The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Among the numerous vegetable prod
ucts Of Brazil, says the Scientific Ameri-
can,the Moquilea utilis. OF pottery tree, IS
not the least noteworthy. This tree attains
a height OF 100 feet. and has a very slender
trunk. which seldom much exceeds one
foot in diameter at the base The WOOD
is exceedingly hard and contains a very
large amount OF silica. but not so much
as does the bark, which is largely employ
ed as a source Of silica or the man
utacture OF pottery. In preparing the
bark for the pOtter's use II is nrst burned
and the residue is then puiverized ana
mixed with clay in the proper proportion
With an equal quantity Of the two ingre-
dents. a superior quality Of earthenWare
is produced. This IS very durable, and IS
capable OF withstanding any amount OF
heat. The natives employ IL for all kinds
OF culinary purposes. Mhen freSn, the
bark cuts like soft sandstone, and the
presence of the slick may be readily as
certained by grinding a piece Of the bark
between the teeth. When dry, II Is gen
orally brittle, though sometimes diff
heult 10 break. After BENG ouIneo u
cannot, if of good quality, be broken up
between the fingers, a mortar and pestle
being required to crush it.
An interesting question has been
raised in the navy department as TO the
best age for the commander of modern
naval vessel, says the Chicago-Ilme
Herald. Under the law of promotion now
existing in the service u man must be al
]
command of ship. The experts say II
is altogether wrong to place man of this
age in command of a battle ship or cruis-
er. There Is no product OF human IN
genuity more complicated than modern
battle ship. Napoleon or some other wise
man once said that great battle Is not
won by an army, but by a man. II TINS
Is true in any sort of fighting II must be
! in naval warfare. The success Of a battle
! ship in action depends upon the GOODNESS,
| the judgment, the quick decision ana
! bold acceptance of a chance Wnlcn may
come but once in the engagement on the
/ part of him who stands on the bridge
/ with the great machine under his control
| No one argues that a man OF So years Is
/ too old to command if he has had the
sort of experience which brings out SELF
reliance, courage and GOODNESS under great
! stress, but when one of our subordinate
/ officers is for the first time promoted TO
/ the command of a ship at the age OF DO
| or over, he lacks this experience, and in
/ the opinion of the experts is too old, too
/ little adaptable and receptive to acquire
| the needed qualities. The experts fear
! that a man of this age, accustomed all
his life to obedience and to having some
! one else to do the thinking for him, viii
| lack the pose and nerve necessary to
make him successful as the director OF a
! ship in action. The best authorities agree
! that if a man is to be a first-claSS fighter
| 1t Is necessary for him to engage IN hght-
ing on his own account as commander and
| not as a subordinate, before he IS 40.
| Since the great African island has
| lately caused a deal of talk, it will not
| be unintereSting to give some account OF
! the strange ceremony practced at the
| Malagasy national festival every year as
| related by nearly all the travellers that
| have visited the land of the Hovas. Inc
| "Fandroana," or royal bath, was first in
| stituted by King Ratambo, and Is held
| annually, by royal proclamation, from
Nov. p to Jan. 10: During this time no
| business is allowed TO proceed. The peo-
| pie of the kingdom meet the queen in the
| silver palace on the first day of the festi-
! val, and a red cock is then brought by
| the head priests or sacritcer of the court.
Its neck is wrung, and the blood beins
| caught in a banana leaf is carried to
the sovereign, who touches with II her
! forehead, neck, stomach, armpit, finger
nails and toe nails; the rest of the assem-
| bly, following the example. Next day the
! people assemble again for the royal bath
in one of the sacred corners of the hall,
| in a silver bath, being screened from
view by ''lambag' held UP by her at
| tendants. Amid the firing of cannon and
the joyous shouts of her humble subjects
her majesty then passes along the bal
cony. and from horn in her hand sprink-
les the crowd with the water she has
just been using for her ADDITIONS. eX-
claiming at the same time, 'Masina, aho!''
Il am purified) This sprinling is said 20
tpyify an abundance of rain during the
coming year To be absent from the GER
emony would be to incur the royal dis
| fiarv minister himself NJ 10 Mvre de- Vii
ers, who is now again on his way to
Madagascar, had to submit, in 1886. to this
/ strange OIuedl. Every WlAe, hlSOt must
be with her husband at that time, or it
is considered that she is as good as di-
Vorced. The new year is then supposed
to have begun, and for several weeks
ing.
in looking at the ocean the mind al
| most instinctiVely turns to the fate of the
ships which find their resting place upon
its floor. If the reader were appointed TO
inspect the bottom of the drained sea, he
! would be sure to look at once for some
III 1t. Il.
storm and battle. Fancy has depicted
these vessels as thickly strewn over the
bottom of the sea and at times hung in the
depths, unable, on account of the density
of the water, to find their way to the
ear tn. But all we know of the condition
of the deep leads us to believe that the
| sunken vessels finds its way quickly Il
the foundation of the sea. In few hours
at most it reaches it's everlasting grave
and is ready to for the swift destruction
| which awaits it's form. At the stroke of
its fall it must in part sink into the ooze,
which everywhere is deep. Quickly the
creatures of the sea, who by long exist
ence in fields where food is scanty have
learned to avail themselves of every sub
sistence, seize upon ali the organic matte
which fortune has sent them. Even the
masts and the other woodwork win short
| ly be honeycombed by living species and
weighted down by encrusting forms Thus
before long the masts will fall and the
decks will share in the ruin. If the reader
could traverse the field whereunto came
the shot-riGdled ships of Trafalgar ne
would probably, says a writer in the
Youths Companion, be surprised at the
slight effect they would make on the
landscape. Each wreck would most like
ly appear as a low mound of debris, in
which it would be difficult to trace the
semblance of the stout craft which waged
the greatest sea fight of all time. Ships
of European people have been for cen
turtles finding their way to the floor of the
ocean. Probably over q hundred thous-
and vessels have met this fate since the
time when our race began to find its way
around the world. Yet by far the greater
part of these have fallen upon the shall
lows near the shore, where the swift cur
rents and rapidly moving debris are kely
to aid in their destruction and burial.
How swiftly they disappear in these con-
ditions may be judged by the experience
of a diver who has sought for sunken
treasures. Almost invariably, after a
| hundred years or so have passed, they
find that the craft is quite lost to sight.
Far more money has been spent in such
explorations than has been won from them
Curiously enough, the most permanent
records of mans empire of the seas are
being written in the ashes from the coal
fed fires of the steamships. This waste
is in its nature indestructible, and the
mass of material contributed in any one