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VOL. I. NO. 11. TAYLORSyiLLE, ALEXANDER COUNTY, N C-, THURSDAY, JULY 17,
E. L. HEDRICK, EDITOR.
'(3
The Governments of Europe are nego
tiating with a view to common action
far the suppression of anarchism.
; The Missouri River now empties into
the Mifsistppl at a point three ;milea
nearer St. Louis, Mo., than it was thirty
years ago. The change has been occa-
sioned. by the river's great tendency to
wear away its northern bank.
Stanley has quite broken the record in
the matter of having thing3 named after
bim, states the Detroit Free Press. One
could dress himself from head to foot and
then furnish his house without buying an
i article that is not christened for the ex
plorer. ' The Latin Union, a European League,
is constituted of France,Belgium,Greece,
Italy and Switzerland, and their coins
arc alike in weight and fineness, though
different ia name. Spain, Servia, Rus
sia, umgRria ana Jtoumania nave Adopt
ed in part the same system, but they
lutrp not. ininprl tlin "TTninn " .
' A new religious sect in India is at
tracting much attention. It is called Ary
Somaj, and it has arisen in Punjab. It
purpose is to oppose Christianity, and it
-is endeavoring to restore the worship
taught in the ancient Vedas. In ordei
tor prevent' the children of Hindoo pa
rents from falling into the hands of tin
Missionaries, the sect is starting orphan
asylums and schools. This is the firs)
effort made by the natives of India tc
provide homes for hclples,s and neglected
children.
The New York Telegram has discov
ered that J. G. Fitch, Inspector of Train
t ing1 Schools in England, who . came to
; "America in 18S8 to study the public
ishool system, has made a report which
is not very complimentary to our schools.
He says they give no better education
than is now afforded by the elementary
schools of England, the chief fault being
that tha minuteness of the rules laid down
for teachers and pupils "leaves little
room for the spontaneity of tho former
or the individuality of the latter."
"The cxtrordinary investments of cap-,
ital in manufacturing, mining and gen
eral industrial Operations in the United
States are,' states the Chicago Drovers'
Journal, "attracting the attention cf the
greatest capitalists of Europe. In Lon
don, Paris and BerKn bankers and moti
teyed men have taken up the question of
American investments. They are afraid
of American railway securities, and in-line
to the scheme of purchasing prop
erty rich in minerals or timber, which
they will probably develop upon a large
A good, deal of indignation has been
excited in England over the discovery
that a number of soldiers who took part
in the famous charge of the Light Brigade
it Balaclava are now reduced to beggary
ind almost to starvation. Of the survi
vors of the "noble six hundred" it has
been found that while a few are in com
fortable circumstances, there are nearly
;wo thousand in various almshouse.?, and
ver five thousand dependent on private
iharity. This, declares Munsey't Weekly,-
a sad commentary on England's lack
Df generosity and on the veterans' lack of
veracity.
The British Government got about
$500,000 out of the English estate of ;the
late J. S. Morgan, of the American firm
of .bankers, Drexel, Morgan & Co., which
amounted to $11,000,000. The first duty
was the probate stamp,which cost $350,
000. Another tax amounted to $40,
000, and as Morgan had left a year's sal
ary to every person in his employment,
and there is a tax of 10 per cent, on
sach of these bequests as well as a tax of
I per cent, on the bequests to his chil
dren, and 3 and 5 per cent, to other rela
tives, another $110,000 was almost made
op.
There is a; great diversity of opinion as
to the merits of carp as food, some pro-
nouncing them unpalatable, while others
like them well. The bulletin of the
United States Fish Commission of 1883
contained 242 opinions respecting their
edible qualities, which were obtained in
answer to a circular sent out to ascertain
definitely how carp were liked. The
following gives a summary of the replies
received. Of these 242 reports, thirty
eight only contained the slighest reflec
tion upon carp. Many of these reflec
tions were decidedly slight. Being gross
feeders and rapid growers, the flavor oi
carp may be affected by the water thej
NEWS SUMMARY.
FKOM ALL OVER THE. SOUTHLAND,
AooidentSf' Calamities. Pleasant News and
Notes of Industry.
VIRGINIA. (
In a collision on the Norfolk and
Western Railroad, near Max Meadows,
ten persons were injured.
The remains of the victims of the late
mine disaster, which occurred at Buena
Vista, were interred at Neriah church,
f even miles above there. , Mr. Marion,
the Wounded survivor, is improving.
and it is believed that
nis wounds were of
nature.
The Hon Thomas
ginia's commissioner
he
a
will recover,
most serious
Whitehead, Vir
of sericulture.
states that the reports from nearly every
section of the .... State indicate that tho
corn will be up to the average. While
the acreage planted in tobacco is small,
the growing crop promises to yield well.
The oat crop is almost a failure except
the winter oats of Tidewater, "Wheat is
not up to the average. The peach crop
is a failure, but there is a fine crop of
apples in Piedmont and the mountains.
Hay and grass, will not yield so much as
lastyear, but the quality is better.
John Howard, a young man employed
as a clerk in Captain Cooksey's office at
Newport News, roomed with a friend cr.
the fourth floor of the Hotel Warwick,
and wag found early this morning lying
on the stone pavement in front of the
hotel, with both legs broken, and injured
internally. It is supposed he walked out
of a window while asleep. r
A well-dressad white man who
imagines himself a count and thinks he
has been robbed of f 200,000 in gold was
arrested last night by the Norfolk
police. He gave . his name as Count
Carle Levere and says he came to Nor
folk from Washington, where he resided
with the Spanish Minister.
Bears driven by fire from -the Dismal
Swamp are prowling about the country
near Norfolk.
Scotch capitalists are ready to invest
$2,000,000 at Glasgow Va., if their geo
logical, expert gives a favorable report.
' NORTH CAROLINA.
A young women of Johnston county
eloped with the nephew of her intended
husband.
Governor Fowle has appointed Julian
S. Carr, of Durham, as paymaster-gen-aral
of the North Carolina State Guatd,
to rank as colonel. ' lie succeeds
Charles 3. -Bryne, of New Berne, who
Tecently resigned.
Another big hotel is to be built as
Asheville.
.1
The Richmond and Danville road wil
build a new depot at Hendsrsonville.
Morganton is to have water works.
Nrs. Nancy Gragg died at her home in
Catlettsville, Caldwell county, at the
age of eighty-three. She was the widow
of a Revolutionary pensioner, and a
sisttr of the famous bear hunter, Enoch
Coffee, of John river.
A negro orphan asylum has been
established at Oxford by that race, for
the care of their destitute children. Rev.
A. Shepherd is president of the organ
ization, and is sending out circulars for
help, which is said to be a worthy in
stitution. ' Lawson Dobbins, a young hite man
about 20 years of age, was drowned in
Main Broad River. Young Dobbin p,
was following a seine and got beyond
his depth and not being able to swim,
was drowned before help could reach
him-
The North Carolina Tobacco Associa
tion has announced that its next anual
meeting will be held at Morehead " City
August 5.'
.... m
A circular issued from Jthe trai flic de
partment of the Atlaotic Coast Line an -nounces
the appointment of H. M.
Emerson as Assistant General Freight
and Passenger Agent.
SOUTH CAROLINA. .
W. P. Johnson, the proprietor of the
New York racket store, which recently
failed at Columbia wag arrested on a
warrant sued out by B iron & Kay, at
torneys for Clark, Perrey & Co., John
son's late creditors. The charge against
him is fraud. He gave bona for f 760,
being twice the value of the amount in
volved. ,
There was a big fire at GafTneyCity.
Three stores and a printting office ' were
competely destroyed. Messrs. W.oods,
SolIi9on, and Lipscomb were the owners
of the store. The tire commenced at
10 o'clock in the printing office, and
continued to burn all night. The origin
of the fire has not beejCdlscovered, but
it was thought to be incendiary,
Alex Hollingswortb, formerly of North
Carolina, beat and bruised B. F. Lake,
recently from Edgefield County, with
an iorn weight in a street fight at Spar
tanburg. Lake was severely cut on the
head and otherwise injured. Hollings
wortb. was arrested and put in jail, bail
being placed at one thousand dollars
Lnke is seriously wounded.' , '
Cjluubia. is tohave a $20,000 Y. M.
C. A. building.
The South Carolina Railway has com
menced to operate a regular freight and
passenger " schedule on the Columbia
Newberry , and Laurens Railroad. The
stations along the line have been called
lu la.
Mill
White Rock. Chanln's. Little
Mo intui tnd Prosperity. The business
on the line Has been very good up to
this time. "
Special: An enthusiastic mfcetiDg of
Citizens wa held at Qrnville in fix
interest of the Dummy Line' Railroad. 1
A committee of seven was appointed to
canvass for subscriptions to the capital
Stock. of $100,000. Col. J, II. Averill, .
of the Central Road, was present, and
assued the friends of the road of the
financial assistance of the Central.
News has been reveived from Gaffneys
of ths ead death of a young man, son of
Nathan Moore. It appears that young
Moore was attending a saw mill owned
by his father, when coming too
near the saw his clothing caught
and threw him in such a way
that he was litterally torn in two and
died in a few minutes. i
Mr. Moore is a citizen of Thickety
neighborhood and is highly respected.
The tragic death of his son has
thrown a gloom over the entire corA
munity . ;
GEORGIA j
The peach crop will be almost a total
failure. ; ; j
The Griffin Call reprta alight grape
crop in Spalding county owipg to the
late freeze in early spring. I .
The wreck on the eouthweitern divi
sion of the Central railroad a few days
ago destroyed eight thousand water
melons. " j
Another new bsnk has bfe'nj organized
in Americu, which will be called The
Bink of Sumter.
Brunwick has a new ice factory with
a capacity of forty tons per day. ,
Two police rfficers of Brunwick arrest
ed one John Harden, who isj wanted at
Fort Worth, Tex., to answer a cnarge
of rioting committee in 1886.
Mr. John Cook, of Miller county, ba
100 acres in cotton waists high and
locked in four and one-half f0ot rows.
He also has plenty of caterpillers, he
says, in their first stage, and he expects
them to eat all the foliage off his crop
in the course of a few weeks-
The Bainbridge police force were
instrumental in capturing a negrow call
ing himself Joe Finley. He had is pos
session and stored around; fourteen
children's dresses, cloaks and gown?,
and sixteen silk handkerchiefs. He is
wanted at Greenville, South j Cat alina,
audit is supposed that he stole the1
goods from J. C Cox, a merchant of
that city. "The dresses are fine silk and
the oth-r goods of the most jexpensive
kind. 1 -
The oil refinery of the Southern Cot
ton Seed Oil Mills, near Atlanta, burn
ed. The Lojs $100,000. Over 200.
000 gallons of til was released, and
ran in a stream toward the Atlanta
weter-worKs..-' " "lr ' ' - "'
' The Georgia, Melon Exchange, which
started out to control the watermelon
output of Georgia, has gone under.
TENNESSEE, j
R. L. C. White, of Nashville, has
been elected kesperof records and seals,
of the supreme lodge of the Knights of.
Pythias. j
The third trial of J. M. Batnes, for
the murderer of Lew Ownens in Chatta
nooga, in January 1888, ended in the
acquittil of the defendant, 1 On the
first trial. Barnes was sentenced to five
years in the state penitentiaryj, but a
new trial was granted by the jsupreme
court. The jury disagreed, jstanding
eleven for acquittal. The killing oc
curred in the store of Nix & Owens, now
Nix & Faust, on Market street. Barnes
and Nix hadbem in the same business to
gether, and Barne'd interest had been
purchased by Owens. They had a dis
pute over some bedroom furniture,
which Owens c'aimed he had purchased
in connection j with the othejr goods.
A heated discussion ensued, jfollowed
by a difficulty Which ended in Barnes
drawing his h revolver and; shoot
ing Owens inflicting a death; wound.
The prominence of the parties in
business circles made the affair one
of much interest. ;
OTHER STATES. !
The census of Birmingham, Ala , and
county has been completed, and the
figures are much more satisfactory than
the first estimation. The population1 of
the county is 100. 000. and that of the city
and immediate suburbs 58,000.
The population of the county in
1880 was 23,000 and of the city
.3,800.. ; j ' ;. ,
The first bale of Texas' cotton; crop of
1890 arrived Galveston from Duval. It
classed good middling, good staple,
weighed 650 pounds, and sold for
$100.
It is announced that the Alabama
Terminal and Improvement company
will immediatly build the Montgomery,
Tuscaleosa and Memphis railway from
Montgomery , Ala. , to a connection
through Tuscaloosa with the Illinois
Central and Mobile and Ohio railroads.
The Louisville Southern Railroad
company at a meeting of its stockholders
atJLouisville leased its property ta the
East Tennssee, Virginia and Georgia
road. This gives the latter road a rbute
into Lovisville. The terms are that the
East. Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia
shall guarantee five per cent interest on
new bonds of the Louisville Southern
road, and if after paying all expenses
there is a surplus, this shall be divided
equally between the two companies.
Bud Lowndesbtrry shot and killed
J. M. Ingraham, at Milligan, Fla.. over
a game of cards. Lowndesbtrry escap
ed. . i f.
, Fatal Shooting. iffiir. ;
News has been received of a fatal
shooting affair at Taxahaw, S. C, near
the Union county lint. John Kenning
tonwas shot twice by Henry Massey.
He died Saturday night. Massey was
incited and rehjaied o& bail p
PASSING EVENTS.
NEWS OP THE DAY CONDENSED
Items of -Interest -Put In Shae Tor
Pnblio Heading.
Light frosts were noticed on the hills
at Brockwayville, Pa. The frost was
not enough to hurt anything, but suffi
cient to be a novelty in July.
Ex-Senator Thos. C. McCreary died
at his home, near Owensboro, Ky.,
yesterday, in the 74th year of his age.
He has been a paralytic for a year,
r A London cablegram says that a syn
dicate has been formed there with a
capital of 400,000 to acquire possession
of ham and pork curing houses in Chi
cago and Nebraska.
Colonel Beekman Dubarry, assistant
commissary general of subsistence, was
yesterday appointed by the president to
be commissary general of subsistence
with the rank of. brigadier general.
The losses by the destructive cyclone
at Fargo, F. D., will foot up about
$100,000.
Garrard, who killed Brennan in a prize
raioao k
the verdict of the coroner's jury, which
. . .
pronounced the fatal blow "accidental."
During the last year forty two col
leges received gifts of money amounting
to $2,675,000. ' :
France has more than a quarter of a
million carrier pigeons trained for war
purposes.
t The Congregation at Oxford ; has de
cided to include the examination for the
degree o bachlor of medicine in ex
aminations for women.
- The new bridge- authorized by Con
igress to be built across the Hudson
river between New York and Jersey City .
Mll.be 7,000 feet long and have one
central span 2,850 feet in longth.
The most densely populated pqunre
mile in the world is in the city of New
Turk. It is inhabited by 270,000 peo
ple, the largest part of whom are Ital
ians, who speak only their native lan
guage. Chief Justice Marcus Morton, of
Massachusetts, is going to retire from
the Bench, after a continuous service of
thirty-two. years. He was appointed
justice of the Superior Court in 1809.
According to the East Asiatic Lloyd
there are 7,905 foreigners and 474
foreign business firms in Chinese ports
Great Britain has there 3,276 citizens
ip;H0O Arms; Germanv 596 citizens and
72 firms ; the United States 1,091 citi
zens and 27'firms; France ;551 citizens
and 20 firms.
The American riflemen visiting Ger
many paid a yisit to Prince ' Bismarck
yesterday. The prince shook hands with
each one and expressed his plasure at
the visit.
Gen Sherman receives a salary of $15,
000 a year as retired general of the army,
with nothing to do and a good, active
clerk to help hio do it.
The venerable Prof Robert H. Bishop.
ho was professor of Latin in Miami
University from 1852 to 1873, and pro
fessor emeritus and secretary of the trus
tees until his death, has died at Oxford,
Ohio.
The two hotels which Waldorf Astor
has decided to build in New York arc
not intended for transient guests, but for
rich families, such" as can afford: to pay
$3,000 to $5,000 a year for a suite of
rooms and board, ana it is believed that
there are enough of this class to fill both
houses.
IN GOOD CONDITION.
Statues of the Ootton OropThe Ayerag s
by the States.
Washington. The statistical report
for June, of the department of agricul
ture, shows an improvement in the statu
of cotton, the average of condition hav
ing advanced from S3. 8 to 91.4 since tho
nrevions returns. Theie was generally.
an fivces of moisture until about 'then
10th of June, with floe weather pince,
giving an opportunity for the destruc tion
of grass and for thorough cultivation.
On tha Atlantic coast the cr-.p is general
ly well advanced, while it is late in the
southwest, where planting' was delayed
by the overflows and by heavy rains.
That which was planted early bean to
bloom from the 15th to the 23th, and in
the southwest some bolls are reported as
early as April 30th. While the plant is
in varion stages of advancement fiom a
wide range of seeding, it is now almost
invariably in.the full vigor of growth, of
good color and high promise; very free
from rust, free from worms except weak
invasions of the first broods in the more
a .utherii belt. The present average of
the July condition hs been exceeded
only once in the last five years. The
averages are as follows by states: Vir
ginia 92, North Csrolina 95, South Caro
lina 95, Geergi a 95, Florida 91, Alabama
95, Mississippi 89. Louisiana 86. Arkan
sas 39, Tennessee 93. Nearly throughout
the cotton arta two of three weeks of dry
weather is reported, but scarcely any in
jury from drought.
Since the 1st of July
rains have been reported on the
ntic coast b
ire number of applications for
pensions under the disability pension
bill have already been filed in the pen
sion office. The haste has been so great
that many of the applications are defec-
ivA md will not be accented. A num
ber of applications have been
gigned by the attorney only.
received ,
, The records of the Patent Office in
Washington show that 3500 patents have
been issued to women since the establish
aeat of the office in 1790.
-heavy
Atla
V
All
GENEEAL FISK DEAD.
The Iate Prohibition Presidential
Candidate Dies Suddenly.
General Clinton B. Fisk died at Lis resi
dence, in New York city, a few days ago.
His death was not ' expecte.l, for his general
health was considered good. He had suffered
from an attack of li Grippe since last win
ter, and his death was due to a relapse.
CU2CTOX B. FISK.
General Fisk was born in Livingston
County, N. . Y., on December 8, 1838. His
parents removed to Michigan during his in-
fancy. After a successful career as a mer-
c snt. miller nl hnntor in that. SJafa ha
moved to St, Louis, Mo., in 1889.
When the war broke out Mr. Fisk went to
the f ront,and early in the struggle was made.
Colonel in the Thirty-third Missouri Regi
ment. He was promoted to be Brigadier
General in 18K-J2, and brevetted Major-General
of Volunteers in 1865.
After the war he was Assistant Commis
sioner under General O. O." Howard in the;
management of the Friedman's Bureau in
Kentucky and Tennessee. He removed to
New Jersev afterward. I 4.
G eneral Fisk actively aided in the establish
ment of the Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.,
in 1 86.7, and it was named after him. He
has ever since been identified with its finan
cial and educational interests and was Presi
dent of the Board of Trustees at his death.
Her was also a Trustee of Dickinson Col
lege, of Drew Theological Seminary and also
of Albion College, Michigan. He was a
Trustee of the American Missionary Associa
tion and also a member of the Book Commit
tee of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He rendered conspicuous services to
Methodism in his efforts toward a reunion of
the Northern and Southern branches of the
church. '. ' J
He was particularly identified with the
temperance movement, and was the Prohibi
tion candidate for the Governorship of New '
Jersey in 1S86. He was also a candidate for
the Presidency on the same ticket in 18SS.
Since 1874 he was closely identified witt
the Board of Indian Commissioners, of whfch
he was President. . '
Starring Japanese Living on Straw.
John B. Hall, an English barrister who
has been in Japan, nearly a year, stopped
at the Richelieu for a lew hoursrwhifc xa
his way from San Francisco to New York.
He predicts serious trouble as the out
come of the famine in certain parts of
Japan and cites one incident as an illus
tration. - j " ;
"The high price of rice and consequent
starvation," said he, "affect the greater
part of Japan. In some localities the
natives have for a long time been living
on straw. The people in the cities are
so busy with improvements and new en
terprises that they don't hear the cries of
the sufferers. It is certain that this con
tinued destitution will result in blood
shed. The natives are planning to do
something desperate to ; better, their con-
dition. j j
"AtTottori-Ken one day about th
middle of April, twenty Shizakumarched
with drawn swords to the house of Ki
mura Sahei, a rich rice merchant, an?
demanded that he assist the poor. They
charged the merchant with monopolizing
the rice crop to the detriment of the peo
pie and declared that they would beheac
him unless he stopped exporting the food
until after the wants of the sufferers had
been relieved.
"During tho menacing demonstration
the police arrived and arrested the dis
turbers." Chicago Tribune.
Twenty Million Stars In Tlew.
Astronomers say that the " fabulous
number of 20,000,000 stars all aglow,
can be seen with a, powerful microscope.
When we consider that the nearest of
these is 200,000 times as far from us as
the sun, and that it would take from
three and a half to twenty-one years for
the light which reaches us to cease if
they were extinguished, we cannot
grasp and hold the vast conception in
our minds. Yet it is supposed that each
of these is a central sun, with its own
colony of planets circling round it,
which in size are vastly superior to those
of our own solar system and are travel
ing through space with such speed that it
is impossible for us to j comprehend it.
The star Sirius is said to' be moving
fifty-four miles a second, or 194,400
miles per hour, a flaming mass, leading
its brood of planets through inimitable
space. New York Telegram.
A Novel Magnetic Clock.
A new French clock contains a novel
application of the magnet. The clock is
shaped like a tambourine, with a circle
of flowers uointed on its head. Around
circie two bees crawl, the larger one
requiring twelve hours to complete its
circuit, while the smaller one makes it
every hour. Different flowers represent
the hours, and the bees, which are oi
iron, are moved by two magnates behind
the head of the itambourine. Chkagc
Herald. " , 1'
The steamer Yang Tse, which arrived
at Marseilles, France, the other day re
ports passing through, in the Red Sea, a
veritable bank of locusts covering an esti-
, mated area of 325 miles. It took " the
ship twenty-four hours to pass through
the immense cloud pf iaiecti, . ....
RUSSIA'S .TOW OF FIRE.
VIVID DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT
PETROLEUM CENTRE.
The Basin of the Caspian Sea Rest
' ri a Subterranean Sea of Naphtha 1
T A City Without Houses.
Tifiis is midway on the railroad that
cuts the Caucasus - in its whole width, ;
and puts the two seas in communication
the port of Batoum on the Black Sea .
with that of Bakou on the Caspian. Aa
we leave the capital in the latter direc
tion, the eye is at first ravished arid then
desolated by the changing aspects of the
land. The track follows the Kour, '
which rolls its broad sheet of water
majestically through wild forests and
rich, tilled soil1, while two chairs of .
snowy ridges stretch away out of sight
in the distance the "Caucasus to the
left, the mountains J, of Armenia to tho
right. Soon we reave the river,. which ,
goes to join the Araxes toward the south ;
the plain gets broader and tarer ; tall
cages built of planks perched on , four,
tree trunks rise in the midst of the rice
fields like watch towers.- The inhabitants
of the villages, who a?e all Tartars in
this legion, take refuge at night in
jhese aerial nests; the marshy land is
so unhealthy that it is dangerous to.
sleep there. In spite of these precau
tions, the peasants whom we see are de
voured by fever; their emaciated visages
remind us of those of the inhabitants of
the Roman campagna. After : - leaving r
Hadji-Caboul, the new station in Moor
ish style where a new ,hne branches off .
'the Teheranline," I am told by the, em1
gineers who are buUdirig it, . and who
hope to carry it into the very heart of ; .
Persia -we enter an African landscape'
sad and luminous. The mountain chains
become lower ; they are now simply cliffa
of gilded sandstone festooning against a
crude blue sky. At their feet the desert,
a sandy expanse, covered here and thero.
with a rose carpet of flowering tamarisks. .
Herds of camels browse on these shrubs;
under the guard of a half -naked shep
herd, motionless as a bronze statue. Tho
fantastic silhouettes of these animals are
increased, in size and changed in form by
the effect of the mirage, which displays
before our eyes, in the ardent haze of tho
horizon, lakes and forests. From time -to
time we meet a petroleum train, com-,
posed of cistern trucks in the form of
cylinders, surmounted by a funnel with a
short, thick neck. When you see them'
approaching from a distance you might
mistake them for a procession of masto
dons, vying in shapelessness with . tho
trains of camels which they pass.; The srin
burn3 in space; x onder a green band glit- .
ters beneath its rays; it is the Caspian..
We turn ground a hill, : and behold 1 oa
this western shore, in this primitive
landscape, which seems like a corner of
Arabia Petraea, a monstrous city rises be
fore our eyes. Is it once more the effect
of mirage, this town of diabolical as-'
pectj enveloped in a cloud of smoke
traversed by running tongues! of flame,
at it were Sodom fortified by the de
mons in its girdle, of cast-iron towers? X
can find but one word to depict exactly
the first impression that it gives. It is
a town of gasometers. There are no I
away on the right, in the old Persian
city nothing but iron cylinders and
pipes and chimneys, scattered . in disor
order from the hills down to the beach.
This is , doubtless the fearful model xf
what manufacturing towns will all be in .
the twentieth century. Meanwhile, for
the moment, this one is uniqu& in the
world; it is Bakou the "town of fire,"
as the natives call it; the petroleum
town, where everything is devoted and .
subordinated to the worship of the local
god. ' .
The bed "of the Caspian Sea rests upon
a second subterraneannsea, which spreads
its floods of naphtha under the whole
basin. On the eastern shored the build- :
ing of the Samareand Railway led lb the
discovery of immense beds of mineral
oil. On the Western shore, from the most -remote
ages, the magi used to adore the
fire springing from the earth at, the very
spot where its last worshipers prostrate
themselves at the present day. ! But,
after having long adored it, impioufrmen
began to make profit by it commercially.
In the thirteenth century the famoun
traveler, Marco Polo, mentions 1 'on the
northern side-a great spring whence flows
' 1 11 ? i T. ? -. 1 r .
a liquid like oil.
It is no
but is useful
for burning
and all
other purposes ; and so the neighboring
nations come to get their provision of it
and fill many vessels without the ever
flowing spring appearing to be diminished,
in any manner."
The real practical workings of these
oil springs dates back only a dozen years.
At the present day it yields 2,000,000
kilogrammes of kerosene per annum and
disputes the markets of Europe against
the products of Kentucky and Pennsyl
vania. The yield might be increased ten
fold, for the existing wells give on an
average 40,000 kilogrammes a day, and'
in " order to find new ones it suffices to
bore the ground, so taturated is the whole
soil with petroleum. C. Marvin ( 'The
Petroleum Industry in Southern Russia")
compares the Aspheron peninsula to a
sponge plunged in mineral oil. The soil
is Continually vomiting forth the liquid
Iavathat torments its entrails, either in
the form of mud volcanoes or of natural
springs. These springs overflow in-,
streams so abundant that it is hopeless to
restore their contents for want of reser
voirs ; often they catch fire arid burn for
weeks; the air, impregnated with naptha
vapors, is then aglow all round Bakou.
Harder 9 Monthly,
I