The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1889-04-25
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

y
on the Austrian railways is being pre-
pared, from which one will be able to
borrow books by leaving a deposit, and
receiving it again upon the surrender
of the book.
The French have invented sub
marine boat which can dive beneath
the keel of an iron-clad, and by means
OF a special apparatus fastens explo-
sive cartridges to the side of the vessel,
and atterward explode the cartridges
by electricity.
At a recent auction sale in London
the great Hindoo Lingam god was
knocked down to a jeweler for thirteen
thousand dollars. This curious relic
stood two and a quarter inches in
height. 1t was preserved for more than
a thousand years in an ancient temple
at Delhi.
The gold and silver plate which
belongs to the Duke of Cumberland
weighs some ten tons, and the jewels
are valued at e400,000 The Dukes
hereditary casket includes the famous
pearls of Queen Charlotte (worth
4150, ,000), which caused nearly twenty
years litigation between the Queen and
the King of Hanover.
Rome is regarded chiefly as city
of antiquity, but remarkable material
progress has been made there in the
last twenty years. During that time
eighty-two miles of new streets have
been made, over 8, 900 houses have been
built or enlarged, about $27, 200, 900
have been spent in public improve
ments, and the population has increased
from 244, 900 to $500
The Emperor of China lately pre-
sented his bride with two beautiful
mirrors for her sitting-room. They are
of massive foreign glass, over six feet
long and five feet broad, set in rose
wood, with frame nine feet high, with
carved flowers in relief, and pedestals
to fix them in, also beautifully adorned
with foliage, animals, and birds. Each
mirror and each frame took eight men
to carry it.
The Pope's jubilee gift to the En-
press of Austria was the only one
which Her Majesty would accept 1t
was large, splendid mosaic, repre-
senting the Virgin and Child sur
rounded by flowers. 1t is copy of a
very fine painting in the Vatican by
David Someler The mosaic is five
feet in height, and it has taken several
years to complete it. 1t has cost up
ward of FL, 200.
"A memorial of the late Sir Henry
Maine, in white marble, has been
erected in Christ's Hospital, in Lon
don. It bears detailed record of his
long and useful career, and concludes
| thus: This tablet is erected by gov
ernors and former scholars, that for
all succeeding generations of blues
it may point the moral success and
glory are the children of hard work
and Gods favor"
The principality of Liechtenstein,
which Prince John IL offered as a
refuge to the Pope in case the latter
should abandon Rome, is a semi-inde-
pendent mountainous territory lying
between the Rhine and the canton OF
Grisons. 1t covers about ninety square
miles and has a population of little
under 10000. Liechtenstein boasts an
army of fifty men, which was modified
in the war of 1866, and it is standing
joke among Austrian officers that the
prineipality is still at war with Prus-
sia, as that kingdom forgot to conclude
separate peace with Liechtenstein
when it signed the peace of Prague
with Austria.
The Maharajah OF Baroda is the
possessor of jewels valued at G3, ,000,-
900 sterling. His regalia for state oc-
casions consists of a gorgeous collar oi
800 diamonds, some of them as big as
walnuts, arranged in five rows, sur.
rounded by a top and bottom row oi
emeralds the same size; the pendant is
famous diamond called the Star o.
the Deccan." An aigrette to match il
worn in the turban; then follow strings
of pearls of perfect roundness, gradual
ed from the size of a pea to large
marble; wondrous rings, necklaces
clusters of sapphires and rubies as big
as grapes.