Evening star., 1895-06-01


- >AO Last winter she tried
her best to acquire control of Necker Is
Il nd, which she wanted for a mid-ocean
telegraph station. This bit Of land is moth
ing but a barren rock, incapable of sup
porting life, situated to the northwest of
the Hawaiian group, to which it belongs,
though it is not properly a member OF that
little archipelago. But the Hawaiian re-
public would not give 1t up, owing to q
treaty with the United States by which 1t
has guaranteed not to cede any part of its
possessions to foreign power. Accord
ingiy, Tanning Island, 1,200 miles south of
Honolulu, has been selected instead. Thith-
the cable is to go direct from Victoria
During the last half dozen years England
has been quietly taking possession of group
after group Of islands in the South Pacific,
with the intention of utilizing the most
suitable bits of land for telegraph stations
on the great transoceanic route. The
gobbling process has been carried on
obtrusively, but systematically. Protector
ates were established wherever it was not
practicable to assume ownership. In 1888
the British flag was raised on Kingman.
Palmyra, Washington, Tanning, Christmas,
Dudosa, Reirson and Penrhyn Islands. In
the same year her majesty, the queen, took
under her protection Ellice Island and the
Phoenix, Union and Gilbert groups. She
already had a protectorate over the Fiji
Islands. In 1889 she took Suwaroff Island,
and in 1891 Johnston Island, which is
about 800 miles west of the south end of
the Hawaiian archipelago In 1892 Gardiner
ana Danger Islands were appropriated. All
OF these islands and groups have been ex-
amined with view to determine their
availability for the purpose mentioned.
The distances to be traversed by the pro
posed cable are enormous. AS the crow
flies it Is $3.50 miles from Victoria to Fan
ming Island. From Tanning Island to Fiji
1t is 1,9GI miles, and from the latter point
to Auckland is 1,34S miles. From Auckland
to Sydney. in New South Wales, a cable is
already laid. This is the route contem-
plated. the total distance to be covered
being about 1890 statute miles. Careful
estimates recently made by the hydro
graphic office in this city show that the cost
of laying transpacific cable would be Just
about 81 OOO per mile. including everything
This would bring the total expense of put
ting down the line from Victoria to Auck-
land, exclusive of preliminary surveys. up
to $7.20O,0OO. The cost is somewhat in
creased by the fact that the cable itself
mas mas TO be carried all the way from Eng
land. No submarine cables are manufac-
tured on this continent Most of those now
employed were made in England. where
the business was originally initiated. Four
ton exclusively to this industry; there are
two similar concerns in France and one in
Italy.
To Girdle the Earth.
Victoria, which is at the south end of
Vancouver Island, is already connected by
cable with Vancouver Town across the
straits on the mainland. Vancouver Town
Is the terminus of the Canadian Pacific
railroad. Thus the proposed line will con-
vey messages direct from Europe to Aus
tralia, and the London merchant will be
able to send kilograms beneath two oceans
to Sydney. From Sydney the same tele-
grams could be forwarded back to London
by way of India and the continent of
Europe. Thus it will be practicable actual
ly, when this project is accomplished, to
transmit an electric spark entirely around
the world. By throwing open all circuits
along the wires the spark could be made to
girdle the earth completely in fraction of
a second.
When the earliest cables were laid regard
was had only for the contour of the bottom
over which the telegraphic rope was to
pass. But nowadays many other things
are considered in deciding upon a route.
First and foremost is the nature of the bot
tom. Landing places are chosen at points
from which the insulated wire may run as
quickly as possible into deep water. so as
to avoid the destructive iodine of the shall
lows. In the latter also are accumulations
Of decaying animal and vegetable matter,
which produce injurious acids. AS has been
said already, the conditions for cable lay
irg are admirable in all proba bility through
out the entire distance of $3.50 miles from
Victoria to Tanning Island. Such obstacles
as drowned ountains, which occur in all
oceans, are easily avoided. One such was
discovered recently, entally to the ex-
ploration of the submarine lane from Cal
ifornia to the Hawaiian Islands, 75O miles
to the westward of Monterey bay. Though
it is mighty volcanic peak two and half
miles high, its existence had not been
suspected previously. because half mile Of
water flows above 1t.
Less is known of the paving and contour
of the ocean floor for the rest of the pro-
70 From ENonn in TSIa nd tn AIYnt<
land, which Is a distance about equal to
that from New York to Liverpool-namely.
3,315 statute miles as the crow flies. The
normal level of the bottom of the Pacific is a
little less than three miles, though there are
deeper areas, and here and there a yawning
chasm, as off the east coast of Japan,
where a submarine valley occurs six and a
half miles in breadth. To the southwark,
however, over the greater part of the wat
cry region extending from Tanning Island
to Auckland the ocean is somewhat more
| shallow, though occasionally depths exceed
ing three miles occur between the numer-
GUS groups of islands. These groups mark
great shoals, which probably are of vol
canic origin, the islands themselves being
prominences high enough to appear above
the surface. Coral polyps which can live
only in shadows, have utilized every avail
able shoal place for their building opera
tions. uplifting out of the sea reefs which
in many cases have formed islands OF con-
siderable area. Such islands are apt to be
a ring of reef inclosing sort of harbor.
Character of Tanning Island.
Islands Of this kind are called "atoIls.' -
Their harbors frequently afford refuge to
mariners voyaging in the south seas. One
of these is big enough to accommodate all
the navies of the world. Disintegration of
the surface coral by the elements makes
the beginning of a soil The seeds are
brought by birds and by ocean currents.
and presently the rudiments of vegetation
appear. Eventually perhaps a few natives
from other islands settle upon the new
atolI and exc out a scanty subsistence by
fishing and by cuItivating the taro and a
few other plants. The soil is capable of
yielding so little naturally that it is helped
out by digging holes IN the coral and
throwing into them every thing in the way
of animal and vegetable refuse that can be
gathered together. This stuff, mixed with
disintegrated coral, furnishes material for
primitive garden patches.
Tanning Island is such an atoll. 1t was
discovered in 17JS by an American ship,
the Betsy. 1t is ten miles long, four miles
wide, and of an oval shape, inclosing a
harbor which could be made very useful
by clearing away coral heads that have
grown up here and there inside the en-
Comprising reef. The latter Is half a mile
wide, and in no part is more than two or
three feet above the surface of the ocean,