The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-12
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

. u--s from which period it may be said act
ualy 20 date. comprised about lc0 fami-
lies. Six years after, s2S. when the public
pilgrimage 10 Mecca was underta ken. the
prophet mad 200 followers. In the march
against Mecca, in the year SO. MOhammed
led 10000 to the field: being afterwards
acknow lodged king. While in the short
space OF eighty years after his death, Mo-
nam ianlsm relgned supreme over Ara
bla, Syria, Persia, the whole Of the north
ern coast OF Africa, and over Spain And
nolWltns landing internal strlfes and d.
visions, IL grew OutWardly with such "a
pldlty that IN 1853 ''the crescent was made
70 CLEAN from the spires of ST. Sophia.
Cons tanunoplc," and in 1923. the No
hammedan war cry resOunded before
lenna- In an, a progress which, for
and though its splendOr began to wane
toward the middle of the sixteenth cen
tury, u Still comprises within its fold
2h,t10Ul or Il per cent. of the human
race.
The Suez canal passed in 1895. says the
Journal Of Commerce CNew York; 3434
steamers, which is not quite ten a day
The ST. Mary's canal, open last year 81
days. passed 4, 495 steamers, 1870 sail
vessels and 81 unregistered craft. The
average number of vessels that passed
through the canal on each day that il was
open was over seventy-twO and the aver
age lockage per day was a fraction over
thirty. The 1913 vessels of every class
that passed through the 800" canal last
year had a registered net tonnage of
lG3as,IS which is an average of not much
less than GOO tons, and the freight carried
amounted TO a. AZ, 64S net tons. The num-
suez canal in 1884 was only eighty-two
less than the number in 1885, and the net
tonnage was S,039, lO5. The tonnage in 1885,
then, very slightly exceeded One-half the
tonnage of the 800" canal, carrying al
most entirely coarse bulk freights and
open less than eight months. Two and a
nalt mutton tons or coal, nearly nine mil
lion barrels Of flour, over forty-one mil
lion bushels Of wheat and other grains,
nearly eight million tons of iron ore, and
TnTnH-QU9rrDTg a
OF lumber. board measure, were the larger
items of freight.
japanese workmen are extremely in
genious; they seem to find a way of over
coming every difficulty. If they are re-
qulred to move heavy box from one
place TO another. four of them will take
hold Of IL, one al each corner, and by
peculiar juggling motion jerk it into a
certain position. They make human le
Vers Of themselves, and giving loud
cultural grunt at each step they take,
Ihey start on az a raPld pace. Inc straln
may make them bow-legged and red-faced,
but they never relinquish their task. If
the JapS want to drive a pile in
the ground. they first put together large
wooden structure. built on an Eiffel tower
principle, and tied together with rice
straw. \ heavy irOn-tpped beam of Jap
anese cedar is SO arranged that IL will
easily slide up and down. Four ropes are
attached TO this cedar passing over pull
leys. and then into the hands of the cool
les. At given word. they start off
ing the beam until it is at the top Of
the structure. Then the "kng-pin.' or
foreman, shouts 'Ki-hi," and all hands
leave go of the ropes, and the beam comes
laundering down on to the pile which is
thus easily driven in. The japanese work
mans tools are most primitive affairs.
The saw. for instance, is simply a sheet
of steel about eight inches square. rough
~ notched with teeth. This is set into
handle measuring, as rule about
two feet in length with this clumsy in
strument however he is able to accom-
plish an immense amount of work
Lake Morat, in Switzerland, has a queer
habit of turning red about two or three
times every ten years, says an exchange.
sheets Of water in that picturesque coun-
try, and It's peculiar freak Is attributed
to disposition to celebrate the slaughter
OF the BurgundlanS, under Charles the
Bold, on June p, 1876 But the French
say IL bushes for the conduct of the
Swiss who in that battle gave the Bur
| redCer than ever, and had a sinister APP
pearance when the setting sun !llum-
mated its waves. This phenomenon, of
course, has its legend. The old fishermen
of the lake, who catch enormous FISH
called silures, that weigh between TWEEN
ty-five and forty kilograms, say when
they see the waters of the lake REDEEM
ing, that 1t is the blood of the Burgun-
dams. As matter of fact, some of the
| bodies of the Burgundians killed in the
| battle were thrown into the lake, while
Others We're tossed into a grave filled
with quicklime. This historical recollec-
ton angered the Burgundan soldiers of
the victorious armies of the republic in
| 1888 so much that they destroyed the
monument raised n honor. of their com
| patriots who fell historically in that bat
tie and Henri Martin very justly re-
preached them for that piece Of vandal-
ism. 1t would hardly do to attribute the
reddening OF the waters of the lake to
| the blood of the soldiers of Charles the
| Bold. The cOlOring s due simply to the
presence in large quantities of little
n n q Ii-f- &c
| cillatroia rubescens. The curious thing
! about t is that Lake Morat is the only
lake in which this curious growth is de
| veioped, and this popularity is begin
ming to interest scientific men.
"A Minneapolis correspondent writes:
| One OF the largest clocks in the world has
| just been completed and put in motion
IN The tower Of the new HenneRin county
| court house, in Minneapolis. The tower
/ itself rises 800 feet above the ground, and
! the clock is located in it's top, surmount-
| peal of ten bells. This clock has four
| faces, each dial being q feet 4 inches in
diameter. The minute hands. which are
/ broad pieces Of wood sheathed in copper,
/ are each II feet, s inches in
| length. AT the axis they are two feet in
diameter, tapering to the blunt point
! hands are each 6 feet inches in length
/ ana both minute and nOur hands are bal
| aneed on the axes by metal rods extend
| hands themselves The four dials of the
! clock are made Of ground glass of extreme
| thickness, having an octagonal center.
through which the shafts from the cen,
| tral works pass. This is surrounded by
| triangular pieces made by the lorna ton
! of two diagonal squares in the circular
! frame. Outside of this are the sections
| dividing the glass into the flve-minute
| periods Another circle shows the minute
| divisions. Behind each dial is to be plac-
| ed white dial reflector upon whose sur
! face are TO be placed twelve fifty-candle
| power incandescent lamps, by means of
! which the four faces may be Illuminated.
| Above the clock is the belfry A small
device. called by the ,workmen who have
! been putting the delicate machinery in
| place, the piano." connects the clock
| with four of the bells in such a way that
! at each quarter of an hour the four bells
VIII strike in succession and at the hour
| this will be followed by strokes on the
| big bell to the number indicating the
! hour. To obviate the difficulty which
| might otherwise be experienced from cold
! it is proposed to place in the clock room
| IN the tower a small electric heater,
| which will keep the temperature snfTi
| GENTLY equable to avoid the effects of eX-
| treme cold in the metallic parts of the
| clock.