Newspapers / Charlotte Messenger (Charlotte, N.C.) / June 9, 1888, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE CHARLOTTE MESSENGER VOL. IV. NO. 45. THE Charlotte Messenger IK PUBLISHED Everv Saturday, AT CHARLOTTE, N. C. In the Interests of the Colored People of the Country. Able and well-known writers will contrib ute to its columns front different parts of the country, and it will contain Gen eral News ofthe The Messenger is a first-class newspaper and will not allow personal abuse in its col umns. It is not sectarian or jtartisan, but independent—lealing fairly by all. It re serves the right -to criticise the shortcomings of all public officials—commending the worthy, ami recommending for election such men as in its opinion are best suited to serve the interests of the people. It is intended to supply the long felt need of a newspaper to advocate the rights and defend the interests of the Negro-American, especially in the Piedmont section of the Carolinas. SUBSCRIPTIONS: (Always tti Advance.) 1 year - - - *1 50 8 months - - 1 oo it months - - 75 a months - - - *0 ‘3 months - - - 35 Single Copy - - 5 Address, W.C. SMITH Charlotte NC T The committee in charge of the cele bration in London of the three hundredth aniversary of the destruction of the Spanish Armada has arranged that an Armada window shall be placed in St. Margaret's, Westminster, England, where Lord Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh lie buried, and also that an Armada tercentenary exhibition shall be held at Plymouth.. Nearly 1200 miles of new street rail way track was laid in the United States •nd Canada in 1887, according to the Street Railway Journal, and over 1100 miles is projected for the present year, at a cost of $0,738,000. The substitution of electric and cable plant fer horse power brings up the estimated cost of projected improvements in existing lines to $15,331,000. In an aggregate population of 100,- 000,000 in Russia, according to Dr. Bubnoff, there arc only about 5000 medical men, while no working sanitary system can be said to exist in the empire. In some districts the death-rate ranges from 00 to 80 per 1000, and in spite of a high birth-rate the population of the country is increasing only at the rate of 1 per cent. Chinese nightingales are the fashion able drawing-room bird on the Conti nent now, and friends of the little creatures are protesting against the cruelty of their being transported to market from their distant homes by railroad, with no other care for their comfort than a sign, “Give me adrink,” on their wire cages. If the railroad men don’t give them the drink, then very likely they die; but if the railroad men are charitable, the birds live end bring six shillings apiece when they get to the great cities. 1 The shooting of a big dog by a Preneh Custom House officer in the North of France the other day has given rise to some queer dog stories in the French papers. The officer shot the dog be cause be was suspiciously fat. The post mortem examination revealed the fact that the dog wore a leather coat made to look like his own skin and skil fully fastened at the shoulder and haunches in such away as to completely conceal the ends of the hair. In this coat the dog carried several hundred smuggled cigars. | Fish City, Mich., is a town that has no existence except in the w inter. It is situated on Saginaw Bay, and is a col lection of I o.ird shanties built upon the ice. Last winter it contained 1000 houses. '»hey are the huts of men who do the winter fishing for pike, pickerel, lake trout and whitefisb, and as soon as the ice forms on the bay their construc tion is begun. The fishermen live in their huts from the time they are built until the breaking up of the ice in the spring fore es them to come ashore. There is a door iu< each hut, and in the floor a trap door twenty inches square. When this is tsited a hole of the same size through tee ice is discovered. At the side of this the fisherman sits HU day and a great part of the night watching for his game, which he captures by a dexterous line of the spear. From 2,000,- 000 to 2,500,000 pounds of choice fish ire caught iron the bay each winter. IF WHEY KNEW. If only ray mother knew Mow my heart is hurt within me, 6he would take ray fare in her tender handa And smooth my cheek, as she used to do In the days that seem so long ago, When childish tears were quick to flow; Bhe would smooth my face with her tender hands If she felt the grief within me. If only my lover knew Os the surging, passionate sorrow, . He would hold me close to his sturdy breast, As once he held me the long hours through— W*k n we had not learned to live apart. But leaned for love on each other's heart; He would .hold me close to his heaving breast, if he guessed my passionate sorrow. But it pierces me like a knife To think that they do not know ft; To t hink they can look in my pleading eyes, Yet never question my hidden life;— Can touch my lips in the same old place Yet never look for the soul in my face. Oh, the tears are bitter that fill ray eyes To know that they do not know it! —Curtis May. THE MJHf. The doctor and I were enjoying a nrnch needed rest in a little cottage at Waikiki, Honolulu's ideal watering-place, says K. L. 11 irke in the Ban Kranciscis:o C ironide. Strolling alongthe beach one day we came across a group of native fishermen repairing a large saffron colored net one hundred feet long, per haps. and ten feet wide. “Take a look at that,” said the doctor, who, born and brought up on the islands, was familiar with the language and bnbits of the natives. ‘ That is made from the fibrous inner bark of tin olona, a until tree growing in damp gulches. The native < have away of separating the inner bark from the outer green pellicle, and scrape it into long smooth threads! which they twist into thin cords, with which the net is made. The fiber is as strong and smooth as silk, and fish-lines and nets made from it last a long time." “If it is so strong what has torn it •o?” I asked. The doctor repeated the question to the tisheiman and then translated. “They say that they were just outside the breakers yesterday with the net, and managed to entangle a specimen of the *Mano Kihikihi’ (the hammer-headed shark) and he did the damage. It seems that they can’t manage one of that spe cies of the huge white shark in a net. They have to use a hook to secure such sea monsters.’* After asking a few more questions of the natives the doctor told me that they were going off in a few days to try to capture one of the huge sharks known as “niuhi,” or man-eaters, and that they had offered to take us (for a considera tion) if we would promise to sit still in the canoes. “It’s a good chance,” he added, “to ® n j°J an experience that not one foreigner in a thousand meets with. And these fellows wouldn’t offer it now if they did not believe that the niuhi would scent us white men, and be all the more ready to take the baition the chance of its being you or L" Having had some experience in a Sandwich Island canoe, it was not with out a feeling of trepidation that I con sented to embark again in one, under the circumstances. The agreement was made, however, aod we held ourselves in readiness to start whenever the signal should be given to do so. But elaborate preparations had first to be made by the fishermen for the pro-, jected trip. They first took the livers and part of the flesh of some common sharks they had caught and wrapped them in the broad, stout leaves of the ki-plant. These packages were then thoroughly baked in a rude stone oven built on the beach and packed in the «anocs as bait. While this was being none two oi me larger canoes were lashed together by their “outriggers” so as to make one double canoe. On the interlocked outriggers a platform was built, and on thjs were arranged piles of bait and a strong line. With the bait was stowed two or three bundles of “awa,” (the root of the piper methys tichum, which, being chewed, is stupe fying in its effect. Gourds filled with fresh water weie also provided, and finally, when the fleet was ready to sail, «n ancient “kahuna” (half priest, half sorcerer) appeared aod examined every thing critically. It was his province, by his incantations, to prevent the dreaded man-eater fiom devouring any of the fishermen, and so the doctor took Earns to have us specially mentioned in is invocations. A swift, light double canoe was fitted up for us, and four stalwart paddlers as signed to the duty of keeping us in the midst of the sport, and still out of dan ger. Everything being in readiness, two or three of the lighter canoes w*»re launched and their occupants paddled out to sea to discover some signs of the wished-for man-eater, while we were di rected to be ready to embark at any time. It might be a day or two before the fish errnen scouts would come across the proper indications of the presence of the niuni. That variety of the shark tribe comes voluntarily into shallow water, but must always lie sought for a mile or two from land. There he makes havoc among all other kinds of fish, and his presence is indicated by the commotion among them. Bo the doctor and I leisurely dined that afternoon on the b-oad veranda overhanging the rippling sea, and lazily sauntered through the grove of palins and down hybiscus shaded, jasmine scented paths, bordeied by brilliant leafed crotons, watching through thin clouds of tobacco the shimmer and play of light of the setting sun on the gleam ing surf. Now and then we would glance up to the sharply-dittoed peak of CHARLOTTE, N. C., SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 1888. Diamond head, where seven hundred feet above us we knew the sharp-eyed natives were watching for the signal from the fishermen far out at sea. At last it came. When the western sky was ablaze with the glory of a trop ical sunset, a shout went up from the group of expectant fishermen on the l»eacfc. They pointed to Diamond head, where, clearly drawn against the purple sky, was seen the naked figure of the watchman flourishing his scarlet malo.or breech cloth, which he had torn off to signal with. It took us but a few moments to reach our canoe and spring in. Immediately our crew of paddlers forced the light hulls into the water, and in another mo ment we were darting over the smooth water inside the reef in hot chase after the large double canoe, on the platform of which sat the kahuna wildly tossing his arms about and howling out a dismal incantation. All the paddlers sat on the gunwales of their canoes, and with vigorous rhythmic strokes of theirhroad bladed paddles drove forward the vessels. Soon we felt from the plunging motion that we were on the iuner edge of the breakwater. Another moment and the roar and hiss of the coining waves were upon us. I glanced at the doctor and had just a glimpse of him, as he sat low down in the stern of his canoe, his mus cular hands clutching firmly the edges of the craft, while from between his close set teeth depended his beloved meer schaum. Quick puffs of smoke betrayed Lis excitement as the canoes reared and plunged over the breakers, and then we were gliding easily over the long swell outside. Though it did not take us long to reach the spot where the man-eater was known to be, yet night had fallen on them, and it was by the light of torches made of the baked kernels of the candle-nut strung Upon cocoa-leaf fibre that we drew near the fleet. As we did so the dip of paddles was noiseless, and it was by sign* alone that the “Inna,” or head fisherman, gave direction to the rest. By the smoky, red light of thfe torches we could see men busily scattering about the baked meat they had brought, and also half-chewed morsels of the awa root. As they did so ♦.here was the gleam cf the fins and tails of hundreds of fish darting to and fro for the food. Now and then a larger one than the rest, with sides glowing with phosphorescent light, would dart among the smaller fry, scattering them right and left. “They are the ‘mano-Kanaka,’” whis pered the doctor (we had both crawled on to the platform of our canoe), “the shark god of the old Hawatians. It is the kind they believed could assume the forms of human beings at will. And there! there!” he added, quickly, as a massive bulk rose slowly from the depths below, “there is the ‘mano-keokeo,’ the great white shark !** Just then the old fisherman stationed ne ir us suddenly crouched down, and, touching the doctor with one lean brown hand, pointed to the water near the stern of the canoe, next to us. We there saw, gleaming in the opalescent depths, two bright spots that shone with a ma lignant, greenish light. They were set in a monstrous, shadowy head, beyond which we could dimly sec a huge brown body. Below the cold, cruel eyes were traced the outlines of a for; /:da ble mouth, that, even as we looked opened slowly, disclosing row upon row of strongly hooked, neirly white teeth, with deeply serrated edges. As this frightful mouth opened the monster rolled half over and vigorously snapped at the b indie of food sinking near him, It was the Niuhi, the fiercest and most voracious of his tribe, and as he moved along the crowd of fish darted away in terror. Even the great white shark sul lenly gave place to this tiger of the sea, who swam slowly about swallowing the food the fishermen kept throwing to him. As he thus moved from place to place his whole body seemed to exhale a peculiar light, that streamed from the tips of his fins and long, unevenly lobed tail. By the gleam of this peculiar phosphores cent e his motion could be c o-ely watched, and finally the experienced fishermen saw that he was becoming gorged. 8o intent had we been watch ing his movements that we had not noticed that while he was being fed the fleet of canoes had been silently moved In near the shore. Now. looking down, we could dimly see the white sandy bot tom, and in a few minutes were in quite lhallow water, opposite an opening in the reef where the surf did not breftk. Our progress had been very slow, and now for awhile the canoes halted, while hoveriug between them was the man eater, evidently somewhat stupefied by the awa he had swallowed with the food *o freely given him. The old Kahuna had, during the whole performance, kept up his pano ramic display, though in a guarded, quiet manner, while the fishermen kept close watch upon the shark. lie gorged to repletion, evidently intended to lake a map, and so settled slowly down on the white sandy bottom. He was the perfect (submarinei picture of overfed helplessness, and it seemed as though are con hi almost liesr him snore. And then commenced a curious exhi bition of skill and daring. A noose had oeen made in the end ot a long, strong rope, and this was taken by an experi enced old fisherman, who quietly slipped overbad from his canoe and allowed himself to sink to where the man eater was resting his laxly enveloped in that | Urange, weird light. That was the | moment when, if the shark had l»cen I shamming sleep, he would with one vig- I orou* sweep of his tail and a snap of i his jaws have earned the name of ‘ man eater.’* But no; he was for the time being powerless, and with infinite dex* | terity and skill the native succeeded in passing the noose over the brute’s Jhead and about his middle. He then quit kly rose to the surface and «Umbered into hU canoe, and the fleet was again set in motion, The canoe to wmch the line about the shark’s body was attached moved very slowly and carefully, just enough strain being kept on the line to raise the captive’s body clear of the bot tom. Sometimes the shark would be a little restive, and then we all waited “until.” as the doctor said, “he rolled over aud went to sleep again.” At length we were close into the beach and all but two canoes were drawn up on the sands to wait for daylight. The two remaining ones lay over the sleep ing niuhi, the end of the line to which he was secured being taken ou the beach, and then all hands took turns in watching and sleeping. The job might have been completed that night, but this the Kahuna forbade. “We have the right to snare the man eater in the night, while he is drunk,’* he said, “but we must wail for daylight, when he is sober, before we kill him.” By daylight a crowd of people had as sembled on the beach, and the signal was given from the canoes that the niuhi was awake and getting restive. So the Cong line was seized by a hundred hands; it straightened out, and then, amidst the triumphant song of the Kahuna (who took immense credit to himself for the rapture) and the veils and laughter of the crowd tramping away with the rope, the enraged man-eater thrashing and plunging about, was drawn out of the water and over the yellow sands. As his huge body plunged hither and thither he snapped savagely at everything, but in vain. A crowd of fishermen were al ways about hi in, raining a shower of blows on his ugly head, until he lay, beaten to death, on the shore. Great were the rejoicings over the suc cess of this hunt for the niuhi. Every portion of the body (which was eighteen feet in length) was eaten, for it—the bones and skin especially—are supposed to endow the eater with high courage and great strength. As for the one who slipped the noose over the head of the man-eater, he was given an extra portion of the liver, was extravagantly praised for his skill, and would, the Kahuna said, be fortunate in everything he undertook thereafter. Brain Foiled by an Unarmed Man. A Fargo (Dakota) letter gives the ex perience of a Montana miner who was pursued by a bear, and took to a tree. We quote from the narrator’s account: “The bear wanted to keep me company, for he got to the foot of the tree by the time 1 had gained a limb six foot from the ground. The tree was just about small enough for the fellow to climb, and he tried his claws on the bark as high as he could reach. I was in a bad fix and no way to help myself. 1 couldn’t use a knife for I had none, but good luck and a happy thought helped me. I had a canteen of kerosene oil suspended around my neck, which I thought would make his eyes smart and drivchimaway. The oil had no effect on the eyes if it man aged to get in them, for the miscrab'c brute continued to look up at me and seemed to grin. Then another idea got into my head. I had a fresh box of matches, and if I could set lire to the oil that I poured over the bear’s head the battle was won. I made several attempts to drop burning matches on the oily hair of the bear, but the lucifer’s either went out or missed the mark. 1 had no paper but I managed to tear a piece of lining out of my vest, and getting a limb al most three feet long, fastened the rag to it, set to fire the rag, and with more satis faction than I ever did anything since, lowered the burning rag at the end of the stick until within about three feet of the bear’s oil soaked head and let it drop. In about one second I was enjoying all the fun to myself, and the other fellow was in trouble. The oil instantly took fire and the blaze from the burning hair was something good for one in my place to gaze at. The animal was surprised be yond the limit of any bear’s imagination. One howl of pain, then up went the paws, to rub the burning head to get burnt for their trouble, followed by an other howl; then down went the nose into the dirt, but no relief, when with a terrible howl the bear made a rush through the brush up the mountain out of sight.; Handsome Africans. The Bangalas arc a fine race physically, oeing tall, powerful, and splendidly formed, withieaturcs by no means of.the aegro typ"; the women are the hand icinest I have seen in Africa. Their iress is scauty, consisting for the most part only of a waist cloth for the men and a short kilt of woven gra-s for the women; but men of high degree often wear man ties of dressed goat or other rkins. They cicatrize their arms, shoul ders and busts iu p atterns by cutting the akin and injecting some irritant. Some times the result looks very well; but in at her eases the process is not successful I ind raises huge unsightly lumps of flesh. .... The Thief of Iboko, when I arrived, was an old man over 80—bis age was re lated by some to be SI. by others bit— who had lost one eye in battle aid pos j <cssed fifty wives. He was over six feet iu height, with a fine, well developed figure, aod but for hit dirty white hair and shriveled skin, would have passed I for a man of half his age. lie was much attached to Captain i'oquilhut (named I “Mwafa” or the “Eagle” by the natives), and never understood anything without i consulting him. The scene just- after our * arrival at Bnngala. when, “he Hoi del j Bangalas” being announced as we were ! all fitting over our afternoon coffee, j Mata Bwyki entered, wearing his royal 1 hat of leopard akin and attended by sov i eral of his wives, and enfolded Captain t oquilhat, gold spangled uniform aud I all, in an ample bears hug, was really worth seeing.— ilUukaotxl'*, One of the finest collections of orchid* in the world ie that of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the English statesman and manufacturer. It is valued at SIOO,OOO tod fill* nine conservatories. LIFE AT A FRONTIER POST ROUTINE OF A SOLDIER’S DUTY IN THE FAR WEST- An Early Morning Scene—At the Rillo Range Grooming t lie Horses—Gatling Gun Practice. Lieutenant E. M. Lewis, of the United States Army, gives in the New York Star the following account of a soldier’.' daily life at a frontier post: The military post of Fort Yates, Dak., is unpicturesquciy situated just above tin cliff-like hanks of the “Muddy Missouri.’’ The parade ground—that nucleus around which duster the components of every military post—is square and level, and ample enough in dimensions for the; six company garrison. On one side of the parade runs a well-shaded drive, along which are built the officers’ quarters, called in army parlance “the line.” The other three sides are enclosed by the soldiers’quarters, the chapel, the admin istrative building and the guardhouse. The season is summer, and the soft quiet that marks the hour just before the dawn is broken only by the ping of a mosquito, or the crowing of home early rock, proclaiming the advent of a new day. As if in answer to chanticleer’s challenge, the voice of the sentinel at the guard house, sounding sweet but clear in the sharp morning air, an nounccs that the hour is 4 o’clock, and that all is well. To each of the barrack buildings a lit tle a hlition has been joined, and the light shining out from their open win dows proclaims that the cooks are already busy preparing the early meal of their deeping comrades. One by one the stars fade out in the blue canopy overhead, while brighter and brighter grows the light in the east. Softly the barrack doors open to give egress to sleepy-looking men, carrying bright, shining things under their arms, who hurry to join the group already forming away down at one cud of the line. Suddenly, “Fall in; forward, march!” is commanded, and away they go, sounding on their bugles the reveille. Down they march to the end of their line, then hack again, aud to the center of the parade ground, their leathern (ungs never seeming to tire in the pro cess. By twos and threes, sleepy, frowzy headed men strangle out of the bar racks, and, leaning against the building f or support, postpone as long as possible the moment when they must fully iwaken to life and take their places in tte ranks. The officers hurry out of their quarters and join their companies on the parade. And now the sleepy ones have to abandon their lazy positions to go through the roll call; the flag floats proudly to the top of the flagstaff, un furling her beauty to the fresh morning breeze in graceful folds. The reports are made, the companies dismissed, and the military day has dawned. The next liftecn minutes would ex hibit to curious eyes prying into any one of the little rooms in rear of all the company quarters a long line of men, who, with the assistance of tin water shed basins and a wonderful amount of splashing and spurting, are performing their morning ablutions, giving by brisK rubs with coarse towels finishing touches to their already shining faces. Hardly is this finished when the brazen bugle’s voice calls from without: Soupy, soupy, soup, without any bean; Coffee, coffee, corf, without any cream; Porky, porky, pork, without any lean-n-n, and, all thoroughly awake, they file into the dining room to partake of a some what more elaborate Dill of fare than the the pessimistic bugle has proclaimed. Some hurry through and leave the room in order to enjoy a pipeful of tobacco before the duties of the day shall call them off, for at 5:45 o’clock squads of infantrymen, their rifles slung over their broad shoulders, are seen straggling down toward tlie rifle ranges. Down on the range the rifles have been popping for an hour, and we wander carelessly in that direction. At the base of the hills is along line of targets, rang ing in size according to the distance from the marksmen, but all with oval centers surrounded by two oval rings. Two hundred yards from one target a soldier is standing reading to Are. The gentle breeze wafts the smoke from the muzzle of his rifle, and a white disk appearing in front of the target announces that he has hit the bulUeye. At the 300-yard point, liefore another target, the soldiers shooting are sitting or kneeling upon the ground, and a little red flag waving over the mark indicates that the last shot has been too high, while the officer chides the luckless fel low and bids him be more careful next time. Away back, 000 yards from another target, two men are stretched out upon the ground apparently resting lazily, but a closer inspection shows that their rifles arc in hand, their left legs passed through the rifle slings, and a puff of smoke followed by a red disk placed al most over the bullseye gives evidenco that the man's aim has been good and bis hand steady. Far across the prairie is a dark line of | Figures representing a company engaged J in action, their black silhouettes in relief distinctly against the rising land be yond. These arc the skirmish targets, and as wc look, a company of infantry, deployed as skirmishers,advances toward them. A bugle sounds aud the limn drop like a flash, aud, in a moment, the j sound of the distant lusil,ole reaches us. I Another note from the bugle, and they are retiring at a run, only to stop again | and again to pour a merciless lire upon I the inert foe. Now the officers ride to | the targets, and, dismounting, count the number o' hits, which, being satisfactory the company is marched back to the bar racks, where tho dot a Is are forming for guard mounting. Half a dozen bugles are sounding a march, and with military precision the Terms. $1.50 per Annum. Single Copy 5 cents. guard is formed, inspected by the ad jutant, presented to the officer of the day and marched off to the guard house, where the old guard is drawn up in line to receive it. Balutcs are exchanged, the two sergeants are seen for a moment in earnest conversation as they exchange the orders for the day, and the tired fel lows who have been on duty for the last twenty four hours go to their quarters to seek their well-merited repose. Now the soldiers are coming back from the target range, and the officers gather in the administrative building to receive the orders of the commanding officer, and to be catechised by him in tactics and the science of war. Outside the details for fatigue aie forming. Dump carts, drawn by long eared, pensive-locking mules, appear and the work of polishing the post is commenced. Here a gang of prisoners under the charge of an armed sentry are raking up the leaves and dirt that have accumulated during the past twenty four hours. There a party is at work digging a new drain or repairing the pipe line through which the garrison drains its water supply. On the porches of the quarters are gathered the men off duty, lounging about with coats un- ' buttoned and caps on back of heads. An officer passes, and in a trice coats are buttoned, caps readjusted, bodies erect and heels together, while hands are ex tended in respectful salutes. Soon after dinner little squads of men are seen strolling eastward, a group iap idly forming about some object on the prairie, and upon our joining them we find that a new Gatling gun is about to he tried. On tjw outskirts of the crowd loiter a dozen Indians, curious to see the, to them, new engine of war. The tar get is a little knoll, distant some 500 yards. At the command of the officer in charge the crank is turned, when streams of lire spurt from the steel muzzles, and a column of dust rising from the little’ knoll attests the accuracy of their aim. The Indians, surprised for once out of their appearance of stoical indifference, draw quickly hack, applying a name to the machine which, being translated from their harsh-sounding language, is found to be “the devil who shoots.” Again the bugle sounds. Ladies and children assemble on the porches to wit ness the crowning military ceremony of the day. Half a dozen dirty, gaudily painted Indians hang expectantly upon the pickets of the boundary fence, and as many more mounted on their ponies await the parade. The companies are forming in front of their barracks, and the officers in full dress, belted and with plumes flying, hasten to join them. The adjutant and sergeant-major, ac companied by the markers with little fluttering silken guidons, establish the line, and the companies, amid much blowing of trumpets and many loud com mands, form upon it. Now a little squad approaches from the guard house, and two guards under a sergeant conduct a shamefaced prisoner to a point in front of the centre of the line. The adjutant steps briskly for ward, and, unfolding a paper, reads the orders, among which is one announcing the proceedings of a court martial and sentencing the prisoner to a term of hard labor in the guard house and a fine. He is then led away, and just as the last edge of the crimson sun isxiisappcaring behind the western hills, aud almost be foie the sweet sounds of “retreat” have died away, the waving lines of bunting come floating gently down the flagstaff, and, still unsaluted, are folded away in the guard room until on the morrow they will herald the dawn of another busy day. The companies are marched back to tlieir barracks and dismissed, and the military day is ended. At 8:30 tattoo is sounded, the first sergeants call the roll, and report that all is present. “Taps” come early in garrison, in order that no loss of sleep may cause un steady nerves in the men who are to try their skill at the targets the following day. A Steep Ulimb In Ceylon. For the first time for a number of years the Sigiri Rock in ('eylon has been scaled by a European, the feat ou this oc casion being performed by General Len nox, who commands the troops in the island. It is said, indeed, that only one other European, Mr. Creasy, ever suc ceeded in reaching the summit. The rock is cylindrical in shape, and the bulging sides render the assent very dif ficult and dangerous. There arc galler ies all round, a groove about four inches deep being cut in the solid rock. This rises spirally, and in it are fixed the foundation bricks, which support a plat form about six feet broad, with a cliunam-coated wall about nine feet high. The whole structure follows the curves and contours of the solid rock, and is cunningly constructed so as to make the most of any natural support the formation can afford. In some places the gallery nas fallen completely away, hut it still exhibits flights of fine marble steps. High upon flic rocks are several figures of Buddha; but it is a mystery how the artist got there, or how, being there, he was able to carry on his work. The fortifications consist of platforms, one alxive the other, supported by* mas sive retaining walls, each commanding the other. Owing to the falling away of the gallery the ascent in parts had to be made up a perpendicular face of the cliff, and General Lennox and four ns tives woro left to do the latter part of the ascent alone. The top they found to Ixs a plateau about an acre in extent in which were two square tanks, with sides 30 yards and 15 feet respectively in length, cut out ot the solid rock. A palace is believed to have existed on the summit at one time; although time, weather and the jungle have obliterated all traces of it. 1 luring the descent the first comer had to guide the foot of the next into a safe fissure; but all reached the bottom safely iu about two and a hall hours. The last letter Miss Alcott, the poeteu, overwrote endxl with the word: ‘‘fthaU I never find time to die?”
Charlotte Messenger (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 9, 1888, edition 1
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