would sit silent on the ground near the camp-fires where our men would be eating, and, though they never asked for food, they always succeeded in getting it given to them." Living among all the Somauli tribes are low-caste tribes: the Midgans, who carry bows and poisoned arrows; the Tomals, workers in iron; and the Ebir, workers in leather charms. An interesting illustration of the faculty of adaptation to the environment is given in the ability of the animals of the country to go without water. The camels on one stretch passed fifteen days without drinking. Sheep are able to go from six to eight days, and the horses of the party several times went three days without water, and without apparent suffering. The arrival of the company at Gesloguby, one of the principal watering-places of the country, created much excitement among the people who were watering their stock. They crowded around the zariba in hundreds, "and expressed the greatest amazement at us and our doings. Smoking particularly astonished them, as they thought a pipe was part of our persons, and that the white man kept a fire somewhere inside; and, when one of our party shot a bird, many fell down, while others invoked the protection of Allah." There appears to be a vein of considerable shrewdness among these people. A faction who were opposed to Mr. James's journey found that the British consul-general had received an order from his government after the expedition had started, to stop its departure from the coast; and they made use of their knowledge with an ingenuity which was admirable and gave our travelers much annoyance. A chief of a neighboring nation, the Adone, having received Mr. James, used diplomatic arts which might have become a Gortchakoff to make of him an instrument with which to chastise one of his rivals; and it required all our author's skill to avoid a fight with one or both of the rivals, who, however much they might hate one another, would probably have come together to attack him. Among these Adone, who detest the Somauli, but sell them grain, a man is not looked upon with favor by the women of his tribe till he has killed another, either in a fair fight or by assassination and assassination is the more common—way. This entitles him to paint the boss of his shield red, or to wear a feather in his hair.

The Coming Metal.—It is predicted that aluminum is the coming metal, which is destined to supersede iron. It is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust, and is not exceeded in usefulness. It is the metallic base of mica, feldspar, slate, and clay. It is present in gems, colored blue in the sapphire, green in the emerald, yellow in the topaz, red in the ruby, brown in the emery, and so on to the white, gray, blue, and black of the slates and clays. It has never been found in a pure state, but is known to exist in combination in nearly two hundred different minerals. Corundum and pure emery are very rich in aluminum, which constitutes about fifty-four per cent of their substance. The metal is white, and next to silver in luster; it is as light as chalk, or only one third the weight of iron, or one fourth that of silver; is as malleable as gold, as tenacious as iron, and harder than steel. It is soft when ductility, fibrous when tenacity, and crystalline when hardness is required. It melts at 1,300° Fahr. or at least 600° below the melting-point of iron, and it neither oxidizes in the air nor tarnishes in contact with gases.