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f / RFTRAYFn- i fc-?'} OR A DARK MARRIAGE MORN. A Romance of Loue, Intrigue and Crime. BY UBS. ALICE P. CARRISTON. CHAPTER XXXIII.?(Continued.) He did sot imagine for a moment that Cor? would charge herself personally with the infliction of her vengeance; bnt she bad said, he then remembered, that the hand would be found. She was rich enough to find it, and thi6 hand might now be here. "Flo," he said, "let U6 walk a little faster, I beg of von! I nm cold." He quickened his steps, and resolved to return to the house by the public road. When he reached the edge of the woods, although he still thought he heard at in1 - onnni^ vhip)i hod alarmed him, be reassured himself and assumed his flow of spirits as if a little ashamed even of bit panic. He detained Flora to look at the pretext of their walk. This was a small wall of rock over a high excavation. Two trunks of trees had been thrown across the narrowest part of the excavation, forming a species of bridge?always civing those who ventured upon it the most complete and picturesque view of a most wonderfel and romantic spectacle. Flo had never before seen this specie* of bridge, which her brother had recently placed tbere. After some minutes of contemplation, as he was showing hei with his hands the two trunks of the trees: *Mnst we pass these?" she asked, in IvMvVftn "If you are not afraid," Bfcid Eugene; and, after all, I shall be with you." He saw she hesitated, and* her face, tinder the moonlight, seemed to him to become so strangely pale that he could not refrain from saying: "1 thought you were braver." Sbe hesitated no longer, but put hex foot on the perilous bridge against he) wish, always cautiously advancing. She half turned her head, and hei -4 I Un/1., bcpo uotauic guiokoauj* All at once she staggered. Eugene ruihed to catch her, and in the trouble of the moment his hand struck her -with some force. The unfortunate woman uttered a shriek, made a gesture as if to push him off, and, repulsing him, rushed wildly over the bridge and ran into the woods. Eugene, repulsed and frightened, not knowing her thoughts, followed her in great haste. Be found her near the bridge, with hei back against a tree, her face turned toward him, terrified yet menaciog. "Coward!" she exclaimed. He looked at her with real bewilder* ment, wben be heard the eonna ox rapiaiy approaching footeteps, and a shadow paBsed out of the depthB of the woods. He recognized Mrs. Leland. She ran to war J them, palpitating, excited, seized the hand of her child, and turned to him. "Both here!" she cried. Now he understood all. A strangled cry rattled in -hie throat; he pressed his forehead convulsively between his two hands, and let fall hie arms despairingly; then he said in a hoaree voice: "You take me for a murderer?" and stamped in the wild agony of hiB rage. "well, what are you doing here? Save yourselves then!" Terrified, they obeyed him?they fled? the mother dragging her daughter with lose strides; and he saw them disappear in the sight. He remained there, in thiB wild place. The hours passed on without his numbering them. Sometimes he went np and down in the narrow space which separated the bridge from the abyss; sometimes stopping suddenly, his eyes lowered and fixea, he seemed as immovable and enaeleas as the trunk ol the tree against which he leaned. If there ii, as we hope, a divine hand whjich weighs in a just balance on? griefs against our faults, these mom Ants ought to hare been counted for this man. CHAPTER XXXIV. BX8T0BED MKMOET, AND SORBOW. Warren Leland'i journey to Roxbury resulted in a disappointment. An interview with Clara's father repealed?what he had half expected to ^ hear?that tne remittances for the support of Mildred had all been made ^iuonymously. This knowledge filled bioo with a strange and undefined feor. The liberal amounts supplied, and the regularity with which they were remitted, indicated that Mildred's brother must be a wealthy man, yet the fact that his address was not known, nor even that oi his banker or agent in New York, lentjan jaif o? decided mystery to the whole transaii-linn. "Without waiting even to see his mother, the perplexed and anxious young man hastened to catch a New Yorh train. Once seated in the rapidly moving coach, he gave way to serious reflection. 'There's something back of all this." he decided, after he had ran over in his mind all that was known to him of the history of his affiancel bride. "I should have thought of this before. I'll be surprised if I don't run against something in the way of villainy before I fathom it. e I surely shall.n The love which Warren Leland had entertained for Clara Benton had been pure and sincere, but it had been but a pre Hide to tnat wnicn ce bow ien ior ner beautiful protegee, Mildred Lester. Clara had done much to remove that which was groBB from hie nature, but hie love for Mildred had purified him as with fire.' Her gentle influence had operated upon him in a manner exactly opposite to the way Eugene bad been affected by the beautiful siren whose baneful love had wrecked bit life. It was nearly evening when he reached the Grand Central Depot. Calling a carriage, he was driven rapidly ,to the house of his friends, whom be bad not Been since parting witn them the preceding evening. Clara and Mildred were there to teceive him. "Where's Edith?" he ashed, when he had briefly informed Mre. Denton of the uselessness of hie jonrnev. "She went this afternoon to call on hex new-made friend, Mi6B Fielding, and has not vet returned," was the response. "Hasn't she, though?" This query was attended by the closing of a door, and followed by the tinkling of little feet, and a moment later the little maiden in question danced into the drawing-room. "I'm nlways at the very place I'm expected to be," langhei. Edith, merrilv."Th-.tyou are, daughter," replied Clara. greeting tier witn a kiss, "And what did you find out?" aBkec "Warren. eagerly. "I found MiBB Fieldiae out." *How did that happen':1" "A 7niBunder6tnnd'ng as to the hour Thev said she would be home at liv< o'clock." "And you didn't wait?" interrupted hej mother. "How could I? "Why, the wedding daj T'tta Into on rl In? ft oi JH UiiiiUBl liCJD, Rii?4 JL ?w 4v.w things to bny for Mildred, yet." 1 he sprightly girl here opened her retk cnle. xud disclosed a number of smal.1 pecka^t B. "But I didn't forget my errand," Bh< |i added, checking Warren, who was aooui. i to speak. "I left a note for Miss Field- I ing, inviting her to tea, and Promising that TOO should escort her home'." "But I was out-of the city. You knew that I was to leave for the East on a J morning train." i "True, but trains run West, as well af i Ea6t. and there was an attraction here." sue laughed and pointed to the now ' blushing Mildred. I "By the way," she rattled on, "I saw th? doctor, and told him about it. He sai<? it might turn out to be the cvte of Mil- 1 dred. At that instant there was a tingling oi ] the door-bell. "Miss Fielding," announced the 6er- J vant. All rose, and an instant later Meta pre. ' sented herself. 1 "Mr. Leland " said Edith, beginning the introduction of Warren. I She was interrupted by a sharp cry of I seemingly mingled surprise and pain. All eyes were upon Mildred, who, witb ' uplifted hands, was swaying to and fro. ' Warren Leland presented his strong < arms none too quickly to prevent hei | 1 from falling to the floor. In ail instant Clara was using restoratives to recall - her from the swoon into ' which she had fallen. "Stand a little back, please, Mis? Fielding," said the young man as he saw signs of returning conscionsness in thd fair, yonng face. "It will be better lot her not to see you at first." "Meta! Metal" cried Mildred, upon opening her eyes. "I'm certain I eaW her." An instant later and the two old-timd friends were clasped in each other's arms. "You are better, darling?" queried Warren, as he half-jealouBly withdrew hiB affianced wife from the embrace of Meta. "You remember the past now?" "Remember the past?" she repeated, as if not understanding the question. "Yes. You knew Miss Fielding long ago?" "And my brother Ray?" added Meta. "Yea. vest" shrieked Mildred. "Oh, God! Better death than this!" { "Her mind wanders," said Warren; anxiously. "Come, rouse yourself, dar- 1 ling; my little wife that is soon to be." ; : "Your wife? Oh, God! What do you 6ay? I am a wife already." . ' She gently disengaged herself from the yielding arms of ner bewildered lover| 1 and stepped toward Meta. , She raves," said Clara. "This shock, j instead of restoring, has overthrown he/ mind." But Meta shook her head sadly. ' "Mildred is right," 6aid she. "She waJ married tome years ago." "To whom?" demanded Lelnnd, fran tically. | ' "To Eugene Cleveland!" cried Mildred,' answering for herself. "My sister's husband?" 6houted Warren Leland. "The scoundrel!" "My husband married again?" . With a moan of anguish the deeply wronged and suffering woman fell sense* less to the floor. ' CHAPTER XXXV. A BOUSE OF SORROWS. Unhappy, distracted, Eugene Cleveland had no doubt that he knew who had dogged the footsteps of himself and wife in tbeir strange ramble through the woods. The appearance of Mrs. Leland and the vague expression of suspicion on ber part had convinced him that she had been the ?py. In this he was mistaken. Becoming alarmed at the long absence of her daughter, and filled with a vague fear that the warning of Phebe Craven might contain 1 an element of truth, the mother had has- 1 tened to find Flora, that she might pro- < tort hnr. if neeessarv. from the murder- | 1 ous hand of ber husband. She had arrived upon the scene at the moment calculated to confirm her bub- : picious feaie. But it was a man who had followed the i pair before the unfortunate, almost fatal, 1 episode at the rustic bridge, which had < convinced Flora that at heart her beloved, idolized husband, the father of ^ her child, was a murderer. This man was the degraded, revengeful ] Oscir Slyme. Rendered desperate by the failure of 1 his diabolical schemes, and burning with a desire for vengeance, he had persistent. 1 ly dogged the movements of young Cleveland. 1 He had seen Eugene emerge from the Elliston mansion and had followed him ' to the Grand Central Depot, and taken passage on the train which bore him to Roxbary. After the flight of the two terrified ladies, the wretch whose name was so truthful an index to his character, watch, ed the distracted young man forBome time. He had come to Roxbury bent on taking his enemy's life, and now saw an opportunity to accomplish h u end with* out danger of being suspected of the dastardly orime. "It'll be reckoned a casa o? suicide," muttered he at length, as he produced 1 revolver and started forward. / 1 But almost Just aotly he checked him- ' Beit, and a rmiie of tnumpn swept hi* r?ge-?i?toried featu es. ... x.1 1_?* Vw ] KeturniDR ine weapon 10 am pucack, uc i glided swiftly from the spot. 1 With the good fortune which seems sometimes to favor the evil-minded, he ' caught a train, and was, not long after- | wards, entering a cab at Forty-second I street, New Yors. Alighting after a short drive, he boldly ascended the marble steps leading to the ' Elliston mansion The honr was late for calling upon a lady, yet Slyme lost no time in ringing the'bell, and in notifying the sleepy footman who answered it that he desired to see his mistress npon business of urgent ' importance. Cora EllistoD, looking peerless in hei t widow'B weeds, received bim in the li- 8 brary. At first sbe bad resolved not to see the ex-secretary, bat upon reflection bad , changed ber mind, deciding that be mnst ; know something of a startling nature to communicate. ? "What brings you here?" she asked ab- ? roptly, without taking a seat. . Your interests ' J "Bab!" interrupted tbe siren, looking more beautiful thin ever, in scorn. "And my own," added the man, diplomatically. "That's more to tbe point. Stat? youi errand, and that briefly, , "Yon despise me, and, perhaps, rightly; , yet we have one interest in common." , "I can't imagine what" "You love and would possess for youx , very own Eugene Cleveland." j Flora smiled bitterly, but made no 1 replv. , "while I have but one object left in , life." , "Revenge on him?" "No. I love Flora Cleveland, his wife. She must be mine." , "I still fail to understand what interest ( we have in common." To accomplish onr several endR, we ( muBt separate the two, and that in a way that will leave no lingering trace of affec- | tion between them." "I'm becoming interested." smiled the j siren, as she threw herself languidly , upon a sofa, and waved her cauer to a cna r. I Then, in hurried toneB. Slyme related how Kiora believed her husband guilty of I her intended murder. "A bold move cow," said he, in con. i elusion, "and the thing will be accomplished. " "2 will join you in the enterprice." Oscar SI vine noted the changed expression upon the beautiful woman's face, and inscribed it to the inward promptings | of her insane and guilty love. With nil hia ahreurflneuR h? was wronc: indeed he could not have been farther from the trntb. Love for Eugene Cleveland bad forever depurted from ihe heart of Cora Elliaton, or rather it bad tarzcf to bate, and that of the kind which the poet placed a degree below that engendered in the in- ' fernal regions, when he wrote: "Hell J bath no fury like a woman scorned." 1 This change of sentiment on her part was favorable to Engene Cleveland, for { the love of such a woman .;s more blight- ' ing and destroying than hit bitterest most I implacable bate. . it was a full hoar before Slyme with- 1 drew, and when he did eo a plan had j been agreed upon. j But Jet ub return to Koxbury, toward ' which all indications poiut as the scene af a coming trajjedv. How Eugene Cleveland passed that 6 dreadfnl night, he never fully realized. | The wickedness of his past life rose be- 1 fore him like a veritable phantom. 1 He realized now tnat what he had . thought to be love for Cora had been 1 passion only. Even in his despair and 1 black remorse, he could not comprehend : bow he had been so lone enslaved, and , bad been led into such guilty courses. As be thought of his loving, trusting wife and innocent child, a full sense of what he had lost, or rather cast aside, dawned u^on him, and he buret into bitter tears. "I never loved another," moaned he. Then, with a feeling akin to guilt, ha Ihonght of his lost Mildred. "She was pure and good," said he, "and bad she lived we might have been happy together, and this frightful nightmare, from which I have just awakened, been nvoided; but I now know that I never entertained for her the love I do for Flora. [ bavo trifled away my life, my earthly happiness, and my hope of heaven." Tnus tortured Dy Diuer renecuons, ne bad wandered away from the rocky chasm and approached the highway, near the I bouse. c The night.had long 6ince passed, and the sun was mounting high into the E heavens. ? With a start he raised his eves and 1 realized bis position. A second shock ran through his nerves ? as he saw two persons approaching the honse. 1 One he recognized as Warran Leland. I onmrmn inn n. nloRfllv veiled lady ' Eugene did not recognize, though he thought he detected Bomething familiar ' in her carriage. ( Another moment and they had entered the mansion. . With the privilege of a story-teller, let j as follow them. 1 As the reader hns ao donbt surmised, c the veiled lady was Mildred, the wife, the lawful wife of Eu ene Cleveland. f The scene which ensued was too pain- ' tul a one to describe in detail. Flora had been crashed before. She * wttH overwiiciuitju uu w, To be widowed without having been ? aver legally a wife, wsb a thought too J terrible for hei to hear, and for a time her * reason seemed likely to be overthrown. As for Mrs. Leland, Warren, and MilJred, their condition was but little better. * "I have regained my memory, came back to my old life, only to encounter J misery," ino ned Mildred. "I loved Eu gene once, but that is now a thing of the J past; I am bound to him by the law, * irbile my heart is bestowed upon anjther." e At this juncture the door-bell rang, 1 ind to clap the climax, to add, if posRible, to the anguish that possessed the ' i-?i. ^ 01?? tmho. I .JumLe11c> UDV/Bi oniuo auu wi? MU?B< . ton were ushered into the parlor. c I CHAPTER XXXVI. j C0NCLU8I0N. Cora Llliston took a backward step, at t ber eyei fell npon Warren Leland, whose B presence there she had not calculated x ipon, while her companion started in (3 lismay as he recognize;! the (air girl he bad claimed as his sister and whom n'e r bad so deeply wronged. c "l'ou here?" cried Flora, indignation <3 momentarily surpreBsing her grief. v "And why not?" returned the other, i almost inst tntly regaining that wonderful self-possession which had always char- \ acterized her. 1 "Why not. indeed? I oneht not td j bave asked that question of one like yon ? * A i_; ivv.i : ? m who oares unjiuiug. ?(uai> id juuj i pleasure?" ^ Before replying, the wicked woman r :a^t a quick glance upon her companion. Cora Elliston was quick-witted, and i the look was a revelation to her. fc She had never before seen Mildred, bnt 9ho intuitively knew thAt the pale, trem- e bling girl upon whose face the eyes oI p Slyme were fixed, coald be none othei than the one whom ehe had eo cruelly e separated from her newly wedded hus" t band. fc The two wives of Eugene Cleveland had met; the secret had been disclosed; there ;ould be no doubt of it. The plan whi.-h she and her guilty associate had ngreed upon was destroyed But Com was a woman of great re sources, and a surprise like this could ? not discomfit her. "I have no pleasure," replied Bhe, with j i calm dignity. "Mt business kere is o 1 a most painful nature." "Have done with preliminaries," spoki op Warren impatiently. "To the Insineei? 8 which brings you here." 'Very well, air. I will speak, an? f without reserve. I nave come here t< make public a fearful and long hiddei . wrong." 11 "You might better hare left that tasl [o others," said Flora, scornfully. "Save your reproaches. I will no! affect to misunderstand jou. I learned 8 l?6t night that vile sltncU.ers Juve been trying to sully my fair fame. Such a charges are false, infamously false!" "I ought not to have expected a confession," replied Flora, "what hidden sn-nnn do vou seek to make public, t then?" i "When Eugene Cleveland m rried you be had a wife already." "I know it. There she stands." t Corn looked in the direction irirfiflftted ( ittered an exclamation of well-feigned , urprise. "Is it possible?" she cried. She started forward, out a repellant c feature, and a look of disgust on tne part a if Mildred, repressed her. "You knew very well that she was alive ill the time," said Warren, rather warmly. 1 'Was it not your tool, Slyme, there, who pretended to be her brother and pre* lented proof of her death?" "Yes, bat not with my knowledge, far lefiB at my inet'gatioD." "At whose, then?" "Oscar Slyme was wonting under the orders of Eagene Cleveland. ' Ten minites after he was mnrried he received a etter from my husband notifying hiu :hat as a bridal present he would make aim a partner in the publishing house <rhere he was employed. This changed ? nrtfa "RA cnv that he conld look higher. Excusing himself, he sought Sly me and Bet a plot in motion ] which sent Mildred fly ng from the city { that very night. Is not that true, Mr. , Slyme?" The beautiful woman paused, laid her white hand upon her heaving bosom and ' turned her dark eyes so full of witchery ?nd fascination, r.pon the face of the ex- , jeeretarv. Slyme nesltatod a moment, xnat ne bad lost all chance of gaining the love of ! Flora Cleveland he fully reali2ed. He ] wavered for a moment. The eyes of the i siren seemed burning their way into his < very soul. An instant later his resolu [ion was umen. , "The lady is right," Le faltered. "I J bate to acknowledge it, but I acted for i Cleveland in the matter. He held a whip j Dver my head, an old folly of which ho \ tiad gained knowledge, and I was forced i to perform the dastardly part." AUU \UU \>cie tUO Latvia uc urvti mind," added Mrs. Elliston. speaking to Flora, and I estowing a glowing look of i gratitude \ipon Slvine. 1 "It is false!" cried Flora. "Yonr wiles ^ have led Eugene to wronp roe, but be was . ever capable of each perfidy, 6ucb in- j fti-joy." "TLank God!' i These wordi in fervent tODes. cau ed j everyone present a start of suruiiKe. .. f At tHat instant Eugene Cleveland jounded through the window that opened >n the veranda and stood in the midst of he astonished company. He hod Feen Slyme and Cora enter he house, and from a place of espionage iad Been and heard all that had transpired. The knowledge that Mildred still lived iad been a shock, bat its effect had lost nnch of its weigbt. so great was tne menal excitement under which he was laboring. "I Inow all," he went on, speaking apidly. almost incoherently. "I have linned beyond all thought, all hope, of )ardoo, bat I am not the cold-blooded, leartless wretch that woman would make ne appear to be. "This man Slyme acted for her, and I lave written evidence to prove it. Conrincdd that my Mildred was no more, I oil a victim to her wiles, and h >ve unil l.itely continued in her toils. I urge t not in mitigation of my grievous of'enses, but at last I am free from her hralldom, and cannot do less than acknowledge my disgrace and rain." As .EugenS Cleveland uttered these rords, the face of Cora Elliston lost sverything of fascinating beauty *nd ook on an expression that would have lone credit to an incarnate fiend. "It is you who have brought me to this," he raved, turning upon Flora. "You tame between us?took from me all that : ever valued in this life, his love; but 'on shall not live to enjoy your triumph." As she finished speaking she drew 'rom the folds of her arestra small gold)lated revolver, which she leveled at her air and innocent rival. No one was near enough to arrest her nnrderous hand, and flora Cleveland's loom seemed sealed. Bat with the quickness of a cat Eugene iprang forward and covered with his >wn body that of the woman whom he iow love 3 better than his own life. There was a report, a wreath of smoke, ind the two fell to the floor together. Without an iost ant's delay the desperate woman recocked the revolver and )laced it over her treacherons, guileful leart. A second report, a fall, a brief struggle, i parting groan, and she had entered the irecincts of. another world. A scene of indescribable dismay ensued. Flora was found unharmed, but her lusband had received the bullet in his >reast and was apparently is a dying condition. Before losing consciousness, he leemed to believe that his death was at land, and begged and received the full Dardon of the wife he had eo cruelly rronged. "Good-by," said he to Mildred. "I see where your affections are placed. Promse me that you will marry Warren and >e happy." "I promise," was the tearful response. The unexpected often happens in real ife, and wby not in fiction? Eugene Cleveland did not die. For a Hma fcic litA TTft?j dp?nftired of. but he careful watching of devoted Flora >rought Aim back to life and ultimate lealth and strength. The existing complication was a sad ind trying one, but it was not without a emedy. Mildred felt that she had no claim ipon the husband from whom the beautiul siren had parted her, and as she was levotedly attached to Warren Leland, she irocured a legal separation from Eugene, nd oVinrtlv- oftiTWAril married thA hU8 land of her choice. * As for the truly repentant Eugene and tie faithful Flora, they were remarried ind constitute a nappy, loving pair, whom tot all the sirens on earth can put aeunler. Warren never a?ain saw Welch, theold ag.picker, who disappeared from the oantry with his daughter and her chilIren, but he learned that the old man rag an uncle of the wronged wife of Ho lert Urownell. Mr. Metcalf ia bale and hearty in his ears, and Clara Denton happy in his ove and that of her charming and promBing daughter, Edith. Oscar Slyme escaped punishment at he hands of the lnw, but he never after* yards prospered, and within a year died oiserably in a New York lodging-bouse. ThuB after a storm of passion and rronR-doing has come peace, content and lappiness. Thank God that for sin there remains, ven in this lower world, a place for relentance and reformation. Thank God that viitue and purity still list to counteract and bring to naught be follies and sins engendered by uniridled passions. [THE END.] /inmnrc i r>TO VtAlVl/O JL-AV*fcJ* Lely died of jealousy at the success of lir Godfrey Kneller. Palestine is about one-fourth as large b the State of New York. Santa Domingo is the oldest existing ettlement in the new world. Candles 'as we understand them were irstused in England in 1484. There are six peppermint distiller! es q active operation at Decatur, Mich. The South Sea Islanders are said to lake an intoxicating drink frum corn nd decayed fish. There is one Chinese, one Portuguese nd one Cherokee newspaper printed in he United States. Bahia, in Brazil, founded in 1539, is irobablv the oldest settlement on the aainland still in existence. The .hairspring of your -watch weighs jul UDe-iwemieiii ui a ^iaiu jici juuu* )nc mile of such wire would weigh much ess than a half pound. A. box marked "dynamite" was hanlled with great care by the baggagemen it the Atchison depot recently. It afterward developed that the box was filled vith eggs. Red hailstones fell at Amsterdam in L726, at London in 1663 (durinjf tfie ;ime of the great plague), and at divers )laces in Ireland and France in the early jart of the present century. Bailie McAlister, a colored woman of Jpringfield, Ky., is believed to be the argest woman now living. She measlres thirty-six and a quarter inches (over hree leet) around the arm, and weigas 532 pounds. A portion of the timbers of General Benedict Arnold's flagship Congress, lunk in October, 1776, in Lake Chamslain, has been raised by Captain C. W. ?.1?? tuun ith TKo "LUaLIiO, VI f! COW O.UU13UU) T w AUV, ;imbers are of oak and are sound. Among recsnt novelties, that of a aewspaper prmted on the web of the mcred white spider is chronicled. It is i sheet about eleven inche3 by fourteen nches, contains two columns of matter, Deluding an English story, anil is ex :ellently printed. It is a singular fact that when the late Lord Tennyson wrote a poena he lnvariibly had it put in type and locked up for a number of years. If at the end of the allotted time he still liked the verses tie correctcd them and had them published, if not he destroved them. The Australian jungle fowl makes its aest in the shape of earth mounds of orodigiouB size, one of which measured 5 f teen feet in perpendicular height, and aaviug a circumference 01 l&u leet. rhese heaps are placed under shelter, ind often so enveloped in foliage that, n spite of their great size, they can icarcelv be discovered. CHRISTMAS LAND, j ? NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, WAS D1S- i COVEKED ON DECEMBER 25. ? 1 Why It" Growth Has Been Retarded ( ?Conflicts Between the Native*, y I ?- - ?rv - . Jk tiVollok I 1*110 AJUIAJU ttUU tUC ?Curious Customs. < <5|N I) ceml)er, 1497, , IB little more than five #/ [I years after Colum(I bus had discovered II America, Vasco de \ jf Gama, the great N J jl Portuguese navi\ ij gator, was sailing / J |V"p with three small ships along the Fj[).IU )i southeast coast of Mr*'*h Africa. "Hie Cape fill//'Ml a- Jul ?' ?00(1 Hope had 'I!Ij/j! jj A] | been discovered Jr-ll ' an<* rounded only j' nine years before, Tpot * an(* ?ama (_)' now been sent by Portugal to discover whether it was possible to reach India by way of it. On Christmas Day he spied a broad and shallow bay in about thirty degrees south latitude, and put into it for water. - Id honor of the day be named the adjacent land Natal?Christmas. c America and Natal were thus dis- 1 covered at practically the same time and a might have been expected to progress a together. But many causes conspired k to give America the preference, and it n was not until 150 years later that any n settlement at all was made in Bouth ii Africa. This was at Cape Town, and t nearly two centuries more elapsed be- v * ? TT Q Q A lore any periuaiicui> hiuouvu. .. affected at the Bay of Natal. Thia was I in 1824. When it was nine years old a townsite was laid off and named Dur- n ban, in honor of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, n Governor of Cape Colony. a At this time the white population of Natal was very small and consisted al- n most entirely of Englishmen. The next b four years were to witness the arrival of b an overwhelming Dutch population. c The Dutch had settled the cape and p ' a 1 ?fK/j T^nrr- C uaa never oecoiue lauuuim w mv lish taking possession of it in 1805. Many bad at once retreated to the in- fi terior, far beyond the reach of the Eng- li lish officials. But as England extended I the borders of Cape Colony most of them 1 were once more brought back under the o A BTKEb/ li hated British fag. Many causes con- a spired to increase their dislike of British t! rule, and during the years 1836 and 1837 t over 10,000 of them gathered together v their flocks and herds and 4 'trekked" to a the north. s Some ^ent to what are now the p Orange Free State and the South Afri- t can Republic or Transvaal. Others went o to Natal, at that time unclaimed by any v European Power. In 1838, taking ad van- r tage of certain trouble* with the natives, England seized Natal, but Parliament t] refused to appropriate money for its tl government, and it was evacuated a year q later. 1, A few months afterward the Zulus, e under their chief, Ding&an, murdered ^ - ? a treacherously a large party or coer* ana v i NATIVE W0M/UT. 8' - C laid Natal waste. Hundreds of the 8' Dutch were killed, and many others p only escaped by putting out to 9ea. Dur- b ban was destroyed. But the Boers 1< finally rallied, defeated Dingaan in a e great battle and drove him from Ifatal. d ml /"> mnlro TPrmsAls for lUCjr IL1CU UCgdU fcv M4MMV V|? the treacherous murder of their kin- J dred. b But here England stepped in. She 1< bad not beeu much troubled by the Zulu s< atrocities; 6he was now horrified by the a Dutch reprisals. She ordered them to ii be stopped. The Boers paid no atten- i; tion to her demands, and in 1843 she reseized Natal and has held it ever since, t' The Boers resisted vigorously, but were f forced to yield at last. Fate, however, ii worked out its revenge pretty well, b Nearly forty years after, at Isandlhwana, o these very Zulus whom England had t protected from the vengeance of the c Rnnro nlmrKt. annihilated an entire Brit- t ish army, killing all but a score out of 1500 men. In 188G gold was discovered in the I Transvaal, and since then South Africa r has everywhere progressed with great s rapidity. Natal has now a population ^ of 460,000 natives, 45,000 whites and c 34,000 Asiatics. Durban has 24,000 c inhabitants, half white, the other half * pretty equally divided between natives ? and Hindus. These Hindus are to a i * ? i-J j stranger a wuoiij unexpeuicu di^u?.. j Natives he expects to see of all kinds, jut not Hindu*. The majority of these ire coolies, brought from India orignally as indentured servants, bound for i term of five years at moderate wages, ff they stay another five years they can :laim a free passage borne at any time within the next three years. But few &ke advantage of this. The majority jecome thoroughly acclimated and 3et tie down with their families as permanent residents. INDIAN COOLIES HI NATAL. A small percentage of the Asiatic eleaent consist of Parseea, Sikha and other iigh-ca?te Indian tribes. There arc Iso many Malays and natives of Java nd Sumatra. These are popularly :nown as Arabs, although they are iothing of the sort. Toey ore usually aerchants, peddlers?fat, greasy-lookog fellows in dirty white gowns and urbans, many of tbem. All the Hindus rear their national dress. Every fashion xtant in India can also be found in )urban. There are few negro women in Denban, -11 mnrt hninrr rintlA bv icftnjf an iavuji'Oww nv.- ?^ egro men. The nursemaids are nearly 11 half-grown negro boys. Coffee is served at 6 o'clock every aorning all over South Africa, and is irought to you in bed by negro men or toys, irrespective of your sex. This ustom of serving morning coffee is iractically universal, although no one eems to know how It originated. Natives are usually spoken of as Kafrt, an Arabic name meaning "unbeiever." Their name for themselves is Lbautu, which simply means "people." ?he Kaffirs are not the original people f Africa, but a comparatively late imHrZ ^ ? vi p?v j : ;:atal. migration. The original possessors of be land were the Bushmen, probably be lowest and most degraded set in the rorld. Upon these people, centuries go, the Hottentots descended like a torm, driving them to the inaccessible arts of the mountains and deserts. In urn, the Hottentots were themselves verpowered and driven south by a great rave of people belonging to the Abantu ace. When the Dutch settled Capetown in be middle of the seventeenth century be Hottentots still occupied what is now !ape Colony and the Abantu held all the ind to the North, while the Bushmen ked out a precarious existence by robing Abantu, Hottentots and whites rith the greatest impartiality. In the ??- ?e !?? onn TTiiOM "RhqVi, OUrtlC U1 LUC 1(UC WW jvma ww?u jen and Hottentots have almost died ut, To-day the Kaffirs constitute nearly he entire native population. Divided to hundreds of tribes of varying sizes hey are yet all more ?r less closely rented. Their customs are largely idential over the wildest tracts of country nd the grammar of their language is be same throughout its many dialect;. The Kaffir language is a difficult one t best. There are ten different ways of orming plumlf. The verbs are also ery complicated. There are four sounds a KaJSr not found in European tongues, 'ew whites attempt to speak Kaffii rammatically, but nearly every one in fatal can speak a kind of dialect known d all town Kaffirs. At the beginning of the present cenury there were about ninety-four tribes f Kaffirs in Natal a one. The year 812, however, saw the rise of the great lulu empire For sixteen years, Cbaka, he Zulu NapoleoD, carried fire and pear far ancjl wide, and when quiet was nee more restored fifty-nine of the inety-four tribes had utterly perished. The Natal native laws are very strict. Jo Kaffir is allowed out after 9 o'clock t nitjht without a pass. If he ventures ut and is caught he is arrested and everely punished. No drinlc or firearms an be sold or given to Kaffirs without ubjecting both paities to fine or lmriionment. The Kaffirs are controlled y native police?a very useful and ath;tic lookiug body of men, who, how i ? ??"">? tn owo?t whitps nn ver, wave uu pvnu ei any circumstances whatever. The natives are wonderfully honest, lot one per cent, of the houses in Duran are locked at night, nearly everyone saving the back door open to admit the ervants in the morning, yet theft is lmost unknown. There is no poverty a Natal?at least one never sees a begar or hears of one. Contrary to the general impression in he United States, this country, and in act all of Africa south of Delagoa Bay 5 very healthy. Tne ueatu rate m umiaa is only tea in n thousand, and that f all Natal is even less. One reason of his is that tbere are comparatively few hildren hero and the list is not swelled >v the infant mortality that cuts such a figure in other parts of the world. Durban is the principal city of Natal. t is laid off on the longitudinal plan, leorly everything of importance being ituated on one of two long streets, vhich run west from the landing place md lose themselves iD tho wooded heights >f the Berea, some five miles distant. The Berea is a long ridge running north ind south, and thickly dotted with the rillas of the richer people. During the iummer or rainy season it is a very beau tifal place. In winter, however, it la ratherdaety. Of course, being in the Southern hemisphere the seasons here are different from those of America. Christmas is midsummer day and June is the dead of t winter. The climate varies with the distance from the sea level and consequent elevation. Durban's winter climate is much like that of Southern California. while in summer the heat is very great, the thermometer always standing . above 100 degrees in the middle of the \ day. Pieter Mantzburg, the capital of Natal, is only seventy-three miles from . Durban by train and less than fifty in a I direct line, but its elevation is 2218 feet and its climate consequently much colder. At Charlestown, 180 miles in a direct line from Durban, the elevation is nearly 5400 feet and the winter is very cold. There is some wonderful engineering on the line of the Government railways in Natal. The country, besides being a sharply ascending one, is cut by a broad transverse valley, necessitating many descents in grade. The result is that in running lrom the coast to Charlestown, at the edsre of the Transvaal, 304 miles ?J- ~ -i /?:-Lk kia^I Dy train, every puuuu ui nciyuv is uucu vertically two miles aad a half. The railways and telegfaph lines all belong to the Government. Natal is governed by a legislative 1 council of thirty-one members, twentyfour elective, five sitting by virtue of 1 their official positions and two appointed by the Governor. All high officials are appointed by the Queen. Really the ! council has very little power. The administration is not responsible in any way to the people, and can do pretty much what it likes. Still, the council has a very handsome Parliament build ing at JPieter Maritzourg ana goer through the motions of governing with great impressiveness.?San Francisco Chronicle. The Cactus. The cactus, though its name is derived from a Greek word (kaktos) used by Theophrastus to describe a thorny plant, is a native of America, and but one memt ber of the family is indigenous to the Eastern hemisphere. Concerning its geographical distribution in the United States, the arid plains of the Southwest foster the greatest variety. Twenty species aze peculiar to the Texan region; but the richest cactus district is the New aiTtv.flre inecies?fiftv-. JUM1VWJ, j 1 five peculiar to it?are fouud. It is in regions such as these that the desert literally "blossoms like the rose;r and * here's many a ooc:us bora to blash unseen nd wasts its sweetness on the desert air. is the mournful reflection of the botanist who treads the thorny path of the opuntia id Ihe wilds of the West. In Southern Africa, South an 1 Central America, Mexico, California, Arizona and like countries, which have a long, hot season, with little or no rain, the stalk* and foliage of the cactus above and the roots beneath are early cut o3 by drought, and the plants rest securely in their compact bulbs, filled with nourishment and retaining their moisture with great tenacity until the rainy season comes around. A 13ARE SPECIES. Then they shoot forth leafy stems and flowers with wonderful rapidity^ and what was perhaps a desert of arid sand becomes green with foliage and gay with blossoms almost in a day.?-St.' . . Louis Republic. ' A Watch Without Works. A peculiar form of pocket dial is here illustrated, which is used by the peasants of the French Pyrenees. This instrument has a movable head i i-u:? - nf mofal which moves | JJUiumg m v. ?? , on & joint like the blade of a knife. For convunience in carrying it is turned down, as in Fig. 2, and placed in the cylinder. When in use the metal is turned outward, as in Fig. 1, and the instrument suspended by the ring at the top, so that the shadow of the style is | thrown vertically upon the cylinder. The i extremity of the shadow falls upon the A I ; u. I DIAL USED BY FRENCH MOUNTAINEERS. | | curved line denoting the hour. The in"? # i J S r I strumciit must be aajusieu ior everj j month in the year, which i9 accomplished . by turning the movable head till the i style corresponds with the vertical line ' denoting the month. ! Such a dial is not very accurate at the I beat, but it doubtless serves the purpose of the French mountaineers, to j whom the loss or gain of a few minutes j is of no importance. If you wish to tell a horse's age just i examine the teeth; if you wish to find out a woman's age, and asK her, she will Jk show hers.?Yarmouth Register. , I