SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 18, 1877

SECULAR NEWS.

—The Queen of Madagascar has issued a proclamation abolishing slavery in her dominions.

—In the Episcopal General Convention at Boston the collection for sufferers at Fernandina netted $552.

—A severe earthquake shock was experienced at Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday morning, October 8. Some buildings were cracked, but the damage is slight.

—The Spanish Government has paid the American minister $570,000 on account of claims for losses incurred by American citizens in Cuba through the revolution.

—During September, seventeen hundred Chinese departed from San Francisco and two hundred arrived, four hundred going to Honolulu and thirteen hundred returning to China.

—The aqueduct which carried the canal over the river at Durham, Pa., recently fell. Loss $30,000. Navigation is suspended. The village is flooded and hundreds are thrown out of employment.

—It is reported that at Fernandina, Florida, where the yellow fever is raging, that the people are nearly destitute of food, and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of provisions and supplies in response to appeals for help.

—France has sustained a rather serious pecuniary loss by the burning of three-fourths of the immense forests which she held in her Algerian colony. These forests occupied 200,000 acres in the province of Constantine, and 150,000 acres have been destroyed.

—On the night of October 4, a violent storm passed from Cape May, on the Atlantic coast, inland about one hundred miles, and in a northeasterly direction, through Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Great damage was done to shipping, railroads, and everything else that came in the way.

—If the northwest monsoon proves good, the India famine will end in four months. Prospects in the northwest have so much improved that the scheme of railways and other works for relief have been abandoned. Subscriptions at the Mansion House, London, for the sufferers are $1,700,000.

—A disastrous fire recently occurred in the Patent Office section of the Interior Department Building at Washington. The fire fed upon over 80,000 wooden models of patents (accepted and rejected), but fortunately the original drawings were for the most part saved. The total loss is estimated at about one and a half million dollars.

—There are now over 3,200 Chinamen employed on the reclamation works on Roberts Island. The steamer Clara Crow is kept constantly busy transporting and distributing provisions and tools for the men. It is safe to estimate the money expended on the island at fully a half million dollars, when the levee now being built is finished. The work is being driven at full speed.—Stockton Independent.

—It is not generally known that there is quite an extensive salt lake on the top of the Tehachepi mountain. This lake is situated about six miles southwest of where the Southern Pacific railroad crosses the mountains, is difficult of access, and the salt is of not very good quality, being more or less mixed with alum, borax and other salts. Salt is being gathered from the bottom of the lake, where it lies in layers from one to six inches thick, and is shipped to San Francisco on the railroad, where it sells at $7.50 per barrel.—Visalia Delta.

—After the first battle of General Miles with Joseph’s band, the troops held the hostile Indians in a deep, narrow ravine, and picked them off from rifle pits, losing only four men themselves. Joseph raised the white flag four times, offering to surrender if he might keep his guns. Miles demanded an unconditional surrender, and on the last day Joseph raised the flag again, advanced in front of the lines, handed his gun to Miles, and shook hands with him. The remainder of the command did the same. Forty wounded Indians were found in the camp. The number of dead is unknown, as all were buried. The glory of the fight rests with Miles.