Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1893 — AMERICAN VOLCANOES. [ARTICLE]

AMERICAN VOLCANOES.

, American citizens who desire to see sure-enough volcanoes need not cross the Atlantic, although they will of necessity be obliged to, get out of their native land and might miss an election if they did not properly time their movements. Few people know that there are any active volcanoes on this continent, but in fact there are thousands of “fire-spitters” within 200 miles of Yuma, Arizona, on the western line of the Mexican State of Sonora. The best time to visit the region 'Ts in April, as it gets too hot later in the season. The Navajos term the country the “Bad Men’s Hunting Grounds.” The smells that assail the traveller are noticed at a distance of twenty miles, and are said to be intolerable. The volcanoes are small but apparently innumerable, and are situated in a natural basin from 200 to 300 feet below the sea level. The region is not likely to become a favorite resort for tourists and can only be reached by a long journey in a boat down the Colorado river to its junction with the Yuma in Mexico and up the latter stream to the vicinity of the volcanic basin.

CHINESE RESTRICTION. The period allotted to the Chinese residents of this country in which to secure certificates of protection expires May 5. After that any Chinese laborer found without a certificate raaj r be arrested, imprisoned for a year, and then sent out of the country. There arc a great many

Chinese capitalists, proprietors of laundries, and other employers of labor who are not liable under this law. They are not required to take out certificates, but many of them have done so to prevent trouble. There are thousands of laborers, however, who are liable who have taken no steps towards meeting the requirements of the law. The great Chinese Six Companies have taken up the cause of their countrymen, and have issued a manifesto, which, in effect, counsels a course of passive resistance to the registration. They have employed five attorneys to fight the law, and say to their countrymen: “Wait till May 5. Do nothing. We will help you.” They have also invoked the aid of the Chinese Minister and hope to nullify the provisions of the act by fair means or foul. Reliable authorities, however, hold that the statute is sound; and in that case the question is lifted above the domain of discussion as to the right or wrong of excluding the Chinese to the field of fact and established law. The chances seem to be that large numbers of our almond-eyed brethren will find themselves in a very awkward situation within the next thirty days.

AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY. Students of African geography and readers of the various books of Stanley and other travelers will be interested in the reports made by Alexander Delcommune, whose explorations in the Congo valley have probably exceeded in extent those of any white man who has ventured into its unknown dangers in search of adventure or in quest of ivory or slaves. Lake Landji has been a mythical body of water that has had a place on the maps for many years, but its existence has been denied and its reality has not befen susceptible of proof. Many have believed that it only existed in the vague Arab imagination, and the little information concerning it came from traders of that race. But Mr. Delcommune has set at rest all doubts by at last following the Lakuga river, the outlet of the great Tanganyika, to the west until he found its waters pouring into Lake Landji, the disputed body of water for which he was searching. He also found that the Lualaba and Luapula, head streams of the great Congo, flow into Lake Landji from the south, and the true Congo issues from the north side of the lake. It has never before been demonstrated or believed that Tanganyika had any connection with the upper waters of that great river. The discovery is very important from a geographical standpoint at least. Explorers during the past two years have settled many of the disputed points concerning the Dark Continent, and gradually the light of civilization will shine upon the remotest mysteries, and it will cease to be a “terra ineognita” though ages must elapse before it can by any buman power be rescued from barbarism. OF GERMAN SOLDIERS. During the progress of a recent debate in the German Reichstag, different .members called attention to the increase in the number of suicides in the army. One member boldly declared that the cause of the increase was the brutality of the officers towards the soldiers, and especially toward recruits, and insisted that an inquiry should be made into all such cases. He demanded that the bodies of suicides should be turned over for examination by medical men unconnected with the army. A socialist member then said “that in view of the immunity which the officers enjoy we are not disposed to augment the number of their victims by voting for the 60,000 additional troops asked for in the military bill which the Government has submitted to the Reichstag.” The discussion, which became heated, seemed to establish the fact that the petty tyranny of the officers drove the men to suicide in large numbers, although it was strenuously denied by friends of the Government. ~