With the Soudan reconquered and Khartoum itself fast reassuming that civilizing influence amongst the tribes of the Upper Nile that General Gordon sacrificed so much to accomplish, added interest has been taken in Gordon relics of late. The accompanying photograph represents a book that was printed for the General in Khartoum, and was highly treasured by him on account of it being the first book ever printed there. The relic is now in the safe keeping of the British Museum, where it is open to public inspection. The text, by the way, is in Arabic.
WHAT WHEAT CAN DO.
Amongst the curiosities of The Strand a few months ago we gave an illustration of a section of a board taken from a wheat trough, worn by wheat passing over it. Here is a photograph, sent in by Mr. Byron Harman, of the Tacoma Grain Company, Washington, showing a steel-plate, 4ft. square and ½in. thick, taken from a large elevator at Tacoma, that has actually had holes worn through it by wheat continually falling on it from a height of 4ft.
A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT.
It is well known that experiments with paper and a pair of scissors are often productive of the most wonderful results, but the design reproduced in the accompanying photograph is perhaps one of the most remarkable obtained under such conditions, and it has the additional novelty of having been cut out by an old lady of feeble sight. The original paper design was sent to us by Mr. M. A. Holmes, of 3, Alma Road, Canonbury, and the reproduction presented in these pages is from a photograph of it taken by us.
AN INGENIOUS EXTINGUISHER
