The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-08

second daughter of the MarQuiseOf Duff
! ferin and Ava. Her eldest sister, whose
name curiosity enough, is also Her
mione, is the wife of Roland Munro
Ferguson. while the youngest, Lady
/ Victoria, is married to Lord Plunket
Her eldest brother. Lord Ava, was kill
ed outside Ladysmith at the beginning
of last year, and another brother, Lord
Frederick Temple, was wounded a few
months ago in South Africa
The report of the government of
India for 1899 shows that during that
year 25,587 human lives fell prey to
wild animals. BY far the largest num-
ber-24621-were killed by snakes.
Tigers were responsible for S99 deaths,
wolves for 33S. leopards 325, and 1,402
were killed by elephants, hyenas, jack
ais and crocodileS together. The deaths
due to serpents were much more nu-
merous than during preceding years;
largely, 1t is believed, because of the
numerous foundations in Bengal, which
drove the snakes into the more elevated
regions.
Steel castings are coming into use
rapidly in this country for all details
that are used in quantities of the
same shape. There is a great deal of
capital invested in the various works.
and they have recently been cousolidat-
ed under one management, with a few
exceptions. The difference between steel
and iron castings generally is that the
former have more than double the
strength for a given section, and are
capable of severe distortion of shape,
While iron castings are rigid. The cost
of the steel castings is, however, large
ly prohibitive as regards common use,
being more than three times greater
In this country steel castings are made
as heavy as forty tons, but this Is far
exceeded in Europe, where steel cast
ings of 100 tons weight are made. One
OF these large castings, a stern frame
for war vessel, was broken by the
snip going ashore, but the frame was
taken out and the fracture welded,
making the frame ae good as new.
by way of a joke young army
lieutenant, who recently returned from
the Philippines, and who was dining at
fashionable cafe the other evening,
asked the waiter il the grasShoppers
were served en- brochette or au natu-
raj, says the Philadelphia Record. The
waiter was respectfully Mortified at the
mere sugges ton, and felt relieved
when he saw that it was joke. ''Nev-
ertheless," said the young officer to his
companion, after the dinner had been
ordered, ''grasshoppers are looked upon
as great delicacies by the Filipinos They
are caught in large quantities, and the
natives pay at the rate of 81 a sack for
them. They are dried and then eaten
in various ways. One way is to bake
them into pies and cakes, and they are
also looked upon as a nice adjunct to
meal when served whole, just as we
serve sailed almonds and olives and
such things. They are also ground up
into powder, from which a soup is
made. No; I never tasted them my
self-that is, not knowingly
"A Washington dispatch to the New
York Post says Frederick Harrison's
admiration for the Capitol as an archi-
tectural work and the central object of
the Washington landscape is shared by
SO many that one can always send
thrill of panied surprise through a part
Of every group. of visitors by a remin-
der that only its two wings are built
of marble, and that for the whiteness
of its main body we must thank CO.
pious and oft-renewed applications of
white paint. But quite as much as
tonishment is likely to be felt by most
persons at the discovery that the great
DOME which has been the delight of all
beholders, is not precisely in the axis
of the central portico but about six
feet out of place Yet such is the case
IL mas been necessary to resort to
some trickery to deceive the eye in
taking in the whole effect of the edifice
but the cheat has been accomplished so
cleverly that it may be forgiven. An
other fact little known to the public is
that the exquisite proportions of the
dome are the result of accident, not de-
sign. The present lines do not follow
the architectural. drawings, because
When the base of the dome proper was
measured preparatory to lowering it
into the collar which was already in
place for it, it was found to be too
large. The collar could not then be
changed to fit, so the original base was
cut off at the point where the diminish
ing diameter would slip into the col
lar. The result was most gratifying.
If, as many experts assert, the present
dome is perfect, 1t follows that the
dome as first designed would have been
imperfect, and if it had been used. one
of the most satisfactory public edifices
in the world would have lacked large
part of its present charm.
For centuries the navigation on the
Danube, the largest river of Europe
next to the Volga, was greatly ham,
pered by the so-called Iron Gates, a
celebrated defile in the river at the
confines of Hungary, Servia and Rou-
mania, says the London Mail. At this
place the river is crossed from shore
to shore on a length of about 5000 feet
by rocky masses, and many a shin
went aground in the Iron Gates. which
always had been a terror to all navi-
gators. 1t is the most magnificent AMI
greatest river defile in the whole of
Europe. During the years of 1850 to
1896 scheme was carried out here
which involved immense difficulties A
canal 275 feet wide and feet deep
was cut through the rocks of the Iron
Gates. No less than 1400O, 900 cubic
feet of rocky masses had to BE- blasted
and more than 50.000.000 cubic feet of
stone and earth had to be excavated.
A great number of dams of a COM
bined length of $4,000 feev, had to be
built to protect the canal. The ex-
penditure for this work amounted to
about 100000 forms. Since the ccm-
pletion of this canal the navigation on
the river has steadily increased. and
thousands of steamers and barks row
sail every year down to the Black sea-
One drawback, however, remained. The
current In the Iron Gates is immense.
averaging from fourteen to eighteen
feet per second, and 1t was especially
difficult for the heavy laden ships to
steam up stream through the gates or
to tow the barges against the cur
rent. 1t was therefore decided to build
a special wire-rope steamer for the par-
pose of towing ships through the defile.