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HE CLIFF Yi ELL EKS. 'a Race Lost to Memory Centuries Asr®. New York Po«t. Among the recent additions to the American Museum of Natural history are many casta of curious "cave bouses" or cliff dwellings, discovered by the Hayden Geological survey. These structures are of such evident an tiquity that a new epoch is formed which carries the exisisnce of man in this country to so remote a period that the "Mound Builder," of whom we know comparatively nothing, appears comparatively modern. Only these stony ruins remain to tell the story of a once powerful and semi-cultivated people. The first discoveries of these houses were made by Mr. A. D. Wilson, of the Hayden purvey, and later a special survey were detailed under Mr. W. H. Jackson, who returned with tho first authentic reports* According to Mr. Ingersol most of the ruins are found around the edge of the desert track formed by the triangulation of the rivers Bio Mancos, La Flata and Bio Ban Jaun. The San Juan and La Flata have a width of bottom land be-' I ween their banks, but the Bio Manco runs like a brooklet along its narrow Dath, shut in by walls thousands of Jeet high. On &e terrace of the more open canons are multitude? of pictur esque ruins in the bottom lands are the remains of towns in the wilder canons the houses are perched upon the face of the chasm. In an encampment one thousand feet above the valley of the Bio Mancos are single houses in groups of two and three mud villages, according to the width cf the shelf which they occupy. They are so high that naked eye can distinguish them merely as specks. There is no access to them from above on account of the rocks that project overhead, and no present way of reaching them from below, although doubling paths and footholds in the rocks show where the way was trodden of old by human feet. If the reader will imagine the Palisades three times higher than they are, with midway shelves between the top and bottom eaten out by the weather, on which are errected stone huts, to and from which the owners found their way by paths scarcely afoot wide, he will have some idea of these ancient abodes, whose counterparts in miniature can now be seen at the museum. The cliffs in some part are limestone, but most frequently sandstone, with al ternating strata of shales and clay. The softer layers are hollowed out, leaving caves whose solid stone ledges servo as the floors and roofs of the cliff dwellings. A few houses have two stories, and one shows four stories. Division walls are built from the re&* Jf the opening and running outward to the front of the cavc, which 13 s® neatly walled by ma sonry of the prevailing stone that the artificial wort is scarcely noticable by a casual observer. Upon the summits of some of the loftier battlements are pieced at irregular ^intervals round stone towers. The ci^rye jof the aborig inal masonry is perfect. As to the hab its of these dwellers we know almost nothing. Near the ruins called Hoven weep castle no bones or signs of graves have been-found only heaps of ashes are left, mingled with charred wood, which tell the story of fire worship. It is assumed that the present. Fueblo In dians are the descendants of these peo ple, from the fact that their huts to-day resemble the ancient cave houses. The absence of implements of warfare, either completed or unfinished gives rise to the opinion that they were a peaceful race. Near some of the cities thousands of flint arrow heads were found sticking in the cliff—all pointing toward the city showing that some strong iavader had attacked them. According to Mr. Jackson tho most remarkable remains are those found in New Mexico, and some of the buildings 'equal any in the United States, if we except the capita!. One of these (shown in the cast by Havden). the "Pueblo del A'roya, hrs wings lSOfeet in length and the we item w*lI of t'^o court fins three stories. Ano'he\ tho "Pueblo Chettro Kettle, is 440 jet lcng ano 250 feet wide, and presents the remains of four stories the logs forming the second floor extend through the walls distance of 6 fest, and probably at one time supported a balcony on the shady sid« n.* lite house. Mr. Jackson esti mate? that in the wall running around three sides of the building 925 in length and 40 feet in height, there were )rnr« than 2,000,000 pieces of stone for tho outer surface of the outer wall alone. This surface mul tiplied by the stones of the opposite sur face, and also by the stones of the inte-* rior and transverse lines of masonry, wouM give a total of 30,000,000 pieces in 315,000 cubic feet of wall. These millions of pieces had to be quarried and put into position the timbers were brought from a great distance, and con sidering the vastness of the work and the. amount of labor and time that.must have been expended, these buildings may well be compared with the most famous works of what is so wrongly called- the old world. Among the caves of tae Bio de Chel ly were found some of the most beauti fully tinted arrow-heads ever discover ed also, cumbers of large earthen jars of ovnl design. In a large three-story house ware found many implements of domestic use representing the stone age. Among them were large grind stones and hammers. The walls, says Mr. Ingersoll, wore plastered with ce ment of stucco-like finish. That it was spread on the walls by human hands is evident from the marks of the pores of the skin to be found on the surface. Occasionally the whole imprint of the hand has been left one woman's slen der fingers are thus preserved for the people of the nineteenth century. As to the date of these erections but little can be determined at present. The Mo qui towns are now in precisely the same yule ef preservation as they were when described by the invading Spaniards, nearly four hundred years ago. Assum ing tho Mcquis to be lineal descendant! of the cliff dwellers, how vast a time the old canon castles must have been de 1 even when the Moquis have no knowledge of the jr-uid bouses of their cesieig! Regaining the age of the bios, they were id by Coronado at the time of the conquest to look very old. Castenado recuds that the inhab itants told him that the Fueblos were older than the memory of seven hun dred years. That these iuins were known to the Spanish invaders we have proof in the journal of Don Antonia de OUrmia, written in 1681, where men tion is made that eighty leagues distant from their camp there were Gasas Grin das. Gallatin speaks of them and as cribes them to the Aztecs. Perhaps time and more extended research may reopen the history of these people who have Been swept away from their grand cities, leaving nothiug but the stony walls of their houses to tell the tale of their pre-Columbian greatness but this we know, that these and other tokens tell that in reality America is the old world, and that thousands of years ago races flourished here in a high state of barbaric cultivation. Bananas as a material for the manu facture of alcohol are proposed. It is said that the great cheapness in coun tries where they are grown and their richness in sugar eminently fits them for this purpose. The Bagdad of the "Arabian Nights." New Quarterly Magazine. Bagdad, in the reign of Er Beshid, seems to have been preeminently a city of pleasure. Thither flocked from all parts of the oriental world the most noted and capable poets, musicians and artificers of the time and the first thought of the Arabian or Persian crafts man who had completed a specially cu rious or attractive specimen of his art was to repair to the capital of the Mos lem world to submit it to the command er of the faithful, from whom he rarely failed to receive a rich reward for his labors. Surrounded by pleasure gar dens and groves of orange, tamarisk and myrtle, refreshed by an unfailing luxu riance of running streams, supplied either by art or nature, the great city of the Tigris is the theme ot many an ad miring ode or laudatory ghazel and the poets of the time all agree in describing it as being under the rule of the great caliph, a sort of terrestrial paradise of "idlesse" and luxury, whereto use their own expressions, the ground was irri gated with rose-water, and the dust of the roads was musk, where flowers and verdure overhung the waj s'i and the air was( perpetually sweet with the many voiced song of birds, and where the chirp of lutes, the dulcet warble of flutes, and the silver sound of singing hoiiria rose ar$d fell in,'harmonious ca dence from every corner of the streets of palaces that stood in vast succession in the midst of their gardens and or chards, gifted with perpetual verdure by the silver abundance of the Tigris, as it sped in its arrowy flight through the thrice-blest town. Bagdad, indeed, was in many respects, emphatically a "citta cortigiana," a sort of Vienna or Bucha rest of the olden time, carried to the highest evolution correspondent with the more sensuous influences of the lux urious east: and the state of public morality there was naturally of the lax est. Especially was this the case among the higher classes. Drunkenness and debauchery of the most uncompromis ing kind prevailed among them "in spite of the precepts of the koran and men and women seemed to vie with each other in refinements of luxury and dis sipation. As was the case in a period that offers no small analogy to that of which I speak, the epoch of the Boman decadence, the women of the upper classes, to whom was apparently allow ed an amount cf liberty, or rather of license, curiously at variance with our western ideas of eastern domestic poli ty, appear to have been especially cor rupt and many are the tales of their licentious habits and adventures that are to be found in "The Thousand and One Nights," reminding us of the "Me moirs of Casanova," although almost always redeemed by touches of pathos, poetry or romance, which do not exist in the latter's somewhat dry and unat tractive record of ordinary galanterie.. The story of "The Porter and the Three Ladies of Bagdad," that of "The Bar ber's brother Bacbarah," and the sever al others contained in the .old version, give some idea of the license of the' time, and examples arei still more abun dant and circumstantial in the tales that compose the comparatively unknown portion of the collection. IT is proposed to enlarge the mem bership of the New York Stock ex change from 1,060 to 1,100 and if it should be done, the money to be paid for admission by the forty new mem bers will pay for the new building re cently purchased by the exchange. It costs a member $10,000 to be initiated into the institution, and sometimes a great deal more than that after he is initiated. So the story ended, and in his heart Eustace Carroll is prouder of that little sketch hanging in a common black frairie over the mantel piece of that country cottage, than he would be though he should paint a picture that would make his name famous through out his.life.—Chatterbox. How rapidly a man loses all interes in politics when he shuts the door on his own thumb. a a 1 IN A PARIS BANK. What the French Have to do to (jet a Check Cashed. From the Paris American Register. To one accustomed to our quick busi ness movements in New York, and the especial rapidity with which banking operations are performed, it is quite ludicrous to enter a Paris bank and watch the performances there. If you present a check for payment, instead of handing it directly to the teller and getting your money instantly, or in two or three moments at the least (as in a New York bank), you walk up to an of ficial in uniform, of whom there are a dozen walking about the counting room, ill large banks like the credit Lyonna:s, outside the space reserved for the clerks. He conducts you to one of the laces constructed like cells, in which »Me book-keepers are serving out a sentence of solitary confinement. You h»nd your check to the prisoner's assistant, who hands it to his boss." The latter consults a big ledger. If there is sufficient "spondulix" to the credit of the drawer, and the signature has all its i's crossed, and its t's dotted, he returns it to the boy, who in turn hands it back with the request that you pay two sous for a revenue stamp. This being gummed on trie bank, the deputy prisoner asks your address, then endorses it on the back of the draft, and you write your name across the revenue stamp, with date, etc., and then a second time underneath your address. This done, you are presented with a bronze medal the size of a saucer, with a numeral upon it. You accept it modestly believing it to be a sort of Legion d'Honneur arrangement, or re ward of merit. You then are request ed to seat yourself on one of the nu merous long settees ranged around the room, which you do, and wait prayer fully until your turn arrives. After meditating in this position for a half-hour on the transitory nature of life, the slowness of French bank offi cials and kindred topics, after reading all the morning papers through twice, including the advertisements, you begin counting the panes of glass in the roof, or study the countenances of your neighbors, all patient creatures like yourself, who have become quite re signed to this mode of transacting busi ness, and would be alarmed if they should enter an American bank and draw their money in five minutf in stead of half an hour. They would think there was something the matter with the coin—bogus, perhaps, or some thing of that sort. After exhausting all their patience and the window panes and floor tiles likewise, an offi cial in another little den, dressed in a uniform composed chiefly of brass but tons, and a big plaque," the size of a dinner plate, on his left breast, said official veils out: "Quatre cent quarter vingt-treize!" Of course you don't know what he means, and sit stupidly won dering, but on a repetition of that cry you consult your brass door-plate and find you hold ".No, 493." So up you/ march tb' the crier and present your medal, and in return he hands you out a little bowl which contains your lucre. I timed the'operation. There were just five persons ahead of me when I entered, and it took twenty-five and a renewal of strikes, if wages are not in creasec in proportion to the increase in the cost of living—New York 'Corre spondence Hartford Times- Twain's Best Joke. Chicago Times. That quaint and original genius Sam uel L. Clemens,—told a story at his own expense while breakfasting with a journalistic friend on Thursday morn ing which is to good to be lost, and which by his consent is now published for the first time. There had been some talk at the table about the Grant banquet, when Mr. Clemens remarked with a smile and his peculiar drawi: "Speaking of banquets reminds me of a rather amusing incident that occured to me during my stop in smoky, dirty, grand old London. I received an in vitation to attend a banquet there and I went. It was one of those tremendous dinners where there are from eight to nine hundred invited guests. I hadn't been used to that sort of thing and I didn't feel quite at home. When we took our seats at the tabtes I noticed that at each plate was a little plan of the hall, with the position of each guest numbered so that one could see at a glance where a friend was seated by learning his number. Just before we fell to, some one—the lord mayor, or who ever was bossing the occasion— arose and began to read the list of those present—No 1, JLord So-and-so, No 2, the Duke of Something-or-other and so on. When' this individual read. the name of some prominent political or literary celebrity, it would be greeted by more or less applause. The individ ual who was reading the names did so in so monotonous a manner that I be came somewhat tired, and began look ing about for something to engage my attention. I found the gentleman next to me, on the right a well-informed per sonage, and I entered into conversation with him. I had never seen him before but he was a good talker and I enjoyed it. Suddenly, just as he was giving me his views upon the future religious as pect of Great Britain, our ears were as sailed by a deafening storm of applause. Such a clapping of hands I had never heard before. It sent the blood to my head with a rush, and I got terribly ex cited. I straightened up and commenc ed clapping my hands with all my might, I moved about excitedly in my chair, and clapped harder and harder. 'Who is it?' I asked the gentleman on my right. 'Whose name did he read?' Samuel L. Clemens," he answered. I stopped applauding. I didn't clap any more. It kind of took the life out of me^ and I nR there like a mummy and didn't even get up and bow. it was one of the most distressing fixes I ever got into, and it will be many a day before I forget it. Flouring Mills Closed. St. LoniB Telegram, 14th to Chicago Times. The Atlantic mills, capacity twelve hundred barrels per day, put out their fires to-day and will manufacture no more flour until there is a change for the better in the wheat and flour mar kets. The Saxony mills and St. George milte will shut down as soon as they grind what wheat they have on hand. One of the Empire mills also will stop in a short time, and there is also talk that the other mills will shortly do the same thing. The reason given is that very few of the millers have made money in the past two months, and some of them have lo&t heavily. The majority of tbem made contracts for flour when wheat was selling along in the nineties, not expecting so great an advance as has since taken place and been maintained. The millers who bought wheat so as to make the amount necessary to fill out their contracts when it cost not over $1.10 per bushel have about saved themselves,but those whose purchases averaged over $1.10 per bushel have lost money. At the pre vailing prices flour cannot be manu factured at a profit to the millers. Wheat to-day i3 selling at $1.24 per bushel.. If put into flour and placed on the eastern markets at the ruling prices, it would entail a loss on the manufacturers of from thirty to fifty cents per bushel. Flour is now selling in Liverpool and other European markets for less than it commands here in the past three weeks very little flour has been shipped from St. .Louis. The mills have all been running to their full capacity, and, as a consequence, there is a large stock of flour in St. Louis. All of the public warehouses are filled with it. The manufacturers are having some difficulty in finding storage-room. The millers are buying very little wheat, and would buy none if they were not compelled to fill out contracts. The millers generally are of opinion that the present price of wheat is, for the most part, due to speculation, and not to a legitimate foreign demand. In support of this view, they argue th^t wheat already sent to Europe and now on the way is sufficient to allay the fears of foreign buyers in regard to scarcity of that cereal. Since the first of July ninety million bushels of wheat from the United States have been landed in European markets, part of it in the form of flour. Six million bushels are now on their way there, snd there are thirty million bushels more in the elevators and en route to the seaboard markets. The foreign buyers, in view of this immense sup ply, are not anxious to make pur chases, as they know the European deficit will be met by the large surplus of the United States and other countries. There is now afloat on the Pacifi© over eleven million bushels of wheat bound for the English market from Oregon California and Australia. In addition to this iarge visible supply, there is yet a large amount of wheat in the hands of the farmers. Under these circum stances the millers of the citv feel that a decline must take place here, as it has in European markets, and, con sequently they could not safely buy wheat at the present price, and manu facture it into flour. New York Telegram, 14th, to Chicago Times. A cable dispatch was received in this city Thursday from a member of Queen Victoria's household, ordering twenty five barrels of old winter wheat flour, recently manufactured under a new patent in the west, tor the queen's pri vate kitchen. The order was executed at once, and the flour, which cost $9 a barrel, will be shipped to-morrow. A Marriage Procession^m Nazareth. While were resting under some olive trees to-day a marriage procession pass ed us. It was led by about fifty men in their best clothes, well mounted and armed, who were escorting a bride home. Some of these men played upon curious musical instruments. In their midst eat the bride, astride upon a white caparisoned horse led by a man in flowing robes. Her wonderful gar ments were stiff with" embroidery, and she was laden with magnificent jewels. She wore the usual jacket, shirt, tunic, fail, and loose trousers, and was attend ed by four very old hags as brides maids, who were nearly as smart as herself. But thes6 antique damsels (or dames) were distinguished by extra ordinary head-dresses, composed of rolls of silver coins about the size of a florin, piled up like money on a money changer's counter, and arranged round the front of a sort of cap, something of the shane of a great sausage. The pro cession included a host ot women and children, and the rear was brought up by a solitary camel, bearing a huge scarlet and green box aloft, which box contained the bride's trousseau. The Bee Sign. From the Seymour Local Lever Bee-keepers and farmers who have observed the motions of the little in dustrious insects, predict a mild winter. They say that the bees are working harder than ever—more so than they did in the summer while sucking the sweets .of the white clover. They have only just commenced kiliing off the drones, which is said to be a sure sign of a mild winter, as they usually kill them off cn the first approach of cold weather. People who have studied the habits of the bee say they never make a mistake. If such be the case the win ter will surely be a mild one. The Tobacco Crops. As a whole, savs The Tobacco Leaf, it is probable that the tobacco crop of 1879, will prove the most satisfactory for gen eral trade purposes that has been rais ed for several years. It is larger than was expected during the earlier part of the growing season, and its appearance in the sheds indicates that it is going to be in the main a salable crop. Here and there, both as to the case and hogs head varieties, blemishes are reported but, taken altogether, less fault is found with it, even by the most exacting,than is usually expressed at this stage of a new crop's progress toward curing. With all its shortcomings in the dry, parching periods of July and August and at one time they were numerous enough to be discouraging to the most hopeful—the season closed invested With every element in abund ance needed for the nourishment and ripening of the backward plants, and, as a consequence, they came in the end to the sheds with a richer body and a more vigorous growth than they have shown for a long time previously and these advantages, it is evident, will ren der them good service in the process of curing, whether this be effected by nat ural or artificial means. Our personal investigations in the field embraced the seed leaf districts, and it is not an exaggeration to say that but for the timely and refreshing rains that ell upon most of them at fitting intervals from the beginning of the sec ond to the end of the fourth week in August their yield this year would have been an uncommonly poor one. As it is, their aggregate product is good al most without exception. The benefits in curing from final good weather to seed leaf in Connecticut, Pennsylvania,. Ohio, and Wisconsin came in due course to the aid of the western tobacco crop in southern Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, as, also, to the crop of Virginia. East and west, as before remarked, tobacco has done well this season and if no misfortune befall it hereafter, it will undoubtedly be exceptional in its usefulness. The Mason county growth, according to advices,has suffered some from house burn, but, on the other hand, it is near ly 50 per cent, more than usual *in quantity, which excess will leave them enough of good leaf to offset the bad. Clarksville and the western district have probably housed a more than average crop in quantity and quality. The Ohio and Green river sections have pro duced, certainly, not less and perhaps more than last year. The Virginia crop is generally good, having escaped frost, and is in average volume. Per haps, all told, two hundred and fifty thousand hogsheads of varying but more than ordinarily serviceable tobac co will be brought to market from the planting of 1879. When so large and so good a crop of seed leaf has been grown in one season as disclosed this season, it would not be easy to recall.it the effort, were made. The total may reach two. hundred and fifty thousand cases. The tobacco trade in its entirely has reason to be pleased with the pros pect. Rhymes, Funereal and Hymeneal. London News. It has long been the funereal custom among a certain class of society in New York to- append a poetic tag to the newspaper announcement of the death of a relative. The verse is not, as a rule, very good but the sentiment is sincere and the intention respectable. Here is an -example culled from the columns of the New York Herald. Af ter recording the date of the death of Isaac Florence, a child aged 3 years and 8 months, the bereaved parents add two verses, of which we quote the second: Fold away those little clothes That our Florence used to wear, He's no more on earth to need them. He has climbed the golden stair. Underneath is gravely written by way of postscript, "He has gone to meet his grandmother." There is a pathos un derlying these rude rhymes which shields them from criticism. iJut we cannot observe without a protest, the nascent practice of invoking the family muse on the occasion of weddings. It has come to pass, notabiy in Michigan, that no wedding is complete without a poetic address from the parents, which is appended to the customary newspa per announcement of the ceremony. To quote one example from a score: Mr. Oliver Hill, of Davisburg, marries Miss Myra Lyon, of Medina. The event is announced in due form in the local papers, with the addition of the follow ing verse: Oliver, you have from her childhood's home our prize taken May she by yon be ne'er forsaken. And may her love to yon pioye always true and unshaken. It must be admitted that this is not a cheerful marriage hymn. There is a tone of melancholy running through it —a prevision of evil pervading it not calculated to raise the spirits of a bride. On the threshold of life Oliver is mark ed with the suspicion of intent present ly to abandon the girl whom the first line leads us to fear he has forcibly ab ducted. This may be due to a tinge of melancholy in the constitution of the parents. Persons of more sanguine na ture would have taken a brighter view of things. But, apart from particular instances, the growth of the custom is to be deplored. A new terror would unquestionably be added to matrimo nial relationships if on his wedding day a man's father and mother-in-law were, like Mr. Silas Wegg, expected to "drop nto poetry." A NEW ocean telegraph cable has just been laid across the Atlantic, from Brest, France, to Cape Cod, Mass. This makes the fifth telegraphic cable con necting Europe and America.