contains details of the wave which may be accepted as trustworthy.
'About 8.50 P.M. of May 9, heavy earthquake shocks were felt over the
region between Arica and Mexillones (border of Peru and Bolivia). The
oceanic wave which immediately followed was of great violence along
the adjoining South American coast, and was felt also as far north as
California, the rise at Anaheim being twelve feet in a few minutes.
At Callao, Peru, the wave was felt at 11 P.M.; at San Francisco was
perceptible at 6.18 A.M. May 10, with increase to a maximum of fourteen
inches at 8.20. It reached the Sandwich Islands, eastern Hawaii, at
Hilo, at 4 A.M.; and the great wave, thirty-six feet high, came in at
4.45. At Honolulu it was first felt at 4.45, and was followed by the
great wave at five o'clock.'
In a subsequent communication it is stated that thirty-six hours after
the inrush of the great wave at Hilo, the rising and falling still
continued, 'the incoming and outflowing wave occupying about an hour,
the latter leaving the channels nearly bare.'
Our American cousins are not disposed to accept their plague of
locusts as an inevitable calamity, for the Entomological Commission
appointed by the government at Washington have published two numbers
of a _Bulletin_, with woodcuts, giving information on the natural
history of the devouring insects and on the various methods proposed
for their destruction. It is shewn that by systematic endeavours before
the creatures get their wings they may be destroyed on a great scale,
for then it is possible to drive them in enormous 'schools' or flocks
as easily as sheep. Millions fall into long straight ditches dug as
traps and there perish; millions more are crushed by rollers; hogs
and poultry devour them greedily; and a number of ingenious machines
stand ready to catch the winged locusts in the air or to capture them
as they crawl. One of these machines produces a powerful upward blast
which sucks up the crawlers from the ground, and drives them into a
receptacle where they are smashed to a pulp. American ingenuity is
roused by the swarming inroad, and it will be interesting to watch the
struggle. Meanwhile the States adjacent to the Rocky Mountains are
anxiously asking which is to conquer, man or locust?
Concerning the Colorado beetle, Mr Riley, State Entomologist for
Missouri, reports that the eastward progress of the insect 'was at the
average rate of eighty-eight miles a year, and that it has now invaded
nearly a million and a half square miles, or more than one-third the
area of the United States. It does not thrive where the thermometer
reaches one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and hence it may never extend
its range very far south of the territory now occupied; but its
northern spread is not limited; and it may push to the northernmost
limit of the potato-growing country.'
Special associations for special objects are a characteristic of the
present century, so it seems quite natural that there should be a
'Society of Americanists,' whose object is to gather information about
America. They meet once in two years; their next meeting is to be
held next month at Luxemburg; and we learn from their programme that
their inquiries are to apply to the times anterior to the discovery
of America by Columbus. Thus the picture-writing of the Mexicans,
their civil legislation under the Aztecs as compared with that of the
Peruvians under the Incas; the inscriptions in the ancient cities
of Central America, the ancient use of copper, the works of the
mysterious mound-builders, the comparison of the Eskimo language with
the languages of Southern America; traditions of the Deluge especially
in Mexico; the discovery of Brazil, and other ethnographical and
palæographical subjects. If this scheme be wisely and diligently
followed out, there is reason to hope that some light will be thrown
into the obscurity of early American history.
A description of the great river Amazons and of the vast region watered
by its affluents, by Mr R. Reyes, is published in the _Bulletin_
of the Société de Géographie, at Paris. He calls it the American
Mediterranean, and shews that by itself and its feeders, the noble
stream borders the territories of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,
Venezuela, and Brazil. Ships of the largest class can navigate to a
distance of three thousand miles from the sea, and ascend some of the
tributaries from two to nine hundred miles, through a country rich and
fertile almost beyond description. The forests produce four hundred
different kinds of wood, mostly of excellent quality, as may be seen in
the Museum at Rio Janeiro; and fruits, drugs, and minerals abound.
A tourist wishful to take a holiday in the tropics may now embark in
the West Indies, cross to the mainland, steam up the Magdalena to
the city of Purification in the Colombian State Tolima. Thence by a
land-journey of three days he reaches the steamers on the affluents of
the Amazons, and ends his voyage of four thousand miles on the great
Brazilian river.
* * * * *
TO THE READERS OF _CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL_.
Next month will be commenced a Romance, in Three Parts, by 'ALASTER
GRÆME,' entitled
FROM DAWN TO SUNSET,
to run through several months of this _Journal_.
* * * * *
In January 1878 will appear the first chapters of a Novel, by JOHN
BERWICK HARWOOD, entitled
HELENA, LADY HARROWGATE.
* * * * *
Encouraged by the still increasing popularity of _Chambers's Journal_,
the Conductors will spare no effort to maintain its attractiveness.
* * * * *
Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON,
and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.
* * * * *
_All Rights Reserved._
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note--The following changes have been made to this text:
Page 534: Masterhorn to Matterhorn.