Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-30

april Fools day gives practical
jokers their big chance. Many per-
sons, however, are fooled every day in
the year by certain geographical Cd
dities," says the National Geographic
Society.
Some Elusive Boundaries.
"a famous cartoonist recently in
Quired: Which is farthest west, Reno
New, or Los Angeles, Calf? 1t Is Sc
natural to think of the Pacific Ocean
as the extreme western boundary of the
United States, that the normal re-
spouse is Los Angeles Whereas Reno
due to the sweeping incurve of the
Southern California coast, is some 100
miles nearer Asia than Los Angeles.
Similarly the Atlantic coast line
makes strange longitudinal bedfellows
Cleveland, Ohio, 579 miles by rail from
New York, is seven miles farther east
than Jacksonville. Fla. Miami is al
most directly south of Pittsburgh.
ITO reach the nearest part of Can
ada from Detroit, Mich, one must
travel almost due south. A bend in
the Detroit River accounts for this
directional inversion, confusing to Wis
| itorS.
Panama offers an 'east-is-west' par
allel. Because of giant bend in the
the Panama Canal, the sun rises in
the Pacific Ocean and sinks in the At
lantic. Ships in the canal travel from
west to east to pass from the Allan
tic Ocean to the Pacificl
"It seems absurd to ask rs the Pacific
Ocean east or west of the City OF New
York in the Western Hemisphere? Yet
at the Chilean port of africa, center CT
the recent Tacna-Arica dispute, the
blue waves of the Pacific wash shore
line that lies almost as far east as Port
land, Me.
What's in a Place Name?
Names of products which include
places are often more confusing. Bal
san of Peru originated in the Central
American Republic of Ell Salvador, still
the chief producer. This thick oleoresin,
used in perfumes and medicinal prep
arations, received its geographical mis-
homer in Spanish Colonial days, when
all Pacific Coast products cleared
through Peru, then the most important
Spanish colony. 1t was named for its
distribution center, rather than for its
source.
Irish potatoes, as name distin-
gushing white potatoes from sweet
potatoes, is likewise a geographical err
ror. The potato originated in the noun
tains of Peru and Chile. A famine
which followed the failure of a potato
crop in Ireland led to study Of varieties
which would resist disease, and to the
production of the better grades of po-
tato known today.
Panama hats are not made in Pana-
ma. Forty-niners returning to the East
by way of Panama brought hats made
by the nimble fingers of Ecuadorian
women and children, and called them
Panama hats. Most of the so-called
Panama hats of the better grades are
still made in Ecuador.
Another misleading place name Is
that of the Canary Islands. An imagi-
native correspondent, telling of the ar
rival of the 'DO-X' there recently, de-
scribed fiocks Of yellow canary birds
for which the islands are named rising
to greet their mechanical sister Of the
air The Canary Islands, however,
received their name from the Latin
word, CAMS, or dog. The canary
birds of the islands are green; the yell
low variety comes from the breeding
cages of German peasants.
Capitals Of Nations.
eff you put the question this way, TN
what cities are the capitals of the
United States and of Great Britain?
the precise answer Is, The Capital Of
the United States is not in any city
and the capital of London is in the
City of Westminster The explanation
is found in the peculiar structure of
each of the two seats of government.
The Capital of the United States Is