60 feet. There is also a Dead Sea. The entrance to the cave is reached by passing down a wild, rocky ravine through a dense forest. To visit the portions of this wonderful cave already traversed requires, it is said, 150 to 200 miles of travel. superstitions, as it has nothing whatever to do with the church festival. In England and Scotland it is especially selected as the time for trying spells and divinations in love affairs. The superstitious tradition regarding it is that it is the night of all others when supernatural influences prevail; when spirits of the Yosemite Valley, or, as it is also called. invisible and visible world walk abroad, for Yohamite, is situated in the eastern portion of on this mystic evening it was believed that the California, and is from 8 to 10 miles long, and human spirit was enabled, by the aid of super- a little more than a mile wide. In some places natural power, to detach itself from the body the valley is filled with noble oaks; in others it and wander through the realms of space. opens out into broad, grassy fields. The There is a similar superstition in Germany natural beauties of this region are of worldconcerning Walpurgis night"- the night preceding the first of May. On this night, the German peasants believe that there is a witch festival, or gathering of evil spirits, on the summit of the Brocken, in the Hartz Mountains, and the malign influence of this convocation was believed to be felt all over the surrounding country. It was an old custom, and still observed in some places, to light great bonfires of straw or brush on that night, to drive away the spirits of darkness supposed to be hovering in the air. Considering that All Saints' Day was originally kept on May 1st, there would appear to be but little doubt that Allhallow eve and Walpurgis night have a common origin, which, doubtless, dates back to the earliest belief in a personal and allpowerful Evil One - the Chaldean's Power of Darkness. Mammoth Cave, The, is situated in Edmondson County, near Green River, Kentucky, wide report. It has pine-covered mountains, towering, with very steep slopes, to the height of 3,500 feet, a precipice, or bluff, in one place rising perpendicularly 3,089 feet above the valley; in another, a rock, almost perpendicular, 3,270 feet high; waterfalls pouring over its sides from heights of 700 to almost 1,000 feet; and one great waterfall broken into three laps, but of which the whole height is 2,550 feet. Of the other waterfalls on the sides of the valley, the Pohono, or Bridal Veil Waterfall, is particularly to be remarked for its beauty, as well as for its height, which is 940 feet, and almost unbroken. The Yosemite Valley was first entered by white men in 1855, but now, like the valleys of Switzerland, has its hotels and guides, and is yearly visited by American and foreign tourists. Great Eastern, The.— The largest ship in the world, the Great Eastern, was constructed by the Eastern Navigation Company of London. The work of construction commenced May 1, 1854, and the work of launching her, which lasted from November 3, 1857, to January 31, 1858, cost £60,000, hydraulic pressure being employed. Her extreme length is 680 feet; breadth, 82 1-2 feet, and including paddle-boxes, 118 feet; height, 58 feet, or 70 feet to top of bulwarks. She has 8 engines, capable in actual work of 11,000 horse power, and has, besides, 20 auxiliary engines. The ship's history presents a singular series of vicis and extends some nine miles. It contains a succession of wonderful avenues, chambers, domes, abysses, grottoes, lakes, rivers, and cataracts. One chamber, the Star, is about 500 feet long, 70 feet wide, and 70 feet high; the ceiling is composed of black gypsum, and is studded with innumerable white points, that by a dim light resemble stars; hence the name. There are avenues one and a half and even two miles in length, some of which are incrusted with beautiful formations, and present a most dazzling appearance. There is a natural tun-situdes. She left the Thames September 8, nel about three quarters of a mile long, 100 feet wide, covered with a ceiling of smooth rock, 45 feet high. Echo River is some three fourths of a mile in length, 200 feet in width at some points, and from 10 to 30 feet in depth, and runs beneath an arched ceiling of smooth rock about 15 feet high; while the Styx, another river, is 450 feet long, from 15 to 40 feet wide, and from 30 to 40 feet deep, and is spanned by a natural bridge. Lake Lethe has about the same length and width as the river Styx, varies in depth from 3 to 40 feet, lies beneath a ceiling some 90 feet above its surface, and sometimes rises to a height of 1859, on her trial trip across the Atlantic; an explosion of steam pipes took place off Hastings; seven persons were killed, and several wounded; and the voyage abruptly came to an end at Weymouth. After a winter spent in costly repairs, the ship started again on June 17, 1860. Leaving Southampton on that day, she crossed the Atlantic in eleven days, and reached New York on the 28th. During the remainder of 1860, and the greater part of 1861, she made many voyages to and fro, losing money by the insufficiency of the receipts to meet the current expenses, and constantly required repairs. In December of the latter year she was used as a troop ship to convey troops to Canada. The years 1862 to 1864 were a blank as concerns the history of the steamer. In 1864 she was employed by the Atlantic Telegraph Company as a cable-laying ship, and continued in such service during 1865 and 1866. In 1867, when the preparations for the Paris International Exhibition were approaching completion, a body of speculators chartered the Great Eastern for a certain number of months, to convey visitors from New York to Havre and back; but the speculation proved an utter failure, there being neither wages for the seamen and engineers, nor profits for the speculators. In 1868 the ship was again chartered by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. On October 28, 1885, the Great Eastern was sold at public auction for $126,000. - Giant's Causeway. The name Giant's Causeway is often applied to the entire range of cliffs in the County Antrim, on the northeast coast of Ireland, but it properly belongs to only a small portion of them, which is a platform of basalt in closely arranged columns, from fifteen to thirty-six feet high, which extends from a steep cliff down into the sea till it is lost below low-water mark. This platform is divided across its breadth into three portions, the Little, Middle, and Grand Causeway, these being separated from each other by dikes of basalt. The columns are generally hexagonal prisms, but they are also found of five, seven, eight, and nine sides, in almost every instance being fitted together with the utmost precision, even so that water cannot penetrate between adjoining columns. The name" causeway was given to the platform because it appeared to primitive imagination to be a road to the water, prepared for giants. Golden Fleece, The. According to Greek tradition, Pelias, King of Iolcos, in Thessaly, dethroned the rightful King Eson and endeavored to kill his son Jason, who was, however, saved by his parents, who conveyed him by night to the cave of the centaur Chiron, to whose care they committed him, and then gave out that he was dead. He remained with Chiron until he was twenty years of age and then went to claim his father's crown. Pelias agreed to surrender the kingdom to Jason provided he brought him the golden fleece from Colchis, expecting that he would never attempt it, or, if he did, would surely perish in the rash adventure. One of the myths of the fleece is that Ino, second wife of Athamas, King of Orchomenus, in Boeotia, wished to destroy Phrixus, son of Athamas; but he and Helle were saved by their mother, Nephele, who gave them a golden fleeced ram she had obtained from Mercury, which carried them through the air over sea and land. Helle fell into the sea, and it was named Hellespontus. Phrixus went on to Colchis, where he was kindly received, and sacrificed the ram to Jupiter Phyxius, and gave the golden fleece to Eetes, who nailed it to an oak in the grove of Mars, where it was watched over by a sleepless dragon. Jason, by heralds, announced the great undertaking throughout the land, and all the heroes of Greece flocked to his assistance, and the famous company were called the "Argonauts," from the name of their ship, Argo, which was built for them by Argus, with the aid of Minerva. After a voyage of varied adventure the heroes reached Colchis, and Jason explained the cause of his voyage to etes; but the conditions on which he was to recover the golden fleece were so hard that the Argonauts must have perished had not Medea, the king's daughter, fallen in love with their leader. She had a conference with Jason, and after mutual oaths of fidelity Medea pledged herself to deliver the Argonauts from her father's hard conditions if Jason would marry her and carry her with him to Greece. He was to tame two bulls which had brazen feet and breathed flame from their throats. When he had yoked these, he was to plow with them a piece of ground, and sow the serpent's teeth which Eetes possessed. All this was to be performed in one day. Medea, who was an enchantress, gave him a salve to rub on his body, shield, and spear. The virtue of this salve would last an entire day, and protect alike against fire and steel. She further told him that when he had sown the teeth a crop of armed men would spring up and prepare to attack him. Among these she desired him to fling stones, and while they were fighting with one another about them, each imagining that the other had thrown the stones, to fall on and slay them. All of these things were done by Jason, but Eetes refused to give the fleece, and meditated burning the Argo, Jason's vessel, and slaying her crew. Medea, anticipating him, led Jason by night to the golden fleece; with her drugs she put to sleep the serpent which guarded it; and then, taking her little brother Absyrtus out of his bed, she embarked with him in the Argo, and the vessel set sail while it was yet night. They were pursued by Eetes, when Medea killed her brother and threw his body into the sea piece by piece, thus delaying the king, who stopped to gather up the remains, leaving the Argonauts to escape. After many months of toil and numerous trials they at last reached Iolcos, and the Argo was consecrated by Jason, on the Isthmus of Corinth, to Neptune. The Armed Strength of Europe. This table does not include fortress guns. * Including regular forces in India and the colonies. West Indian Troops.. Philippine Troops.. First Reserves.. Second Reserves. Total Peace Strength Total War Strength... 180,000 65,600 53,000 42,000 90,000 81,000 90,000 83,000 41,000 84,000 1,000,000 50,000 78,000 48,000 120,000 270,000 125,000 110,000 165,000 132,000 177,412 54,343 115,046 42,286 21,300 133,626 40,440 33,362 67,700 41,732 1,357,412, 169,943 246,046 132,286 231,300 484,626 225,440 226,362 173,700 257,752 Remaining in Cuba November 30, 1898. CONDITIONS OF SERVICE AND AVAILABLE STRENGTH OF POWERS. Every year the young men who attain the age in which they are available for military service are enrolled, in advance, in every European country. These ages run generally from 21 to 45, and this time is divided up by service; first, in the active army, which answers to our regular establishment; second, in the reserve to the active army; third, in the Landwehr; fourth, in the Landsturm, in which they are never called out, except in time of war, and then for defense of the fatherland only. Liberty Bell was cast in London in 1752 by order of the Pennsylvania Assembly, for use in their State House. The bell reached Philadelphia the following year, but it cracked without any apparent reason when it was rung to test the sound, and it was necessary to have it recast. This was done by Philadelphia workmen, and in June, 1753, it was again hung in the belfry of the State House. On July 4, 1776, when the Continental Congress declared the colonies independent of Great Britain, the bell was rung for two hours, so rectly forward, as would naturally be expected, it slowly ascends in the air, whirling round and round, and describing a curved line till it reaches a considerable height, when it begins to retrograde, and finally sweeps over the head of the projector and falls behind him. This surprising motion is produced by the reaction of the air upon a missile of this peculiar shape. The boomerang is one of the ancient instruments of war of the natives of Australia. They are said to be very dexterous in hitting birds with it-the birds, being, of course, behind them, and perhaps not aware that they are objects of attack, the story goes, by the old bellman, who was so 66 = United States Census of 1890. STATES. Arkansas. Colorado Connecticut. Georgia Louisiana Maryland... Minnesota. Sizes of Books.-The name indicates the number of pages in the sheet, thus: in a Maine... folio book, 4 pages or 2 leaves - 1 sheet; a Massachusetts quarto, or 4to, has 8 pages or 4 leaves to a Michigan... sheet; an octavo, or 8vo, 16 pages or 8 leaves to a sheet. In a 12mo, 24 pages or 12 leaves = one sheet, and the 18mo, 36 pages, or 18 leaves 1 sheet, and so on. The following are the approximate sizes of books :- Mississippi. Idaho. Illinois Indiana. Iowa Kentucky 1,858,635 40,400 13 Montana New Hampshire.. New Jersey. North Carolina. 18 66 X 11 Super Imp. Quarto (4to). 151⁄2" North Dakota.. X 13 121" Ohio... X 10 Demy 4to 111" Oregon Crown 4to... 11 8 Pennsylvania. Rhode Island. Medium 8vo... 912 62 South Carolina. South Dakota. Demy 8vo.... 328,808 9 Crown 8vo 52 Tennessee 79,800 4 72 42 1,766,518 42,050 12 Foolscap 8vo... Texas Vermont 12mo. 7 16mo. Virginia.. Square 16mo... Washington. Royal 24mo.. West Virginia. 762,794 24,780 6 Wisconsin Demy 24mo. Wyoming... 5 4 334 720 Royal 32mo Boomerang is an instrument of war or of the chase used by the aborigines of Australia. It is of hard wood, of a bent form; the shape is parabolic. It is about two and a half inches broad, a third of an inch thick, and two feet long, the extremities being rounded. The method of using this remarkable weapon is very peculiar. It is taken by one end, with the bulged side downward, and thrown forward as if to hit some object twenty-five yards in advance. Instead of continuing to go di Delaware, Raritan, and New TOTAL, STATES. 61,908,906 2,634,530 TERRITORIES. Arizona... District of Columbia. Oklahoma TOTAL, TERRITORIES, Excluding Alaska, Indian Ter.and Indians.. Grand Total, 62,622,250 Strasburg Clock. The celebrated astronomical clock of Strasburg is in the minster, or cathedral, and was originally designed by an astronomer named Isaac Habrecht, in the On case is a celestial globe, calculated for observation at the latitude of Strasburg. The clock is wound up every eight days. The mythical story of the city fathers of Strasburg putting out the eyes of the clockmaker to prevent his building a similar clock refers to Isaac Habrecht. Age. A man's working life is divided into four decades: 20 to 30, bronze; 30 to 40, silver; 40 to 50, gold; 50 to 60, iron. Intellect and judgment are strongest between 40 and 50. The percentages of population to age in various countries are shown thus: COUNTRY. United States... England. Scotland. France Belgium Holland. Sweden early part of the sixteenth century. Previous 66 Garter, Order of The, was founded in 1344, some writers say 1350, by Edward III. The original number of knights was twentyfive, his majesty himself making the twentysixth. It was founded in honor of the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St. Edward the Confessor, and St. George. The last, who had become the tutelary saint of England, was considered its special patron, and for this reason it has alway borne the title of "The Order of St. George,' as well as that of The Garter." The emblem of the order is a dark blue ribbon, edged with gold, bearing the motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense, in golden letters, with a buckle and pendant of gold richly chased. It is worn on the left leg below the knee. Regarding the adoption of this emblem and motto, the story is that the Countess of Salisbury let fall her garter when dancing with the king, and that he picked it up and tied it round his own leg, but that, observing the jealous glances of the queen, he restored it to its fair owner, with the exclamation, Honi soit qui mal y pense. The Order of the Garter, though not the most ancient, is one of the most famous military orders of Europe. It is said to have been devised for the purpose of attracting to the king's party such soldiers of fortune as might be likely to aid in asserting the claim which he was then making to the crown of France, and intended as an imitation of King |