Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/585

Rh position, as "the island province." The old superstitions prevail there in full force: "Hunters burn candles and pray to the spirit of the crag they are climbing"; a black dog or white paper is a charm against the evil one; and "the drawing of 'a horse rampant' is a recognized prophylactic against smallpox." Until a few years ago women were not allowed to climb beyond a certain limit; and when the wife of one of the mountaineers ventured beyond it she was turned, they say, into a stone. Mr. Weston had the very pillar pointed out to him. But the charm is now broken, and women can climb in security. It is, however, considered sacrilegious to climb a mountain till proper parties have been sent to the top to pray the gods for good weather. The mountains are ten thousand or more feet high, of various geological character, and, being near the sea, command peculiar views. Hodekadaka is granite; Yarigstake, the highest peak after Fujisan, is of brecciated porphyry; and Fujisan, nearly two thousand feet higher than the others, is a crater. No railroad or common road enters the mountain region, though both come near it. Mr. Weston met several "pilgrim clubs" a sort of Alpine clubs having a more numerous membership and costing less than those of the West. "Every year, before the season commences, they meet and decide by ballot who shall climb the sacred mountains. . . . They also stamp their alpenstocks with the names of the mountains they have ascended." They regard their exercise as a religious one, and as they went up they chanted, "May our six senses be pure, and may the weather on the honorable peak be fine!"

The Longevity of Astronomers.—We take the following from an article under the above title in The Observatory. The longevity of astronomers has often been called attention to. The Herschels, the Cassinis, and others have been notable examples. This is all the more curious, as their vocation necessitates late hours and constant exposure to night air. The following consists, says the writer of the paper, of a portion of a list of the names of well-known men connected with astronomy who have lived beyond the allotted human span of "threescore years and ten." The ages are correct to within a few months:

Types of the Unemployed.—Of forty-two men in a German colony for unemployed workingmen, described by Mr. Josiah Flynt in the Atlantic Monthly, mechanics and common laborers were most numerous, while others had