A PECULIAR REGION.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1615, 9 November 1882, Page 3

A PECULIAR REGION.

In Inyo country, California, stretching from the Eastern line, southward towards the Mohave desert, lies the Owens lake country — a transverse valley region lying between a lofty spur of the Sierras and the Inyo range. Through its heart flows Owens river, from its source in the Sierras, a distance of nearly 150 miles, to lose itself at last in the waters of Owens lake. The river drags its w eary way through many miles of sage brush— a fresh water stream winding its tortuous way through miles of alkaline plain and stretches of desert sand. No line of waving trees or green meadows marks its course. It flows like a great canal, having but few features of a living stream. Its waters have no flash and sparkle, no dance and ripple in the sun. It, is indeed a desert river, flowing through a desert land. It is, however, and must be, a beneficence. The lands lying along its shore, aggregating hundreds of square miles, now dry as summer dust, barren of every form of vegetation excepting sage brush, possess elements of great fertility. Moisture is the one absent virtue. This being supplied, the desert blossoms as the rose. The slope of the valley is such that a comparatively small expenditure of capita} and la v or could distribute the waters of the river over thousands of now sterile acres and turn them into grain fields, gardens, orchards and vineyards. Something' in this direction has been already done, and several canals, through rude and inadequate, have demonstrated „ the value of ' ;this country. The expensive processes of irrigation preclude the extensive cultivation of cereals, and there is but little hope that this section' will ever add iriuch,to the grain yield of the State. - The -culture of- fruit - .and * theraisiug of ,the finer grades of; stock/ .mMji. eugagefche, attention !6!f J&oge people! w^hp, do no* choose Mlfollow; the more ex'citmc" toil

in the adjacent mountains.;. jThe Owens lake country is a vast volcanic baain. Evidences as the dread earthquake and the mighty upheaval are visible on every hand. The hmecliflfe of,thelnyos seem yet to smoke, and the presence of force is ao evident that one would be but little startled to see some near summit blaze with flames. The Inyo range, extending along the eastern borders of the valley more than a hundred miles and plunging at last into the arid plains of Nevada, is remarkable for its great cliffs of lime, its dykes of slate and porphyry, its masses of granite and its minerals, painted in the most vivid colors by chemical action

Lady Edith Feilding, second daughter of the Earl ot Denbigh, is about to enter a convent in Englaud. Prevention Better Than Cubk.— Brimstone and treacle at this season of the year used to be given to children of every rank in the old country, as many .unongst us can testify, as a cure or preventative of skin diseases and eruptions of every kind, as well as affections of the throat. Sulphur is generally admitted to be one of the best purifiers of the blood, as well as the best agent for fumigating purposes generally. Flower of sulphur in its purest form, is apt to be despised because of its cheapness, a penny or twopence per ounce, yet a high authority in medicine once pronounced it as "worth its weight in gold." Asa cure of that dreaded disease, diphtheria, in its early stage, and an absolute preveutatheif properly taken, the Lancet medical journal has pronounced sulphur to be without a lival. That journal advises it to be taken, not as of old in treacle, but in pure cold water, something in this way —one oz. to a pint of water : the bottle to be well shaken, and a teaspoon ful taken eveiy morning or once a day, but not immediately before a meal. The theory is this, that a particle of the sulphur -will adhere to the geim of the disease if it exists and destroy it ; if no disease exists it cannot probably do any harm and may do good in many other ways. — KuJiunt/c. NowiTH.STANPiNG the effects of the lush Land Act the evictions still go on without diminution, with all the cruelty ami barbaric hunoundings which disgrace our much-vaunted civilisation. The Fall Mall Gczcttc bays :— " From Donegal, Tipperary, King's County, and Limerick comes simultaneously the same dismal tale of evictions carried out in wholesale fashion by police, soldieis, and emergency men. The details, are, as usual, sad enough, but the condition of the Limerick tenants rf the Rev. Conyngliam Ellis (of Cranborne Vicarage, Windsor), appears to be the most pitiable of all. Among the evicted were the sons of two old women, and the latter were allowed in as care-takers, only on the express condition that they ■» ould not shelter their own children even for one night. For two nights one of these poor creatures had the miserable spectacle before her of her son, his wife, and eight children huddled together in a flitch. According to tho fchenff, the tenants were industrious, but terribly poor. They had begged to be allowed to go into the Land Court, but were refused because they had leases ; and all their offers for an arbitration had been rejected. "Will the Arrears Act, or any other measure, put an end to this state of things ? Yet so long as those doings prevail agitation will continue to exist." On the subject of political corruption in Tm key, Tudh says :—": — " Let no one be under any error as to the object of the Sultan and his corrupt gang of pashas and eunuchs. At the piesent moment these creatures are utterly impecunious. They want money, and it goes to their hearts to think of the Egyptian fleshpots boing full, without their being allowed to plunge their filthy fingers into them. There is absolutely nothing noble in the character of the ruling Turks. They have a certain amount of low cunning, and this they use with a view to steal all that they can. .Religion is a mere mask with them, as it is with many of the most dangerous scamps in England They would sell their Piophet with as little scruple as they would sell their honour. The conviction is also growing stronger that the Turkish Empire is as great a curse to Europe as was the existence of the piratical government at Algiers. The Turkish villager is not worse than is neighbour tho Christian. But the ruling Turks arc, perhaps, the vilest and most contemptible set of knaves that ever lived and ruled. Their stock-in trade is a certain low cunning ; and I hardly think that I am exaggerating when I say that they are destitute of one single redeeming virtue. For my part, in default of their subject races being unable to achieve their independence, I should like to see the Russians in Armenia, the Anshiaus in Salonica, and the Greeks in Epirus and all the islands of the Levaut. As for Constantinople, whether it be Greek, Russian, Austrian, or a Free Town, is a matter which signifies little to us. This is a doctrine which we ought to proclaim in the Conference, and at the same time we should say that we intend to regaid Egypt henceforward as within the orbit of our Empire. We need not annex it, and there are many objections to such a course, but our influence ought to be paramount there. There is no government that the mind of man is capable of conceiving so bad as that of the Turks, and there is no Power whose rule of Turkey would create such perpetual troubles and embroilments as do its present rulers. They seem to have been created to show thatLivy's description of the Cathagcnians was not overdrawn."