‘O yes,’ answered E. S. P. ‘He’s as dead as mutton. But we had no idea that you were there. To Tum told us that you had gone to the line ages ago; and we tracked the brute through your open window, where he had taken refuge. H. wounded him in the off hind-leg, when we got our first sight of him in the jungle; and instead of coming at us, he bolted, and led us a precious dance. To Tum bolted your door on the outside, thinking it would stand a charge better, in case the tiger made one; but he thought that you were safe off the premises.’ ‘Well,’ said I, shuddering at the recollection, ‘I really don’t think I am more cowardly than most people, but may I never spend another such _mauvais quart d’heure_!’ OCCASIONAL NOTES. A NEW LIGHT. The rise and progress of the mineral-oil industry are too well known to need any special comment. In this and other countries, the supply of hydro-carbon oils, both from shale-beds and springs, has of late years received remarkable development. Nor will surprise be expressed, viewing the enormous quantities of this material brought into the market, and the low figure at which it can be supplied, that efforts are continually being made, and experiments carried out, to utilise in new forms the heat and light giving properties so eminently possessed by this commodity. Some little time back, we touched on heat-production from hydro-carbon oil, and pointed out its adaptability for raising steam on board ships, and similar cases where saving in space and weight forms an important desideratum. Since then, matters have advanced considerably, and the late voyage of a vessel in British waters propelled entirely by oil-fed furnaces, sufficiently testifies to the progress already made. Hydro-carbon oils promise, however, to find employment in another direction—namely, for lighting purposes, and already at the great Forth Bridge works a considerable number of the new lights are in regular operation, and giving results in every respect satisfactory. The essential principle involved in this method of lighting consists in forcing air, compressed to about twenty pounds on the square inch, through the heavy hydro-carbon oil. The oil issues from the burner in a fine spray, which burns with a remarkably steady and brilliant light, the oxygen of the air being thoroughly consumed. The absence of smoke and smell is particularly noticeable. The oil is stored in circular tanks of galvanised iron, holding some twenty gallons, or about ten hours’ supply. A vertical tube extends upwards from the tank and carries the burner; whilst an ingeniously contrived shade, arranged to turn around the burner according to the direction of the wind, affords shelter to the flame. A safety-valve is fitted to the tank to obviate any undue increase of pressure in the air. The whole apparatus is mounted on a stand some fifteen to twenty feet high, and sheds a brilliant light for at least two hundred yards.