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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, JUNE 1,1882.
litfo In Central Africa.
Central Africa, for centnrlea almost un
known to the civilized world, has been for
the last ten or fifteen years the choeen field
of the most intrepid travelers and ex
plorers. The names of Livingstone and
Stanley have become household words
throughout Christendom, and the geography
of the "dark continent" has ceased to be
the absolute and forbidding mystery which
made a wide and dismal blank in the atlases
of the last generation. With these famous
travelers we may fitly associate their Ger
man cotemporary, Dr. Gustav Nachtlgal,who
has given to the worlk some exceedingly
interesting and graphic sketches of the life
and customs of the natives of the kingdom
of Bagbirni.
These children of nature appear, as far as
can be learned, to have been wholly un
spoiled by any touch of modern civilization,
and are innocent of the slightest symptoms
of artificial culture. Their dress is a model
of simplicity, the whole outfit consisting of
a shirt reaching to the loins, leaving the
other parts of the body uncovered; and
ging rifle-pits or erecting earthworks, the
tribe simply mount the gigantic cotton trees,
among whose protecting branches tbe lances
of tbe attacking party cannot resell them.
This tree is admirably adapted for the pur
pose of a refuge and fortification, being
very high, and having usually no branches
lower than fifteen feet from the ground.
The branches, moreover, are very thick and
grow almost horizontally; so that by laying
sticks across them and adding a covering of
straw, a foundation is obtained for a hut in
which a whole family, including tbe dogs
and goats, can live comfortably and socially.
A single treo ordinarily contains two or
three families. At night, when no attack
is apprehended, the dwellers in this si ngular
habitation come down and lay in a fresh
stock of water and provisions, always hiding
the latter as securely as possible. Theso nat
ural forts are found, whenever assailed, to
be almost impregnable, so long as only tbe
native resources of warfare are used against
them. Having no fire-arms, the enemy can
not reach them except by storming each
tree, andany attempt to set fire to it is met
by the besieged party, who extinguish the
household gods from destruction, and repel
the wanton and cruel invader, we fervently
hope may be crowned with triumphant suc
cess. As a matter of fact, however, they
seem to be getting much the wont of tbe
encounter.
Sewerage of Large Villages.
Mr. James T. Gardiner, Director of the
New York Slate Survey, has made a valua
ble report to the New York State Board of
Health on the method of sewerage for cities
and large villages. He finds, after inquiry,
that where in general, intelligent efforts
have been made to produce proper sanitary
conditions of towns, cess-pools and vaults
have been abolished, and the sewago is re
moved from the neighborhood of dwel
ling-houses by dry removal, or by wnter-car-
riage or sewerage. The efficiency of the
system of removal by means of dry earth-
closets depends upon constant proper atten
tion. In practice, it is found that the pro
vision of fine, dry earth, and the constant in
telligent surveillance necessary, can not be
secured from any but exceptional families.
The system can not therefore, be safely rec-
commended for towns in which
a large propor-tion of the people
are always ignorant and careless.
The tub, cask, or pail system,
which is used even on a large
scale in England, France and Ger
many, "is undoubtedly tlio best
method of removal, where towns
have neither water-supply or sew
erage.” In this system, the refuse
matter is allowed to fall into a
tub or cask, which is removed,
emptied, cleaned, and disinfected
by the town authorities at least
once a week. At Manchester,
England, sifted ashes are added
during use to the contents of the
tub, as a deodorizer. This system
is successfully employed at Man
chester and Rochdale, England,
at an expense of $95 per thousand
persons, or ten cents per person
per annum; and is recommended
for villages which can have no
general water-supply. The weak
ness of it is, that the removal,
cleansing and disinfecting of the
tubs require constant care and
expense, and may be neglected
by careless, ignorant, or parsi
monious village authorities—
a weakness rather attributable to village
authorities than to the system—but un
der no circumstances could the evils of such
neglect be comparable with those of privy-
vaults. Tbe system is, however, unavoida
bly inferior to that of sewerage, in that it
does not provide for the removal of waste-
water and slops. Mr. Gardiner expresses a
decided preference for the “separate” sys
tem of sewerage, which is adapted to carry
off slops alone, to the "combined” system,
in which the attempt is made to carry off both
slops and storm-water by means of one set of
conduits. He regards the separate system as
vastly cheaper than the combined, and as
very much more wholesome, in that it does
not supply the territory for the cultivation
af the bacteria that find rich and extensive
propagation grounds on the moist, unglazed
walls of the large combined sewers. A con
spicuous example of the successful applica
tion of the separate system is found at Mem
phis, Tenn. ^
Origin of the Nun’s Light unit Heat.
Dr. H. U. Rogers, of Dunkirk, New York,
has come forward with a criticism of the ex
isting theories of the origin of the light and
heat of the sun from combustion, mechani
cal action, or shrinkage of the sun’s moss,
os insufficient and not adequately supported
by the analogies of any fact with which we
are acquainted, and has advanced a theory
that they are the result of electrical action.
The sun, he believes, is a cold body, like the ,
earth, but so constituted and so situated rel
atively to the earth that a stream of electric
currents is constantly passing between the
sun and the earth. These currents reach
their points of greatest intensity within our
atmosphere, where all the manifestations of
force which we assign to the sun’s surface
really take place. Dr. Rogers also believes
that the phenomena of gravitation may be
traced to the same origin.
A wealthy land owner in the Tyrol has
made an application of the microphone to
the detection of subterranean springs. He
fixed the microphones at the spots where
he supposed water might exist, each being
connected with its telephone and battery.
Then, at night, be puts his ear to each of the
instruments and listened for the murmur
ing of the waters—and in several cases
heard it.
The truth had to be created, but lies are
self-made. Hence the scarcity of the one
and the quantity of the other.
BATTLE OF THE TREE DWELLERS.
many of them regard even this brief gar
ment as too aristocratic, and content them
selves with a handkerchief around the head
or even a few feathers in the hair.
The Kingdom of Baghirm is not of large
extent, and its sovereign is ambitious, not
unlike his more civilized brethren, to in
crease his dominion by the annexation of
adjoining territory. Meeting with, resist
ance in the prosecution of these designs,
he resorts,—again after the manner of the
most enlightened potentates—to the enjoy
ment of force.' Repeating riflesand artillery
of the European pattern being wholly un
known in that region, he substitutes lances
and clubs, the only weapons known to the
War Department of Baghrim. The methods
of defense adopted by the invaded commu
nity are rude but effective. Instead of dig
flame by pouring water upon it or beating
it down with sticks.
Both in attack and defense, but especially
in the latter, these people display the most
stubborn courage. The members of the
tribe of which a conquest is sought will
fight for their liberty to tbe bitter end,know
ing that the sure result of defeat is a horri
ble death or hopeless slavery. As a last re
sort, rather than submit to capture, they
will climb to the top of the tree and throw
themselves down to meet inevitable death.
Our illustrations present in an extremely
vivid manner one of those crises in the in
ternal affairs of the Baghirm nationality;
and we venture to say that the reader’s
sympathies, like our own, will be altogether
on the side of the assaulted party, whose
efforts to protect their borne, rescue their