STILL TO BE BEATEN.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 April 1914, Page 7

STILL TO BE BEATEN.

A LITTLE LIST OF RECORDS. The largest trees in the world are '■ undoubtedly the giant redwoods of California. One of these, in Tulare County, has at the base a~ circumference of 108 ft., and at a point 12ft. from the ground a circumference of 76ft. The largest desert in the world is the Sahara. This barren waste has a length of 3,000 miles and an average width of 900 miles. Rain falls there at intervals of five, ten, and twenty years. It is blistering hot in summer, and in winter the temperature frequently falls to zero. The largest cave is the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. This consists of a succession of irregular chambers, certain of which are traversed by the Echo River. The highest active volcano is Popocatepetl, near Pueblo, Mexico. It is 17,550 ft. above sea-level, and has a crater 2,000 ft. wide. The longest railway-tunnel, aside from the New York subway, is that of St. Gothard, on the line of the ' road between Lucerne and Milan. It ' is 26ift. wide, 19ft. ,from floor to roof, and 9£ miles long. The Chinese Wall, now reported to be in process of demolition, is the greatest on earth. It was completed in 204 8.C., as a protection against the Tartars. The wall traverses a I rough stretch of country, ' passing i over mountains and valleys, and i across rivers. It is 1,500 miles long, j 20ft. high, -25ft. thick at base, and 15 at its top. The greatest pyramid is that of Cheops, of the Gizeh group. It contains 89,000,000 cubic feet of masonry ! is 451 ft. high, and the total weight of its stone has been estimated as over 6,000,000 tons. The highest lighthouses are the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour, which is 151 ft., besides a pedestal of 155 ft. ; on c at Genoa, Italy, 210 ft. in height, and Cape Hatteras Light, which is 189 ft. The largest bell is the great bell at ! Moscow, which is 86ft. in circumfer- i ence at the bottom, over 21ft. high, and 23in. thick at the top. Its weight has been computed at 217 tons. It has never been hung.