The Sunday Oregonian., September 20, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 56

THE STINT) AT OREGOXIAJT, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 20, 1908.
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ENGLISHMEN HAVE REOPENED JN SOUTHERN RHODESA
PROPERTIES THAT ONCE WERE FABULOUSLY
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BT FRANTC O. CARPENTER.
DID the gold of Kin? Solomon'
temple come from Rhodesia? Soma
noted archeologista claim that It did.
There are mighty rulna here In Uatabele
land which are said to have belonged to
the ancient miners, and In Mashonaland
axe the ruins of Zimbabwe which may
have been built by the very men who
dug out that gold. All over Matabeleland
and Mashonaland. I find the remain of
mclent workings, and the gold mines
which are in operation today consist
chiefly of the deepening of the excava
tions of the past. Last year more than
JW.OOu.irtO worth of ore was taken out of
this part of Africa and something like
H0.000.0u0 worth has been mined since the
hoountrv was opened ut. This is far north
rot and entirely apart from the great mines
;f the Transvaal, which are now yielding
rtnore gold than any other mines of the
(world. The workings there are on a
gigantic scale. Here the mining consists
of many hundreds of small propositions,
and it is chiefly the development of the
raepostts discovered by the unknown races
lof the ancient past.
The miners are now looking ror the oia
workings, and they find that the ancients
usually abandoned their diggings when
Whey had gone down only 40 feet or so.
IThey had crude ways of reducing the ore,
land some of the wasta on the old dumps
Ms being worked over. I saw one shaft
fjiear hero which, had been cleaned out
rand extended, and the miners of today
Hare now continuing the work of the men
Mot mousanas 01 years u-
I am told that nearly all of the old
reefs, as they are called, grow better as
jthey go downward. They ere mostly made
flip of low grade ore. but such that It
yean be worked with small stamps. Much
of the gold is free milling, and It takes
but little machinery to work It. I have
seen mills which have only three stamps
.each, and there are many which are
rworked by a couple of white men and a
Sdozen or more natives.
King Solomon's Mines.
There 1 considerable evidence that King
Folomon got his gold from South Africa.
When Vasco da Garoa first made his way
around the Capo of Good Hope he found
that the natives at Sofala, a port in
Portuguese East Africa, below the mouth
of the Zambesi, had gold which came
from the northwest, and probably Rho
desia. We know that gold was being
taken out of Africa hundreds of years be
fore that time, and It Is said that much
of the treasure of the ancient Romans
was brought In from this region. It Is
known that the Arabians controlled for
years a large part of the east African
coast and much of the gold supply which
was poured Into Egypt came through
them Some of the ruins here resemble
those" of the Sabaeabe. an old Arabian
nation, and it Is thought that they may
have been built by Sabaean miners in
the davs of King Solomon. The records
of history as far back aa 120 years be
fore Christ cite the wealth of the Saba
eans and there Is an Assyrian Inscrip
tion, dated B. C. 733, which speaks of
Arabia as furnishing a rich tribute of
gold, sliver and Incense. Arabia has prac
tically no gold Itself and Its treasure
must havr come from, other countries.
As to the enormous amounts which
'were sent to Egypt, the excavations all
along the Nile Valley have produced
i many gold ornaments, and the museums
;of the world contain relics of the golden
Ijewelrv found In the mummy caskets
from the tombs of the Kings. "Willie I
was hi Egypt a few months ago I visited
. the great temple of Dahr-el-Baharl, In
i the desert mountains, near the site of
i ancient Thebes. On that temple there
are pictures showing how, about liOO
. years before Christ, the land of Punt was
i conquered by the Egyptians, and how
they brought back ebony, ostrich feathers
and the skins of leopards, lions and gl
! rafTes as well as elephants' tusks and In
1 gots of gold. All these things come from
Rhodesia, and It may be that It was the
(land of Punt and that the Egyptians
i made an expedition here. It Is also said
to be the land of Ophlr. to which King
Solomon and Hiram of Tyre sent out par-
ties who brought back gold.
The Ruins of Khaml.
Before I describe the remains of the
famous temples at Zimbabwe. In Ma
' ehonaland. I want to tell you about the
' ruins of Khaml. which lie within 12 miles
'. of this city of Bulawayo, and which any
one may reach by horse, bicycle or auto
mobile. They are right on the edge of a
river, surrounded by hills In which are
. troops of baboons. There are antelopes,
lemurs and squirrels among the rocks,
. i nt mnn'a hnhltfttlon
ana incro s v "'f --- .
near by. The remains of the walls of the
Hunting
Business With Queer
4l HA-VB been guilty of doing va
I rloua klnda of lobe for a living
In this world," remarked Jlm
, mie Jenkins, tall and bronae-faced.
I -but one In which I enjoyed myeelf as
' well as anything was the few months
! I apent among the Florida reefa Tiunt
! lng the sponge." "
"Hunting the sponger' la gasped.
-Yes, I'v been a sponge-liunter,"
ih remarked, "and during my exper
j lence In that business I learned many
j things of how sponges were obtained
i or the public" Thua atartod, Jlmmle
' told an Interesting 'atory.
Tou know that for a number of
j years Key West, Fla., virtually monop
olized the sponge business In this
country. Seven years ago the sponge
fleet of Florida consisted of 16 vessels
of over fiv tons and 328 email aloops
ranging from two to five tons. In all
of these almost 2:50 people were em
ployed. The total value of the Invest
ment In the business when I was there
was 594.600, while the. value to the
spongers of the sponges secured In
the same year was 8570,000. Four
fifths of the men. vessels, boats and
catch belonged to Key "West.
Each sponging ship carries an odd
number of men, from three to 13. The
odd man is usually the cook, and he
stays on board the vessel to work It
while the others are sponging. When
they arrive at the sponging grounda
the small boats are thrown overboard
and two men take their places In each
' boat. The one In charge of the boat
Is called the "hooker" and hla business
It Is to discover and hook the aponges,
while the other man, or "aculler."
maneuvere the boat according to the
directions of the "hooker." These
i small craft are aa light as possible.
; so as to be easily and quickly launched
' from the vessel and hauled In again.
Sponging la carried on ordinarily at
a depth of from 15 to 80 feet of water.
When the hooker is ready for work he
j ties the water glass to a hook on the
aide of the boat, and then placing the
5 W - ' . y ' a-s . . IttBflU. lwfnAUX tnhWNB - r r
f?SlSfYC: COZ.D ORE mal7
ancient buildings can be seen tn many
places. They are composed of granite
blocks, some of which are laid together
In a checkerboard pattern. The houses
of these ancients were circular, and they
seem to have been formed by a granite
paste which was hardened by burning.
There are the remains of other circular
buildings between this city and Gwelo;
and the ruins at Mombo are almost as In
teresting as those of Zimbabwe.
The Temples of Zlmbarwe.
The remains at Zimbabwe He about 100
miles from Salisbury, and between 200
and 300 miles from Bulawayo. They con
sist of a great temple, some large fortifi
cations and an acropolis which Is sup
posed to have been in existence when the
mines were In full operation. South of
the temple are steps which led to guld
smeltlng furnaces and caves, and In the
museum here at Bulawayo they show
crucibles which were found there and
which belonged to these ancients. Some
of the crucibles have the gold still in
them, and there are other relics which
show the old methods of gold working.
There are also sheets of fine gold which
came from Zimbabwe, links of gold wire
no thicker than a thread, and an ingot
of solid gold about an Inch long and a
fourth of an Inch thick. The" Ingot seems
to have been a piece of the money of
those days. There were also copper
chains, beautifully made, and Ingots of
tin. although so far no tin deposits have
been discovered near by.
The Zimbabwe ruins are on-the high
plateau of Mashonaland, about two
thirds of a inllo above the sea. They
are connected with other ruins which
run the whole length of the western
side of the Sabt River and are In al
most all cai-os within a short distanoe
of quart reefs containing gold. At
Zimbabwe Itself the ruins cover a large
area. There is a great temple 280 feet
long, the wall of which at one point Is
35 feet high and 18 feet thick at the
base. This wall la made up of small
blocks of granite, with uniform fac
ings, laid up dry. The stones fit so
closely that there. Is comparatively no
vegetation upon the ruins; It was made
without mortar or cement. This is so
notwithstanding the floor Is of a ce
ment of powdered granite. There are
two round" towers In the lnclosure,
which seem to have been erected as
monuments. They are solid, and the
larger one Is 35 feet high. The rest of
the circular building Is divided up into
smaller lnclosures, and some scientists
Bay that the whole bears evidence of
having been used by people like the
Phoenicians.
The remains of another temple have
been found not far from this, although
little more than the cement floor ex
isted when the excavators uncovered
them. The floor was supported Dy
under walls. In its center was an altar
made of small granite blocks and under
Sponges
Ends Wherein It 13 a Game of
glasa on the surface of the water, he
leans out over the side of the boat,
putting his head down near the glass,
from which. If the water Is clear, he
can see the bottom very plainly for a
considerable distance on all sides.
When he sees a good sponge he gives a
quick command and his companion, the
sculler, aenda the boat In the desired
direction.
Meantime the hooker has plunged
hla hook Into the water, and as soon
aa he la in reach, he skillfully inserts
the hook under the sponge, detaches
It with a quick turn of the wrist and
throwa It Into the boat. Then the
search . Is resumed for others. Care
must be taken not to let the sponge
get loose from the hook, as It Is al
most Impossible to get It back again.
Spongea which have gotten oft the
book after being pulled loose become
wanderers and are known aa rollers
or "rolling Johnnies," from their habit
of rolling on the bottom.
The hooker must be able to distin
guish between the different varieties
of sponges at whatever depths he may
be fishing. And this is often a diffi
cult thing to do, owing to the many
worthless spongea growing on the
ground, although to an Inexperienced
eye they are superior to those the
hooker brings up.
When the aponges are brought to
the vessel they are deposited on the
deck and placed in their natural up
right position, so as to let the animals
die and allow the furry or slimy mat
ter with which the sponges are coated
to run off. The clean, bright eponge
of commerce is a somewhat different
thing from the black, slimy object
lying upon the deck and the animal
matter these sponges give off while
on the deck for several days is an of
fense to fastidious nostrils. Pleasure
boats In Florida alwaya pasa to wind
ward of a vessel with sponges on her
deck.
Depositing; the Catch.
At different places along the coast
the spongers have built in the shel
tered waters of the keys what they
call "kralls." about 10 feet square and
mad of wattled stakes. The spongers
usually return to these kralls on Fri
day evening or Saturday morning.
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the altar was found the remains of
Phallic worship and fragments of
soapstone bowls. Near it was a gold
smelting furnace.
The Mines of Rhodesia.
There is no doubt but that there Is
vast amount of gold in Rhodesia. This
country, which is almost as big as the
Mississippi Valley, has minerals of one
kind or another scattered here and
there over It. The gold fields already
discovered cover more than 6030 square
miles and there are now more than 300
companies and syndicates working
them. Considerable copper and gold
have been taken ont and something
like 8000 tons of chrome Iron. Rhodesia
has diamond mines, which have al
ready produced about 1800 carats of
precious stones, and coal mines, from
which 200,000 tons of black diamonds
have been taken. The chief mineral
value of the country, so far, has come
from Its low-grade gold propositions,
which are mined at small cost. The
British South Africa Company Is doing;
what it can to help the email miners,
and by the present laws the first li
cense is Issued for 1 shining and nine
others at $5 a claim. A single miner
can peg out ten claims, 130 feet wide
and 600 feet long each, for little more
than the oost of the licenses. No
royalty Is paid to the company until
the miners have been compensated for
their labor and have had some profits
on their work. There are a number
of mines here which are being operated
at a cost of $10,003 per mine, but aa a
rule few of the amines pay enormous
in Florida
Physical Strength.
when the week's catch la deposited
there.
Meantime the previous week's catch
has been soaking in the kraal for the
last seven days. These are taken out
and beaten, though still wet. with a
short wooden paddle,' to drive out the
decomposed animal mattery Any of
the black scum adhering after this
treatment la scraped off with a knife.
The sponges are then squeezed and
strung, according to species and alze,
on a piece of cparse atrlng about alx
feet long. They are then ready for
sale, the method of which Is one of
the most peculiar business processes
In the United States. Sponges are now
sold at either Key West or Tarpon
Sponges, and early in the morning the
captain of each vessel lands his
sponges on the sponge wharf. The
buyers, representing large wholesale
house In New York, Philadelphia and
St. Louis, look over and handle the
bunches as they lie, at any time be
fore or during the sale, but they are
not allowed to weigh them.
At the Sale.
At S o'clock in the afternoon the
auctioneer appears and the sale be
gins. He takes 'his place beside the
first pile, announcing the number of
bunches In It and the variety. Each
buyer then writes on a slip of paper
what ha Is willing to pay for the pile
and hands It to the auctioneer, who
places It face downward In the palm
of the hand, but each buyer in allowed
but one bid on each pile. When all
bids are in the auctioneer reverses
them and reads off the amounts of
the highest and second highest. The
highest bid is then handed back to the
buyer, who writes his name and the
date of the sale across the face of the
paper and gives it to the owner of the
pile, who can either accept or reject
the bid then and there. If the slip la
accepted It constitutes a sale, but
should the owner think the price too
small, he can . decline to receive it,
though the pile cannot be put up again
until the next sale day. The bijyer
cannot recede from his bid, however;
neither can the seller, having once ac
cepted a bid, change his mind on the
r 1 V y. V -J A
profits, and the quick fortunes which
are so often made in our mineral re
gions are not to be had.
The Mounted Police.'
The British government has the prac
tical control of the natives of this part
of Africa, The country is owned by
the South Africa Company, and It Is
governed by an executive council ap
pointed by that company with the ap
proval of the Secretary of State of
Great Britain. There Is also a legisla
tive council and courts, appointed by
the government of Great Britain, on
the nomination of the company. The
head of the whole government la the
High Commissioner, and there is a
military police appointed by the crown
which la under his control.
It la a wonder to me how the British
keep In subjection these hundreds of
thousands of natives with comparatively
few soldiers. The total police force con
sists of BOO whites and 800 natives. The
whites are mounted and they patrol the
country Just as do the mounted police of
Western Canada. There are white set
tlers living here away off In the wilds,
and are nevertheless comparatively safe.
I met the other day Captain McQueen,
of the mounted police of Mashonaland.
He has a territory aa large as Illinois,
which he keeps In order with 70 men, who
ride on horseback from farmer to farm
er and bring back reports as to the con
dition of the territory- Every European
settler must be visited at least once a
month, and the policeman has to get
from each a written report aa to the
condition of the country about him. Bald
proposition and hold out for a higher
price.
Freethinker's Home For Kitten.
Boston Transcript.
There recently appeared In an Eng
lish country newspaper this advertise
ment: "Kitten wanted; happy home
offered In a freethinker's family for a
playful, pretty kitten; much love, good
food, etc." The "want" Induces a pleas
ant speculation. From It one gathers
that modern civilization Is advancing
in the direction of solitude for the
wellfare of animals. Considering the
advertisement further. It appears that
the "awakening of the public eon
science" is a condition, not a theory. If
honesty had not been popularized, or
standardized, would one so declare In
the public print, for a kitten's sake, his
creed, or rather lack of creed? Possibly
the owner of the kitten -might prefer
for Its shelter a good Christian home,
but the animal could not go far wrong
If under the influence of so conscien
tious a lover of cats as "Freethinker."
The Bay Feverlte.
Chicago Evening Pott.
It wm a ad hay fevarit whose nose was
. red and sore.
The gsntleit breeze would make nm snMae
Until he shook the floor.
And the lissom nod of the golden-rod
Would make him madly roar.
He oonldn't so to northern climes wher
sneering Is unknown.
He bad to stay both night and oar
Where pollen would be blown.
And he never spoke but hs had to choke
And to cough and snesza and moan.
Tha inmost soul of him was sora; wsrva
said hli sou was. too;
Each, playful gust that tossed the dust
Made him Intensely blue.
And the echoae rang whan with wfceaxy
pang j
Ha exclaimed "Ah-chool Kerchool"
Hla area were full of blttar woe and always
tried to weep.
With patient hope he tried all dope
Expensive stuff, and cheap
But be wheezed and wheeled and he
sneezed and sneezed
Ha was sneezing In hla sleep. ,
Ona Sunday thle hay feverlte waa out upon
a search ;
Ha waa seeking eaa from hla fretful snees
And he rambled ts a church,
And bis sora ker-cboo whan ha found a paw
Seemed to tumble off lta perch.
"Ab, joyV hs mused tn bapplneae tha
ended soon, alaa!
He was most perplexed whan ha beard the
text.
Which waa this: "All flesh la
grass,"
For he sneezed ao hard that tha windowa
Jarred
Till ha ehattared all the glass.
mm
. .
Captain McQueen: I believe Rhodessa
is almost as safe as England, and if
It were not for the lions and
leopards a man might go over it
without a gun. The natives are quiet,
and our white settlers are a great deal
better off than those of the ordinary
frontier. The conditions will grow better
than they now are as the country set
tles, as I believe it will rapidly do."
A Mid-Africa Postofflce.
Speaking of the government, the Brit
ish postal system has now been carried
Into every part of Southern Rhodesia,
and the postal runners are taking mail
as far north as the frontier of the Congo
Free State. More than 2.000,000 letters
were sent last year In and out of South
ern Rhodesia, and there are now some
thing like 36 postoflices In the British
territories above the Zambesi River.
During my stay at the end of the Cape
to Cairo Railroad, I took a photograph
of the Broken Hill postofflce, which Is
now the mall station furthest north. It
Is more than 2000 miles above the Cape
of Good Hope. The postofflce consists of
a galvanized iron shed about 15 feet
wide and 30 feet long. The postmaster
sleeps In H and he distributes the malls
on the arrival of the trains. About 70
bags of mail come every week. After
this has been sorted It Is carried by na
tives to all parts of the country. Sixty
four runners left during the day I vis
ited the omce. Fourteen of them went to
the Kishanshi copper mines, which are
280 miles away, and each carried a bag
wfilB-hlna- 50 oounds on his head or back.
The men are expecetd to make that dls-
Railroads to Hudson's Bay
Probability That Work WiU Begin Next Spring on ax
THE promise of returning pros
perity, the unexampled harvests
of the Northwest, and the wrangle
into which the freight-carrying roads,
the lake carriers and the Canadian
routes have become Involved, gives
added Interest to the projects launched
nearly two years ago as the natural
and about the only solution of the
freight problem in the United States
and Canadian Northwest.
In the early part of 1907 six differ
ent charters were taken out for as
many railroad schemes connecting that
great wheat-producing region with
Hudson's Bay. These projects were
thrown into abeyance by the financial
stringency of last year, but they are
once more being talked about, not-only
as possibilities, but as probabilities.
The moving of the crops this year ac
centuates the need of this northern
outlet, as the car shortage of a year
and a half ago did.
Mr. Hill Changes Front.
One of the six charters was obtained
by James J. Hill, who used to ridicule a
Hudson's Bay road as a venture that
would be "snowed up ten months of
the year and iced up the other two."
The Hill charter plans to feed the
freight of the Dakotas and Minnesota
into the Saskatchewan Valley and from
the Saskatchewan to ' Hudson's Bay.
Builders have been at work on the
southern end of this project.
Another of the Hudson's Bay charters
Is owned by the new Canadian trans
continental line the .MacKenzle-Mann
road. Of the 400 miles needed to con
nect Churchill with the railroads of the
Saskatchewan, the MacKenzle - Mann
road has already 80 built, ' a railroad
with trains running, not "Just an iron
tonlo for the oows," as the funny papers
have always described roads to Hud
son's (Bay.
Details of the Projects.
Two other projects have been gal
vanized Into life by the schemes for a
Hudson's Bay route, says the Review of
Reviews. For years Canada has talked
of a deep-water canal up the Ottawa
from the St. Lawrence to the great
lakes. Suddenly surveyors are set to
work estimating the cost of a canal
7". V-..
L.
tance In 12 days. Another set of post
runners was loaded with the mail bags
for Fort Jameson, which lies 300 miles
due east of Broken Hill, and they will
reach there within 13 days, while a third
Iras started out for the station of Mum
bwa, .which is 100 miles westward. At
each of the far-away places there are
branch routes going out In different di
rections, so that almost every settler
and miner has his regular mall. There
are altogether 280 runners to whom the
King's mails are Intrusted. They have
been carrying them for some years, and
so far only one has failed to make good.
The men are paid 10 shillings a month
and their rations. They carry two days
food with them and enough calico to pur
chase what they need for the balance of
the Journey, each being allowed one-half
yard a day for eating and lodging.
While at the postofflce I sent a letter
to the United States. The postage was 8
cents and my letter will be about a month
on the way. I asked as to the telegraph
rates and was told that I could cable to
Kew York for 91 cents per word A tele
gram which I sent to Livingstone,
the
capital of northwestern Rhodesia,
380
miles distant, cost me only 25 cents,
which
was at least lo cents cneaper
than I
could have sent It through
the settled
portions of our own country
There are
r.r. Jrti -miles of teleKrapbs in tnese
colonies and there are 96 telegraph offices.
The African transcontinental telegraph
line has been extended northward as far
as UJljl, on .Lake Tanganyika, so that one
can now send a message via the Cape to
the heart of mid-Africa. There are tele
graph lines runnnlg from the Mediter
ranean southward almost to Uganda, and
within e. short time there will be iron
wires reaching from one end of the con
tinent to the other.
During the past few weeks I have been
traveling through Barotseland In north
ern Rhodesia. I am surprised at the ex
tent of the country end Its possible re
sources. OUr general Idea of Central Af
rica Is that it is a low Jungle Infested
with fever. The truth Is that a vast part
that would connect Lake Superior with
ocean traffic The cost, it may be said.
Is estimated at 8125,000,000.
Then around Hudson's Bay is a vast
unorganized territory Keewatin, about
the size of Germany. The western
provinces of Manitoba and Saskatche
wan suddenly awaken to the fact that
each wants an extension of Its boun
daries across Keewatin for a seaport on
Hudson's Bay.
Roughly speaking, Churchill, which
will be the seaport of the Hudson's Bay
routes. Is Just 1000 miles from the
grain areas of Hill's roads. New Tork
is 2000 miles. Churchill is 1600 miles
from Oregon. New York Is nearly
3000.
Says Premier Laurler, In answer to
a request for a road from ex-Premier
Greenway, of Manitoba:' "I agree the
time has come for the railroad to Hud
son's Bay. .The . statute books contain
a standing offer of 12,000 acres of land
a mile along the line of this railroad,
and if this Is not sufficient encourage
ment for promoters, other means must
be found."
Open for Five Months.
As to the question of the practicabil
ity of the Churchill Harbor, the writer
quotes records showing that It has al
ways an open season of five months.
In favorable seasons this is extended
to seven months.
The harbor itself could not have been
better If It had been made to order. It
is a direct 650-mile plain, open, deep
water sail from the west end of the
straits) no shoals, no reefs, deep enough
for the deepest-draft keel that ever sailed
the sea. This as captains of the big
war ships know is true of neither Mont
real nor New York. At New York deep
draft ships have to wait the tide both
for approach and departure; and on the
St. Lawrence ships are always taking a
mud bath on the sand bars.
Over against this advantage, let It be
stated frankly. Churchill. Summer and
Winter, Is subject to Just as furious gales
as ever bothered the iron docks of New
foundland. One other danger peculiar to
Churchill must be noted. Five miles out
the bay Is open all the year round, but
as the cold becomes Intense, what is
known as "frost fog" lies thick as wool
on the sea, obscuring everything.
The entrance between the two head
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of the continent Is high and healthy. Al
geria and Morocco at the north have as
good climate as Italy. Abyssinia is as
healthful as almost any part of Europe.
A large part of British East Africa con
sists of plains which are more than a
mile above the sea, and the same is true
of parts of German East Africa. The
most of southern Rhodesia Is high, and
so is a great part of the region from
there down to the Cape of Good Hope.
The land between the Zambesi and the
Congo watershed Is composed ' of high
plains with the Kafue valley running
through them. I rode for 300 miles and
more over open grassy plateaus spotted
here and there with low trees and brush
wood. Nearlv everywhere the land seems
fitted for cattle, and I am told that there
are parts of It where the natives keep
them in large number. One of the dangers
Is the tsetse fly, which kills the stock,
but It may be that this can be wiped out
by quarantine and other ways.
In southern Rhodesia and In parts of
northern Rhodesia there is a spear-headed
plant known as assegai grass which kills
the sheep. This grass has a sharp point,
with barbs extending down toward the
ground. When it gets into the sheep's
wool it works its way through the skin,
and finally goes through the sheep, just
as a needle is said to travel through the
human body if it. is once Inside of lt
This grass kills the sheep, but is not in
jurious to cattle.
So far the chief towns In northwest
ern Rhodesia are: Broken Hill. Kaloma
and Livingstone. Broken Hill is a mining
settlement, Kaloma has been until recent
ly the seat of government, and it consists
of the administrative offices, a few tin
Bhantles and the seat of a branch of the
Standard Bank of South Africa. Living
stone Is a small settlement near ictoria
Falls. It contains some offices, half a
dozen stores and a hotel which Is patro
nized by a few of the white settlers of
southern Rhodesia during the hotter
months of the year. Northwestern Rho
desia has all told less than 1000 white
settlers.
Bulawayo, Mid-Africa.
Jeasi, xwo auu..
lands Is not a half mile wide, against the
tremendous current or river and ebb tide,
but the depth is untouchable. Fort
Churchill is the harbor Inside, a magnifi
cent expanse of land-locked water, with
the fur post five miles up stream.
But all railroad projects to Hudson's Bay
hinge not on Churchill harbor, but on the
straits. Can they be navigated? How
long are they open? Even if they can be
navigated by slow ocean-goers, will they
be of any avail for a fast Atlantic route?
Hudson Straits are really a deep gorge
which the Ice of the arctic world the Ice
of prehistoric ages has cut and grooved
and torn forcibly out of the eolld rock,
finding egress from Fox Channel of the
arctic to open water or the Atlantic. Into
this funnel of rook. 450 miles long, is
Jammed from the west and pounded and
contracted the area of an ice continent,
and up this channel from the east runs
a tide-rip 35 feet high. When tide-rip
and ice meet there occurs what the old
navigators of the Hudson's Bay fur trade
call "the furious overfall."
Reports Are Incomplete.
The Canadian Government has sent two
special expeditions (in 18S5 and 1S9T) to
test the navigation of the straits, and
one general expedition to navigate the
Northern waters (1903-04). but the question
has become so terribly political so much
a question of East versus West that the
official reports on the expedition are more
noteworthy for what they leave unsaid
than for what they say.
The Gordon expedition of 1885 and the
Wakeham of 1897 definitely establishpd
these facts: Hudson's Bay is open all the
year round; an open current flows
through the straits Winter as well as
Summer, but owing to ice drives this
current of the straits is closed to navi
gation after November, and not open
again until June that is, there are always
five months when the straits can be navi
gated, sometimes six. There was also
discovered, just inside the Eastern en
trance to the straits, a splendid land
locked harbor, or haven of refuge Port
Burwell sheltered from all winds but the
south.
The Women's Citizen Committee of New
port. Del., are renewing their activities la
behalf of better sanitation for their town.
In 1899 and 1900 thee women raised a
fund to put the town in a sanitary condi
tion. Now they find that the men have
failed to keep the town In proper shape, so
they have started work again.