The rush is now at its height, for now that the warmer weather is coming, the perils of the Klondike will be fewer for some months. Some very thrilling tales have reached us from the Pacific coast, although the newspapers are very reticent about publishing reports of accidents. It would seem that some agency is suppressing accounts of ill-starred ventures. Certainly, the papers hold out the golden possibilities of the trip, while the dangers and privations are kept well in the background. Thousands of men are setting out for the gold country to-day. Every small town and village of the United States has its quota of Argonauts, and they are pouring west to take ship for the Klondike. In Greek mythology there is a story about a man named Jason, who set out to find the Golden Fleece. The ship he sailed in was named the _Argo_. In 1849, when the people of the United States had the gold fever so badly, and the rush to California was very much like that to the Klondike to-day, the men who started from the East to go to the Pacific coast by ship were called Argonauts. Afterward it became a common term, and all people setting out for the gold-mines were designated by this title. * * * * * The reindeer which were bought in Scandinavia by the United States for use in Alaska, and shipped to New York, are to be sold. They were to have been used for relief expeditions, but it has been found out that supplies are more abundant in the Klondike than was first reported. There are five hundred and thirty-seven of these reindeer, and it is to be doubted whether they will sell for as much money as they have cost. To buy them in Lapland, Norway, and Sweden involved an expenditure of $50,000, and to bring them to this country was a very expensive undertaking. * * * * * There are more rumors of trouble in India. In and about Bombay there is a strong feeling of discontent among the natives because of the plague measures. You will remember what was written in July last in THE GREAT ROUND WORLD about the curious customs of the different races in India; how they refuse to depart from these customs for fear of losing caste, which they hold more dear than life itself. [Illustration: AN INDIAN SOLDIER.] The great Sepoy Mutiny was partly occasioned by the use of cartridges which were thought to have lard on them; from these cartridges the native soldiers had to remove the ends before putting them in the muskets, and they said that it was intended that they should bite off this larded end and thus lose caste. Many of these natives will not drink milk, others will not touch lard, and none of them must eat food prepared or handled by certain persons. In order to stop the spread of the plague, certain rules had to be made, and it is these rules which cause so many outbreaks among the natives. The population of India is enormous, and a general outbreak would necessarily be a very serious matter.