Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

MOMESTOVS MATTERS. It costs $500,000,000 to support tho criminals in this country. It is not estimated how much the criminals who are not in jail cost the country, but it is very much more. TTolves still abound in France. Last year rewards were paid for the destruc tion of 1,305, the amount reaching over $4,000. Nine persons were at tacked and killed by wolves during the year. The New York Tribune says that “one of the minor results of the upris ing of El Mahdi in the Soudan may possibly be a gum-arabic famine. Most of the gum arable of commerce comes from the country now in the possession of the false prophet, and since the fall of Khartoum little gum arabic has found its way out of the Soudan ” The surprising statement is made by an exchange that the demand for gun powder is greater in times of peace than in war. It is said that more was used in the construction of the Iloosac Tunnel than during tho course of the late civil war. The United States con sumes on the average 100 tons a day, which is estimated to be more than would be burned in a battle in which 50,000 men would fire forty rounds each. The cook in a New York club was bothered by a number of rats, until he hit upon a novel dish for them. He collected a small pan of wine-bottle corks, and chopped them up. Then he fried the pieces in lard, and breaded them. The rats ate them at night, and drank from a dish of water conveniently placed. In a few pectoraliou Lhß and Mr. Thomson, having been voted a great medicine man, was expected to cure diseases in this way; but so great was the demand on his salivary organs that he could only satisfy his patients by taking repeated draughts of water. Equally strange is the custom of all the unmarried men and xvomen living in villages together, while the married folks live by themselves; these latter are allowed to eat and drink what they like, but the unmarried ones may only eat meat and drink milk. As soon as a man marries he ceases to be a warrior ami Las to tend the herds of cattle. He is no more allowed to join in cat tle raids, or that extermination of his neighbors which is continually going on, and which seems to be the greatest delight that the young Masai is capable of e” ring; and it is proba bly because ■ c y would have to forego the pleasures of rapine and bloodshed that these amiable people decline en tering into the state of matrimony. They have certainly a kind of relig ion, but very little even of that, and seem to have no belief in a future, as all dead bodies are thrown to the hyenas, who are so encouraged by be ing thus continually fed that if no one should die to provide them with a feast, they help themselves to the liv ing by taking the children out of the shuts,— London Field, £ljc ® njcttc. VOL. XII. A LITTLE CHILD. Down from the hill, up from the glen, With waving flags and warlike din, They rushed—two troops of mounted men— The boys in blue, tho boys in gray; And they had almost met that day, When, lo! a child stood in tho way. Its hands were filled with flow’rs; its eyes. As clear and soft as summer skies, Were opened wide in grave surprise. Upon the pretty baby head The sun a golden blessing shed. “I want mamma,” the sweet voice said. Both captains shouted, “Halt! * Tho men Reined in their eager steeds, and then The blue leaped down, and up again, And galloping like mad, he boro The chiUl he’d grasped a mile or idcßß Back to its mother’s cottage door. Loud rose the cheers from blue and gray As smilingly they turned away: There was no battle fought that day! •—Harper's Weekly. Catching' The New Orleans Times- Democrat translates from a French journal the fol lowing description of the singular man ner in which crocodiles are captured in Cambodia: On the 10th of February, 1878, after a long voyage through Uurmah, Tenasrim, and the kingdom of Siam, 1 reached Pnom-Penh, capitol of the Kingdom of Cambodia. ■ I bore with me a letter to King Noro- Mun. 1 will spare you all descriptions M Pnom-Penh, as well as of my recep- Man by h’s majesty. What 1 promised M>u was the history of a crocodile hunt H-here it is: ■I had been well received at court. Miter having been kindly treated by the ■lug, all his ministers did their utmost M> give me a pleasant welcome. Several Mrvauts had been placed at my disposal, Mid also one of the court carriages w ith H fine team of thoroughbred liirrnanese Horses. ■ I did not fail to inform iny hosts of ■ty passion for the chase, and for three Months they had spoiled me like a child, ■very day some hunting party or other Mid been arranged for my benefit. From Mie nelicourvi—a peculiar sort of little Mane which 1 never saw anywhere else Mtcept among the hikes and shallow ■reams of Siam or Cambodia—to the Myal tiger itself, I had hunted almost Mery sort of creature. ■ One morning on returning from my Mrly drive I found awaiting me the sais M the prime minister, who said tome: ■ “Tabe, Thouann!” (Good day, my Mrd). I “Tabe, Sais!’’ (Good day, servitor) I Mpffed. “Who scuds you?” ■ “My master invite i yon to upon Him forthwith, at hi.- ¥ paler. . ■ “Forthwith—nowr- I “Yes, my lord.” I “I go.” ■ And ordering my coachman to follow Mie Sais, who had started off at a run. I Mon found his excellency awaiting me M the threshold of bis dwelling. ■ “ Excuse me,” he said, “ if I have dis Mrbed you: but I acted by the king’s Mders. His majesty invites you to a Mocodile hunt. We shall be absent at Must one week.” ■ I thanked his excellency and promised ■> be at his house by 5 o'clock next Horning, whence we should g.> together M the palace to join the caravan of Minters. B At 4 :30 o’clock next morning we ar- Mved in the courtyard of the palace. A ■hole army of servantshad a.ready com- Meted all necessary preparations. The Marses, carriages, elephants, and palan- Hen destined for the use of Norodom, Ms guests, and his wives, were all then Mar the palace front. Further off was ■long train of wagons freighted with Movisions and supplies, as well as the Mnts and planking required for our tem- Mirary quarters. ■lt did not really seem as though we “ere going to hunt, but to war. The prime minister left me in the midst of the crowd and hastened to rejoin the king. At precisely 5 o’clock Norodom ap peared, surrounded by the high officials of his household. All those present bowed down or prostrated themselves. I took off mv hat. Norodom, I. must confess, descended the palace steps with real majesty. His palankeen awaited him, he got into it, and his various wives got into other sim ilar conveyances prepared for them. As soon as the king and his wives were in their vehicles, the rest of those entitled to the privilege of driving or riding, mounted their horses or their conveyances, and the whole royal suite, comprising more than three hundred per sons, of which number about one hun dred and fifty were footmen, and twenty five were soldiers, armed in European fashion, proceeded on its way. At 8 o'clock we made the first halt; at midnight another halt, followed by din ner and the inevitable siesta. At 4 o’clock we halted for the night. Then the king’s men proceeded to erect the edifice in which his majesty was to re pose for the night—a sort of immense I cage, elevated upon posts six feet above . the soil. Below this cage was another structure for the king's harem. The twenty-five soldiers formed a circle about this portable palace, and kept all the rest of us at a distance from it. SUMMERVILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 24,1885. Great fires were then lighted in a circle around the whole encampment to keep dangerous wild beasts at a distance. The evening's meal was prepared. At 8 o’clock the sentinels were posted, the fires fed with plenty of wood, and we lay down and slept without paying any attention to the roaring of the tigers. Next day the same ceremonies wer repeated. The day after, about 9 o’clock in the morning, wo arrived at the shores of a little lake, about two and a half miles in circumference, which had been our point of destination, and which, we were assured, was haunted by innumer able crocodiles. Our camp was pitched on the western shore of the lake, and preparations to catch the great saurians were immedi ately begun. The minister, by order of Norodom, placed the chief of the hunters “under my orders. That signified that he was to keep me perfectly well informed about everything which might take place. . The chief conducted me some distance Ito the right of the camp, and showed me a company of some fifty Cambodians I busy binding together a number of smooth planks by means of bamboo ropes. About twenty of these rafts (I cannot tell them by any other name which ex presses their form equally well) were soon finished. Near by a number of other men were engaged in preparing strong running j nooses, made also of bamboo filaments. After inspecting these raft and noose factories, the chief took forty men with him, and all of us skirting the lake, made our way to its eastern bank. The most absolute silence was enjoined upon all. On reaching the south-western part of the shore, tho chief, whom I followed closely, approached the bank. In an swer to my question, he said: “Thouann, I am looking for the slid ing paths of the crocodiles—the places they choose for leaving the water and i climbing upon the shore. See!”heob . served, suddenly pointing to a declivity trampled smooth—as level as if heavy cannon had been constantly rolled over i it, “there’s where they come out. If wo I can notice him, the one who comes here will not be easy to nail. Nail? I only wondered in my mind,but I my eyes must have been like two points ! of interrogation, for the chief of the hunters added after looking at me a mo ment: “Yes, nail! You are going to | sec something yon never saw before in your life." He posted a sais at this path, and we continued our inspection. Thirty points were choseu, and thirty men were sta i tioned at them. Before turning back to camp I said to the chief: “But I have not noticed a single wrinkle on the water—are you sure there are any crocodiles?” He did not answer; but tnkinga piece of wood, he wrapped it in a bit of red cloth and flung it about twenty yards out ■ into the water. Fifteen seconds passed—a few wave- ! lets appeared on the still mirror of the hike; there was a sort of dull sound, followed by a great shock in the water. I could not see anything distinctly; but the wood wrapped in red cloth had dis appeared. We returned to the raftmaking estab lishment. Thirty rafts—fifteen feet long by’ about four broad —were ready. A i hundred running nooses were also pre- I pared for operations. At a signal from the leader all the men not on duty as soldiers followed him. Each raft was carried by four men, while about a dozen followed us with the ropes. "To-morrow morning the baits,” said the chief, “will be attached to the rafts—about 8 o’clock—quarters of j meat.” We came to the first crocodile bank, ; and preparations were made to place the ! first strap in position. Four men laid the raft on the bank, and than gently pushed it down the slope till the further end was about two feet under water. This bank like all ; other spots chosen—was overshadowed by a tree, in which one of the Cambod- | I ians w ill be stationed. On the lake end of the raft a large running noose was attached, intended to catch the croco- ; i dile’s tail: on the upper end a second | • noose was placed to seize the crocodile’s ‘ ! head. The nooses are operated by long I ! strings, which were so arrnged as to be ; pulled at the proper moment by the man > ! percheel in the tree. These arrangements being completed, j preparations were made for the night. Fires were lighted behind each trap to keep the crocodiles in the water until ■ dawn, when the hunt was to begin. At four in the morning, Norodom, his ministers, the courtiers, and the invited guests, are all awakened. From his i elevated cabin the king can get a good view of the capture of the crocodiles. His guests, all armed with lances, take their way to the western bank of the 1 lake. All around the lake, the sais are posted ;in their respective trees; the rafts are baited; the fires are put out. About six or seven paces from each raft, a little to one side, crouches a sais armed with a mallet, and great sharp nails from eight to ten inches long. Absolute culm everywhere. Tho day breaks. The crocodiles, which have been imprisoned in their slime for twen ty-four hours, must w ant to breathe. We wait. About 5 o’clbok little eminences pit* themselves about the water. They re main awhile motionless, then they begin ito move altogether. In the middle of ' the lake we behold a regular conciliabu ! him. Tw’enty, forty, a hundred croco i dilos assemble, play about, dive and re appear alternately. Suddenly they all remain still. Have they suspected something, or heard some | noise? No; the breeze has wafted to j them odors of flesh. A long black mass detaches itself from the assembly of saurians, and makes for the great slope. Others betake them selves to their favorite morning landing places. Norodom has seized his telescope, and watches the progress of the drama with intense interest. All the rest of us look on breathlessly in silence. The biggest crocodile has reached the edge of his pathway. There he stops. I Perhaps he is wondering what that bait is. A whole quarter of an hour passes | by. Tho snout of the alligator leaves the water and now his fore-legs are on the raft. Everybody holds his breath. He keeps on climbing—slowly—very slowly. The bait is there, only twenty (inches from his nose. He seizes it. At : the very same instant the sais in the tree above him pulls the strings which oper ate the running nooses, and the reptile, '■ caught at once by head and tail begins to struggle furiously. Immediately the other sais leaps forward, his hammer in ■ one hand and a huge nail in the other; i and while the mqnster stretches his legs ■ in trying to reach the water, the sais nails the right fore foot to the rail. Tho worst of the job is over. In tho twink ling of an eye, the right hind-foot is also nailed down. Then, boldly stepping over the alligator, the sais immediately nails the tao left-feet also to the raft. Thus crucified, the saurian is well muzzled, and his tail is fastened firmly with bamboo ropes. He is carried to Norodom and measured —seven and a half feet long. We remained on the (pke shore two weeks, and during that time caught six teen more crocodiles, which were brought alive to Pnom l’enb, and then skillfully butchered. 1 The Cambodians are very fond of cro codile flesh, and I must confess that I ate it myself without the least repugnance. Ordinarily it sells at two cents a pound in Cambodia—except when the animals are caught during a royal hunt, and then the “king’s crocodile meat” sellsfor foui) cents. Just on the same principle that, in France, President Grevy’s rabbits sell at four francs a pair, while yours or mine are worth only forty sous. It is nearly seven years since f enjoyed the hospitality of King Norodom, and 1' would not have thought of publishing this recital of my hunting adventures had not public attention been again called to the gttod king of Cambodia—who was so kind me—by the action of Procon sul Thompson in despoiling him of his estates. The Mexican National Pawn-Shop. A City of Mexico letter to the Baltimore American contains the following account of the Mexican National pawn shop; This is one of the most remarkable inst’' j tutions in Mexico, and is well worthy of a visit. It is situated on Empedradillo street, almost opposite the famous Aztec calendar in the wall of one of the Cathe dral towers. This is one of the oldest edifices in the city, having been originally built as a private residence for Cortez shortly after the conquest. It retains a great deal of its primitive style, and the modern tourist has much to admire in i its quaint old doors, windows, stair cases, ceilings, etc. Its founder xjjas i Count de Regia, Don Pedro Terrcrcs, i who, in 1744, endowed the insti tution with $300,001) out of his private fortune. His object was philanthropic in every respect, being to relieve tho ‘ poor and those whose difficult circum stances compelled them to have recourse :to usury. Money is loaned on very , liberal terms, according to the rules and regulations of the establishment, the rate of interest never being lower than three or higher than twelve and a half i per cent, per annum. There are many curious articles stowed away in the pic ture, candelabra, silver-plate, timepiece > and miscellaneous rooms, and the grand vault of the bank connected with the pawning establishment usually contains from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 in solid silver and gold. The jewelry depart ment contains one of the richest and rarest collections in the world. Pearls, rubies, emerald and diamonds in great numbers dazzle the visitor s sight. Many of these jewels are merely placed here for safety, others for the consideration of money. Some are handed down from the date of the conquest, and, beside their intrinsic value, are of great interest to the antiquarian. At balls and dances in public halls in New Orleans signs which read “No weapons allowei” are conspicuously dis played, and policemen search the men before they are permittee} to enter the ’ building. | WOBOS OF WISDOM. swells in prosperity will shrink In advewßy. Os all thieves fools are the worst; they rob you of time and temper. The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world. There is a wide distinction between gossip and the intelligent discussion of character. We should never wed an opinion for better or for worse; what wc take upon good ground we should lay down upon better. The age of a man resembles a book; in fancy and old age arc the blank leaves, youth the preface, and manhood the body or most important portion of life’s volume. Caution in crediting, reserve in speak ing, and in revealing one’s self to a very few, arc the best securities both of peace and a good understanding with the world, and of the inward peace of our own minds. There arc three friendships which are advantageous, and three which are in jurious. Friendship with the upright, friendship with tho sincere, and friend ship with the man of much information are advantageous. Friendship xvith a man of spacious airs, friendship with the insinuatingly soft, friendship with the glib-tongued—these are injurious. Cripples in Congress. A Washington correspondent writes that there will be at least three one leg ged ex-Confederates in the next Con gress, to say nothing of Wade Hampton, who is one-legged nnd an ex-Confeder atc, but did not lose his leg in tho war. The three in question are Senator Berry, of Arkansas, Senator Butler, of South Carolina, and Stone, of Kentucky, who succeeds Oscar Turner. A one-logged man seems to be a better runner, on the whole, thin one with two I legs. Mr. Oscar Turner on liis arrival at Washington after tho beginning of the last session of Congress, on being asked about his successor, remarked that he was a one-legged man, and an cx-Con fedcrate. “They tried everything in the district with two legs,” said he, with a grim smile, “and couldn’t beat me, so they tried the one-legged fellow, and by George, they beat me.” There are a much larger number of wounded and crippled ex Confederates among Congressmen than there arc wounded and crippled ex-Union soldiers. There will be a round dozen of them in the next Congress, perhaps more. Berry will find company in the Senate, for besides Butler, who lost his right leg at Brandy Station, there is Kenna, who enten d the service a mere child—he was but seventeen years old at the close of the war —and xvas wounded in the ser vice. In the House there will be Mr. Stone, who outran Oscar Turner; Oates, of Alabama, who lost his right arm in front of Richmond in his twenty seventh battle, and after having been five times previously wounded. Herbert, of Ala bama, who was disabled at the battle of the Wilderness; Davidson, of Florida, who was so badly wounded in ’O4 as to render him unfit for further service; Cox of North Carolina; Aiken, of South Car olina, who was shot through the lungs hi ’62, but served a year or two after his partial recovery; Gibson, of West Vir ginia, who was obliged to retire from service on account of his wounds; Ca bell, of Virginia, who was wounded twice, and O’Ferral of the same State, who received no less than seven wounds during his career in the Confederate ser vice. Dexterity in Nut-Cracking. “There is a new thing in nuts just now,” said a fruiter to a reporter. As he spoke he pointed to a large show case, in which were displayed the kernels of different varieties of nuts. “All our nuts are shelled now, and our sales more than doubled.” “Why, the street pedlars have shelled nuts, too, haven’t they?” said the re porter. “Yes, but have you noticed the way their nuts are broken and crushed?” Look at these and you will see the hick ory nuts arc in halves, and the same is the case with our walnuts.” i On closer observation it was noticed such was the case, hickories, walnuts, ; pecans and Brazil nuts show they had been separated* from the shell by ex- i perts. i “We are giving steady and rcmuncra- i five employment to four families at • breaking nuts. The nuts are given to < them to break and we pay a small amount 1 per quart for the meats. A German family breaks all our walnuts, a French man on the north side takes the pecans, and the hickory nuts are broken by an American family, which is supported by the work.” “It doesn’t take much experience t break nuts?” said the reporter. “Don’t it?”Didyou ever try to break a shell-bark hickory nut? If you didn’t, you can hardly have an idea how difficult a thing it is to extract the meat without crushing it xvith the shell. Why, those peotfle we have serve a regular appren ticeship at it, and it takes some time be ’ fore one becomes an expert at the busi- I uess. — Chicago Inter- Ocean. NO. 23. FUN. Is a bass drum a dead beat? A court of inquiry—-Is the old man in? El Mahdi is not much of a profit to the English. — Siftings. Can the tailor’s nag be properly called a clothes horse?— Boston Bulletin. A roller skate may gather no moss, but it barks a good many skins. —A'ew York Journal. “Are animals mathematical?” asks an exchange. Certainly. There is tho adder snake.— Graphic. We propose that the phrase “money no object” be amended to read “money no objection.”— Derrick. “You can’t make the wife, who has asked her husband for some money with out receiving a response, believe that silence is golden.— Boston Post. If your neighbor’s dog injures one of your chickens you can collect damages. If he injures one of your children you cannot. Moral: Raise chickens.—Bos ton Post. An exchange says: “Round waists aro still in fashion.” Wo should hope so. What would become of us if it gets to three-cornered or pentagonal waists?— Boston Post. The expression “Thank my stars!” is rarely heard from the mouth of a theat rical manager. Wc do not pretend to know why ; we simply state the fact. Boston Transcript. “A San Francisco society young man is making a collection of ladies’ gloves.” Up to the hour of going to press tho ladies have given him more “mittens’' than gloves.— Norristown Herald. An agricultural journal says “Spring is the best time in tho year to move bees.’ It may be; but if a bee settles on youi neck, or any other portion of your anato my in the fall, don’t wait until tho spring to move it.— Norristown Herald. “It is criminal to kiss,” Said the beautiful miss. And the youth, xvith effrontery sublime. Kissed the maid and said, “There! If I’m hanged I declare ( It will be for a capital crime. ” —Boston Courier. There is said to have been discovered a kind or tobacco which if smoked or chewed, will make a man forget that he owes a dollar in the world. Wc can’t see the utility of this. The crying need of the hour is a kind of tobacco that will make men remember when they owe a dollar.— Siftings. Farragut's Flag-Ship on Fire From an account by Commander Al burt Kautz, in the Century war papers, we quote the following: “No sooner had Farragut given the order ‘Hard a port,’ than the current gave the ship a broad sheer, and her bows went hard up on a mud bank. As tho fire-raft camo against the port side of the ship, it be came enveloped in flames. We were so near to the shore that from the bow sprit we could reach the tops of the bushes, and such a short distance above Fort St. Philip that we could distinctly hear tho gunners in the casements give their orders; and as they saw Farragut’s flag at tho mizzen, by the bright light, they fired with frightful rapidity. For tunately they did not make sufficient al lowance for our close proximity, and the iron hail passed over our bulwarks, doing but little damage. On the deck of the ship it was bright as noonday, but out over the majestic river, where the smoke of many guns was intensified by that of the pine knots of the fire-rafts, it was dark as tho blackest midnight. For a moment it looked as though tho flag-ship was indeed doomed, but the firemen were called away, and with the energy of despair rushed aft to the quar ter-deck. The flames, like so many forked tongues of hissing serpents, were piercing the air in a frightful manner, that struck terror to all hearts. As I crossed from the starboard to the port side of the deck, I passed close to Far ragut, who, as he looked forward and took in the situation, clasped his hands high in air, and exclaimed, ‘My God, is it to end in this way!’ Fortunately, it was not to end as it at that instant seemed, for just then Master’s Mate Al len, with tho hose in his hand, jumped into the mizzen rigging, and the sheet of flame succumbed to a sheet of water. It was but the dry paint on the ship's side that made the threatening flame, and it went down before the fierce attack of the firemen as rapidly as it had sprung up. As the flumes died away tho en gines were backed ‘hard,’ and,as if prov dentially, the ram Manassas struck the ship a blow under the counter, which shoved her stern in against the bank, causing her bow to slip off. The ship was again free; and a loud, spontaneous cheer rent the air, as the crew rushed to their guns with renewed energy.” The One-Cent Piece. Tho common one-cent piece is com posed of 95 per cent, copper and five per cent, tin and zinc. There is no nickel in it. Its real intrinsic value is about one tenth of a cent. The old penny used to be made of pure copper, and was worth one-third of a cent. Few counterfeits have been made on the one-ccnt pisce. It would not pay. Too many would have to be made and distributed to pro duce any money for the sharpers. The old penny was once counterfeited, the fraud being made at Birmingham, Eng land. It didn’t pay and the counter feiters gave it up fora bad job. A SUBMERGED CONTINENT. A Vast Area of Land that 13 Now Under Water, Evidences and Relics in the Pacific Ocean of an Intelligent People. Capt. L. U. Herandeen, a mariner who has spent years in sailing the Pa cific, related to a reporter, a few days ago, facts that he had observed which tend to prove the theory set, forth by Dana that there is an immense area of the Pacific Ocean bed, lying under the equator, about 6,000 miles in length and about 3,000 in breadth, that has been gradually sinking lower and lower for thousands of years, till now and that once was lying in the sun and washed by waves is buried in fathomless depths. The following is the interesting story told by Captain Herandeen: “There is ample evidence that a vast area in the Central Pacific Ocean, now sunk far deeper than the fathom line goes, was once above the surface of the sea, and most probably inhabited by a race of people far superior in in telligence and civilization to the Poly ensians and Kanakas who now dwell on the rocky islands, which in former times were the tops of mountain peaks. An immense area of the ocean bed has been sinking for thousands of years, and tho character of the people who have lived in that region of the world seems to be sinking lower and lower as the land subsides. The first thing that called the attention of scientific men to this great fact was the forma tion of the innumerable atolls and barrier reefs in that part of the Pacific Ocean. They found on the outskirts of this area that there were islands fringed with coral reefs. “As they sailed past these beautiful islands they saw other islands with a barrier circling them. A coral reef a few feet below the surface of the water girdled the island at a distance from it varying from a half to thirty miles, and whose presence was marked by a ring of snowy foam made by the breakers. As they penetrated further into tho region of the sea they came upon atolls, which are formed by cir cles of coral inclosing a smooth sheet of water. These lagoons were found to vary in diameter from thirty miles or more to only a few feet, but corals do not build their reefs at a greater depth than 100 feet, and yet by sound ing these singular reefs in the Pacific Ocean, it was found that the coral reached as far as the fathom line went. The conclusion of scientific men was tint the bed of the ocean was gradually sinking, and that the corals began to build fringing reefs on the islands, and as the land sank the corals kept steadily at work building up as fast as the land went down. As the island disappeared the fringing reefs became stolls or circles of coral inclosing a calm lagoon. It was found that the reefs below 100 feet are dead, and it is inferred that at a lower depth than that the corals were killed by Cold. This is the generally accepted theory in regard to the subsidence of the Pacific. “But there is other evidence which is more interesting, because it relates to the decay of a great race of people that once inhabited this region. A few years ago I stopped at Pouynipete Is land, in the Pacific, in east longitude 158 degrees 22 minutes and north lati tude 60 degrees 50 minutes. The is land is surrounded by a reef with a broad ship channel between it and the island. “At places in the reef there were natural breaks,that served as entrances to the harbors. • In these ship channels there were a number of islands, many of which were surrounded by a wall of stone five or six feet high, and on these islands there stood a great many low houses, built of the same kind of stone as the walls about them. These structures seem to have been used as temples and forts. The singular feat ure cf these islands is that the xvalls are a foot or more below the water. When they were built they were evi dently above the water and connected with the main land, but they have gradually sunk until the sea has risen a foot or more around them. The na tives on the island do not know when these works were built; it is so far back in the past that they have even no tradition of the structures. Yet the works show signs of great skill,and certainly prove that whoever built them knew thoroughly how to tran sport and lift heavy blocks of stone. Up in the mountains of the island there is a quarry of the same kind of stone that was used in building the wall aboflt the islands, and in that quarry to-day there are great blocks of stone that have been hewn out ready for transportation. The natives have no tradition touching the quarry; who hewed the stone, when it was done, or why the work ceased. The natives are in greater ignorance of tho great phenomena that are going on about them than the white man who touches on their island fora few hours for water. There is no doubt in my mind that the island was once inhabi ted by an intelligent race of people who built the temples and forts of heavy masonry on the high bluffs of the shore of the island, and that as the land gradually subsided these bluffs became islands. They stand to-day with a solid wall of stone around them, partly submerged in xvater.— San Francisco Call.