MEXICAN FOREST RAILWAY MEXICO has only re cently entered on a period of industrial development, as prepared by the installation of a comprehensive railway system. As, however, the coal mines of the country proved insufficient to supply fuel for the operation of these railroads, the immense forests covering the heights, especially in the State of Michoacan, had to be drawn upon on a large scale, the more so as there was also a demand for lumber and railroad ties. This induced the owners of one of the largest estates, the hacienda San Joaquin Jaripeo, to construct a forest railroad, or rather a network of such, from the hacienda to Huingo Railway Stationa distance of 14.9 milesand a number of narrowgauged branches or feeder TRESTLE OVER A DEEP GORGE. A PIONEER TRIP DOWN A NARROW GAUGE MEXICAN FOREST RAILROAD. lines radiating from the estate through the forests to be exploited, these latter to be shifted and moved as desired. Saw mills were installed at the hacienda itself. The installation of this railway system was entrusted to a Pittsburg concern. As there was no skilled labor to be had, any points involving heavy excavation or extensive fills and blasting of rock were avoided as far as possible, a line being chosen with an average downward grade. of five per cent. This allowed locomotives of the ordinary type to be employed, while leaving sufficient tractive power to haul back the empty cars. The excavation work was done entirely by hand labor, by using pick and shovel, with the aid of Vshaped dump-cars and of portable tracks, which outfits were light enough to be handled by a few men on any ground. On account of the abundance of fine timber, trestling was done wherever possible. The only work done by the locomotive on the downward trip from the hacienda obviously consists of controlling the traveling speed of the train by its braking power. The most noteworthy point about this railway system is that no extensive plant was required for construc IA CUT THROUGH A HILL. tion and that everything was built by unskilled labor through a wild and mountainous country. BABY CHIMPANZEE THAT ROLLER SKATES SOME time ago Dr. William Howard Furness, Jr., of Wallingford, Pa., son of the distinguished Shakesperean scholar of that name, agreed with Dr. Carl Witmer of the University of Pennsylvania to make an exhaustive experiment to determine how far the reasoning faculty can be developed in apes. Dr. Furness went to the East Indies and selected from captured animals for sale there a young orangoutang and a baby chimpanzee. With these as his traveling companions he returned to America and established the apes in a small house on his estate at Wallingford, Pa. The result of a long series of experiments with the the two young apes, both mere babies, goes a long way to demonstrate that the monkey tribe The most interesting feature of the education of the apes, in the opinion of some visitors to the Wallingford home, is that they can articulate with perfect distinctness simple words like "papa" and "mama." "Say papa," Dr. Furness will say to Borneo, one of the baby apes. Borneo will immediately close her not very prepossessing mouth and repeat the word uttered by her owner. In the same way she will say "mama" when requested. Simple requests such as patting the head of the doctor, or "making a nigger lip," or expectorating when instructed to do so, Borneo complies with at once and without the slightest hesitation. She will also select blocks of any color from a heap of blocks or pick out a certain letter from a mass of letters without apparent effort. Dr. Furness will ask the visitor to make the choice of color or letter so that there can be no possibility of Borneo merely following a set rule to select certain colors or letters in rotation. All these things Borneo has learned from Dr. Furness, his education having been directed altogether at Wallingford place. AN APE ON ROLLER Mimi, the chimpanzee, has accomplishments all her own. These accomplishments amuse not only herself but others as well. Mimi finds her greatest delight in roller skating. She will cackle with joy when the skates are brought out and sit patiently while Dr. Furness fastens them to the feet. Then she will get up and skate furiously up and down the smooth zinc floor of the little room. Her agility makes roller skating come very natural to Mimi, she finding no difficulty |