The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-11-12
HOUSTON POST LETTER BOX

UUUOIUN rUOI LII LIN QUA
tThis department is intended to ansTer
| questions that are OF general interest i.s
! tuain object is 10 supply out-of-tne-way taFts
and curious information Questions o. pc.
sonal Interest only will not be answered. ny
| business or personal addresses will be given
| All correspondence should be addressed TO Vhc
Letter Box. care Houston Post. Owing TO the
large number OF questions received. answers
can not always be given promptiy)
Can you give me any information on the
ancient auueducts said to have been recently
discovered In Mexico? C.h.o'
The following from the New York Tribune
will answer you: discoveries were made re-
Gently in the lava beds of New Mexico. some
of which arc situated eighteen miles west OF
Santa Fe which prove that thousands Of
years ago there existed in New Mexico
system of reservoirs and irrigation vaducts
that is unparalleled at this age. Under the
lava. which covers hundreds of square miles,
are found traces of cemented bitches and
reservoirs that are marvels of civil engineer
ing. Irrigation engineers have much to learn
from the people, older than the Pueblo race,
who inhabited Now Mexico when the race
from which Columbus sprang were still bar
barians. The ancients provided against seep-
age by cementing the bottoms OF their bitches
soils. Their bitches wound in and out at
the base OF mountain ranges. following the
snuosities OF canons and rounding points in
such a manner MS to catch all the storm
water before 1t was absorbed by the loose
sands at the mountains base. Reservoirs at
convenient basins stored the water, which
was led in cemented bitches across the loose
soils to where it was needed for use. Chasms
mn Oh No, aud ns,Ao al
gineering devices were used for the removal
of silt that might be used as an aid to the
fertility of loose and rocky soils otherwise
valueless. Into some of the bitches lava has
run. showing their great antiquity. Others
are now covered with shifting sands, but
enough are still visible in many places IN
New Mexico to enable the skilled engineer to
understand the system which prehistoric New
Mexicans rendered so effective"
~
Will the year 1900 be the last year of this
century or the first year of the next century?
J.H. /
The Post has answered this query about
once every month for the past two years. I
but here goes again. The Nineteenth century !
ends at midnight on Sunday, December 81 I
1900. Why this is so has been explained time
and again, and if there is still any doubt
as to when this century ends and the next
begins, just possibly this uncertainty will
be removed by formal statement just made
by Prof. w. II. NJ. Christie, the director OF
the royal observatory at Greenwich. Tho
Twentieth century," asserts this high au-
thorty, without any ifs and ands, begins
on January /, 1901" and then he goes on
as follows: at has been generally agreed to
call the first year of the Christian era Ammo
Dominl l. not A. d. o. and consequently the
Second century begins with A. d. 1Ol 100
years after the beginning of the first year,
and SO on for the succeeding centuries The
question was fully discussed at the century
dinner at Glasgow, on April To- 1870, when
the lord dean of the guild, after s,iotng va
rious authorities gave his decision as ar
bitter that the Nineteenth century did not I
commence until January /, 1901"
49,
Is there such thing as smokeless coal in
use as fuel for domestic purposes? Fob.
''smokeess coal OF recent invention has
just been tested in England In the course
OF the experiments, which are described in {
La Nature duly 22), the new combustible /.
was burned in ordinary CRATES and also in t
braziers placed in the middle of the room 7
and it was found that 1t gave off only traces I
of sme.;e which were hardly perceptible even =
when fresh coal was added to the fire The /
fre resembled an extraordinarily brilliant I
coke fire and had long white and blue flames u
The heat given oft is intense and as to the {
of steam, pound of coal
evaporates fourteen pounds of water. The
residue (ashes, etc) does not exceed 3 per
cent, For industrial use the combustible is
nodded into perforated bricks Weighing about
zen pounds apiece, but for domestic use ii U
axes the form of cakes or Jumps of lentlcular :
orm, of which 40 weigh 100 pounds. Al u
present the bricks can be bought in London "
1t retail for 2ls (s5.25) a ton. We are told "
nat the new combustible is composed of 90
Der cent OF coal dust and OF per cent OF A
MIXTURE OF pine and caustc lime These
hree substances are mixed and run ipto
noids. where they harden to such degree
nat they do not separate in burning" p
~ c,
piease give some facts about the proposed s.
ew Alaskan boundary at or near Chilkoot u
N.T.O. OF
To begin with let it be understood that at ,s
ho head of Lynn canal there are two In D,
cts; one to the left. called ChiIkat and one W
. the right called chilkoot On the latter ",
the head of navigation, are skaguay and to
ne SUBMITS or water sheds, over which ono ~
lust pass by ascending the Chilkat inlet from ! Ca
lis route TO the Yukon. To the left from it,
yhn canal. one passes through Pyramil ~,
arbor to Chilkat at the head of navigation. OF
long accepted maps, the United State, OF
WINS thirty miles inland from tide water. Il
10 British claim that the measurement of ha
llrty miles should start from point further liz
own The temporary adjustment fixes the Je
ne on the Chikat river. 22h statute miles ~ ~
ON the head OF navigation. on the ChilI,at te,
let OF the Lynn canal. and on the Klehina an
yer twelve statute miles further inland. On ~,
h'te ana Chilkoot passes to the right the an
mporary line is fixed at the summit mr. six
hier shed above Dyea and Skaguay There Gle
no justice In any cession temporary or
herwiso that would give Great Britain a
rtion Of the Lynn canal. Ha
~ :
Wln you be SO good as to help me out .a'
IN the meaning OF some OF the Boer words IL J
On as rand. "laager' and "trek?" sou
ADD. in
Lager" meane Damn. ,ha sao,,o. - a., A.