Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-07-24

HHsW CSattnents FeFna Rna Diaappear.
The student Of history reads OF The great
sea hght which King Edward Ill fought
with the French OF Sluys, how In those days
the merchant vessels came up 10 the walls OF
that houfishing seaport BY every tide, aud
how, a century later, q Portuguese feet con-
veyed Isabella from Lisbon, and an English
tleet brought Margaret OF York from the
Thames 70 marry successive dukes Of BuTgun-
dy at the port Of Sluys. In our time II
modern traveller drives twelve miles out Of
Bruges, across the Dutch frontier be viii and
a small agricultural town surrounded by ooTn-
helds and meadows and ol1mps Of trees,
where the sea is not In sight from the top OF
the town ball steepl0 This is Hluys.
We turn nov 70 The great Rais do Mont st.
Michael, between Normandy aud Brittany.
In Roman authors We read OF the vast forest
called 'Seiiaoum Nemus," in the ctntre Of
which an isolated rock arose, surmonntsd BY
temple of JupiteF, once n college OF Druid
esses. Now, the same rock, with its glorious
pile dedicated to st. Michael, is surrounded
by the sea at high tides. Tue story Of this
transformation is even more striking than that
OF Sluys, and its adequate narration Justly
earned for NJ. Manst the gold medal OF the
French Geographical society IN 1928.
Let us turn for q moment 10 the Mediterra-
mean shores Of Spain and the mountains Of
hureia. Those rocky heights whose peaks
stand out against the dsey blue sky, scarcely
support a blade OF vegetation. The algarobas
and olives at their bases are arti6oially sup
piled with soil. Il is scarcely credible that
these are the same mountains which, accord
ing 10 the forest book Of King Alfonso el Be-
bio we're once clothed 10 their submits with
pines aud other forest trees, while soft clouds
and mist hung over q rounded, shaggy out
line Of wood where now the naked rocks
make q hard line against the Furnished sky.
Bot Arab and Spanish ohronicleFs alike record
the facts, and geographical soienoe explains
the cause. There is scarcely district In the
whole range in the civilized world where
some equally interesting geographical story
has not been recorded, and where the same
valuable IessOne may not be taught. This is
comparative geography.
Capt. l.. U. Hernandez, who haa spent years
in calling the Psoiho relates faots that he had
observed, which tend TO prove the theory set
set forth by Dana that there Is an immense
area Of the Pacific ocean bed, lying under the
equator, about 6OO0 miles In length and about
5000 in breadth, that has been gradually sink
ing lower and lower for thousands Of years.
The frst thing that called the attention of
scientific men 10 this fact was the formation
OF the innumeTable atolls aud barrier reefs in
that part OF the Pacific Ocean. They found
on the outskirts OF this AREA that there were
islands fIinged with coral reefs.
''As they sailed past these beautiful islands
they saw other islands with barrier circling
them. A coral reef a few feet below the sur
face Of the water girdled the Island ct . dis
tanoe from it varying from q half 70 thirty
miles, and whose presence vas marked BY .
ring OF snowy foam made BY the breakers.
As they penetrated farther into the region Of
the sea they came npon atolls, which are
formed by circles OF coral enclosing smooth
sheet Of water. These IaROOus we're found TO
vary in diameter from thirty miles or more
to only few feet, but coFAls do not build
their reefs at greater depth than hundred
feet and yet by sounding these singular reefs
in the Pacific Ocean il was found that the
coral reached as far as the fathom liue went.
The conclusion Of scientific men was that the
bed of the ocean was gradually sinking, and
that the eorAls began 10 build fringing reefs
on the islands, and as the land sank, the cor
ais kept steadily at work building up as fast
as the land went down. As the land diap-
peared, the fringing reefs became atolls or
circles Of coral enclosing calm lagoon. Il
was found that the resfs below hundred feet
are dead, and il is inferred that at lower
depth than that the corals were killed by cold.
This is the generally accepted theory in re-
gard to the subsistence OF the Pacific. A few
years ago stopped at Pouynipcte Island, in
the Pacicf, in east longitude 15S deg, % min,
and north latitude 60 deg, so min. The is
land ID surrounded by q reef, with Q broad
ship channel between II and the island.
''At places in the reef there were natural
breaks that served as entrances 10 the harbors.
In these ship channels there were number
of islands, many of which we're surrounded
by q wall of stone five or six feet feet high,
and on these islands there stood q great many
low houses, built Of the same kind OF stone
as the walls about them. These structures
seem TO have been used as temples and forts.
The singular feature OF these islAnds Is that
the walls are q foot or more below the water.
When they we're built they were evidently
above the water and connected with the main
land but they have gradually sunk until the
sea has risen q foot or more around them.
The natives on the island do not know when
these works were built; it is 90 far back in
the past that they have even no tradition of
the structures. Yet the works show signs of
great skill, and certainly prove that whoever
built them knew thoroughly how 10 transport
and lift heavy blocks Of stone. Up in the
mountains of the island there is Q quarry of
the same kind Of stone that was used in build
ing the wall about the islAnds, and in that
quarry to-day there are great blocks Of stone
that have been hsWn out ready for transporta-
tion. The natives have no tradition touch
ing the quarry. There is no doubt that the
island was once inhabited by An intelligent
race OF people, who built the temples and
forts of heavy masonry on the high bluffs Of
the island and that as the land gradually sub
sided theas bluffs became isIands."
- -- H.