Evening star. [volume], July 02, 1898, Page 19, Image 20

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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A STREET
/TwONDERFUL CITY
Some of the Unusual Features of
Life in La Paz.
IN the VERY BEAR! OF BOIM
Surrounded by Walls Fully a
Thousand Feet High.
ECEXES IX THE MARKET
(Copyright, 1*>8. hr Frank G. Carpenter.)
Bye* ial 4 vrrespoiwlence of The Evening Star.
LA PAZ, Bolivia. May 31. 1SJW.
I herb is no city
in the world like La
Paz. Away back
from the Pacific
ocean. across the
highest range of
mountains on our
hemisphere, in t h o
least-known country
of South America, it
lies in a little basin
on one of the highest
i *iv plateaus of thi earth.
1 |f l\ I have seen the walls
Vf U of Peking, of Jeru
salem and of Seoul, the capital of Corea.
None of them is over fifty feet high. La
Paz has walls a thousand feet high, and
upon ore side of It towsrs the famed snow
capped peak of Hitmani, one of the three
highest of the Andes, which kisses the
morning and evening suns at an altitude of
more tnan four miles above the s?a. Man
ma le the walla of other cities. God made
the walls of La Paz. The great Bolivian
plateau, which stretches away to the north
and south almost as level as the waters ot
Lak- Titieaca, abruptly drops at La Paz
so as to form here a basin which by actual
measurements is about feet deep. In
this basin the city is built and the green
precipitous slopes form its walls except on
one side, wher* the Andes, ragged and
torn. rise in rugged grandeur in all the
colors of the Colorado Canon. Coming to
La Paz on the stage from Lake Titicaca
you ride for forty-five miles across a plain,
by \ illages of mud huts, through little
farms of barley, quinoa and potatoes. On
one side of you is thj mountain wall of the
great Sorati range, the highest of the
Andes, and you gallop on and on over a
seemingly endless plain. The team is one
of eight mules, changed every three hours.
If you sit with the driver, as I did, you
grow tired at last and look in vain through
thr clear air for the city. It is nowhere lr.
sight. At last on the brink of a precipice
the mules are pulled back on their
liaunch-s. the stage stops and there below
you lies I-a Paz. It is so far down that
jou can make out oniy the outlines. You
see a plain covered with terra cotta-roofed
houses, jumbled together along narrow
streets. Here and there is a ehurch. at on;
end M the big white building which forms
the penitentiary, and just under you the
walled int l'.sure made of white pigeon holes
ir. which th- dead La Pazites are stowed
away at so much rent per year until their
descendants forget to pay and the boles are
wanted for the generations to come. The
stage win Is about over a road that curves
In and out In loops and lipure Vs in getting
down to tli eity. Vou see parallel roads
far below you, and at last, having left the
l.i-^h;-. L'..n-)p over the cobble-stone pave
ment> of Li Paz. The town you now iind
to be one of hills and valleys. Its streets
go i'*> and down and the altitude Is such
"that you can v,aik but a very few steps
without stopping to breathe.
% IVrprlnnl >ln?i|oeri<ile.
Tlit sights of La Paz form a perpetual
masquerade of bright colors and curious
scenes The very houses look as though
they were intended for the stage rather
than real life. The roofs 4of terra cotta
tiles look s.) ei.-an in the clear air that you
Can count every piece of which they are
made. Th walls of the houses are paint
ed in the mo.it delicate tints of pink, sky
blue, lavender, yellow, creams and green.
They are of one and two stories, so open
to tie street that you can see much that
joes on within. The colors on the streets
are even brighter than those of the houses.
There ari .n the city at least Ave Indians
to every white, and these dress in the
brightest re.Is. yellows, blues and greens
that anilint dyes combined with the Indian
taste for the gaudy can make. The es
pecially bright garment is the poncho or
blanket, with a hole in the center for the
r.eck. which every Indian man and boy
?wea rs. Th- se are usually colored In stripes
end are worn almost constantly day and
night Every Indian has also a bright-col
ored knit eap with knit ear Raps hanging
on each side ot his face, and he some
times has in addition a black felt hat. lie
wars pantaloons which make one think
of the days when our girls Ridded their
hips and panniers were In vogue. His pan
taloons are cut full at the hips and the
tops of the pockets stick wide out at each
side Th. legs of the trousers are full and
from the knee down at the back they are
alu wide part. showing what at ttrst seem
to l? Wide drawers, which flop about the
ankl-s. Investigate them, however, and
you ti-id they are drawers made on the
dickey shirt order, or merely a half leg of
white cotton sewed fast to the Inside of
t'.e legs <>f the trousers, in order .that he
may the easier roll up the latter when In
the wet grass or crossing a stream. The
Indian women wear hats find their dressec
as gaudy as the blankets ot the man,
I* LA PAZ."
and everywhere there ara other queer cos
tumes. as we shall see in the markets fur
tner on.
Where the Cnhmnn Doom tnt Rale.
La Paz has about 50,000 people. It Is
the chief commercial city of Bolivia, but
It has not a street car. a cab nor a dray.
I doubt if it has a dozen private carriages,
and as for one and two-horse wagons these
are unknown. In going about town every
one walks, and all of the heavy traffic is
carried on by mules, donkeys, llamas or
LA paz
Indians. My trunks are carried from one
place to another on the backs of Indians
and I pay each man about eight cents a
trunk. The bread carrier of La Paz is a
donkey with skin boxes in which the bread
is kept swung across his back. The beer
wagon is a mule who has a large case of
bottles upon each of its sides, and the fur
niture movers, whether the thing moved be
a table or a piano, are Indiaus, who carry
the articles upon their backs, heads or
shoulders, from one house to the other.
Freight is brought into the city on mules,
llamas, donkeys and Indians. The fuel of
the city is. as I have said, llama manure
This all comes in on the backs of llamas in
bags. Cocoa is brought chiefly on donkeys
and Peruvian bark and rubber from the
hotter lands lower down come the same
way. I saw an odd load on a mule yester
day. It was a limp bundle about five and
a half feet long and perhaps eighteen J
inches in diameter thrown over the mule,
so that the ends hung down at the same
distance from the ground on each side.
Beside it on another mule rode a policeman
and a cr<md of Indian women came walling
behind. It was the dead body of a woman
rolled up in a blanket. She had been mur
dered a few days before for about SiO
which she was known to have saved, and
the policeman was bringing the corpse and
the criminals to La Paz.
The stores of La Paz are many and some
carry large stocks of goods. These are,
however, chiefly In the hands of the Ger
mans, who. here as elsewhere, seem to
have monopolized the trade in all foreign
goods. The most of the smaller stores
are in the hands of the Cholos, or half
breeds, the offsprings of the Indians and
the whites. These people do the real busi
ness of the city. Most of their establish
ments are little more than boxes or holes
in the walls. In a space from six to ten
feet square a tailoring, a dressmaking or
a saddlery business will be carried on.
There are no windows to these stores.
The light comes in through the door and
you can Icok in and see the employer and
his hands at their work. Nearly every
merchant Is a manufacturer as well,
j Many of the establishments are managed
| by wimen. All of the fruit?of the city is
sold by them and 1 doubt if there is n.
ehicha l>ecr saloon in Iji Pa* which has
not Its Cholo woman as proprietor, f'hi
<ha Is. you know, the beer of the Bol'viana.
In the Hnrkfta of I.a p?*.
A vast deal of the business of La Pas is
done in the markets. There is one rquare
in the center of the city which is Ailed
with stalls and in which all week long the
buying and selling goes on. On Sundays
the streets outside of this for many blocks
are taken up with market women and
everything under the Bolivian sun is
bought and sold. Sunday is the chief
market day at La Paz. Upon that day
the Indians come from miles around.
1 hey buy little outside of that which they
purchase in the markets, and here wo shnll
see all the characters of La Paz, and its
life, better than anywhere else. We leave
our hotel on the Plaza In the center of the
city and walk past the police station, down
the hill to the point where Market street
crosses our way at right angles. The
streets are tilled with buyers and sellers
and we pick our way in and out of th'ee
blocks of Bolivian humanity before wn
take our stand in the center of a IlvThg
cross of ail the hues of the rainbow made
by the market people and their customers.
In front and behind us, on our right and
on our left, the streets are filled with
these curious people moving to and fro in
waving lines of kaleidoscopic colors such
as you will see nowhere else in the
world. We talk of the oriental hues of
tajro and Calcutta. Lit Pa* has a dozen
aiflcrent colors to Cairo's one and the cos
tumes of Calcutta would seem tame !f
mixed with these about us. Reds, yellows,
blues and greens are ever mixing ona with
the other making new combinations every
second. The most delicate tints of the
Andean sunsets seem to have been robbed
U> furnish the dresses for the Chollto girls.
1 here are hundreds of them clad In shawls
of rose red and skirts of skv blue. There
are hundreds who wear skirts of sea
green and not a few with skirts as red as
the ilia at its setting. Their skirts are
propped out with hoopa and they reach
only to the full curve of the calf
Some of the Cholltos wear shoes of bright
> el.ow kid with Parisian heels under the
Pnd wlth high tops which end. in
mc t-ai'ea. In rose-colored stockings, but
more often the bare skin of a ro?e-colorrd
leg. There are scores of Indian women
In still brighter dresses carrying bundles
on their backs in striped blankets of red,
blue, yellow and green, and there ere
Indian men and boys wearing ponchos of
the same gorgeous hues. There are
ladies in black with black crepe shawls
wound tightly about their olive skinned
fuces with fur prayer mats and prayer
books in their hands. They have stopped
at the markets on their way home from
church and some are accompanied by the
men of their families dressed In high black
hats, black clothes and black gloves. How
<iulet it Is! There is the hum of conversa
tion. the chatter of gossip and now and
then the jangle of bargaining; but the
crowd moves in and out without friction,
and though there ore thousands about you
hear scarcely a footfall. Take a look
downward. Most of the feet about you are
bare, and a large number of the Indians
wear leather sundals, which make hardly a
sound as, their owners pass over the
streets.
The Bolivian Baby.
What a lot of babies there are all about
us. We have to pick our way about care
fully to keep from treading upon them.
Some lie on the cold streets and paw at the
cobbles or play with the merchandise their
mothers are selling. Some, are too young
to crawl, and they are tied ui> in shawls
on the backs of their mothers, who go on
with their business with apparent disre
gard of the precious freight on their backs.
There Is one now peeping out of that red
shawl below us. Its face is as brown as a
berry and its little black eyes blink at us
from under its yellow knit cap, the ear
laps of which stand out like horns on each
side of its face. * There is another baby a
few months older being dandled on the
streets by its Indian father, and on the
other side of the street we see two little
tots who are taking their meals at their
mothers' bare breasts.
Uet us stop for a moment and make notes
upon some of the queer things sold all
about us. The goods are spread ui>on
blankets or they lie fiat on the cobble stone
street. The vegetables and grains are di
vided up into piles. There are neither
weights nor measures, and almost all
things are sold by the eye. Tou pay so
much for such a number of things or so
much a pile. The piles are exceedingly
small, and things are bought in small
quantities. Marketing Is done here from
day to day. 1 doubt if there is a cellar in
La Paz. and the average cooking stove
would hardly be big enough for a doll's
play house in America- Think of carrying
home a half dozen potatoes from market.
This is the size of many of the potato piles
offered for sale here. And such potatoes!
Here is a brown-faced Indian girl who is
selling some at our feet. I venture vou
never saw such little potatoes before.
They are not bigger than marbles, and she
oIters us eight for 5 cents. What queer po
tatoes they are! Some are of a bright vio
let color, some are as pink as the toes of
that baby who Is playing among them,
and some are as black as the feet of the
Indian girl who has them for sale. Po
tatoes do not grow large at the altitude of
I-a Paz. and. though there are also large
ones In the markets, these come from the
warmer lands lower down.
Frozen Potatoes.
But the most curious of all the potatoes
sold In La Paz are those known as chuno
(choon-yo). These are sold in large quanti
ties and you may see piles of them at every
step as you" go through the market. There
is a woman who has a large stock spread
out upon a blanket before her. The pota
toes are as white as bleached bones. They
are almost as hard, and when you break
them apart you find them almost as tough,
lhey are ordinary potatoes frozen and
dried, after which process it is said that
they can be kept for a year without spoil
ing. The method of preparation Is to soak
them in water and allow them to freeze
n.jpnt after night until they become soft.
Then the skins are rubbed off by treading
upon them with the bare feet, and the po
tatoes are thoroughly dried in the open air.
After drying they are as white as snow and
as hard as stones. Such potato;s form one
of the chief foods of the Bolivians. They
are a staple article among the Indians of
the Andean highlands. They have to be
soaked for three or four days before they
can b! eaten, and are often served in the
form of a stew. I have tasted them sev
eral times All the life of the potato seems
to me to have been taken out of them, and
I find them insipid and by no means appe
ri I_n Edition to the above potatoes
Bolivia has a number of varieties which we
do not have. It has bitter potatoes of a
d rty yellow color, which will grow on the
highest plateau. It has tubers which look
like potatoes, but which have an acid taste
and must be exposed to the sun before
tceking, and others which look like dahlia
nips8 a whlch taste somewhat like tur
The Indian C?rn of Boltvln.
I am much interested also in the Indian
corn which I find here. There are many
species of maixe here which we never see in
North America. Bolivia has varieties of
corn the grains of which are twice as large
as those of the largest species of corn
grown by our farmers. Some kinds are of
a bright yellow color, every grain being
as big as my thumb nail. This corn, when
I bit into it, crumbled up almost like flour,
and I can see that it can with a slight
bruising be turned into meah Another va
C holoa of La Pas.
rlety Is white, and a third is of a mulberry
color, being called "maize morado." It also
it ZV7 ,floury *ernel- and 1 am told that
It to used in making and coloring liquors
The most of these varieties of corn are
a!IdWf?!.n ithe Y"nTO3 country, to the east
*?L ,ower down than La Paz. The
fn?rlL ^e "om ten to twelve teei
In height. It seems to me the varletlM
might grow well In the United States and
if fo?arded samples to our Secretary
m?tt?rClik Ik .h a vlew 01 testing the
,"other I>lant' of which I have al
ready spoken as growing here, to the
It milJh?0K<,QUlnSa <Pronounced keen-wah)
of ?K? L5t gr?Wn at LeadvlI'e or on some
ti eBt~part" of the Rocky moun
tain P'fteau You see It almost every
where on these Andean highlands. It Is
carefully cultivated, and Its grains when
thrashed^out are of the size of mustard
seeds. They are sweet to the taste and
make an excellent mush when cooked
It seems curious to And all sorts of tine I
1 fruits away up here on the roof of the
world. There are fruit peddWrs an nearly
every square of La Pasj and tha market
Is filled with fine varieties: of quinces,
pears, oranges and plnedpplM. There are
sweet and sour lemons and there are white
grapes each berry of which ts the slse of
a damson plum. There are clingstone
peaches as big as the White Heath, and
there are figs and other fruits which we
do tot have. One peculiar article looks
like a mammoth green bean pod. It is
known as the "Pleae." Wben opened It
shows big black beans Incased in a pulp
which looks like the finest of white spun
silk. Tou eat this pulp, land wben cold It
tastes to you muoh like -a Qnely flavored
ice cream. These fruits come from forty
to sixty miles away from! the eastern
slopes of the Andes, perhaps:a mile lower
down than La Paz. Within tfrom fifty to
a hundred miles from here'you can get
Into tropical Bolivia, and by going that
distance can have all of the climates from
tropical heat to frigid cold. The snow
never melts on llllmanl. The cllriate here
is about that of Paris and in the Jfungas
and the Benl regions not far away the
pineapples and the palm trees grow. There
are wild oranges and wild cotton trees.
There are coffee plantations, and In the
forests the Indians are gathering rubber
to be shipped down the Amazon to Para,
whence some of it perhaps will go to the
i United States to be used in your bicycle
I tires. FRANK G. CARPENTER.
ART AND "ARTISTS.
The summer brings no rest to Mr. George
Gibbs, as it is just the season when he Is
irest deeply immersed in book illustra
'ions for the publications that will appear
on the book stalls shortly before Christ
mas. So, while the other artists seek cool
er places In which to spend the hot
weather, he sticks to his studio, and does
the hardest work of hl3 year. At present
he Is engaged upon a series of gouache
drawings for a historical novel by Grace
King, a story dealing with the adventures
of Hernando de Soto and his men in the
land of Florida. For Mr. Glbbs this Is an
entirely new vein, introducing manners of
life, costumes and scenery that he has not
previously touchcd upon In his work, and
he shows his facility by the manner !n
which he enters Into the spirit of the
period. The action 111 several of the com
pleted drawings Is notably good, a scene
showing the Spanish adventurers In a
l.rush with the Indians being especially full
of movement. In this the effect of rapid
action must be credited partly to the man
ner in which the figures are drawn ar.d
partly to their arrangement. An Illustra
tion which depicts the sighting of land by
De Soto and his followersalso very good
in competition. In Seme of the illustra
tions Mr. Gibbs has not been able to bring
the drawing to that point of exactness
which marks his more leisurely work, but In
all he has set down the important features
In a. very effective way. He will soon com
mence h reries of drawings for a book by
James Barnes, which relates the naval ex
ploits of Commodore Perry.
*
* ?
Miss Edith Ogdtn, who was In Wash
ington during the winter, Is now s'.ayirg
in Gtrrett Park, and expects to leave for
St. Paul shortly. It will be remembered
that she made an able contribution to the
department of sculpture in the spring ex
hibition of the Society of Washington
Artists, find she is well equipped foe her
work, having studied in Paris and a!?o In
New York under St. Gaudens. It is prob
able that Miss Ogden will return to this
city In the fall.
* i i.
The large canvas by P^nisslji, which has
been placed on view at Fischer's, wcM ex
emplifies the beauty that may be attained
in landscape art, even b>' painters fettered
by the strict observance''6f many artls'.'c
conventions. The foliage of the trees has
a formality that bears ho very close re
lation to nature, and tht> entire lan Iscapc
seems more like a poetic vision of the
artist's than like a liberal .Interpretation of
ai.y actual scene. Much of tiu* charm of
the picture lies doubtless in Its very lack
of realism, and in this also lflrs its classic
c'ignity. The eye is not'arrested by what
some ono has called "the little gossip of
Nature," but is left free .to seize upon the
big features, the essentials in the land
scape. Perhaps the most noticeable point
of merit in the picture is the fine effect of
aln.csl illin ltable distance, and the meliow
sunset light which floods the scene Is well
rendered. ?
*
* *
* *
Next week will probably find Mr. Richard
N. Brooke in his home in Warrenton, Va.t
ready to enter upon his summer sketching
campaign. For at least three months he
expects to remain there at work, and if
all goes well he will retuui In the autumn
the richer by fresh inspiration and a large
suuply of valuable studies. During the
last days which he has spent In his studio
here much of his time has been given to
an oil portrait that is noticeably fine in Its
quality of color.
*
* *
Mr. H. B. Bradford Is now busy with a
series of six drawings delineating various
types of "summer girls." In one of the
best of these he has depicted a pretty girl
I seated on the grass in a cool shady spot,
plucking the petals, one by one. from a
daisy. Both the setting of the figures and
the figure Itself are well executed, and the
effect of the whole is restful and agree
able. In another civpablc drawing In black
and white Mr. Bradford presents a type of
the Bicycle girl, a careful study drawn rrom
life and executed In the open air. The
series includes a drawing of a dashing
brunette lolling luxuriously among a pile
of Bofa cushions and idly picking out a
pcpular tune upon her mandolin, and the
artist uses an effect of indoor lighting lr.
one other Illustration of the set. It por
trays a falr-halred girl, seated by a
reading stand, in which the drawing !s
handled with a certain delicacy that Is
I very pleasing and places It among the i
best of the six.
Mr. Jerome P. Uhl, who has been study
ing In the New York Art League for a
year, came home to Washington for a
short stay only, as he intends to go to !
Lake Chatauqua about the 8th of July. He
brought with him a number of drawings
that speak well for the progress he has
been making. He has always been clever
at pen and ink work, and some of his best
things are still executed in that medium.
He handles his pen with greater freedom
now, working lor the drawing and the
values in the subject before him, and giv
ing as little thought as possible to mere
technique. Mr. Uhl was one of the most
constant attendants at the sketch classes
In the New York League, and profited a
great deal by the practice and instruction
which he gained in this branch of study
so often underrated. uj ?,
? .Ml! 4
* * lis o
A new art club called ? the - Salmagundi
Club, after the organization bearing that
name In New York city, Was 'formed here
a short time ago, and a pumjier of meet
ings have been held at si4<;h places as the
members find suitable forj.sketching. The
c!Ub, which was organized 4arfrely through
the efforts of Miss Mao* BjpUfc Clennan, is
at present composed alpos^i entirely of
students from the Corcoran^ Art School,
and it has seventy-nine members upon Its
rolls. During the summer the meetings
are to be held out of doopfc, aj)d are prac
tically sketching trips, but la the winter
the members expect to hay* talks on art
and other Interesting feature*. The club
will hold an exhibition pome tiipe next
winter In order to display the sketches
made during the summer months. At a
meeting held a little over a week ago, In
the grounds of the old observatory, the
members benefited by the advice of Mr. K.
Le Grand Johnston and Mr. S. Jerome Uhl,
and also had the pleasure of watching
these older artists .work directly from na
ture. To show their appreciation of the
visit the members of the club elected the
two artists honorary members.
*
Mr. Emery Williams, who has been tem
porarily occupying Mr. Moss' studio in the
B&rblzon building, left the city on Wednes
day, having decided not to remain here
after the completion of his secies of Illus
trations for Les Miserable!. When he first
came here It was with the intention of re
maining In the city all summer, but he has
been- quite sick daring part of his stay.
and this. together with other nuxi, In
duced him to leave * couple of month*
earlier than he had planned.
THE RAM 15 XAVAL WARFARE.
What May Be Dome by Hitting Below
the Water Line.
From the New Tork Trlbnne.
A feature of naval construction and war
fare which attracted the attention of ex
perts thirty years or more ago, and for a
time was exceedingly popular. Is the ram.
The idea of putting a short, stout spur
out on the stem of a vessel, at or below the
water line, to be thrust Into an enemy's
ship, had occurred to designers of war ves
sels as early as 1850. In that year there
was added to the British navy the Warrior
so equipped and to the French navy the
Magenta, similarly armed. But the final
actual test of the ram on which its future
largely depended occurred in 18G2.
The confederate Ironclad Merrimac bore
on her stem a spur which was used upon
the Cumberland with such deadly effect
that the latter vessel sank In a few min
utes. Four years later, off the Island of
L.issa, In the Mediterranean, another In
structive engagement was fought. Admiral
Tegetthoff, the Austrian commander, had a
smaller fleet than the Italians under Per
sano, but he won a- decisive victory. The
result must be attributed in some degree,
no doubt, to the Italian leader's bud man
agement. Yet the chief mode of attack
was with the ram. And two of the ene
my's best ships, including the Re d'ltalia,
which had been the flagship of Persano up
to the beginning of the light, were sunk.
A third contribution to the world's knowl
edge of the possibilities of the ram was
made in 1877 by the Peruvians. Their
Huascar stove a terrible hole in the Chilean
Esmeralda ofT Iquique. In consequence of
this Injury the Esmeralda, although she
had fought with amazing pluck, quickly
went to the bottom.
Two much more recent illustrations of
the destruction which this weapon is capa
ble of working are cited by William Led
yard Cathcart in Cassler's Magazine. The
first of these whs the tragic loss of the
British battle ship Victoria in time of
peace. Admiral Tryon was putting the
ships of his command, the Mediterranean
squadron, through an unusual maneuver.
The order given involved either a slip of
the torigue or an error of calculation, but
it was Implicitly obeyed, and within a few
minutes the admiral saw -the huge Camper
down swung around so that she could not
avoid striking the flagship. The Victoria
kept afloat for ten minutes, but when she
sank she took down 321 officers and men.
Including the unhappy Tryon. This event
occurred in June, 1803.
Less lamentable In degree, but not less
significant in character, was the disaster
that overtook the German warship Grosser
Kurfurst, in 1878, while proceeding west
ward along the southern coast of England.
Accompanying this vessel, and a little fur
ther off shore, was the Konlg Wllhelm. an
armor-belted frigate of 9.000 tons displace
ment. A small merchant vessel putting to
sea crossed the bows of the Germans, and
compelled them to turn their heads tem
porarily inshore. The Kurfurst resumed
her former course before the Konlg Wll
helm did, and before the navigators of
either vessel realized the danger the Wll
helm had run her ram Into her consort's
side. The Kurfurst carried six officers and
eighty-one men down with her. The other
officers and men on board of her escaped.
Soon after the battle of Lissa the British
admiralty began to develop a class of ves
sels which were Intended to fight princi
pally with their rams. The Rupert and the
Hotspur were low ironclads, of 3,200 and
4.000 tons, and carrying one or two guns
in a turret well forward. Then came the
Hero and the Conqueror, which were big
ger and more heavily armed. These latter
carried 12-Inch guns and dlsplaeed about
IS.OOO tons. The Polyphemus (1881) was
more exclusively a ram. for her battery
was a light one. She was equipped with
torpedo tubes, however. The next set of
rams, built between 188t> and 18!KS. and in
cluding the Furious. Vindictive. Arrogant
and Gladiator, were ships of 5.700 tons dis
placement. and had light armor and pro
tected decks. Their largest guns are of the
'1-inch rapid-fire type, and no torpedo tubes
are provided. The projection from the stem
Is massive, the how is strongly braced, and
the armor belt is wider out forward than
elsewhere. Other Important modifications
were made In the dc3ign of these vessels.
In order to facilitate rapid maneuvering
there are two rudders, one just forward of
the screw ard the other aft. The dead
wood at the stern is cut away so as to
favor quick t iming.
These and other war vessels of the same
general type, not only in the British navy,
but also in the fleets of other nations, have
l>een called "ram cruisers" to distinguish
them from other cruisers. The light con
struction of the ordinary cruiser, whose
function Is to hunt for the enemy rather
than to fight him. which is built for speed
rather than to withstand attack, precludes
such collisions as a ram must encounter.
Consequently those ships which are meant
to fight with spurs on their stems are much
more strongly built, especially about the
bows.
The idea of giving a vessel a prow that
will rip open a hostile ship below the water
line has been .applied to the heaviest battle
ships. The Camperdown displaces about
10,000 tons, and is much bigger than the
Maine was. She is about as heavy as the
Oregon and Massachusetts of the American
navy. The French battle ship Brennus,
which has a spurred stem, displaces 11,305
tons, while the Italia, also equipped with a
ram, is a vessel of nearly 14,000 tons.
The formidable character of the kind of
warfare here described will be better real
ized if one will remember that the biggest
guns now used in the navy deliver pro
jectiles only thirteen Inches in diameter
whereas a ram will cut a hole big enough
to admit a two-horse team. Tegetthoff
himself was so shocked by his achievement
In the battle of L*lssa that he afterward
said:
"If I were to live a thousand years I
would never ram another ship. The effect
produced is different from anything else
you have in naval warfare. You see the
vessel attacked at one moment and the
next eight hundred men sliding into the
sea with the vessel following them. You
are left with a perfect void, without any
commotion, without any smoke, without
anything to make one feel that he was In
battle.
THE FOl R-IXCH XAVY GIST.
A Most Popular Weapon for Offensive
and Defensive Purposes.
Frtim the New York Trllmre.
The main batteries of all the gunboats in
the navy are made up of 4-inch rapid-fire
rifles, which are altogether the most popu
lar weapons in the service for offensive and
defensive purposes on the lighter vessels.
The Castine, the Helena. theiMachias, the
Nashville and the Wilmington are each
equipped with eight of these guns, while
the Annapolis, the Marietta, the Newport,
the Princeton, the Vicksburg and the
Wheeling each mount six of them. The
Bancroft relies upon four, and the Dolphin
upon two as their chief fighting powers.
Even the formidable Iowa has six of them
upon her superstructure to deter the ap
proach of torpedo boats, and the armored
cruiser New York mounts twelve in her
secondary battery. The fastest two vessels
in the navy, the Columbia and the Min
neapolis, have eight apiece, and the double
turret monitor Puritan is provided with six
j to support her four 12-Inch monsters. The
chief advantage of these guns lies in their
extreme rapidity of fire and ease of man
ipulation. while their penetrating power at
all ranges enables their projectiles easily to
pierce all unarmored cruisers and lightly
protected .gun positions.
This gun of four Inches caliber weighs,
without its mount, one and one-half tons,
or exactly 3,400 pounds. Its length Is 13.7
feet, and Its greatest outside diameter Is
thirteen Inches, its total length of bore be
ing 157.5 Inches, and the length of rifle bore
128.12 inches. The twist of its rifling be
gins at sero and Increases to 1 in 25, ther^
being thirty grooves. It fires a 83-pound
shell with fourteen pounds of smokeless
powder, which develops a muxzle velocity
of 2,000 feet a second, and a muzzle energy
of 915 foot tons. Such a shot will perfor
ate a 7-inch plate near the muul?. and will
go. clear through a 5-lnch plate at 1,500
yards' distance. Ordinary crews on all the
gunboats get a rapidity of fire of six a
minute out of these 4-lnch rifles, four men
> handling the ammunition, while two sight
the piece and Ore It. This speed enable* a
4-lnch gun to throw as much wetghl In a
given time as the $-lnch rifle, which b
practically twice Its stxe, the latter weigh
ing three tons and firing under the best
conditions four 50-pound shells in a minute.
The best penetration of the 5-lnch rifle Is
barely an inch more than that of the 4-lnch
at all ranges, but in ten minutes the 4-lnch
gun will throw sixty well-aimed shots,
while the 5-inch cannot be relied upon to
throw more than thirty.
OUR OWN GREAT DAY
Some Noteworthy Celebrations of the
Fourth of July.
WHEN n WAS FIRST OBSERVED
The Fiftieth Anniversary arvd the
Great Centennial.
EIRE WORKS AND FIREWATER
Written for The Evening Star.
The first Fourth of July celebration took
place In Philadelphia four days after the
adoption of tha Declaration of Independ
ence, on July 8. 17?6. "a warm, sunshiny
morning," as one of those who were pres
ent described the day. John Nixon read
the declaration in the yard the state
house, and the great assembly of people
"gave three repeated huzzas." The king's
arms were torn down fnim their place, and
then the proclamation was read before each
of the five battalions on the commons. In
the evening, which was clear and starlight,
bonfires were kindled, cannon were fired,
bells were rung, "with other demonstra
tions of Joy upon the unanimity anO. agree
ment of the declaration."
On July S> Washington himself directed
the celebration which was held in New
York. The declaration was read in the
presence of the army, and the assembled
people indulged In displays very like those
of the preceding day in Philadelphia, al
though the New York celebration went a
step farther, for in their enthusiasm the
people tore down, beheaded and melted the
statue of George III In Howling Gre?n,
"the troops long having had an inclination
so to do."
The news was hurried forward to Boston,
and the messengers made such incredibly
fast time that they arrived on the 1 Nth of
July. The people were dressed in their
"holiday suits" and with the soldiers
thronged the streets. Exactly at 1 o'clock
Thomas Crafts arose in the town house and
read aloud the declaration, and the nun
stood up and repeated the words o. tneir
olficers and swore to uphold tin- rights or
their country. The town clerk r.ad the
declaration from a balcony to the crowd,
"at the close of which a shout, begun in
the hall, passed to the streets, which rant
with loud huzzas, the slow and measured
boom of cannon ana the rattle of mus
ketry." Then there was a banquet in the
council chamber, "to which all th.* richer
citizens were invited," while great quanti
ties of liquor were distributed among the
people, and In the evening there was a gen
eral illumination of the entire town. There
was no statue of Xing George to be broken,
but the people did the next best thing for
they tore down the lion and the unicorn
frcm the east wing of the state house.
Celebration by ('otiffremi.
One of the unpublished letters of John
Adams gives the following description:
"The thought of taking any notice of this
day was not conceived until the second
of the month and was *iot mentioned until
the third. It was too late to have a sermon,
as every one wished, so this must be de
ferred to another year. Congress deter
mined to adjourn over that day and to dine
together. The general officers and others
in town were invited, after the President
and council and board of war of this state.
In the morning the Delaware frigate. s?.v
eial large galleys and other continental
armed vessels, the Pennsylvania ship and
row galleys and guard boats weie all
hauled off Into the river, and several of
them were dressed in the colors of all na
tions displayed above the masts, yards and
rigging. At 1 o'clock the ships were all
mannea; that is, the men were ull ordered
aloft and arranged upon the top yards and
shrouds, making a striking appearance .if
men dram, up in order in the air. Then I
went ou board the Delaware with th.'
President und several gentlemen of the
marine committee, soon after which we
were saluted with a discharge of thirteen
guns, which vy.td followed by thirteen
others from each of the armed vessels in
the river, then th; galleys followed the lire
and after them the gunboats. Then the
President and tile company returned In the
barges Lo the shore and were saluted by
three chters from every ship, galley and
boat in the river. The wharves and shorts
were lined with a vast concourse of people,
all shouting and huzzaing. ? ? ? At ;t we
went to dinner and were very agreeably
entertained with excellent company, good
cheer and music from the band of Hes
sians captured at Trenton and by continual
volleys between every toast from a com
pany of soldiers."
The letter then goes on to describe the
processions and salutes of the soldiers,
and expresses the surprise of the writer In
the evening to behold almost every house
lighted by candles in the windows, "though
a few surly houses were dark. I had for
got," he continues, "the ringing of bells
all day and evening, and the bonfires In
the streets, and the fireworks played off.
Had General Howe been here in disguise,
or his master, this show would have given
them the headache."
When Peace Wall Restored.
The anniversaries had been celebrated
In the army by the discharge of guns, the
setting free of prisoners, and festivities In
which the wives of the generals had been
very activo, Mrs. Knox and Mrs. Greene
being especially Interested. The year when
peace was declared witnessed the Introduc
tion of the oration. Guns and bells, of
course, continued to be very much In evi
dence, and toasts were drunk and respond
ed to at the dinners which were provided
on every village green or city common.
"George Washington." "The Constitution,"
"The United States" and "The daughters of
America" came in for a goodly share of
attention in oration and In toast. "Squir
rels, chickens, green corn and vegetables
of the season" were piled upon the tables,
and were free to all, while firewater as
well as fireworks abounded. The Introduc
tion of the "oration," however, chiefly dis
tinguishes the celebration of 17X3, and dates
frcm that time.
The fiftieth anniversary was the "Jubi
lee." and was the most elaborate of ml
celebrations up tc- that time. Three of lite
signers of ihe declaration were still living,
although the w?aknesj of old age prevent
ed them from taking an active part in the
festivities. The struggle of the South
American countries to throw off the yoke
of Spain and the popular sympathy with
Gieece helpel to inspire the American peo
ple. Hands, bells, cannon and processions
abounded, and the oration held a conspic
uous part. Josiah guincy was the oru;or
In Boston. Edward Everett* in Cambitdge.
while in Washington an "honorable mem
ber" delivered a great speech before a
greater crowd from the steps of the Capi
tol. New York had not yet made so m'ich
of the oration as had some of the other
cities, but did not lack in enthusiasm. A
long procession marched from the Battery
to Washington Square, and was there re
viewed by DeWitt Clinton, the governor
of the state. Ten thousand people were
In the assembly and aided in disposing of
the "ox feast" which had been provided.
The enthusiasm throughout the land was
Intense. The "Moni-.ie doctri'ij," the "lib
erty of man," "the oppr?.?io.i of cflete
mcrcrchies" were -agressions used not
only by the orators, but by all men.
Doubtless the "Jubilee" provided a mighty
lirpulse for the nation, th?a ;ust passing
out from Its chlld'itMd.
The CeBUsslal.
Marvelous were the changes which the
fifty years had witnessed since the Jubilee,
but they were no greater than the changes
In the method of celebrating the great
event In American history. Noise of bells
and cannon was still tetalned, to the In
expressible delight of young America, but
science, art and literature all received
their due share of attention. Upon the very
spot where the republic was born Senator
Jcseph FL Hawljy extended a welcome to
the friends of all nations a*sentl>le<l th?re,
and then resigned the ch4ir to the Vice
President of the United States. William M.
Evarts delivered an oration upon "Whet
the Age Owes to America," poems by
Holmeft and Bayard Taylor were read and
"Our National Banner, a Gran-l Trium
phal March," written by Dexter Smith,
was rendered. Great as was the enthusi
asm manifested in the quaint old Quaker
town. It was bat llule in advanc-3 of that
displayed in every city and village In the
nation. The "centennial" will be remeoK
btred not only fop It* material display,
but for Its oration' and p?i?ni* a* well.
Among the various Fourth of July orator*
on that occasion were Rlehar.1 S. Storra.
H?nry War! Beechfr, Oeorge William Cur
tla. Horatio Seymour, l.ucius R <*hltten
den. Henrj Barnard. t'ortiandt I'arker,
John A. lHx. Fernando 'Wood. l-.-onarl
Bacon, Robert C. Winthrop, t'haties Fran
cis Adams and innumerable other leaser
liclu*:
Of !>? ?ms, William Cullen Bryant. John
OrvHcat Whittier. Oliver VmM
Holmes, Bayard Taylor and other* fur
nished their l>est. Vethaps th<* "|>o-na nf
Bryant and Whittier will live longest. and
that of Bryant especially wai not only his
toric but also prophetic. He "celebrated"
the past and did not forget the future, as
he wrote:
And thou, the new-beginning a*e.
' Warmed by the past, and not In vain.
Write on a fairer, whiter page
The record ot thy happier reign.
> ??
SVORUBS NOT 15 THE RECORDS.
Two 4.<>?d Tale* That Will \o? Appenr
IB History.
Fn-ni the Pet.-olt I'm Press.
An old soldier of Detroit ha* a couple of
stories of the late war that will not b: pre
served In the archives of accepted history.
"In the pioneer brigade, to which I be
longed." relates this veteran, "there was a
Wisconsin nian who seamed to have the
gift of perpetual good feeling. After Bragg
had left Tullahoma on his way to some
safer locality, we pushed on to Elk river lo
repair a bridge. The Wisconsin man. s horn
I remember as Hank, went down the
stream a little way to take a swim, and
while he was disporting himself In the
water five of Bragg's boys appear'd on the
bank, covered him with their guns and cor
dially invited him to come in out of the
wet. He promptly yielded to the persua
sion and dressed while laughingly telling
his captors that if thcr* ha'l I but four
of them lie would have declined to recog
nize them a.< a superior land force, atil
fcrght them from the water.
"While the prisoner was awaiting an
crder to march, the five surprised hun by
siaokine th. ir arms, notify ng hint that they
surrt nd? re.1 and asking to be taken into
camp. I.Ike hundreds of others in lower
Tennessee during the summer of lN?r:. they
w?re tired of the tight and glad to get with
in our lines. The last time 1 was at a na
tional encampment 1 ca:ne across the hero
of the occasion, and I'll Ik- lilowed if he
waa'i telling in solemn earnest how lie
made a sudden dash upon those llvs John
nies. surrounded them, dlsatmed them an I
marched them to headquarters. Such stor
ies are apt to grow, even with one who
participated In the event, and 1 was con
vinos] that Hank thought he was telling
the gospel truill."
The veteran's other story Is about a big
member of the red sash brigad^who had
done yeoman servicj In the pine woods of
Michigan before ho entered the army. ' I
didn't see this," he acknowie-ilges, "but I
can bring the proof If It !?? demanded. At
the Bull Bun r?treat the woodsman stop
ped to assist a wounded comrade. While
he was doing this good Samaritan work In
w as suddenly surrounded by pursuers an l
ordered to surrender. He had not yet been
weaned from th; favorite method of IlKht
ing In the lumber camps, so he threw aside
his gun and bayonet as useless Incum
brances and trailed In for a rough and tum
ble. repeatedly announcing that he could
lick the whole outfit. The onslauKht was
so sudd mi and so. ludicrous that those as
saulted were temporarily paralysed by
laughter, and half-a-dozen of them had
gone down with damaged heads or bleeding
noses before they could rally. Then the
bold puncher was tak-n by a good-natured
exertion ot force, and was only reconciled
when assured that some man would be
tound to do him battle In a rough and
tumble.
TUB ?.HKF.M.\M?l:lfS HO AT.
'I he Fa L lino KlllnU Ik a M<?t IHtflcnlt
C rnfl to Handle.
From tile I *hlladel| rfi In Inquirer.
There is no craft so difficult to handle
as the Ksktmo "kHiak." The only boat fa
miliar to us which In any way resembles
it Is the racing sl.ell: but if a crack oars
man of one of our crack colleges were tied
into a kaiak and told to shift for himself
even in smooth water, he would have a
hard time of It.
The "kaiak" has been evolved through
hundreds of years of necessity. Without
it the Greenland Eskimo*, at l*ast. would
not be able to provide their daily bread,
or, more properly speaking, their dally
blubber.
It is singular that all the materials used
In the construction of the kaiak come from
the sea; driftwood for the frame, sealskin
for the covering, thongs for the harpoon
and dart, ivory and bone for bow. stern
and keel, and for the various Implements.
The women prepare the skin coveting and
stretch it over th * frame till It Is as tight
and firm as the head of a drum; on such
occasion there is tcreat excitement In the
community; a regular "kaiak l>e?" Is held;
even refreshments are not lacking, for the
owner of the "kaiak" treats to coffee all
around when the work is satisfactory
done.
The completed l>oat Is a triumph of in
genuity and skill. It Is about eighteen
feet long, sliarply pointed at each end. Its
greatest depth Is six Inches and Its width
about eighteen. It Is entirely covered save
for the little round hole Into which the
owner slips, pushing his feet underneath
the skin deck in front.
This hol? is fitted to the person for whom
the boat is designed, and his thighs com
pletely fill It up. When he Is seated in It
and his waterproof Jacket Is tied securely
round the edge, he Is able to defy the waves
which dash over him or the rain which
beats upon him. The six thong loops ar
ranged on the deck In front and the three
of four behind hold his Implements?bird
darts, lances, knives and, most Important
of all. his harpoon. A little stand la ar
tanged dlrectl) In front of him, upon which
is colled the harpoon line, and behind him
on the "kaiak" Is the harpoon bladder
which Is attached. Inflated ready for use.
to the line.
The most expert are apt sometimes to be
overturned; It may be by the attack of a
walrus or even a seal, by a careless move
ment or an unexpectedly large wave. If
he do<-s not right himself at once he Is In
evitably drowned unless a comrade eomes
to his ass'stance. The usual method of
turning the "kaiak" upright again Is by
using the paddle as a lever, holding It along
the si* of the boat, pointing It toward
the bow. then sweeping it through the
water; but those who are thoroughly pro
ficient are able to <io It by means of their
throwing stick, their arm or even their
hand.
Jones?"I met Howard today. He was
surprised to know we wen- married. Bays
you told him once you wouldn't marry the
best man living."
Mrs. Joner -"Well, the fact is, I did."
Jones?"How did you come to change your
mind?"
Mrs. Jones?"Well, the fact la, I didn't."
?Harlem IJfe.
"I understand that the United Stales
commission to the Paris exposition for UK?i
has ask<-d for :!?),?**? more square feet of
Epace."
"Indeed! What for?"
"We'll n?ed It to exhibit our contempt
for France's attitude toward us In this
war."?Harper's Bazar.
After the Cemioa).
(Gopjrl;{ht, 18W8, Life Publishing OMapaoy.)
Lodwig-"N'ow that we are oi*. I have a
secret to ivveal to you. 1?I wear a wig."