The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1856-10-30
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
FOREIGN SUMMARY.

The Cincinnati Sun speaks fayorably of the grape
crop in the west.
About $4,000 visitors have been drinking at Sara
toga this summer.
The President has been under medical treatment
for a slight attack Of chills and fever.
The Latting Observatory, near the Crystal Palace
at New York, was entirely destroyed by hire on ootn
August.
Dispatches from Kansas for the past ten days or a
fortnight have been full of wars and rurlors or
wars
The number of Shaker Societies now in this country
is eighteen, located in seven different States. There
are none In any foreign country.
The wooden huts sent from England to the Crimea,
at a first cost of from e100 to e200, have been sold
to the Russians at 81 per hut.
Nearly all the employees in the O. S. Army at
Springfield have been discharged on account of the
non-passage of the Army Appropriation bill.
Mr.. Barnum is said to be going to Europe with the
original representative of Z" Little Eva,' Cordelia
Howard, to play Uncle Toms Cabin
The Northern Railroad in France, carried in 1866
no less than $780, 600 passengers, equal to about one
sixth of the whole population of France.
The Leviathan Steamer, now building on the
Thames, England, 1.-THE Great Eastern) is expected
at Portland, Me-, in May next.
Z. Merriam, the Brooklyn weather-man, contributes
to the n. Y. papers q list of % earthquake-shocks
that have occurred at sundry times and places the
present year.
A Chancery case has recently been decided in one
of the English courts, by which John McDougal, of
South Boston, a hardlaboring man, receives ESQ
or nearly $4,000.
Prof. Morse has peen invited to the coronation of
the Emperor of Russia. and it is stated, has contracted
with the Government to establish lines of telegraph
throughout the Empire.
Calcutta has a population of Alb 900, and the ex-
ports from that city amount to 0,000,0 900 the i'm
ports $34, 900, 900. In the year 1872, ships entered
the port of Calcutta with an aggregate burden OF
l ,425, 55S tons.
The Russians have sent in a claim of 400, 900 francs
for damage done to theSaussian Palace at CONSTANT
nople, from its been converted into q French hos
pital,
A quantity of treasure valued at $150,0O was
buried by the Russians in the Church of Sevastopol,
and they have just dug it up in safety, although the
French slept in the edifce for some considerable time.
A wealthy family in New Orleans, so tainted with
negro blood on the mothers side that they could not
be admitted into the g best society," sold out last
year and went to Paris. One of the daughters, it is
new reported, has married a foreign ambassador at
the court Of Louis Napoleon.
Ice is now manufactured at Cincinnati in large
quantities by means of ether. This is an exceedingly
yoitable substance, evaporating rapidly at a low tenn
~perature, thereby abstracting so much heat from the
water as to speedily convert it into ice. With suitable
machinery, it can be made at one-half cent per
pound.
The bayonet derives its name from the place where
it was first invented, Bayonne, in France. and was
first used in battle as a weapon by the French, IN the
y cd 1OOos " " LOtOAo HA 1871 bAs
Bearded women have been known in every age
one was seen at the court of Car Peter l., in 1724,
with a beard of immense length. Margaret, Gov
erness of the Netherlands had a heavy beard.
Bowling is an English game, and was common as
early as the thirteenth century, especially among the
higher ranks. Charles l. played at it, and it formed
q daily occupation for leisure hours with Charles III.
The practice and principle of insurance is of great
antiquity. and was wellknown in the time of Claudius
Caesar, A. D. 43. 1t is certain that assurance of ships
was p~ractised as early as the year 45 A. D.
Two young girls have been taken up in Hartford
for stealing whalebone, to make fashionable hoped
skirts with. Awful depravity!
LEARNED FLIAs.-There is an exhibition in the
New Bank Building, Broadway, well worth seeing.
Signor Bertolotte has about 100 Italian Fleas which
dance the polka, play on musical Instruments, draw
carriages, work at California ~diggings, fight a duel
sword in hand, draw water from a well, tell fortunes
and do a variety of feats too numerous to be described
all dressed, harnessed and instructed according to
their task. The Fleas are all secured to their res
pective positions, and perform at the bidding of the
Signor. At night they are released; they are fed
from the Signor's blood, by allowing them to g perch
upon his hand and suck their fill. They are then
placed in their different apartments, all numbered
like a well-regulated hotel.-.fl6any EUening Jour
nal, Sept. z.
THE LARGEsT.-A new steamship called the VAN
derbilt, has just been completed In New York, sur
passing In speed, power and Dimensions, anything
heretofore constructed in America. Her cost is between
five and SIX hundred thousand dollars; her length is
1886 feet. She registers 5000 tons measurement, and
her engines are of FIVE thousand horse power. She is
expected to run four hundred miles q day, making the
trip from New York to Liverpool in a little over eight
days. There are three decks extending from stem to
stern, and she will carry five hundred passengers,
under legal restrictions. In her construction, strength
and safety have been consulted rather than display.
A GUANo Ell DORADO ExpLoDED.-Some time ago
it was announced, through the money columns of the
New York press, where every bubble appears to
originate, that several islands, not laid down In any
map, had been discovered, and that guano existed
there in quantities to make fortunes for any nation
which chose to claim the islands. A stock company
was Immediately formed, shares issued nominally for
800, were offered for sale, and sales weEe effected.
The U. s. ship independence, in its recent cruise in
the Pacific, was ordered to take a peep at the islands,
and report to the Government. 1t did so, and here
is the report, which is not calculated to stiffen the
price of the stock, though it may nave that effect
upon the company. Captain Meryine says, on ap-
preaching the islands
@~Intense interest appeared t. peryade all minds,
fore and aft, as the ship neared the promised El Do
RADIO of the merchantile and agricultural interests of
our country. The delusion, however, was but trans
itory; a nearer view revealed to our astonished vision
the whole island, covered with a deep green mantle
of luxuriant vegetation, Indicative certainly Of the
strength of the soil and heavy rains common to this
locality, as also of the worthlessness of the deposit
thereon as an article of commerce. The value of guano
is I believe, determined by the amount of ammonia
which it contains, which is generated by successive
/ Io-o..A- q IL os-1o sck.o{1 Hla4 L..