The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-13
ITEMs OF INTEREST.

1
| favor by notifying us at once
The figure of a miner, carved from
a block of Occur d'Alene ore, mount
ed upon pedestal of copper and lead
ore weighing many tons, will be a fea-
ture of Idaho's exhibit in the palace
of mines and metallurgy at the
Worlds Fair This antique statue will
be contributed by the mine operators
of the Occur d'Alenes.
With reference to the origin of the
familiar expression, 80 long," cor
respondent of the London Academy
suggests that it is derived from the
Norwegian, "Saa Laenge," a common
form of farewell, equivalent in mean
ing to ''au revoir," and pronounced
like so long," with the "g'' softened.
| There was fair number of Norwe
CLANS among the settlers in America, to
judge by names, and it is quite likely
the phrase was picked up from them.
1t is in general use among the Dutch in
South Africa.
"A stone with a remarkable history
is kept at the British naval offices in
Portsmouth. In the sos it saved a YES
sci of the Queens navy. The frigate
Pique ran ashore on the japanese
coast, but was relocated in what was
thought to be an unchanged condi-
ton. 1t proceeded to Portsmouth and
was locked. when it was found that
the stone had imbedded itself firmly
in the tanks of the ships bottom. The
stone prevented leakage, and had It
dropped from it's position during the
homeward run there is little doubt
that the Pique would have been lost.
The most recent excavation shows
that Vesuvius began it's work as
conservator of antiquity earlier than
the memorable year A. d. 70. Dur
ing the excavations in the valley of
the Sarno, near San Mariana, some
most interesting antiquities have come
to light. These had been covered up
by a volcanic deposit about six feet
thick, which points to an eruption of
Vesuvius which must have taken
place in the seventh century before
Christ. The relics include a Greek
burying place, archaic italian tombs
and various bronzes and terra cottaS.
The new issue Of British forms
bears on the diverse a figure of Britain
MIA, for which Miss Susan Hicks
Beach, daughter of the recent Chan
cellor of the Exchequer, posed. The
Duchess of Portsmouth has been the
Britannia on all British copper coins
ington used to beam from the United
States treasury notes, sometimes alone
in her maternal glory, and at others
in company with President George
Washington. A century ago the Roths-
childs similarly adorned their notes
with the benevolent face of Baroness
de Rothschild, and in 1897 the State
Bank of Budapest engraved the ra-
diant countenance of Nine. Luise Bla-
ha, the prima donna, on its thousand
gulden notes.
What is believed to be the deepest
gold mine in the world, according to
a writer in the Leisure Hour, is be-
ing worked at Bendigo, Australia.
The mine in question, which is called
the New Chum Railway Mine, has
sunk it's main shaft to a. depth of
$500 feet or only sixty feet short of
three-quarters of a mile. The chief
problem is how to keep the tunnels
and general workings cool enough for
the miners to work in at such a depth.
It is usually about 10S degrees, and,
to enable the men to work at all, a
spray of cold water let down from
above has to be kept continually play
ing on the bodies-naked from the
waist upward->of the miners. Even
then they cannot work hard, or they
would faint from exhaustion.
This, says the Kansas City Jour-
nal, was the way marriages were made
and broken in the Creek Nation in for
ner days: A judge of an Indian court
was empowered to perform the mar
riage ceremony, which consisted simply
of telling the contracting parties that
they We're man and wife and making
record of it on the court docket. Some
times an Indian man and woman would
take the trouble to do this, but often
not. A judge could divorce couple
anywhere on proof of just cause. 1t
was not necessary to bring them to
court. They might stop on the street
or roadside and have this performed as
readily as not, and the Indian judge
entered 1t on his docket at his pleas
ure. 1t was these divorces that
brought about the present tangle in til
ties. In many instances the Indian
would leave his wife and marry an
other woman. Sometimes he got a di-
vorce and sometimes not.
DIR. Sem while on a visit to Ia
hiti made a study of the conditions
and customs of the natives, accord
ing to a Chicago special in the Bos-
ton Transcript. He says they are
simple race of happy people, who are
doomed to extinction by civilization.
The population estimated at ZUO,OUU
when Cook landed at Tahiti in 1853,
has dwindled away until to-day it
only numbers 1000 of which 300 are
whites and 500 Chinese. Diseases such
as measles and whooping cough,
which has no apparent effect upon
the whites, cannot be combatted by
the natives. who know nothing of
such ailments, in their primitive state.
Tahiti, the doctor says, is an excel
lent retreat for those suffering from
nervous diseases. A native can live
on food furnished by nature and
about two dollars a year will furnish
him with clothing. There is no abject
poverty, no begging and no crime. 1t
is hoped that the French medical
commission now at the islands will
furnish a plan for sanitary relief.
Everyone has noticed at times, says
the Chicago Chronicle, that the tele-
graph lines strung along the streets and
roadways are singuFarly musical, emit
ting a humming sound that can be dis
tictly heard at a considerable distance.
When telegraphy was in its infancy the
yokel used to think that the noise was
made by messages passing over the
wires. Most educated people know
that this is a silly theory, but they
will be surprised to find that their own
theory is about as i'll founded. DR..
Laska, a Polish meteorologist. declares
that the noise is not given out by the
wind at all, but that it is caused by
unseen terrestrial changes caused by