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Title: The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 40, August 12, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls
Author: Various
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 40, August 12, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls" ***
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THE GREAT ROUND WORLD
AND WHAT IS GOING ON IN IT
Vol. 1 AUGUST 12, 1897 No. 40.
[Entered at Post Office, New York City, as second class matter]
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[Illustration: THE GREAT ROUND
WORLD
AND WHAT IS GOING ON IN IT.]
VOL. 1 AUGUST 12, 1897. NO. 40
Affairs in Spain are assuming a very grave aspect.
The people are so enraged at the continued demands of the Government for
soldiers and money that riots are breaking out all over the country.
The most serious of the outbreaks has occurred at Barcelona.
We told you some time ago that quantities of arms were stored in
Barcelona for the use of the Carlists, and that in the event of a
Carlist rising, Barcelona would be the headquarters of the revolution.
During the past week the riots in that city have assumed such a serious
character that the Government troops have been ordered out to quell
them.
These riots are attributed to Carlist influences, because the Carlists
have long been in a very restless frame of mind, and waiting eagerly for
Don Carlos to come forward and call them to arms.
The mass of the people in the northern provinces are strongly in his
favor, and believe that if he were placed on the throne peace and
prosperity would be restored to Spain.
The attitude of the Carlist party is now considered so threatening that
the prime minister, Señor Canovas, is reported to have said that the
most serious of the many troubles which Spain is now called upon to face
is the probability of a Carlist rising.
In the mean while Don Carlos, the leader of the party, remains quietly
in his house in Lucerne, Switzerland, and appears to be making no effort
to secure the throne of Spain.
[Illustration: DON CARLOS.]
The representative of a Swiss newspaper asked him his opinion of the
Spanish situation.
He replied that he considered it very grave. Speaking of the Cuban war,
he said that it had been frightfully mismanaged, not so much by Weyler
as by Gen. Martinez Campos, who was the first general sent out by Spain
to conquer the insurgents.
In the opinion of Don Carlos, General Weyler is the right man for Cuba.
He refuses to believe that he has done all the cruel things he is
accused of, but says that his sternness and severity were necessary for
the occasion, and that Spain should be very grateful to have found such
a leader at such a time.
When asked about the chances of a Carlist rising, he said that the
people were urging him to take up arms and come to the rescue of his
country. He hesitated to do so because he felt that it would be a cruel
thing for him to plunge his beloved country into the horrors of a civil
war at a moment when she was already beset with enemies.
He declared that it cost him a great effort to remain deaf to the call
of his people, but that if matters did not improve, he should feel it
his duty to come forward and save his country.
In his opinion the United States is only interfering in Cuban affairs
because she wants to annex Cuba. Were he on the throne of Spain he says
he would grant such a liberal form of government to the Cubans that they
would feel it a privilege to remain under the rule of Spain.
The opportunities for Don Carlos to regain the throne of Spain were
never so favorable as at this moment, and, in spite of his statement, it
is quite probable that he will obey the wishes of his friends, and do
his best to secure it.
* * * * *
The evidence in the Ruiz case has been laid before our Government.
After careful consideration the State Department has decided that Spain
is in the wrong.
General Woodford, the new minister to Spain, has therefore been
instructed to present a claim to the Spanish government for $75,000
damages to be paid to Mrs. Ruiz. Our minister is also instructed to say
that his Government has concluded that, under the treaties existing
between America and Spain, all the proceedings against Dr. Ruiz were
illegal, and that Spain is absolutely responsible for his death. Under
these circumstances Spain must pay this sum of money to the unfortunate
widow.
General Woodford is to add that while the United States would be
justified in demanding a much larger indemnity for Mrs. Ruiz, the
friendly feeling that our Government has for Spain has induced us to
make the sum as moderate as possible.
An endeavor was made on the part of Spain to compromise the matter with
Mrs. Ruiz, but she refused to treat with the Spanish agents, saying that
she preferred to leave her claim in the hands of the United States
Government.
Congress has also taken action in the _Competitor_ case.
The _Competitor_ was an American schooner which sailed for Florida in
April, 1896.
According to the story told by the captain of the vessel, he was no
sooner out of sight of land than the passengers took possession of the
ship, and forced him to change his course and carry them to Cuba.
Their luggage consisted of supplies and ammunition intended for the
insurgents, and thus, against his will, the captain was forced to
undertake a filibustering expedition.
The _Competitor_ was sighted by the Spaniards, and captured by them, but
all but five of the men on board escaped.
Three of these men were Americans who had sailed the ship.
The prisoners were taken ashore and tried by court-martial. They were
accused of piracy. They pleaded that they had not undertaken the voyage
to Cuba of their own free will, but had been forced to do so by the
passengers. They insisted that they were innocent of any intention to
wrong Spain.
In spite of this they were sentenced to death. They declared themselves
to be American citizens, and their sentence was suspended until the
truth about their nationality could be learned.
It was found that they were really Americans, and so the Government
immediately sent a protest to Spain, and the three men were sent to
prison until an answer could be received.
After a long time word came from Madrid that the men were to be granted
a new trial. Ten months have gone by since the new trial was ordered,
and still these prisoners have not had justice done them. They have been
kept in close confinement in the Cabanas prison, and have been punished
as much as if they had been really guilty, but their trial has been put
off for one reason or another until it now appears as if the authorities
did not mean to give them an opportunity of securing their freedom.
The schooner has also been held all this time by Spain, and her owners
are anxious to have her returned that they may have the use of her
services once more.
After waiting patiently for nearly a year, Congress has at last taken a
hand in the matter.
A joint resolution has been passed, empowering the President to take
such steps as he thinks fit to secure the release of the prisoners, and
to have the boat restored to her owners.
The resolution also gives the President authority to employ such means
and use such power as he may think necessary to accomplish this purpose.
The Spaniards are angry at the action we have taken in both the Ruiz and
_Competitor_ cases, but their especial anger is vented on our consuls in
Cuba.
General Lee has been informed that if the Spaniards were revengeful
instead of noble, he would not long be allowed to remain at his post and
foment trouble between Spain and America.
The consul in Matanzas has been forced to fortify the Consulate in
consequence of the threats which have been made against the Americans
there. He has done this to afford a safe shelter for the Americans in
Matanzas in case trouble should break out.
While the authorities in Cuba are feeling angry with us on account of
the Ruiz and _Competitor_ cases, the Government in Spain has a fresh
cause of annoyance against us.
This has arisen through a despatch sent by the Spanish minister in
Washington.
Señor Dupuy de Lome writes his Government that he has received full
information in regard to the instructions that have been given to
General Woodford.
He says that the minister has been instructed by the Secretary of State
to tell Spain that the United States thinks the war in Cuba has lasted
long enough, and that the Americans cannot stand quietly by and allow
the struggle to go on as it has much longer. Our minister is to inform
Spain that if the war is not soon brought to a close the United States
will interfere, and that, under any circumstances, warfare, as carried
on by General Weyler, must be stopped instantly, as the United States
will not permit it to continue.
The Spaniards are highly incensed at this, and are feeling very
unfriendly toward General Woodford.
If this statement is really true, it is a pity that it should have been
made public, because it has been definitely stated that the President
will not allow any unfriendly act toward Spain until it is absolutely
sure that General Woodford is unable to make a peaceful settlement.
Our minister leaves for Spain very shortly. At first it seemed as though
there would be a long delay before he could be officially received by
the Queen Regent, because the Court had left Madrid and gone to San
Sebastian for the summer.
It seems that the Spanish court observes very little ceremony during the
summer season, and as the reception of an ambassador is a very important
and ceremonious affair, the Queen Regent decided to put it off until the
return to Madrid.
This delay was very annoying to us. The Cuban questions are too pressing
to be allowed to wait until the autumn, and no business could be
transacted with the Spanish Government until we had a property
recognized representative there.
Happily for us, Japan has helped us out of the difficulty.
The Mikado has sent a special mission to the Spanish court to present
the young King Alphonso with his sacred order of the Chrysanthemum.
It would not be at all polite to keep the Japanese ambassadors waiting
all summer to make their presentation, and so there is to be a great
court function to receive the messengers of the Mikado, and General
Woodford will be recognized at the same time.
* * * * *
The condition of the Spanish troops is reported to grow worse every day.
It is said that their uniforms are ragged and torn, and they look more
like tramps than the representatives of a European army.
They are said to go through the streets of Havana begging coppers from
the passers-by, and asking bread from door to door.
It is said that numbers of loyal Spanish merchants are leaving the
island, because they are forced to supply the soldiers with food without
receiving any payment in return. They prefer to leave Cuba rather than
be ruined.
In the mean while Havana has been thrown into a panic by the report that
General Gomez is marching on the city. The truth of the rumor could not
be ascertained, but the fear was strengthened by the sudden return of
General Weyler, who had gone off on one of his famous pacifying
expeditions.
No sooner had Weyler returned than he began to make extraordinary
preparations to defend the city, and so it is generally believed in
Havana that the report is true.
It is known positively that the Cubans are very near the city, and that
Gomez has issued orders to all the insurgent leaders to press the war
forward with unceasing activity.
* * * * *
It seems that the Sultan has really been brought to terms.
The ambassadors, if you remember, gave him a stern refusal to treat with
any one but Tewfik Pasha, and repeated their demand for a written
acceptance of the frontier.
After this meeting with Tewfik the diplomats held a conference which
resulted in the preparation of a note to their governments in which they
gave it as their opinion that the Sultan could never be brought to terms
unless some decided action was taken.
The Sultan heard of this, and became alarmed.
He therefore sent one of his ministers, Yussuf Bey, to the ambassadors,
urging them to do nothing hastily, but assuring them that if they would
only have patience for a few days, everything could be satisfactorily
arranged.
But the ambassadors had had enough of delay, and they dismissed Yussuf
Bey, telling him politely that they could not possibly wait any longer.
The Sultan became still more uneasy, but he was anxious to put the
matter off a little longer, until he could have a final understanding
with Germany.
It seems that the Emperor William's reply to his note gave the Sultan
some hope that he was still inclined to side with him, in case of
trouble.
While he was still looking about for a good excuse, he received a
message from the German Kaiser, which put a sudden end to all his hopes
of an alliance.
The German ambassador arrived at the palace of the Sultan with the
information that the Kaiser, his master, had just telegraphed him to say
to the Sultan from him that he must immediately obey the wishes of the
Powers.
Following closely on this unwelcome visit came a message from the Czar
of Russia, telling the Sultan that unless he immediately withdrew his
soldiers from Thessaly, the Russian troops would cross the Turkish
border.
Thus driven into a corner, the Sultan saw that the only thing left for
him to do was to yield.
He therefore sent a message to the representatives of the Powers, that
he had at last been able to induce the Grand Vizier to consent to
withdraw from Turkey, and as this had been the only stumbling-block in
the pathway of peace, he had issued an order to the Porte (the Turkish
Government) authorizing them to accept the frontier as laid out by the
Powers.
It would seem that this action on the part of Turkey had removed all
obstacles, and that there would now be nothing to prevent the peace
negotiations from being carried through. Nobody, however, believes that
the trouble is over. It is thought that Turkey will make every possible
delay in arranging to leave Thessaly, and also in accepting the new plan
of government for Crete.
The Turkish troops have not as yet been withdrawn from Crete, and while
the Christian inhabitants are settling down, and becoming reconciled to
the new plan of government, their hatred of the Turks is in no degree
lessened.
Conflicts between the Turks and the Christians are of daily occurrence.
The allied fleets have had to make a demand on Turkey that the soldiers
shall give up their arms, as the rioting is so incessant.
* * * * *
The British House of Commons will not allow the Transvaal scandal to
die out as quietly as the Government hoped.
We told you about the two reports that had been sent in; well, the
member of Parliament who gave the second report has offered a resolution
that Mr. Cecil Rhodes be removed from his position in the South African
Company.
Further than this, it has been decided that a complete change shall be
made in the directors of this too powerful company, which has already
been able to plunge the British Government into so much trouble.
Complaints have been made that the company under its president, Mr.
Cecil Rhodes, has abused the privileges thus given by the Government. In
addition to the affair in the Transvaal, the company has treated the
natives of Mashonaland with great severity, taking their cattle away
from them, and forcing them to live in a condition bordering on slavery.
It has therefore been decided to modify the terms of the charter to such
a degree that the South African Company can only manage the commercial
affairs of their territory, all matters relating to its foreign policy
being henceforth in the hands of the British Government.
The House of Commons has been forced to agree to an open discussion of
the Transvaal Raid, when the matter of punishing Mr. Rhodes is to be
decided upon. Mr. Hawkesly, the lawyer who holds the missing cablegrams,
is also to be summoned before Parliament, and forced to produce them.
* * * * *
The last steamer from Japan brought a renewed protest from the
Government against the annexation of Hawaii.
Japan insists that Hawaii must remain an independent country. She says
that as soon as the Panama or Nicaragua canals are opened the importance
of the Sandwich Islands will be greatly increased, and that it is
necessary to the welfare of Japan that her independence be preserved.
The Japanese minister is reported to have declared that "annexation must
not be recognized. Japan must oppose it to the utmost."
In spite of this the Senate is going right ahead with the business of
the treaty.
In the mean while the Secretary of the Navy is making all the ships at
his command ready for service, so that we shall not be altogether
unprepared to defend ourselves if occasion arises.
* * * * *
There is not very much to tell in regard to the strike. No settlement
has been reached, and there is not much likelihood that the miners and
masters will come to any understanding at present.
We told you that some of the miners had stood out against the offer of
better wages, and refused to go to work until the condition of their
fellows throughout the country had been improved.
All the miners have not been as brave and loyal as these men.
In some parts of Western Virginia, such excellent wages have been
offered to the men, that they have weakened and gone back to work in
spite of the fact that the labor agitators have been constantly urging
them to remain firm.
They have been telling the men that they will secure great benefits if
they will only hold together.
At one time there was some hope that the men might submit the whole
matter to arbitration, but this seems doubtful.
* * * * *
Another report about the use of the X rays in the French Custom-House
has reached us.
This time the rays were applied to thirty packages which had arrived by
parcels-post. It took but fifteen minutes to examine the whole of these
packets, and their contents were discovered without the necessity of
breaking a seal or untying a string.
The amusing part of the story is that the thirty persons to whom the
parcels were addressed had been asked by the officers if there was
anything dutiable in them, and all had replied in the negative.
The confusion and trouble were therefore great when forbidden articles
were found in twenty-seven out of the thirty packets.
The French officials are very strict about such matters, and enforce
heavy fines for attempting to bring things into their country without
paying duty on them.
The senders had had no idea that the X rays would be used on the
packages, and had arranged them so that on opening they would appear to
contain nothing dutiable.
One basket was labelled fruit. Had it been opened in the ordinary way
the officers would have found nothing but apricots and plums, unless
they went to the trouble of emptying the whole basket out--a thing that
is seldom done. When the X rays got to work on this packet a pair of
patent-leather shoes was revealed, hidden away amongst the fruit.
Another bundle was labelled, "Specimens of clothing--without value."
No sooner was it held before the X rays than it was seen that a quantity
of cigarettes and English matches were rolled away inside the linen.
All this was found out without so much as breaking a seal or untying a
string.
At the same time that the news of this excellent use for the X ray
reached us, we observed statements from several prominent doctors and
electricians, warning people of the danger of using this wonderful light
without a proper knowledge of its properties.
It seems that under certain circumstances the X ray is capable of
inflicting a very serious wound. It acts in the same way as fire does,
and burns the skin so severely that it is a very long time in healing.
Nikola Tesla, the great electrician, says, however, that this trouble
only arises from want of knowledge as to the proper way to handle the
rays. If they are held at a certain distance from the skin, there is not
the slightest danger of accident.
The curious part of the wound inflicted by the X ray is that the burn is
not felt at the time the mischief is being done. A person can allow his
skin to be exposed to the X rays until it is badly burned without
experiencing any pain until some time after the damage has been done.
The injured part first swells, and then shows all the symptoms of a
burn.
One man who had exposed his foot to the rays to discover a rifle-ball
that was lodged in his heel received a burn that took eleven months to
heal.
It seems curious that such a severe injury could be inflicted without
any warning of pain. No sensation of warmth is felt until the part is
burned, and then, according to Mr. Tesla, the pain does not seem to be
on the surface as in ordinary burns, but deep-seated, in the very bones
themselves.
* * * * *
There is fresh news from Brazil and Uruguay.
In Brazil, the insurgents, under their leader, Anton Conselhiero, were
defeated, and the town of Canudos, which had been their stronghold, was
taken from them.
So severe and crushing was the defeat which they sustained, that it is
thought that the revolution has been brought to an end.
The battle lasted four hours, the rebels fighting with great courage and
determination. The well-trained government troops proved too strong for
them, however, and when the Brazilian artillery was brought to the
front, and began to pour a steady fire into the rebel army, the ranks
were broken and the insurgents fled for their lives.
The Brazilians pursued them hotly, and it is said that when the fight
was over Conselhiero's army was almost annihilated.
In Uruguay the rebels have gained the upper hand, and it is hoped that
that war will also be brought to a close very shortly.
The Uruguayan insurgents were much stronger than the Brazilian; indeed,
they outnumbered the government troops, and fought so fiercely that
Uruguay had to give in and ask for an armistice.
This the rebels granted, and during the cessation of hostilities
negotiations for peace were immediately set on foot.
The terms of peace which the rebels offered were that they should have
the right to choose the next President of Uruguay, and the governors of
six of its provinces. They also demanded that all insurgents who had
been dismissed from the regular army should be reinstated, and all who
had been exiled on account of the rebellion should be allowed to return
to their homes.
The Government is not willing to grant these terms, but it is thought
that the rebels are so strong that they will be able to insist on the
acceptance of their conditions.
* * * * *
Company E, of the Eighth New York Regiment, has started on an important
military expedition.
It is the desire of the commanders to find out just what the practical
value of a bicycle would be in time of war.
To demonstrate this, Company E, which is the bicycle company of the
regiment, received orders to make a week's trip on Long Island, instead
of going to the state camp as usual.
It is the intention to have the command cover a distance of five hundred
miles during the week, each man carrying with him the regulation kit of
a soldier on the march.
This outfit consists of the canteen or water-bottle, knife, fork, spoon,
and combination frying-pan and plate, a blanket to sleep in, and of
course a rifle, bayonet, and cartridge-box.
With the bicycle command, all these articles had to be stowed away so
that the hands should be free to control the wheel.
The blanket was therefore strapped on the handle-bars, the musket slung
under the saddle, the cartridge-box and bayonet hung from the soldier's
belt, and slung across the shoulders were the canteen and a haversack
containing all the other articles.
With all these articles the bicycle will be heavily loaded, and one of
the points which the authorities especially wish to prove is whether it
is possible for men to make any distance on wheels when they are so
heavily weighted.
The baggage that we have described is the very least that a soldier can
carry, and if no great distance can be accomplished with such a load,
the wheel is of little value for purposes of war.
The military authorities are also desirous of proving just how reliable
the bicycle itself is. Every one knows what the wheel can do on a level
road or smooth track, but it has not been demonstrated how a troop of
wheels will last on rough country roads.
Company E has taken no tents; the men are to sleep under such cover as
they may find on the way. No food has been taken, or provided for; the
men will have to forage, or seek for their own rations.
Their one extra is a bicycle ambulance. This is a very novel affair, and
is made of a covered stretcher slung between two tandems. The men have
been allowed to put kettles and coffee-pots inside the stretcher at the
start, but if in case of illness the ambulance is needed, even these
small comforts will be left behind.
They have with them an engineer to make maps, and a photographer, who
has a camera slung under his saddle instead of a musket.
The experiment is to be made on Long Island. When the Shinnecock Hills
are reached, two days will be spent in scouting and reconnoitring, with
skirmishes and sham fights to follow.
They will thus have a week of practical campaigning.
* * * * *
While we are on the subject of wheels we are reminded of a recent
decision that bicycling is illegal on Sunday in New Jersey.
This fact came out through a lawsuit. Two cyclists were riding in the
town of Westfield, N.J., one Sunday, and came into collision, one of
their wheels being wrecked.
The man whose wheel was damaged claimed that the accident was due to the
other's carelessness, and sued for twenty-five dollars to cover repairs
to his machine.
When the case came into court, and the judge heard that the affair had
occurred on Sunday, he dismissed the complaint.
He stated that bicycling on Sunday was an illegal practice, and that no
one could come before a court and ask for protection from an accident
that had happened to him when he was engaged in an occupation that was
against the law.
This decision will be a great surprise to a good many young folks, who
have hitherto regarded Sunday as their best day to go a-wheeling.
* * * * *
We told you about Mr. Andrée, who made an effort last year to reach the
North Pole by balloon, and who intended to repeat the experiment this
year from Spitzbergen. The news has just reached us that he has made his
start.
On the 15th of July, the wind being in a favorable direction, Mr. Andrée
determined to begin his dangerous voyage.
Being anxious to get away before the wind should change or die out, the
preparations were hurried forward, and in three hours and a half after
he decided to make his attempt, all was in readiness.
Accompanying the daring explorer were two other venturesome men, Mr.
Strindberg and Mr. Fraenkel.
Stepping into the car, they gave the word to have the balloon cut loose.
They rose rapidly till they were about six hundred feet in the air, but
at this altitude a cross-current struck them, and they were driven
earthward again until they almost touched a projecting rock.
It was feared that the attempt had failed, but the three men in the car
set to work vigorously throwing out some of the sand-bags that had been
put in the car for ballast, to steady it, and the balloon soon rose
again and continued on her course.
The weather was clear, and the _Eagle_, as the balloon was called, was
visible for an hour. It appeared to be moving at the rate of twenty-two
miles an hour, and to be taking the exact direction that Mr. Andrée had
wished that it should.
The adventurers expected to reach the Pole in two or three days, but had
prepared themselves for a trip of as many months.
Nothing has as yet been heard or seen of the balloon. Russian steamers
have been sent along the coast of Siberia in search of it, and it is
hoped that some news may be gleaned through the circulars that the Czar
caused to be sent among all the peoples around the Polar regions, asking
them to watch for the balloon, and report it as soon as seen (see page
860).
[Illustration: A Homing Pigeon]
A good deal of excitement was caused by the capture of a carrier-pigeon
in Norway.
Stamped on the bird's wings was "North Pole, 142 W. 47.62."
It was thought at first that it was one of the birds which had been
taken by Andrée on his expedition, and that the North Pole had been
discovered.
It was found, however, that Andrée's birds were all marked "Andrée,
A.D. 1897," and after a few days of excitement and wonder, it came out
that the bird belonged to a German pigeon-flying society, and that it
had been released in Heligoland.
Carrier-pigeons are a particular breed of pigeon which have the
wonderful quality of flying home no matter how far away they are
carried.
Societies have been formed to fly these wonderful birds, and they have
been taken hundreds of miles away, over seas, to test this strange
quality.
The result has always been the same: the moment they are released they
circle round and round for a time, as if trying to make out their
bearings, and then fly off straight for home.
This attribute has made them of great value to man in many ways.
In times of war, messages have been sent by their aid.
A man has made his way out of a besieged city, taking one of the birds
with him, and by its aid has been able to send word back that he has
reached his friends and will bring the needed help.
The Emperor of Germany has just got himself into trouble over
carrier-pigeons.
Wishing to see for how long a distance they could be relied on in case
of war, he sent a messenger over to England, who carried with him a
great number of these clever birds.
They were all marked so that they could be recognized, and on the shores
of Dover, England, they were set free. Six hours after they had all
found their way back to Düsseldorf, Germany.
The despatching of these birds attracted the attention of the English
people about Dover, and when it was discovered that they were the
property of the Emperor of Germany there was a good deal of talk over
it.
The English people are always afraid that some foreign nation is going
to try and invade their country, and imagining there was some deep and
dark foreign plot underlying the pigeon-flying, they demanded of the
authorities if the German Emperor had obtained permission to fly his
birds.
When it was found that permission had neither been asked nor accorded,
the fear of a plot grew so strong that the matter was finally carried to
the House of Commons, and an explanation demanded.
The Under Secretary of War stated that the subject was already under
consideration.
* * * * *
A rock covered with curious characters has recently been discovered in
Mexico, in the mountains of the Magdalena district, state of Sonora.
The characters appeared to resemble the Chinese so closely that a
well-educated Chinaman was asked to go to see the rock and give his
opinion about it.
He had no sooner looked at it than he declared it to be a veritable
Chinese inscription. He made a copy of it, and has already translated
enough to show that the writing was cut in the stone about two thousand
years ago.
There are ten lines of characters on the parts of the rock exposed to
view.
The Chinaman who translated the inscription said it was an account of a
Chinese settlement that had once been established in the place where the
stone was found. He said that in the history of China there was a
record of an expedition which had been sent to that portion of the
western coast which is now Mexico.
If this is true, the Continent of North America was discovered by the
Chinese centuries before the time of Columbus.
Evidence is coming to light in various parts of the globe of the
tremendous journeys that were undertaken by the Chinese in the early
days of civilization.
It has lately been discovered that they at one time formed colonies in
the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
In Australia evidences have also been discovered of Chinese habitation.
* * * * *
It has been reported that King Menelik of Abyssinia has appointed a
Russian General to be the Governor-General of those provinces of
Abyssinia which lie in and around the equator.
The appointment of a foreigner to such a post shows very distinctly that
the Negus is really anxious to shed the light of civilization upon his
people.
M. de Leontieff, the Russian appointed by King Menelik, has already made
two visits to Abyssinia, and is therefore well known to the King. He was
at one time the bearer of rich presents from the Czar to the Negus.
The position which M. de Leontieff will hold under Menelik is similar to
that held by General Gordon in Egypt. Gordon found many opportunities to
improve the condition of the people under his authority, and as M. de
Leontieff is a very intelligent man, he will undoubtedly do all in his
power to help King Menelik to develop his country. G.H. ROSENFELD.
THE GREAT ROUND WORLD AND THE
PEOPLE WHO LIVED ON IT. 1144
CHAPTER II.
It is not for nothing, then, that we are taught in church to call all
men our brethren, and we must learn to realize that all the nations of
the earth are akin to us and to one another, and that the differences
between them in looks, in moral qualities, and in mind are really not
much more than what we often see in the members of one large family,
where one brother may be a genius and make a great name or a fortune for
himself, while another will never get beyond the simplest schooling and,
later on, the plainest work as laborer or poorly paid clerk. Take the
most light-complexioned child to the tropics, and there let him lead an
outdoor life--hunting, herding cattle, building, ploughing, and
harvesting--then look at the middle-aged man; you will find him burnt by
the sun, tanned by wind and weather to a dark brown which will not
bleach off even should he return to his native northern country to live.
His children will be born darker than he was, his grandchildren probably
darker still, and so on. What, then, must be the change should the
descendants of a particular set of men live thousands--not hundreds, but
thousands--of years in one particular zone of the earth, under the same
conditions of climate, food, and local nature generally--what we call
"environment"?
This is exactly what happened to those detachments which once upon a
time separated from the original human family. Each may have gone forth
at random, but there was the earth to choose from and to be had for the
taking; and, wherever such a detachment settled, there was nothing to
prevent its posterity staying on and on, and developing their own
peculiarities under local influences; for it would take many, many
centuries before there would again be a lack of room and the process of
separation would be repeated. Thus were formed the subdivisions of the
human kind, with their striking characteristics and distinctive
peculiarities, which we call the great Races of the World.
Now, if this thing were to happen to any one of us--that we should
discover brothers and kinsfolk of whom we knew nothing before--we would
be very curious to find out all we could about them: where they came
from, what had happened to them during all those years until they
settled where we found them, and when and why they separated from their
forefathers, who were also our own. These are the very things we want to
find out about the various nations who live in the world now, and those
who have lived in it before anything existed of what is now in the
world, all the way back to the beginning.
The task is quite easy, so long as we have books to help us, histories
to tell us year by year all that went on in every part of the Great
Round World, as our newspapers tell us day by day what is going on in it
now. But books do not take us very far back. It is only four hundred
years since printing was invented, and not more than six hundred since
the art of making paper out of rags has been known. But people could
write hundreds and hundreds of years before that was invented, and used
almost anything to record the memorable doings of their day--bark of
trees, skins of animals (parchment), "papyrus," a material made of the
fibres of a plant. Short inscriptions over the entrances of temples and
palaces, or cut with the chisel on monuments erected in memory of great
events or above the graves of famous men, and long inscriptions covering
whole walls or even the face of high rocks smoothed for the purpose,
were like so many stone books, pages of which are continually discovered
and read by our scholars.
But we come at last to times so remote that there is not a trace of the
roughest writing, not a fragment of the crudest monument, to tell us the
story of the men who, then as now, must have thought and labored and
invented, only so much more slowly, under difficulties which we can
hardly picture to ourselves. "What, then," is the natural question,
"what can we know of such times, and of earlier ones still? How do we
know things happened in the manner described a few pages back?" We know
it, in the first place, _by analogy_, _i.e._, because the same things
have happened over and over again in the same manner in times which we
know all about, _and are happening now, under our eyes_--for what is the
constant tide of immigration which keeps coming in from the East but,
under modern conditions, the same swarming off from overcrowded native
hives of seekers after more land and new fortunes? In the second place,
the oldest races of the world left abundant traces by which we can
determine not only the places of their settlements, but their mode of
life and the degree of culture they successively reached.
There has certainly been a time when men did not know enough to build
dwellings for themselves--or, not to be unfair, had not the necessary
tools--but lived in the forests which then very nearly covered the
globe, using such natural shelter as they found ready for them, almost
like the savage animals which it was their main business to fight and
kill in self-defence and also for food and clothing. Caverns in steep
mountain-sides must have been their most luxurious, because safest and
best-protected, retreats. Many dozens of such caverns are known in all
parts of the world, and the tale they tell is not difficult to read.
Several have become very famous, from the wealth of finds with which
they rewarded the searchers. Some appear to have been used as
burying-places, for the ground in them is covered to a great depth with
broken-up human skulls and skeletons, while outside, on the rocky ledges
or platforms before the mouth of the cavern, are found the traces of
large fires, built again and again on the same spot--ashes, and cinders,
and charred bones of animals; also broken marrow-bones, horns, hoofs,
and other remains of plentiful meals, showing that then already it was
the custom to feast at funerals.
Other caverns have as certainly been used as dwellings. Hence the name
of "cave-dwellers," which has been given to those otherwise unknown
races. How very crude and primitive their mode of life is shown by the
vast quantities of tools and weapons in hard flint--generally
broken--which are found intermixed with the other remains. They are very
simple: heads of spears, blades of knives and scrapers, some indented
like coarse saws, hatchets and mallets chipped into shape with no
attempt at polishing--such, with occasional variations in bone, was the
sum total of the cave-dwellers' equipment for the chase, for war, and
for domestic purposes. That they could, with such slender resources,
hold their own against the animals whose haunts they shared and who then
were so much more numerous than men, is the more wonderful that those
animals were of monstrous size, more than twice the size of the same
kinds now, not to speak of some huge beasts which then roamed woods and
plains in herds and are now wholly extinct--such as the mammoth, the
ancestor of our elephant.
In all those heaps of tools and fragments, not a trace of any metal has
been found; wherefore this oldest of all times of which we can catch
stray glimpses has been given the general name of "Age of Stone."
* * * * *
_To Any Subscriber Securing_
For Us =1= _NEW_
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size and weight, and tasteful in appearance._
=PART I.= _contains_
=NOVEMBER 11th, 1896 to FEBRUARY 18th, 1897=
=PART II.= _contains_
=FEBRUARY 25th, 1897 to JUNE 3d, 1897=
ALBERT ROSS PARSONS, _President, American College of
Musicians,_ writes concerning his son, aged 10: "The bound
volume of the first fifteen numbers has remained his daily
mental food and amusement ever since it arrived. I thank you
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A sample dozen will be mailed to any address for 20 cents (or ten two-cent
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="The Great Round World" PRIZE CONTEST=
THE GREAT ROUND WORLD is now over six months old, and it feels some
anxiety to know just how much interest its readers have taken in the
news and how much information they have gained from its pages. To
ascertain this, it has been decided to offer ten prizes for the best
answers to the following:
=Name ten of the most important events that have been mentioned in
"The Great Round World" in the first 30 numbers, that is, up to
number of June 3d.=
_In mentioning these events give briefly reasons for considering
them important._
This competition will be open to subscribers only, and any one desiring
to enter the competition must send to this office their name and the
date of their subscription; a number will then be given them.
All new subscribers will be furnished with a card entitling them to
enter the competition.
In making the selection of important events, remember that wars and
political events are not necessarily the most important. If, for
instance, the air-ship had turned out to be a genuine and successful
thing, it would have been most important as affecting the history of the
world. Or if by chance the telephone or telegraph had been invented in
this period, these inventions would have been _important_ events.
Prizes will be awarded to those who make the best selection and who
mention the events in the best order of their importance. Answers may be
sent in any time before September 1st.
The Great Round World does not want you to hurry over this contest, but
to take plenty of time and do the work carefully. It will be a pleasant
occupation for the summer months.
We would advise you to take the magazines starting at No. 1, look them
over carefully, keep a note-book at your side, and jot down in it the
events that seem to you important; when you have finished them all, No.
1 to 30, look over your notes and select the ten events that seem to you
to be the most important, stating after each event your reason for
thinking it important.
For instance: suppose you decide that the death of Dr. Ruiz was one of
these important events, you might say, "The killing of Dr. Ruiz in the
prison of Guanabacoa--because it brought the cruelties practised on
American citizens to the attention of our Government," etc., etc.
In sending your answers put your number and the date only on them, for
the judges are not to know names and addresses of the contestants, that
there may be no favoritism shown.
It is important to put date on, for if two or more are found of similar
standing, the one first received will be given preference.
Address all letters to REVIEW PRIZE CONTEST DEPARTMENT,
GREAT ROUND WORLD, 3 and 5 West 18th Street, New York City.
_Write answer on one side of the paper only_
=Prizes will be selections from the premium catalogue=
No. 1. Premiums as given for 15 Subscriptions
No. 2. " " " " 12 "
No. 3. " " " " 10 "
No. 4. " " " " 9 "
No. 5. " " " " 8 "
No. 6. " " " " 7 "
No. 7. " " " " 5 "
No. 8. " " " " 5 "
No. 9. " " " " 5 "
No. 10. " " " " 5 "
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 40, August 12, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls" ***
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