CROSSING NIAGARA ON A BICYCLE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 2, 3 January 1870, Page 3

CROSSING NIAGARA ON A BICYCLE.

This feat Professor Jenkins announced he would accomplish, and accomplished it was in the presence of a vast crowd. A thousand feet of good two-inch rope stretched across the str.-am below Suspension Bridge, and where Blondin crossed with a man on his back. The Neto York Times says: — "The machine used by Professor Jenkins is not in any sense a velocipede. It is however, a bicycle, and turned upside down would resemble in some degree a modern velocipede. The wheels, three inches wide, are made heavy and of wood, without tiers, but in their places are grooves an inch and three quarters deep. The frout wheel is 3ft. 2in., and the hind wheel 2ft. lOin. in diameter. The connecting rods are iron, so also the balancepole, which is Bft. long, and tipped with 10-pound balls, and weighs 281bs. The whole thing, with the mau thrown in, weighs 2981b5. The propelling power is a pinion cog-wheel made of brass, about 9in. in diameter, which is made to gear to cogs which surround the front wheel at the bottom of the groove. At 2.30 p.m. the Professor made his appearance at the small house on the Canada side, with the pieces of his machine, and at once proceeded to put them together, a task of no small labor. Witli the aid of his men he first placed the forewheel on the rope just at the edge of the precipice, and while one man balanced it, another placed on the standard from the uuder side, thus bringing two strong bars of iron on either side of the rope. All the joints were securely fastened with bolts. The braces, or connecting rods, extending from the standard to the rear shaft in the form of the letter 0, made the connection complete and very strong. The Professor then got outside of the rope, arranged the pinion-wheel, and fastened the balance-pole across the O part of the braces. This done, the seat, a strip of leather, was secured to the rear axle by means of straps. This arrangement, which it was seen at once would throw the entire weight of the machine and the rider under the rope, was a source of disappointment, if not of relief, to many of the spectators, who, not consulting the inventive genius of the Canadian Blondin, rather expected to see him mounted on a Greenwood velocipede, which, of course, would »ive a good chance for ground and lofty tumbling. All being in readiness, the bicycle was fastened by a rope to the bank, and Jenkins prepared to start. He^ wore tights, black velvet knee-breeches, shoulder straps arid cross-belts of the same 1 material, and on bis head was placed a crown-shaped hat, and all were profusely bedecked with tinsel and beads. His feet were covered with buff mocassins. He took his pos i tiou astride the rope, and proceeded to arrange the leather strap or seat, which, as it was allowed to touch the rope, seemed more for the purpose of protecting tbe velvet pants from damage by attrition than to sit upou. In fact, he did not sit, but stood up, with his feet about 18 inches apart, resting on the balancepole. In a moment he grasped the handles of the pinion-wheel, and turned them, moving slowly from the bank, the crowd preserving a death-like stillness. After passing out a few yards a halt was made, and the photographers were allowed to take his picture. He then returned and waited five or ten minutes, ar.d resumed his seat. Three pistol-shots were then fired from the Canadian side, and it was a ' go.' The machine moved slowly'forward, the rope swaying gently from side to side until he had passed out about 50ft., when another opportunity was given the artist, after which he crawled along at a snail's pace, to the middle of the abyss, where he raised and waved his hat, and received a faint cheer in response. From the centre to the American shore it was evidently hard work to propel the bicycle, but at last the edge of the cliff was reached, and then the welkin did ring with the applause of the people. The time occupied ia passing over the rope was just 11 miuutes." Light Literature: — Our young friends will tbank us for directing attention to some Sanskrit works which we find mentioned in Trubner's monthly 'Literary Record.' If the works are as charming as their titles, we have a rich treat in store. Here are a few of them : " Swapanchaksharimahamantrastotra," " Trigunatmikakalikastotra," " Upangalalitovrafodyapana," " Sankashtachaturthivratodyrpana," and " Anantachaturdasivratakatha." They will relieve the tedium of a joumey,and con be recommended for Christmas presents.

Accidents and Offences at Greymouth. — The Evening Star, of Saturday 25th, thus sums up the events of the week: — Perhaps a more eventful week in domestic incidents, than that which is now passing away has seldom before been recorded in Greymouth, and some of these are of a very painful and distressing character. One child strays away from its mother's home and is never more heard of. Whether it bas been drowned in the river, or caught in an ocean breaker and washed out to sea, or has dropped down some deserted prospector's hole, and so perished horribly, is mere conjecture, but very sad conjecture nevertheless. Another child, a mere infant, toddles a few yards from its parents' door, aud is suffocated in a few inches of water, almost in the presence of the mother. A man drowned a few days previously, whilst fording the river is thrown np dead on the beach, his limbs. mutilated and eaten away by fish. A woman is charged with concealing the birth of a child which had been found in a closet with two folds of tape tied tightly round its neck. Another female charges a man with an offence which if proved would have given penal servitude for life, and she is shown to have perjured herself. Two women rob a man in a brothel. One is sentenced and the other is committed for trial. And all these matters weighing upon us as the festive season sets in. The Duke of Edinburgh, at Honolulu. — The correspondent of the Alia California writes : — " On Monday the Duke and several of his officers dined with the KiDg, and his Royal Highness expressed a wish to see a hulahula, and on Tuesday, one was given by the Governor, attended by the King and Dowager Queen, but no white people, aside from the officers of the ship, and many half-caste ladies, who were married to Europeans, were invited, and their • husbands left out ! The disgraceful and obscene hulahula dance being part of the programme, the Englishmen who hoisted their flag with pride on tho arrival of the Prince, lowered it with disgust. It is a lasting disgrace that an English ship of war, fitted in a most costly mauner, and commanded by an English Prince, should visit these Christianised lands, and the only questiou asked was to see the hulahula. The missionaries feel not a little hurt that a Prince from Christian England jliouid treat them so." r In my last letter (writes the correspondent of a New York paper), I mentioned the extraordinary phenomenon, near Locumba, which causes the death of all animals that approach that fatal spot. lam now enabled to give you some particulars. An Americau gentleman, who passed over the locality, confirms the previous reports. Ou the Locumba Road, about 22 leagues from Tacna, there exists what is here termed a dry arroyo, but in fact is the bed of a former river, into which from time immemorial no water has been knowu to pass. During the late earthquakes which destroyed Arica and partly Tacna, the shocks were strongest in the neighborhood of Locumba and the Arrieros. A mule driver reported that one of the mountains near the arroyo had been split open, and a small stream of fetid water was oozing out of a mountain into ihe arroyo. No attention was at first paid to the fact, nor to the mortality among the animals that visited the neighborhood. It was ooly when the people began to leave Tacna, and flee from the scourge of the yellow fever, which was devastating the cities, to the valley of Locumba, that they became aware of the fatal effects upon their animals, at a distance of as much as eight or ten miles from the arroyo. "The stench," says ray informant, "I can compare to nothing else than old bilgewater, of the smell of which you become painfully conscious. Within twelve miles from its scourca my horse dropped down under rae, and in five minutes he was dead. He vomited three or four times a thick substance similar in consistency and appearance to the black vomit. I was thus left to walk fifteen miles to the nearest house, two-thirds of which I may call a mules' graveyard, so tbickly was the old road covered with them. TLj cause of this singular freak of nature is unknown ; but it seems that the gases which have pregnated the atmosphere produce the vomit and death of the animals that inhale it. What these gases are composed of science alone can solve." A commission . has been ordered by the Government , to examine into this ex- • traordinary matter and report upon it.

, A New Kind of Paper. — Senor Hercules Florence, of Campinas, S. Paulo, Brazil, has invented a kind of paper which he says cannot be imitated. It is intended to be used forebank notes, &c., to prevent counterfeiting.