THE BIGGEST THINGS.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 182, 11 December 1886, Page 8

THE BIGGEST THINGS.

The largest theatre in the world is the new opera house in Pane, It covers nearly three acres of ground ; its cubic mass is 4,287,000 • feet : it cost about 100,000,000 francs. The largest suspension bridge is the one between . New York city and Brooklyn ; the length of the main span is 1,595 feet 6 inches ; the entire length of the bridge is 5,980 feet. The loftiest active volcano is Popocatapetl — " smoking mountain "—thirty-five miles southwest of Puebla, Mexico ; it is 17,74$ feet above the sea-level, and has a crater three miles in circumference and 1,000 feet deep. The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India over the rivor Kistnah. It is more than 6,000 » feet in length and is 1,200 feet hio;h. The largest Bhip in the world is the Great Eastern. She is 680 feet long, 83 feet broad and 60 feet deop, boing 28,527 tons burden* 18,915 grosa and 13,344 net register. The greatest fortress, from a strategical point of view, is the famous stronghold of Gibraltar. It occupies a rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea, about three miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide. One central rock rises to a height of 1,435 ! feet above the sea-level. Its northern face is almost perpendicular, while its oast side is ful] pi tremendous precipices. On thesouth it terminates in what is called Europa Point. The west side is less steep, than the east, and betwoen its base and the sea is the narrow, almost level span on which thetown of Gibraltar is built. The fortress is considered impregnable to military assault. Tho regular garrison in time of peace numbers about seven thousand. The biggest cavern is the Mammoth Cave in Edmonson county, Ky. It is near Green river, about six miles from Cave City und twenty eight from Bowling Green. The cave consists of a succession of irregular chambers, some of which are large, situated on different levels. Some of these are traversed by navigable branches of the subterranean Echo river. Blind fish are found in its waters, The longest tunnel in the world is that of the St. Gothard, on the line of railroad between Lucerne and Miian. The summit of the tunnel is 900 feet below the surface at Andermatt. and 6,600 feet beneath the peak of Castlehorn of the St. Gothard group. The tunnel is 26^ feet wide, and is 18 feet 10 inches from the floor to the crown of the arched roof. It ie 9$ miles long, lg miles longer than the Mount Cenis Tunnel. The biggest tree 3 in the woild are the mammoth trees of California. One of a grove in Tulare county, according to measurements made by members ot the State Geological Survey, was shown to be 276 feet in height, 10S feet in circumference at base, and 76 feet at a point 12 feet" above ground. Some of the trees are 376 feet higher and 31feet in diameter. Some of tho largest that have been felled indicate an age from 2,000 to 2,500 years. The largest library is the Bibliothe"que Nationale in Pario, founded by Louis XIV. It contains 1,400,000 volumes, 300,000 pamphlets, 175,000 manuscript?. 300,000 maps and charts, and 150.U00 coins and medals. The collection of engravings exceeds 1,300,000, contained in some 10,000 volumes. Tho portraits number about 100 000. The largest desert i3that of Sahara.a vast region of northern A trie a. extending from the Atlantic Ocean on the wt^t to the Valley of the Kile on the east. The length from east to west is about 3,000 miles, its average breadth about 900 miles, its area about 2,000,000 square miles. Rain falls in torrents in the Sahara at intervals of five, ten, and twenty years. In summer the heat during the day is excessive, but the nights are ofien cold. In u inter the tomperatuie is sometimes below freezing point. The greatest pyiamid is that of Cheops, one of tho three pyramids forming the Mom phis group, situated on a plateau about 137 feet above the level of tho highest rise in the Nile. Its dimensions have been reduced by the removal of the outer portions to furnish stone for the city of Cairo. Its masonry consisted originally of S9 025,000 cubic ieet, and still amounts to 52,111,000 fact. The pie?ent vertical height is 450 feet, against 479 feet originally. The total w eight of the stono is estimated at 6,316,000 tons. The largest bell in the -\\ orld is the great bell of Moscow at the foot of the Kicmlin. Ita circumference at the bottom is nearly 6S feet, and its height raoie than 21 ieet. In its stoutest part it is 23 inches thick, and its weight has been computed to be 443,722 pounds. It has never been hung.