The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The English steamer Kirkstall re-
Gently sailed with a cargo of Welsh
coal and patent fuel for Jaffa, Asia
Minor, where il will be discharged in
the open roadstead, conveyed in small
lighters and dispatched to the Holy
City by the newly opened railroad.
The French explorer, Emile S.
Gautier, who has just returned to Paris
from a tour of exploration throughout
the Sahara Desert, has discovered a
number of very fine fresco paintings
on rocks near the oasis of Anet. They
represent pedestrians, camel riders,
etc, and are accompanied by numer-
our inscriptions. 1t is said that these
frescoes are thousands of years old.
In the cane sugar world the pres
ent estimates of the crops now COM
ing off, or about to come off, reached
4,366,00 tons, as against ALL 900 tons
last year, an increase of 265000 tons,
attributed chiefly to the prospective in
crease of $780, 900 tons in the Philippines.
The worlds total sugar production for
the year, including cane and beet, is
estimated at 10, 4SS, 800 TONS an increase
of 620,S39 tons over last years produc-
ton.
"A memorial to Prof. Joseph LIE
Conte, has been constructed by the
Sierra Club of San Francisco, in the
Yosemite Valley at a cost of $4,000. 1t
is building of granite, erected under
the walls of Glacier Point. The build
ing is divided into three parts. the
main room measuring rs by SO feet.
Above the main room a Gothic roof
rises to the hight of So feet. Inside are
a large reading table, wall seats and a
large bookcase in which are kept
books and papers pertaining to travel
and research and maps and papers fur
nished by the Sierra Club.
Official statistics printed in Ha-
vana show that in 1902 the death rate
was 21.99 per thousand, a far lower
rate than in the days of Gen. Wey-
Ter. The methods of cleansing and of
sanitation enforced by the Americans
after the Spanish war worked wonders
for the healthfulness of the city. Out
OF 1882 deaths, SS5 were due to tuber-
culosis in it's various forms. Even in
SO mild a climate as that of the Gu
ban capital this grievous affiiction Is
amazingly destructive. Cancer claimed
179 lives. Could tuberculosis and can
Ger be extirpated, the whole world
France had almost $4,000 more
deaths than births last year, a record
variously interpreted by her publicists
and statisticians but looking to out
siders much as if the nation was in
need of an able corps of lecturers on
race suicide to stump the country from
the Pyrenees to the British channel, the
government backing them up by offer
ing premiums for large families and
decorations for larger ones, with public
honors for those who play the limit,
as it were, and surround themselves
with a dozen or so of offspring in the
copious manner of Germany, where
nothing in particular is thought of it,
The highest clouds reach ten miles
above our heads. These are the white,
feather forms of fine fibrous texture
which we see against the blue sky on
a clear day. Although apparently mo-
tlonless, they travel from seventy-five
to ninety miles an hour. They are
highest in midsummer and lowest in
mid-winter, when they sometimes de-
scend to within three miles and a half
of us. The lowest clouds are within
half a mile of us commonly. These
are the horizontal sheets of lifted fog
which we see in misty weather, and
their normal speed is twenty-three
miles an hour.
The administration of the Cars
army has just placed an order with
a st. Petersburg firm for the imme-
date construction of twenty-five
kitchen railroad cars to be used for
the troops in Siberia. These cars are
to be f1fty-Six feet in length and ten
and one-half feet wide, and each car
will be able to turn out meals for 700
soldiers. Each car is to be equipped
with refrigerator, four cooking
stoves and a large water tank. Sim
liar kitchen cars were tried last year
on the Manchurian and Eastern ST.
berian Railroad, and they are said to
have given the greatest satisfaction.
There are two relief expeditions in
the field engaged in the search for
Baron Toll, the missing explorer who
set out on May %, 1902, in company
with the astronomer M. Seeberg and
two YakutS to explore Bennett Island,
and who has not been heard of since
M. Brousnieff, an engineer, who was
sent to relieve Baron Toll, arrived in
New Siberia with his expedition, but
at last reports had heard nothing Of
the Baron. No news has been received
of the relief party under Lieut.. Kolt-
chalk, which was to have endeavored
to reach Bennett Island by boat via
New Siberia, and which was expected
to reach its goal last June.
The destruction of Newgate brought
to light another section of the ancient
Roman wall which surrounded Lon
don and served as a fertilization of the
city. The whole extent of the wall
has now been fairly we'll traced, and
parts of it are still used as cellars and
warehouses. The only portion of it
that is still above ground is a bastion
in the Church of st. Giles, Cripplegate.
The ground of London is estimated to
have risen at the rate of nearly a foot
a century, and doubtless from time to
time many rich finds of antiques will
be found, especially if a start is made
to construct high buildings on the
American plan.
The fatal issue of a recent French
duel causes discussion of what the Pa
rjsian fencers call the Coup de Mon
serrat." The history of this stroke is
romantic. The hero of the story was
a young Partisan musician engaged to
be married to a young lady of Bor-
deaux. Quarreling with q cousin of
his fiancee, he got his ears boxed at
the Bordeaux Club. Ignorant of fenc-
ing, he dared not resent the insult, and
renounced his engagement. But he also
took feIfcing lessons from one Monser-
rat, a maitre d'aImes of Toulouse.
Monserrat taught him one trick only,
and he practiced it for a year. At
the end of that time he returned to
a c1 hi 49,,