The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-06-14
MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS AND
THINGS,

THINGS.
The artesian well system is proving
a success in Florida. The wells bring
copiouS supplies of excellent water in
nearly every instance.
The French academy of moral and
vote, elected Herbert
Spencer as correspondent in the sec
ton of philosophy, in place of the late
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Although London is the great CEN
ter of evangeliZing schemes, it con-
tainS 5000 gin mills, 10000 known
thieves, and more than 100000 peo-
pie who never enter church.
There is a new French gun twenty
nine feet six inches long, weighing
fifty tons, costing 10000. 1t is wire |
bound, and is expected to put a ball |
through fifteen inches of armor at a |
distance OF seven and half miles.
Among the curiosities that will be |
seen at the New Mexico tertio-mil- |
lennial is the cross which Coronado |
planted in the Zia Pueblo when he |
took possession of that village in the |
name of the king, 342 years ago.
During the early part of this
month the largest mule in the world
was sold at Kansas City. 1t was
eighteen and three-fourths hands high,
weighed 1875 pounds. measured fif-
teen feet from his nose to his tail, and
was six years old.
For the last four years the rainfall
in Denver for the month of May has
been steadily increasing. The in
crease of 1881 over 1880 was 100 per
cent; of 1882 over 1881, thirty-five
per cent; 1883 over 1882, nearly 100
per cent; increase of 1883 over 1886,
nearly 400 per cent.
Assuming that the immigration of
1883 will equal that of 1882 and 1881,
these three years, it is estimated, will
give us not less than quarter of a
million of German farmers and me-
chanics, and over $50,O00O0Q of Ger
man money.
The Brooklyn Eagle claims to have
attained, on the day of the bridge
opening, the greatest circulation ever
reached by an American journal.
Over 250,0OO copies of the paper were
printed and sold between morning
and night, and the presses were again
set in motion to supply the demand.
AS natural result after the acct
dent on the Brooklyn bridge, the num-
Der OF foot passengers has greatly de-
creased. The ferry's business has in
creased, according to the keeper of
the Fulton ferry, who said; "Our
boats were crowded this morning, and
we at one time thought it would be
necessary to put on extra boats. The
accident has killed the bridge, and we
are beginning to feel the effects"
The experiment OF propelling a
street car by compressed air has been
recently tried with entire success in
the suburbs of London. Several steep
grades are Surmounted easily and
smoothly, and the car is under perfect
control. The company expects to
abandon the use of horses entirely as
soon as enough cars have been built
to perform the service,
The largest consignment of opium
ever brought to San Francisco was
brought to that port on the 10Th ult.,
by the City of Toxic. 1t amounted
to 20,bQ0 pounds and the duty on it
was $123,0O0. The same steamer
brought another consignment of 1929
pounds, and 5000 had arrived two
days before on the City of New York.
This extraordinary Importation is due
to the fact that after July the duty
will be $40 a pound instead of So.
Millionaire William Astor, not to
be outdone by millionaire Jay Gould,
has contracted with William Cramps
Sons for an iron steam yacht OF large
proportions and splendid furnishings,
to be launched early in the fall. The
vessel viii be bark-rigged, 225 feet
long on deck, Fl feet and 6 inches
wide, ID feet deep in the hold, draw
ing about Is feet of water. Her en-
CINE will develop about 1900 horse
power. All modern improvements
throughout will be used, her cabins
will be magniticently furnished and
her normal speed will be fifteen
knots.
Recent excavations In Pompeii
have established the fact that the
city was built on the site OF two other
towns, which had each flourished and
fallen to ruins in turn. The first in
habited in the sixth century B. G.. land
w do hIOlO1J q CO1OCOlOh VI LIABILITIES
dwelling inside walled Enclosure for
mutual protection. The second town
was built two centuries later on the
site of the first, and inhabited by the
SamniteS, people of considerable
culture, as the ruins of their build
ings testify.
1t has been a question often voiced
by the English press that four-fiths OF
the tonnage passing through the Sue7
canal is British; that the canal is i'm
pOrtant only as connecting integral
points of the British empire; that it
passes through territory in which
British influence is, OF ought to be-
predominant. and yet it is controlled
by private corporation of French
men, who are hostile to England and
unwilling to concede to her a share
of its management commensu-
rate with her interest in it. English
shipOwners have thus been provoked
into Undertaking, or pretending to
undertake, the construction of a par
allel canal, to be under English man
agement. Once constructed it would
probably engross the cream of the
business done by the present canal
and annihilate its profits. Hence NJ
de Lesseps suddenly offers concessions
hitherto refused, including reduced
tariff. improved regulations, and the
admission of the English to an effec-
tive share in the management of the