The Daily Astorian., October 28, 1877, Image 6

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A Wayside Flower.
BY ROSE GERANIUM.
On the brink of the dusty highway
It stood and blossomed alone;
It drank still dew in the darkness
Its root grew under a stone.
Brave was its heart at inorntnir,
And patient in noon-day heat
While coming and going, going,
Forever went busy feet.
And some bore burdens of sorrow,
And some were weary with pain,
And others kept happy rhythm
To many a glad refrain.
Not large was its gift to offer,
Yet gladly the weary while
It gave to, the high and lowly
Alike of its all a smile.
And many a sad heart blessed it,
And never a voice could chide,
Till frost from a dreary heaven
Fell over it and it died.
Stanley's Great Exploration.
Another geographical problem, and one
of the most important which Africa has
held in her grim keeping, has been tri
umphantly solved. There were good
grounds for the belief that Mr. Stan
ley, with the advantage of his years of
experience as an explorer, his vigorous
and thoroughly acclimated frame, his
combined courage and quickness of de
cision in situations of peril, and his ex
ceptionally complete equipment for the
undertaking, would succeed in. reaching
the "western coast somewhere; but that he
should have been allowed by fate to follow
the Lualaba of Livingstone until it be
came the Congo, and to locate its entire
course from the Manyuema country to
the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the most
signal successes in the annals of geo
graphical discovery.
Stanley's last letters to the Herald be
fore setting out on this wonderful jour
ney, were written from TJjiji, on Lake
Tanganyika, in August, 1876, and did
not reach their destination until the 13th
of last March. He announced his speedy
departure for Nyangwe, on the Lualaba,
the point beyond which both Livingstone
and Cameron found it impossible to pro
ceed. The difficulties encountered by the
latter in his endeavors to reach the river
from points further west gave us, in ad
vance clear conception of the hazardous
task which awaited Stanley. When these
last messages arrived, six mouths of his
unknown journey had already elapsed,
and six more have passed before the news
of his afe ariivai at Emboma, on the
Lower Congo, comes to relieve the gen
eral anxiety in regard to his fate, before
it ha? taken the form of a painful sus
pense. Reaching Emboma on the 8th of
August,his travels from Lake Tanganyika
to the mouth of the Congo, ibusthave oc
cupied about eleven months, nine of
which were spent in traversing territory
utterly unknown.
The first report, which the Herald has
just received, gives a general and some
what vague geographical outline of the
route. Stanley started from Nyangwe,the
initial point of exploration,on the loth of
last November- Instead of embarking
on the Lualaba, he appears to have
pressed forward along the right bank of
the river, carrying his supplies and the
sections of his boat on the shoulders of
men. His progress was greatly impeded
by great tracts of dense forest, and the
attacks of the savage native tribes, with
whom he found it impossible to establish
any friendly intercourse. He then crossed
the river, and continued his march along
the left bank and encountered the same
obstacles. Finally the porters from Ny
angwe, 140 in number, became so intimi
dated by the dangers which beset the
party, that they deserted in a body. The
march, in fact, was necessarily made in
military order, "with skirmishers in ad
vance, and a rear guard. Many men
were struck down by the arrows of the
natives, shot at them out of the ambush
of the forests. The desertion of the por
ters was followed by a combined attempt
to exterminate the rest of the party, and
Stanley wTas finally compelled to betake
himself to the river.
The brief sketch of the voyage will ex
cite a general impatience for fuller de
tails. The great stream flowed north
ward to the Equator, where its course
was interrupted by a succession of catar
acts. Stanley, who found that in spite of
the hostility of the tribes on both shores
he was better able to protect his men in
their canoes than in the forests, was
obliged to cut a track thirteen mile3 in
length, in order to transport his boat and
canoes below the falls. Then, after a pe
riod of very necessary rest, the voyage
was resumed. On reaching the parallel
of 2 degrees north latitude, the course of
the river turned westward, and then
southwestward, in a great curve. It was
from two to ten miles in breadth, and
filled with islands, between which the
little flotilla pushed forward with less
danger from the attacks of the savages.
All efforts to communicate with the lat
ter failed; the supplies came to an end,
6nd the party was threatened "with starv
ation. Finally, vvhen three entire days
had been passed without food, Stanley
halted at a village on the left bank,where
by a providential chance the people were
friendly, and had some intercourse "with
the sea-coast. They called the river
"Ikuta ya ftongo." From that point,
the name of Lualaba was replaced by
"Kwango," or "Zoure" (Zaire?).
Rested and amply supplied, the expe
dition set forth again. But its dangers
were not yet over; in three days Stanley
entered the dominions of a powerful
tribe, the men of which were armed with
muskets. They put off in fifty-four
large canoes to attack the nineteen canoes
of the intruders, and a desperate running
fight was kept up for twelve miles down
the river. This was the last but one of
thirty-two separate attacks made upon
the expedition, after leaving Nyangwe.
Of the force of 350 men with which Stan
ley left Zanzibar, in November, 1874115
survivors, in a miserable state of exhaus
tion, arrived with him at Emboma. His
greatest loss was that of his only English
assistant, b rancis rococK, wno was car
ried over one of the cataracts of the Con
go on the 3d of June last. A special for
tune seems to have attended the explorer,
for his own boat, the Lady Alice, with
himself and crew, was carried over an
other cataract, six weeks later, all escap
ing as by miracle. From Emboma there
is easy communication with St. Paul de
Loanda,and Stanley may, therefore, reach
England in another month.
The exploration, it will be seen, begin
ning at the point where Livingstone and
Cameron were interrupted, determines
thfi nntirft cmirsR of the Congo river. But
farther, through the great curve of that
river beyond the Equator, it carries our
line of knowledge over nearly half the
unexplored region of Central Africa.
Even if there are no great northern afflu
ents of the Congo, as there are southern,
we may consider it as now nearly estab
lished as settled facts, that the largest
feeders of the Victoria N'yanza are the
sole sources of the Nile; that the river
Welle, of Schweinfurth, belongs either to
the Schary, which flows into Lake Tsad,
or the Benue, which is the main arm of
the Niger; that the Ogowe, at present the
favorite field of French explorers, has no
importaut region of its own; in short,that
no other large river-system will be found
in the yCt unknown region lying between
the systems of the Nile, the Niger and
Congo. The results of Mr. Stanley's dis
coveries thus extend widely beyond their
field. His good fortune has been com
mensurate with his daring and endurance;
and the two journals which equipped him
so liberallv for the ereat venture are re
warded by a contribution to geographical
knowledge which has never been equalled
by any single journey of exploration.
When we take Stanley's new route from
Zanzibar (or, at least from Ugogo) to the
Victoria Lake, including his discovery
of the Shimeyu river; his complete cir
cumnavigation of the lake; his examina
tion of the southern end of the Albert
Lake: his iourney from Karagwe to TJjiji
on a new route; his repetition of the com
plete survey of Lake Tanganyika; and,
finally, his marvellous descent of the Lu-alaba-Congo
to the Western Ocean, we
must admit that it stands alone, in va
riety and importance of achievement, in
the records of American travel. 2. Y.
Tribune.
The South Pole.
WORSE PLACE TO GET AT THAN THE
NORTH ONE SOME OF IT8 PERILS.
Some One to Play With.
A little girl who lived alone with her
parents and aunts, had the attention of
all the household lavished upon her.
When her birthday came around, she had
many beautiful gifts, but still did not
seem happy. Her kind aunt asked her if
her sifts did not please her.
"Yej," she replied, "but I want a little
girl to play with. I don't care if it is a
little girl in rags."
Such is the craving of a child's nature
for companionship. About the oddest
playmates I ever heard of were some a
little girl in a pleasant country home
picked up for herself in her rambles.
She went every day to a little grove some
distance from the house, and there spent
considerable time in play. A friend took
an interest in her movements, and had a
curiosity to see how she spent her time,
which seemed to pass so pleasantly.
So she followed the little, well-worn
foot-path through the grass, and soon
saw the glimmer of her little pink dress.
She was seated upon a log with a shawl
pinned about her waist for a trailing
.skirt, playing the part of a school-mis
tress with great gravity. You would have
laughed to see her scholars. They were
seven or eight fat toads, each dressed in
a little jacket of calico, with a white
apron tied on before, which so secured
them that they could not jump. The
friend laughed at the odd sight, aud the
sensitive little girl begau to cry, but was
reassured by her conversation. The toads
were perfectly tame and contented, and
when school was out she took oft their
clothes and laid them away in a box
ready for the next session.
It is said that toads, snakes and tur
tles can be easily tamed, and after get
ting a little accusttfmed to it like to be
played with as well as other more com
mon pets.
All the inanimate playthings you can
give a child will never make up to it the
want of a living playmate. Choose your
children's associates "with the greatest
care, but do 'not isolate them from all
children of their own age. Children so
carefully secluded are often the most un
comfortable, teazing ones you can find
no comfort to you or to themselves; nr
dothev grow up so much better than
other people's children who have had the
advantage of a little wholesome neglect.
Elsie.
Dr. Reginald Southey has recently
been delivering a course of valuable lec
tures on "Individual Hygiene" in Lon
don, and in one he introduced a table of
"Expectation of Sickness," which he had
DreDared. and "which is as follews: At
twenty years of age calculate on four
sick days yearly; at twenty to thirty, five
or six days; at forty-five, seven days; at
fifty, nine or ten days; at fifty-five, twelve
or thirteen days; at sixty, sixteen days;
at sixty-five, thirty-one days; at seventy,
seventy-four days. Of course this refers
to people of average good health, and
not to those who may be afflicted with'an
ineradicable or chronic ailment.
The greatest point of difference be
tween the Arctic and Antarctic regions
lies in the fact that the former is dotted
over with numerous islands, peninsulas
isthmuses, whereas the latter is exposed
to the dash of a vast deep ocean. Rosa ex
perienced from sweeping currents and
winds more than has ever to be borne
bj northern explorers. On one occasion,
when he was becalmed for a few hours,
the dead set of the oceau waves drifted
the ships towards a range of huge ice
hnrcra against which the sea broke with
appalling violence. "Every eye was
transfixed with the tremendous spectacle,
and destruction appeared inevitable."
The ships were thus driven on for eight
hours, until within half a mile from the
gigantic icebergs, when a gentle air be
gan to stir; the ships yielded to the in
fluence of the puff of wind, which grad
ually freshened into a gale, and before
dark, to the heartfelt satisfaction of all
on board, the ships emerged from their
peril and got out into the wide ocean.
Ross had good means of knowing how
thoroughly Wilkes had been deceived
concerning the appearance of land at a
particular spot, for he spent three days
in searching for land which Wilkes
had laid down on the chart, but six hun
dred fathoms' depth of water was found
in the very center of the position as
signed to the land on tha chart. Ross
arrived at an opinion that the American
commander had been deceived either by
ice islands or fog banks. We need not
go into much further details concerning
this expedition ; but a few words may be
quoted to show what kind of weather
had to be borne in the very middle of the
Antarctic summer, and in no higher lati
tude than sixty-six degrees.
For nine days the crew were alternate
ly drifting, hauling, making fast, mend
ing snapped hawsers, and making efforts
to stem opposing currents. Un the tenth
day, during a thick fog, a gale came on
from the north. "The sea quickly rose to
a fearful height, breaking over the lofti
est icebergs; we were unable any longer
to hold our ground, but were driven into
the heavy pack under our lee. Soon af
ter midnight our ships were involved in
an ocean of floating fragments of ice,
hard as floating blocks of granite, which
were dashed against them by the fcraves
with so much violence that their masts
quivered as if they would fall at every
successive blowr, and the destruction of
the. ships seemed inevitable from the
tremendous shocks they received. By
backing and filling the sails, we endeav
ored to avoid collision with the larger
masses, but this was not always possible.
In the early part of the storm the rudder
of the Erebus was so much damaged as
got
the battling
to be no longer of any use; and about
the same time I was informed by signal
that the Terrors was completely de
stroyed and nearly torn away from the
stern-post. Hour passed away after hour
without the least mitigation of these
awful circumstances in which we were
placed. Indeed, there seemed to be but
little probability of our ships holding to
gether much longer, so frequent and vio
lent were the shocks they sustained.
The loud, crashing noise of the straining
and working of the timbers and decks
as she was driven against some of the
heavier pieces, which all the activity and
exertions of our people could not prevent,
was sufficient to fill the stoutest heart
that was not supported by a trust in
him who controls all events with dismay."
Whenever the gallant commander
south, of GO deg. or so, then
with ice began again and again. He
once touched the 78th parallel of lati
tude, and in all probability no human
being has ever made a nearer approach
to the south pole less by three or four
hundred miles than the approach which
has recently been made to the north pole.
What we know of the south pole, then, is
simply this, that nobody has got within
seven or eight hundred miles of it: that
icy barriers are met with quite eclipsing
anything known in the north frigid zone;
that mountains have been seen (one
shooting forth volcanic flames) loftier
than any discovered by northern explor
ers; that all the land is 'covered with
snow at all seasons; that no human being
has been met with beyond 56 deg. of
latitude; that no vegetable growth, ex
cept lichens, has been seen beyond 58
deg. of latitude, and that no land quad
ruped is known to exist beyond G8 deg.
of latitude.
Extraordinary Antics of Mars Moons
The discovery recently of still a third
moon of Mars gives additional interest
to the calculations of Professor James C.
Watson, in regard to this whole subject.
The outer satellite revolves around the
planet in thirty hours and twelve min
utes, at a mean distance of 14,420 miles
from its center. The inner one revolves
in seven hours and thirty-eight minutes,
at a mean distance of only 5,770 miles.
The only way in which to form an esti
mate of their size is to compare their
light with that of the planet itself, or
with that of some other body whose
dimensions are known.
Comparing thus, Professor Watson con
cludes that the probable diameter of the
outer satellite is four and a-half miles,
and Ihat of the inner is two and three
quarters miles. The distance of the for
mer from the surface of the planet is 12,
370 miles and of the latter 3,710 miles.
Mr. Jacob Ennis says that the inner
moon every night rises in the west and
sets in the east. All night long, while
the other stars are moving slowly west
ward, as do ours, that inner moon hastens
rapidly past them all in a contrary direc
tionso rapidly that from rising to set
ting it occupies less than four hours.
Standing under a tall tree a person could
see its motion plainly over the top. When
it rises in the west, soon after twilight,
it appears as a very thin, curved cres
cent, like our own when only a few days
old. But it will grow rapidly, become a
full moon, and set in the east before mid
night. Before morning it will rise in the
west again. There may be two new moons
or two full moons visible to the same peo
ple in one night, all made by the inner
satellite, without saying anything of the
outer. It must make around the entire
planet three full moons every day. The
inner moon must be totally eclipsed three
times a day.
The outer satellite performs its revolu
tions around Mars once in thirty hours
and fourteen minutes; therefore it will
go round nearly as fast as the planet ro
tates, and in the same direction as the
planet. If it appears in the west just
after twilight as a thin crescent it will be
full moon some time during the middle
hours of the night and become totally
eclipsed. Before daybreak it will be far
in the east', a thin crescent again, but
wTith this difference now its rounded
side is turned eastwardly towards the
sun, whereas in the evening its rounded
side was turned westerly towards the sun.
The inner moon passes the outer one very
rapidly in their ceaseless play. The in
ner may then be called. the swift moon,
or it may be called the lower moon,
and the outer the higher moon, for
when they are near the one will always
appear above the other. To the inhabi
tants on the equator the upper will some
times be hidden by the lower, it the lower
m m
Modes of Salutation.
A
be large enough.
Influence of the Mind on the Cure of
Disease.
There were over 7,000 desertions
from the British army in 1876.
The Confederate Flag. During our
civil war, the several "seceded States used
at first distinctive State flags. In March,
18G1, the Confederate Congress adopted
the so-called "stars and bars,' composed
of three horizontal bars of equal width,
the middle one white, the others red,
with a bluo union containing nine white
stars arranged in a circle. The resemblance
of this to the "stars and stripes" led to con
fusion in and mistakes the field : and in
September,1861,a battle flag was adopted,
a red field charged with a blue saltier,
with a narrow border of white, on which
were displayed thirteen white stars.
In 1863, the "stars and bars", was sup
planted by a flag with a white field, hav
ing the battle-flag for a uuion. The flag
of 1863 was found deficient in service, it
being liable to be mistaken for a flag of
truce; and on February 4th, 1865, the
outer half of the field beyoud the union
was covered with a vertical red bar.
This was the last flag of the Confederacy.
The wheat product of the leading
countries of Eurepe: Russia produces
1,606,000 000 bushels, Germany 742,200,
000, France 687,500,000, Austria 550,
000,000 bushels. The United States pro
duces 1,881,760,925 bushels.
The great influence of mental emotions
in causing and curing disease has long
been known. Indeed, many of the mira
cles credited to saints and charlatans are
attributed by the irreverent and the
shrewd to the faith of the patient rather
than to the virtue of the former's sancti
ty, or the latter's nostrums. Cures of
diseases of the spine aud also those of a
nervous nature, said to have been wrought
by blueglas3, and similar humbugs, may
be safely assigned to the same cause.
From experiment aud study, an eminent
physician was lately able to make the fol
lowing suggestions :
1. The ill-success of patients treating
themselves, and of physicians treating
their own families, was partly due to the
want of awe and emotion of wonder to
co-operate with them.
2. The old custom of keeping patients
iguorant of the contents of prescriptions,
by writing them in Latin, had a knowl
edge of the mind on its side. .Possibly
we may be going too far the other way.
3. It is entirely possible that hydro
phobia and lockjaw may be brought on,
with all their distinctive symptoms, and
that death may result, through the emo
tions of fear and expectation alone.
4. Patients whose will and intellect
are feeble, have a bad prospect of cure;
for with them the emotions are not strong
and neither is their influence.
5. Physicians of great scientific attain
ment and real worth may fail when an
ignorant and obscure charlatan succeeds;
because in the latter case, wonder and
awe are excited, and these are more pow
erful in their healing influence than sim
ple respect.
6. In experimenting in hospitals with
new medicines, patients must be de
ceived, or else the results are complicated
by mental influence. Dr. H.
Just after the strike, when Solomon
closed the discussion by telling the slug
gard to go to the ant, the sluggard replied
with a knowing wink that he had a
much softer thing than that.
'As how?" inquired the proverbial
monarch.
"I will start a savings bank," replied
the man of inertia.
The monarch nodded slowly twice or
thrice, and went away to get shaved.
The next time he met the sluggard, that
deliberate individual was riding in a gold
mounted carriage, with coachman and
footman in livery, and in reply to the
monarch's nod he just pulled up to say
that he was going over to Europe for a
little while, till the flurry blew over.
And Solomon went back into his sanc
tum and wrote, "Better is a handful with
quietness than a bank-book as big as a
Bible with travail and vexation of spirit."
It i3 a. little singular that while with us
the uncovering of the head is regarded as
a mark of respect, among the Orientals
the very reverse is true. The Turks re
gard it as an act of positive irreverence
to remove the hat or cap in entering a "
house of prayer. The Japanese take off
their slippers, and in other parts of the
East they remove one of their sandals
if they meet a friend out of doors, and one
of their stockings if he calls upon them
at home. These customs must date back
to a very remote antiquity, as we may
refer from the direction given to Moses :
"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,for the
place whereon thou standest is holy
ground." It is rather a beautiful way
that they have in New Guinea of greet
ing an acquaintance by the placing of
green leaves, which are the symbol of
life, on the top of their heads.
The sight presented in New Zealand,
when two persons meet who have not
seen eacn other for some time, must be
rather ludicrous to a bystander, however
touching it may be to those immediately
concerned. As soon as they come to
gether each of the parties envelopes him
self in his mat and covers his face all but
one eye. They then squat down on the
ground opposite to each other, and begin
to weep with ail their might, the fountain
of tears on both sides seeming to be al
most inexhaustible. After they have
wept as long as the occasion requires,
they approach and press their noses to
gether for some time, closing the per
formance with a series of short and vig
orous grunts ; after which they are ready
to enter upon general conversation. One
mode of salutation which prevails in cer
tain of the Pacific islands must call into ac
tion some gymnastic skill, as it consists in
raising the left foot,passing it lightly over
the right leg, and then rubbing the foot on
the face. In certatn quarters gentlemen
of fashion salute each other in the street
by striking the knobs of their canes to
gether, which they carry with them for
this purpose, instead of lifting their hats
as we do. The absence of any head-covering
may have driven them to this
nobby substitute.
There are certain forms of religious
salutation that have a peculiar dignity
and impressiveness, like that which ex
ists in the Eastern . church, where, on
Easter morning, the greeting is on this
wise "The Lord is risen 1" with the re
sponse "He is risen indeed !" Several
phrases are also used by the Arab3 and
Turks which have the same characteris
tics, such as "If God will, thou art
well." The Persian salutation "May
thy shadow never be less" would not be
so appropriate in countries where the
people incline to obesity. The Quaker
style of address "How art thou?" is a
little formal, but is certainly better than
the vulgar "How d'ye?" sometimes
heard in certain parts of the land.
As compared with the elaborate and
complicated style of the Africans, our
modes of bodily salutation are few and
meagre. A nod or a bow, a wave of the
arm, touching the brim of the hat, or
perhaps lifting it slightly from the head, "
and our perpetual hand-shaking, cover
about the whole ground of formal ges
ticulation in American society. On this
last-mentioned form of greeting I desire
to say a few plain words. I presume
(hatin proportion to the population there
is a greater amount of hand-shaking done
in this country than in any other region
of the globe. The extent to which this
thing is carried may be regarded
as a serious objection to accepting any
high position in the State. A distin
guished army officer who once received a
grand ovation in the city of New York,
when he had to stand for several hours
on a platform and extend his hand to
everybody, washed and unwashed, who
desired the'honor of grasping it, told me
that his sufferings were intense afterthi3
absurd process had gone on for a certain
length of time, and that for several days
his hand was so swollen that he could
hardly use it. There are people whose
grip is like that of an iron vise, and they
seem to take a friendly delight in crush
ing one's fingers and grinding the bones.
A movement has recently been made in
France to regulate this style of saluta
tion; and reduce it within proper bounds.
I wish that it might extend to this coun
trv. If one offers vou his hand it is
awkward to refuse it, even though you
might reasonably object on sanitary
grounds.- It is worth noting that the
words salutary and salutation are both
from the same root, which means health.
In general it may be remarked that we
ought not to salute all persons alike. Our
best greeting should be reserved for those
who deserve it most, as long ago as uie
time of the ancient Greeks, we are told
that "the most common salutation was
by the conjunction of their right hands,
the right hand being accounted a pledge
of fidelity and friendship ; whence Pythag
oras advised that the right hand should
not' be given to every man, meaning that
all persons were not fit to be made- our
friends." Pythagoras was a sensible old
philosopher. Bishop Clark, B. I.
God hath yoked to Guilt her pale tor-
mentor, Misery. Bryant.
Brighah Young's death was being dis
cussed at a London dinner party, when a
young lady started the rather bold con
tention that the principles of Mornionism
should for the future be reversed. "Times,"
she said, tfare so bad, and fashions are so
expensive, that it ia absurd for one man
to have four or five wives; whereas, if
each woman had four or five husbands,
see how much cheaper it would be for
each husband, and," the point which
seemed most to commend itself to her
t'how much better wives could dress."
. 4 t"
If you want to teach a dog arithmetic,
tie up one of his paws, and he will i ut
down three aud carry one every time.
wi'