incident reported from the continent. For some time past a North German
railway company had been suffering from the repeated loss of goods which
were sent by luggage train, and which, notwithstanding all research and
precautions, continued to disappear in a very mysterious manner. The
secret which the inquiries set on foot had failed to discover was at
length revealed by a rather amusing accident. A long box, on one side of
which were words equivalent to "This side up," had, in disregard of this
caution, been set up on end in the goods shed. Some time afterwards the
employes were not a little startled to hear a voice, apparently
proceeding from the box in question, begging the hearers to let the
speaker out. On opening the lid, the railway officials were surprised
and amused to find a man inside standing on his head. In the explanation
which followed, the fellow wanted to account for his appearance under
such unusual circumstances as due to the result of a wager, but he was
given into custody, and it was soon found that the thieves had adopted
this method of conveying themselves on to the railway premises, and that
during the absence of the employes they had let themselves out of the box
which they at once filled with any articles they could lay their hands
on, refastened the lid, and then decamped. But for the unfortunate
inability of human nature to endure an inverted position for an
indefinite period, the ingenious authors of the scheme might have
flourished a long time without detection.

A TRAIN STOPPED BY CATERPILLARS.

_Colonies and India_ quotes from a New Zealand paper the following
story:--In the neighbourhood of Turakina an army of caterpillars,
hundreds of thousands strong, was marching across the railway line, bound
for a new field of oats, when the train came along. Thousands of the
creeping vermin were crushed by the wheels of the engine, and suddenly
the train came to a dead stop. On examination it was found that the
wheels of the engine had become so greasy that they kept on revolving
without advancing--they could not grip the rails. The guard and the
engine driver procured sand and strewed it on the rails, and the train
made a fresh start, but it was found that during the stoppage
caterpillars in thousands had crawled all over the engine, and all over
the carriages inside and out.

TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA.

Of course, travelling in Russia is no longer what it was. During th