Part 39 (2/2)

[62] Only a very small proportion of the Panama hats in the market are genuine. Many of the imitations, selling at retail for ten dollars or more, are serviceable hats; most of them, however, have but little worth.

[63] Nitre, or ”nitrate,” is a native nitrate of potash, or nitrate of soda. The latter, commonly called cubic nitre or Chile saltpetre, is the kind occurring in Chile. Inasmuch as it is very soluble, a plentiful rainfall would soon leach it from the ground and carry it to the sea.

The nitrate is thought to be of vegetable origin.

[64] The pod of a shrub (_Caesalpina coriaria_); it contains a considerable proportion of tannin and is used for tanning leather.

[65] The pericarp or pod contains about twenty-four prismatic-shaped nuts.

[66] The cattle for Cuba and Brazil must be s.h.i.+pped in open pens in crossing the tropics. With the exports for Europe the case is different.

If it is summer at the one port it is winter at the other, but it is always summer in the tropics, and cattle-s.h.i.+ps fit for one zone are not fit for the other--hence the great difficulties in s.h.i.+pment of live animals to Europe.

[67] For this reason Great Britain is practically a free-trade country.

A protective tariff on imported food-stuffs and materials to be manufactured would hurt rather than protect British industries.

[68] This is equivalent to the imposition of a tax on all the sugar consumed at home.

[69] Most of the lithographic stone is obtained at Solnhofen.

[70] This is a little greater than the average ton-mile rate on the New York Central Railroad between New York and Chicago.

[71] The name Zuider, or Zuyder, means ”south”; it was so named to distinguish it from the North Sea.

[72] Some years ago many of the most valuable vineyards were destroyed by an insect pest known as the _phylloxera_, introduced from California.

The trouble was overcome by replanting with American vines, the roots of which were immune to the pest. On these roots were grafted the choice French vines, the leaves and twigs of which were immune. In this manner the vineyards were restored with vines that are proof against attack, and the wine output has reached its normal amount.

[73] It is cultivated as an ornamental tree in the Southern States and in California.

[74] A small vein of coal occurs near Freiburg.

[75] The St. Gotthard tunnel is almost nine and one-half miles long; the Arlberg tunnel is six and one-half miles in length. The tunnel now nearing completion under the Simplon Pa.s.s is more than twelve miles long. Five railways cross the northern frontier into Germany, and German commerce profits most by them.

[76] Persian rugs are the finest. As a rule the designs are floral and many of them contain legendary history worked in fantastic but beautiful patterns. Among those of especial merit are the Kermanshah tree-of-life fabrics, now somewhat rare. The rugs of Tabriz and s.h.i.+raz are also of high value. In general, Persian fabrics are characterized by very fine weaving, a short pile, and elaborate designs. Turkoman rugs are usually a rich brown or maroon in color, and are apt to contain slightly elongated octagonal figures. The Bokhara and Khiva-Bokhara, or Afghan rugs, are the best examples. The Baluchistan rugs are usually very dark in color, with bright red designs and striped ends of cotton warp.

Turkish rugs are made almost wholly in Asia Minor or Anatolia. Large carpets of American and European designs are made at Ushak and Smyrna.

”Smyrna” rugs are made in Philadelphia.

[77] The most valuable Kermanshah rug, now no longer made there, is the tree-of-life prayer-rug, an ill.u.s.tration of which is shown on p. 350.

The design is emblematic of the story of the Garden of Eden.

[78] In 1900 the aggregate value of the wheat exported to Great Britain was only 2,200.

[79] Since the treaty of 1901, which forbids the importation of fire-arms, a number of large plants for the manufacture of fire-arms, smokeless powder, and fixed ammunition have been established on the lower Yangtze.

[80] The islands are mainly in the belt of prevailing westerly winds.

More rain, therefore, falls on the west than on the east coasts.

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