HISTORIC CHANGES OF THE EARTHS SURFACE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2025, 30 June 1885, Page 4

HISTORIC CHANGES OF THE EARTH S SURFACE.

Pur student of history reads of the great ->ua fight which King Edw.ml 111. fought | with the French oil Sluys ; how in thr E© il.ijs tlu- mei chant \ch<cls ennir up to tlu I walls of that flourishing sea-poit by e\cry tide; ami how, a crntiuy Inter, a Portu peso fket conveyed iH.tbdla from Lisbon, uul an English licet brought Margaret of Voik fioin the I haroes, to marr} hnccesM\e Dukes of Burgundy at the port of '.Sluys. In oin tinip, if <i modern traveller dii\ps twehe miles out of Barges, across the Dutch front iei, he will find a small aKiiuiltur.il town surrounded by corn fields and meadows and chimps of tree*, whence the sea is n)t in sight from the top of the town hall steeple. This is Sluys. We turn to the gn.at Baie dv Mont Saint Miohal, between Normandy and Btittany. In Roman authois we read of the vast forest called "Setiacum Netnus, " in the centre of which au isolated rock aros*, surmounted by a temple of Jupitei, once a college of Diuidesses Now, the same rock, with its gloiious pile dedicated to St. Michael, is sm rounded by the «=ea at high tides. The story of this tiamfoimation is even more striking than of Sluys, and its adequate narration justly earned for M Manet the gold medal of the French (Jeogtaplncal Society in 1828 Let us turn for a moment lo the Mediterranean of Spain, and the mountains of Miiric&. Those rocky heights, whose peaks stand out against the deep blue 3ky, scarcely support a blade of Tegetation. The algirohas and olives at thoir bases are artificially supplied with soil. It is scarcely credible that these are the same mountains which, according to the forest book of King Alfonso el Sabio, were once clothed to their summits with pines and other forest tree*, while soft clouds and mist hung over a rounded, shaggy outline of wood where now the naked rocks make a hard line against the burnished sky. But Aral) and Spanish chroniclers alike record the fact*, and geographical science explains the causa. There is scarcely a district in the wholo range in the cuilised world where inme equally interesting geographical story has not been recorded, where the snmo valuable lessons may not be taught. This is comparatiTe geography.

Wocnoku in' Twenty Pr,\rE>.— Amoug tlu extraordinary instances of rec<>\ery from wounds is that of Pri\ate Moore, of the Heavy Cavnliy Camel Regiment. In the break of the square fit Abu Klea, Moore got thrown over, and, .1 dying or dead cnmrl falling upon hi* legs as he lay with his face to thj* ground, he wai pinned to the spot. He natnrally struggled to free himself, with the result that every Arab passing by struck their lances into him. Moon* had no fewer than 22 deeply mat Ud lance wounds on his luck. The doctors ptite they nevpr 8-iw a human being so cut and hacked sim h c Tiik Nh \v Soi'th Wali n Continokvt — Among the oflenngs ot an enthusiastic people to the regiment of Now South Wales, were stoics of e\ ci \ kind, luxuries and necessaries alike. When landed at Suakim, these supplies were " built up in the foim of a defensible wall" on the desert sand, thcie being no room tor them indoois. Heie they weic left when the Contingent moved forward, and then were fraternally looted by the British At my! Tlio correspondent's account of this dismal affair is as follows :—": — " The stoics were left without a guard or a single s:iitry to look after them. What might have been expected happened. During the night they were set upon by camp followers, native soldiers from neighbouring camps, and looted in the most profligate manner. Cases of jam, tobacco, tea, preserved meats, salt, vegetables, biscuits, &c, were smashed open, hacked about, and empted. Some were earned off in bulk. Pillage and Plunder M t-nt on merrily all along the line, and when daylight came it disclosed a sreue of wanton distruction and woeful w^ste, the like of which has not been ever witnessed before at Souakim Osmsn Digna would have legauled tl.e loss of a bun died men as cheap puce to piy for such a havee lhe ground was strewn with broken boxes, over which had fallen appaiently a showei of t nned provisions. Poti of meat and t us ( f piesened potatoes were s'ove in by pickaxca or crowbars, and cast a.-i to as unsuitable loot. Mounds of tea ljiy a'tout in several directions, with half empty oases alongside, and lumps of bottled table salt, like hailstones of an abnormal si/e. A fatigue party were engaged to day ' gathering up the fragments.'" What a row there will be when the Contingent gets back ! Fokta years ago the Biitish farmer, says the Mml, wts, as n rule, a wealthy man, md in the days when Arknght laboured shoddy was unknown, and the territorial landlord wns not only lord over hie dominions, but socially nud politically a man of somo importance. In those days subsoiling, foieign manure and expensive agricultural machinery were unknown, and, with no other aid than seed, the dung from the stables of the farm, old wooden ploughs and tin sightly and ciudcly shaped wooden harrows, immense fortunes were made out of the land, and to be a f.u mor was to be regarded as a man of ro no importance and consideration. The mistiess and the master vveie never idle, while Jane, Maiy, and Annie, and Jack, Tom and llany, the f.umei's daughters nu 1 sons, were always bu«y either in the daiiy or in the field. With the nitroduc1 tion of new appliances all these conditions vvetu changed. We all know that the farmer of forty yeats ago was slow to adopt them. Like all of a conseivative turn of mind, he was not favourable to sudden changes, and so it came to pa«i that he regarded the application of fonign manures as calculated to impair the vitality of the soil, while subaoiling and improved plough and agricnlttual machinery gent rally were looked upon as so many innovations, intioduced with no othei object thin that cf benefiting agents and nianufactmers, and of increas ing the woiking expenses of his holding. Still, the time camo when, owing to what is cilled keeping pace " with the spit it of the times," the whole conditions of farming weic changed. The .scientific chemist and the agucultuial implement maker pi ev ailed, and with the new light thus diihibcd over the soil there set in a desire for the refinements of the ago on the pnrt of the farmers' sons and daughters ; and so, while the working expenses of an English farm were enhanced, and a con hideiablc portion of the profits devoted to luxuiies which their fatheM knew not, they ignored the fact th.it there wcie pionceis out iv Trans- Atlantic countries j'repaiing to compete with them, under moie profitable cttcuni&taiiccs than they could woik, in then own markets.

A Great Business. The United Shires of America i«i the home of some very lar^e < ntcipiise*, but none pel Imps gi cater than the luisinc'H conducted liy Mr <t. (}. (iie-jii, of Woodbuiy, New Jersey, Y. S. A. He in the proprietor of the well known JJoschcc'a (if i mail iSyiup, *hioh was unequalled na a icmody for Pulmonary and Hronclnnl affections. He inatuifactinc«aUo(Jicrn'« August blower for Dyspepsia and all disorder* of the Li\er. These preparations aie used throughout the civilined woild, and thousands testify to thenvaluable curative properties. Hoth the«e preparations have reached an iminein-e sale solely on their merits. Sample bottles of each are sold at (id, or fullsized bottles at 3s 6(1. All druggists keep them. Ycb ! It is certainly true. Ask any of )our friends who ha\c purrh>iu>(] thrrr. Garhck and Cranwell have numerous nna«Kpd for nnd very favourable commendations from i ountry customers on their cxr( llent packing of Kurnitiirc, Crork/ry, and filasi, be. J,ndips nny f;cntlrmon about to furnish should remember that Garlirk and Cr.inuell's is Tim Cheap Furnishing Warchonso of Auckland. Furniture to suit all classes ; also Carpets, Floor Cloths and all House Necessaries. If jour now house is nearly finished, or. you arc tfoing to fret married, visit Garlick and Cranwell, Queen-street and Lorne-strect, Auckland. I ntending purchasers can have % catalogue tea free.