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

works will be erected on the island of
SAINT Elena at the eastern end OF the
city.
There is to be constructed from Da-
mascus to Mecca railway in order that
pilgrims may be saved from a sea voy-
age. ID is proposed that the line shall be
built by soldiers.
-I.ondon's fire brigade is TO have in
stalled and maintained for two years
wireless biography Instruments 10 con-
meet the fire station at Streatham Green
and a temporary sub-station in Streat-
ham. 1t seems curious use fer wireless
telegraphy when ordinary fire alarms or
telephones would answer the purpose.
The Norddeutscher Lloyd Company
has recently ordered a steamer, which, Il
is claimed, will be the largest vessel
ahoat 1t is TO be built by the Stettin
Vulcan Company, and will be 706 feet in
length. The engines will be on the Schlick
system and will be of 1900 indicated
horsepower, driving the vessel al a speed
of twenty-four knots. ID is expected that
the steamer will be completed in 1902.
Some years ago a telegraph cable was
laid in the bed of the Amazon river to
connect the various towns along that
stream with Para. The driftwoo1, etc.
brought down by the stream broke and
interfered with the workings of the cable
to such an extent that it, has been in
use only a short time since ID was laid.
A land line is now being built and 49,
miles have been completed The difficulty
of building a telegraph line through the
Amazon forests is enormous, and it would
not be surprising if this proves to be the
most expensive telegraph Inc in the
world.
-Backwardness of the authorities in
London in adopting the mechanical inven-
tions of the century is most extraordin-
ary In London the men who clean the
street are provided with shovels pick
axes, antiquated carts and inefficient
brooms which have little effect upon an
inch or so of melted snow. A short time
ago a rude snowplow made of boards
weighed down by a tree-trunk, was 20
be seen in Battersea Park and few open
places. In Paris the heaviest fall of snow
is got rid of in short order with the aid
of tools, squeegees and revolving brushes
which sweep the slush down splendid
drains
Uses of borax are extending year by
year. The meat purchasers of the coun-
try are the largest consumers absorbing
100000 pounds and over annually says
the Scientific American For mechanical
purposes the demand is constantly in
creasing, but it is in the domestic con-
sumption of borax that the expectation
and hope of the industry is centered. For
a hundred different demands of household
economy, as an adjunct to the kitchen,
laundry nursery or toilet, as a sanitary
agent of value, and even as a medicinal
quantity, borax has been found of such
positive value as to insure a constant
and increasing element in the world 5
necessities.
The following tortoise story had its
origin at Center Bridge, Bucks county,
Pennsylvania: Edward Johnson was
walking over his farm the other day.
when he picked up land tortoise bearing
the initials of his father, d. r. Johnson,
and the date 1916, These initials We're cut
on the tortoise when Mr.. Johnson's ia
ther who has been dead for several years
was a boy of seventeen, showing the tor
toise to be over 81 years cid. 1t has been
picked up on the farm several times by
members of the family. but had been
missing for a number CT years and was
supposed to be lost or dead. The farm
has been in the possession of the John
son family for over a century.
According to the Chinese habit of do
ing most things backward. a visitor in
Shanghai says he fully expected to see
the first Chinese cyclist he came across
pedal backward. ITO our establishment
he wrote, "he rode forward in the proper
manner. His attire was such as is not
easily forgotten. The baggy trousers were
haul=d up over the kne7s. disclosing a
pair of shiny sticks swathed in dish
rags or something This was done to pre-
vent his trousers from tearing in the
cha n. Bare feet on rubber pedals, big,
We low balloon shirt bulging out like the
spinnaker on a racing yacht, and flying
pigtail under a small tin can of cap
topped by button. He was wealthy
merchant, we were told, and looked as IL
wheeling agreed with him in spite of his
clothes"
-Excava tons of the Roman forum have
excited much attention. Sig. Giacomo
Boni describes a most interesting scien-
tific discovery. This is that the sacra-
rum of Mars was an actual and gen
uine sacred seismic observatory. the
shocks Of earthquakes being registered
by the oscillations of spears. The spears
kept in the Regia were venerated as the
weapons of the mythical father of the first
king and founder of Rome. The spears
were wooden rods with metal points and
they were in themselves objects of wor-
ship. 1t is not known whether the spears
were suspended so as 10 register the
smallest oscillation but 1t is certain that
their vibration was considered as a fore
runner of disaster. The oscillations of
the spears were registered in classical
writings. as in Livy: "Hastae Martis
motae," the date is $40 A. IT, c. Similar
instances occur for 6S5, $50, 654 and 657.
Not only is Havana one of the queer
est quaintest cities 60 be seen in thous-
ands of miles Of travel, but there are
many customs and practices in vogue
which mark it as a distinct metropolis
combining many phases of European,
South American and island life. The peo-
pie of Cuba are a much mixed people.
largely of Spanish extrac ion, yet not ali
Spaniards. The Cuban himself has be-
come a distinct type, and has his own
customs, habits, superstitions and beliefs
The same is true of the Canary Island
ers, San Domingans and people from
various parts of South and Central Amer
lea; they are all of Spanish antecedents,
yet there is such an admixure of Indian
and negro in their makeup that they, too,
form distinct types. Cuba has more than
100000 negroes who speak the Spanish
tongue. and who are henfPhted