Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

DR. SHIMPEI GOTO.

less than 100,000 of these are aborigines. Chinese emigrants from the south of China or their descendants constitute a large proportion of the population. Thus far only about 33,000 Japanese have taken up their residence in the island, although this number does not include the troops stationed in the island. According to Dr. Goto, the Chinese in Formosa are only half-civilized, and while their customs and religious proclivities are similar to those of their countrymen in the southern provinces of China, few of the Chinese in Formosa are acquainted with Chinese charac. ters. One reason for the tardiness of the Japanese to migrate to the island is to be found in the unhealthful climate. But the sanitary measures adopted by the Japanese authorities have already worked wonders, and many of the disagreeable features of life in Formosa have been greatly modified or wholly eliminated. For instance, the number of mosquitoes, flies, and other noxious insects has been greatly decreased. The streets of some of the cities have been cleansed by drainage systems, and a good water supply has been secured by means of artesian wells. percentage of sickness and deaths among the Japanese officials resident in Formosa has shown a great improvement since the first years of Japanese occupation. The decrease in the death rate has been more than 75 per cent.

EDUCATION.

The

The authorities have found it necessary to take vigorous measures to secure the prevailing use of

the Japanese language throughout the island, but at the same time they have felt the need of having Japanese officials conversant with the pative tongue. A central language school was therefore established, for the double purpose of teaching the Japanese language to the natives. and the native language to the Japanese. This institution is divided into a normal-school department and a language-school department, the former training Japanese students to serve as teachers in primary schools for native children, local language, and normal schools and primary schools for Japanese children. In the language. school department the Japanese language is studied by the native students and the native language by the Japanese students, the students in both sections being trained with the object of fitting them for public service or for private occupations in Formosa. The educational work conducted under the government auspices is by no means confined to language study, but up to this time this appears to have been the branch of instruction to which chief attention has been devoted.

[graphic]
[merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small]

over a period of twenty years, together with a project for establishing government monopolies of industries. These undertakings, as described by Dr. Goto, include (1) the laying of a trunk-line railway extending over the whole length of the island; (2) the surveying of lands; (3) the construction of harbors, and (4) the building of government offices and residences. To meet the expenditures required for these works, the Formosan government was authorized to raise loans to the amount of 35,000,000 yen, of which the principal and interest was to be paid out of the revenues of the island. It is estimated that the railroad work alone will require 28,810,000 yen, the construction of the harbor of Kelung 2,000,000, the land-surveying 3,000,000, and the building of government offices and residences 1,200,000. It is believed that the railroad will be finished much within the ten years' time originally assigned to the work, and that it will have a remarkable effect in stimulating industries on the island. Revenues accruing from the part of the island now open to traffic are greater than they were expected to

be.

The completion of an accurate land survey will confirm rights over land, will make landed property secure, and will greatly facilitate transfers. This work, by the way, was undertaken by the Chinese governor some years ago, but without success. As to the projected harbor works at Kelung, this is only the beginning of improvements for that port which will involve the expenditure of tens of millions of yen. It is the intention of the government to make this the chief port of Formosa, and it is believed that the growing industry and commerce of the island justify all the expenditures that have been projected. In the erection of public buildings great care has been taken in regard to sanitary arrangements, and the structures already built or in process of completion will serve as models for the whole island.

GOVERNMENT MONOPOLIES.

[blocks in formation]

700,000 or 800,000 yen, and this commodity is now exported to Japan in considerable quantities. It is produced by permitting salt water to flow into fields, and then causing it to evaporate by the heat of the sun. Almost the whole supply of camphor of the world comes from Formosa. When Japan acquired Formosa a camphor monopoly was established, with a view to protecting the camphor trees, improving the methods of manufacturing, and putting the industry on a secure basis. The production is now regulated according to the demands of the world's market. The revenue yielded by the monopoly is now about 4,000,000 yen. The present governorgeneral has also formed a plan for eventually making the Formosa finances entirely independent of imperial aid. The imperial government began the administration of Formosa with a grant of nearly 6,900,000 yen, and this grant has been annually diminished until the present time. According to Baron Kodama's project, which was adopted by the Diet, the grant will be steadily decreased until it will entirely disappear in 1910.

As

The possibility of this gain of financial independence may be seen when we consider the recent remarkable increase of the revenue,—from 5,000,000 yen in 1897 to 14,000,000 yen at present, with the probability of an increase to 20,000,000 yen in two or three years, this increase being largely secured as a result of the operation of the monopolies, the adjustment of the land tax, and other financial reforms. the total expenditure incurred by Japan in connection with Formosa up to the end of the last fiscal year, March 31, 1901, amounted to 150,000,000 yen, including the military expenses, while in the same period the revenue amounted to only 40,000,000 yen, the financial burden to be charged to Formosa may be reckoned as 110,000,000 yen in all. As the annual revenue derived from Formosa is now from 14,000,000 to 20,000,000 yen, it may be said, as Dr. Goto points out, that the capital invested by the imperial government is bearing interest at the rate of 15 to 20 per cent. The import of Japanese commodities into Formosa is now about 15,000,000 yen. Supposing the profit of this trade to be at the rate of 20 per cent., the annual gain of Japan is about 3,000,000 yen, which nearly covers the present amount of the grant which the Formosan government receives from the imperial government.

RESOURCES OF THE ISLAND.

Among the more important products of Formosa named by Dr. Goto are tea, rice, sugar, hemp and flax, indigo, paper, silk, minerals, cattle, and marine produce. Dr. Goto predicts that

[blocks in formation]

One of the chief difficulties to be contended with is the poor supply of water, which at present is obtained by local storage of rain water, -not a very satisfactory arrangement. Within twenty or twenty-five miles of Johannesburg there are, however, other sources of water supply which will probably be utilized. Of the maps prepared Mr. Hammond says:

"Great attention is given to the preparation of maps of the underground workings, geological sections, and plans upon which assays are plotted. In these respects the Rand practice is far ahead of that of any other country with which I am familiar."

AMERICANS FOR RESPONSIBLE POSITIONS.

The labor question is always a difficult one. Mr. Hammond says:

"Reference has already been made to the labor question, in statistics of the relative number of whites and blacks employed. The white workmen are predominantly British, though many of the important members of technical staffs are Americans; the mine and mill foremen are usually either Americans, or British subjects who have had mining experience in America. This labor is generally below the American standard, but is rapidly improving. Manual workers on the surface and all miners except those running machine drills, are blacks, and the quality of the black labor is very poor, especially on first arriving at the mines.

[ocr errors]

TRANSPORT DIFFICULTIES.

Mr. Hammond looks for a reduction in the present excessive railway rates. He says:

"Generally speaking, the cost of the principal machinery, erected on the ground, will be two and one-half times its home cost. In respect of labor, cost of dynamite, and charges for railway transport, marked improvement is confidently to be expected from the change of governmental conditions."

LAWS AND MONOPOLIES.

Mr. Hammond speaks well of the Transvaal laws :

The mining laws of the Transvaal are most excellent in character, and while the claims cover every square foot of land for an area of nearly 40 miles long by from 2 to 3 miles wide, there have been practically no conflicts over extra-lateral rights.

"Notwithstanding the change in the political status of the Transvaal which will follow the recently concluded peace and final establishment of British rule, it may be confidently assumed that the main features of the mining law of the South African Republic will be retained, and certain oppressive features of monopolies, etc., bearing with special weight on the mining industry, will be abolished. The dynamite monopoly was one that bore most heavily on the mining industry: and, according to the reports of the state mining engineer, explosives, including fuse and detonators, amounted to nearly 10 per cent. of the total working costs of the mines.

A FEW FORECASTS.

"It is estimated that for every mile in length along the course of the reefs, down to a vertical depth of 1,000 feet for the dip of the reefs, gold to the value of about £10,000,000 will be extracted. This is a conservative estimate,—at least as applied to the central section of the Rand. If we assume these conditions to obtain to a depth of 6,000 feet vertically, we have the enormous sum of £60,000,000 for each mile in length. It is not unreasonable to suppose that these conditions will be maintained along most of the central section, say, for a distance of ten miles,—in which case we would have an auriferous area. within practicable mining depths, containing upward of £600,000,000 value of gold."

If," says Mr. Hammond, I were called upon to express my opinion, I would estimate the future duration of profitable operations on a large scale in the district at less, rather than more, than twenty-five years. I believe that, as the result of economic reforms, there will be an ultimate saving of 6s. per ton of ore treated."

PROFESSOR HEILPRIN ON MONT PELÉE.

THER

HERE recently returned from Martinique a party of scientists, artists, and newspaper men, who had hastened to the site of St. Pierre almost as soon as the news of the catastrophe was made known. One of these was Prof. Angelo Heilprin, who has for twenty years been identified with the scientific institutions of Philadelphia. Professor Heilprin writes in the August McClure's of his observation on Mont Pelée, and of the deductions he has drawn from these observations as to the original cause of the great volcanic upheaval.

Professor Heilprin was the first man to ascend the volcano after the great catastrophe. On May 31, he went up the crater to an altitude of about 4,000 feet. He found that the old crater had not been blown out, as was reported. The next day Professor Heilprin made another ascent to the same crater, accompanied by Messrs. Kennan, Jaccaci, and the artist George Varian, who contributes the pictures which illustrate this article. The party arrived at an elevation of 4,025 feet. They found the temperature to be, two or three inches below the surface, 124° to 130°, and at a somewhat greater depth 162°. Puffs of steam were issuing from a number of vents, and from beneath great bowlder masses, whose heated surfaces were scarred with sulphur blotches.

THE VIEW INTO THE CRATER.

"We waited patiently for a lifting of the clouds, and it came at last. A sudden gust cleared the summit, and sunlight illuminated the near horizon. We dashed to the line above which welled out the huge steam cloud of the volcano, and in a few instants stood upon the rim of the giant rift in whose interior the world was being re-made in miniature.

We were four feet, perhaps less, from a point whence a plummet could be dropped into the seething furnace. Momentary flashes of light permitted us to peer deep into the tempest-tossed caldron, but at no time could we see its floor, for over it roiled the vapors that rose out to mountain heights. Opposite us, at a distance of perhaps 200 feet or more, across the thin steam vapor, trembled the walls of the other face of the crater. Halfway between rose the central core of the burned-out cinder masses, topped by enormous white rocks, whose brilliant incandescence flashed out the beacon lights which were observed from the sea some days after the fatal 8th, and even at our later day illumined the night-crown of the volcano with a glow of fire. From the interior came deep rumbling detonations, the clinking of falling and sliding cinders, the hissing of the emerging steam, and other

sounds which were too feebly defined to be described. We felt no inconvenience from either

gas or steam.

[ocr errors]

We found that we were standing on an overhang, and therefore dared not tarry beyond the time needed to make observations. I attempted to locate the axis of the vent as nearly as the direction of its largely obscured walls and the position of the basin of Lac des Palmistes permitted. I found it to be N.-S., slightly S. W. The magnetic needle, which the day before showed a marked deflection, was nearly normal. The form of the crater is that of a caldron, pitching steeply downward toward the Caribbean, and opening in a direction a little west of the line to St. Pierre. At no time could we positively ascertain the extreme boundaries. Its length must have been 500 feet; it may have been much There can be no question that at the downward side of the crater the rift traverses the position of the narrow rift known as the Fente, or the Terre Fendue, which had been a feature of the mountain since the eruption of 1851, and perhaps existed long before that event.

more.

"Any statement regarding the depth of the crater must for the time remain conjectural. I should say that it could hardly be less than from 200 to 250 feet; it might be very much more."

WHAT CAUSED THE ERUPTION OF MAY 8?

Professor Heilprin says that the death-dealing eruption of May 8 was from the lower crater. He proves that the description of the catastrophe which spoke of moving sheets of flame were erroneous. Instead, there was a luminous, or incandescent, cloud which may easily in that terrible time have given the impression of flame.

This glowing cloud, Professor Heilprin says, was composed of one of the heavier carbonic gases brought under pressure to a condition of extreme incandescence and whose liberation in contact with the oxygen in the atmosphere, assisted by electric discharges, wrought this explosion, or series of explosions, that developed the catastrophe."

The great cloud of incandescent vapor undoubtedly produced a tornado, and Professor Heilprin found evidence of storm paths lying across the city's ruins. He also considers it certain that electric explosions had their share in the phenomena.

THE ORIGIN OF THE CARBONIC GAS.

"To the inquiry as to what was the source of this carbon gas, -to my mind the main factor of the catastrophe,-the geologist points to those vast bituminous deposits, like those of Venezuela and the island of Trinidad, which lie but little out

of the line of the connected series of volcanoes, of which the Soufrière of St. Vincent and Pelée of Martinique are a part. He also points to the limestone deposits, with their enormous masses of locked-up carbon, forming the foundation upon which these same volcanoes are implanted, which indicate a source of energy far greater than was required for the catastrophe of Pelée. Though no one could have foretold the cataclysm long in advance of its coming, the episode, except in its magnitude and terrible consequences, is no sur prise to the geologist, who knows this region to be in an area of extreme weakness in the earth's crust. This region of terrestrial instability includes the greater part of the Caribbean and Gulf basins, and defines in its eastern contour the line of disappearance and breakage of the South American Andes, whose sunken crest is the pediment of the lesser Antilles. What great dis. turbances, if any, have taken place in the sea bottom as the result of the recent occurrences is a question that will take time to determine; but there is evidence already that some change has taken place west of Martinique, between the depth of 1,500 and 2,000 fathoms. tions of Colima in Mexico, the earthquakes that so recently destroyed the towns of Chilpancingo in Mexico and Quetzaltenango in Guatemala, the minor disturbances in Nicaragua, are but phases of the phenomena which culminated so disastrously in the explosions of the Soufrière of St. Vincent and Mont Pelée of Martinique."

The erup

WHAT CAUSED THE DEATHS AT ST. PIERRE ?

FORT

ORTUNATELY for the cause of science, several unusually competent investigators were able to visit Martinique and St. Vincent before the volcanic eruptions of May had ceased, and their observations have already been reported in detail. The full report of the representatives of the National Geographic Society appears in the July number of the National Geographic Magazine. This report, which was prepared by Dr. Robert T. Hill, of the United States Geological Survey, is interesting not only as a presentation of facts regarding the great catastrophe, but also for the theories that it suggests to account for the enormous fatality at St. Pierre.

Dr. Hill states two such theories, one or the other of which may ultimately be adopted:

1. The heat-blast theory. This hypothesis. assumed that the lapilli, gases, and steam of the ejected cloud were sufficiently hot to have inflamed the city and destroyed the people by singeing, suffocation, and asphyxiation. It does not account for the forces exerted radially and horizontally, nor the flame.

2. The aërial-explosion theory. The explosion of gases within the erupted cloud after their projection into the air would account for all the phenomena observed.

"The aerial explosion, if it occurred, was most probably a combustible gas, but science is still unable to state its nature. The discussion of explosive gases involves a line of scientific specialization which the writer does not possess ; but as sudden and mysterious as was the great secret, it has left its traces and clues which the detectives of science will follow up. Metal surfaces of objects in the ruins will be examined and analyzed for traces of sulphur and chlorides. The deposits from the numerous steaming fumaroles are already within the chemical laboratory. Even the ash and rocks of the island will be submitted to minute investigation.

"And then there were those frightful lightning bolts! What of them and their igniting power?"

THOUSANDS KILLED BY STEAM AND DUST.

Prof. Israel C. Russell, another geologist who represented the Geographic Society in Martinique, says regarding the nature of the blast which swept over St. Pierre from Mont Pelée :

My

"It has been stated in the newspapers that the inhabitants of St. Pierre were asphyxiated by noxious gases or killed by a gas explosion. own observations and the best interpretation I can place upon the testimony of surviving wit nesses favors the opinion that the general cause of death was a blast of steam charged with hot dust. Gases, probably in part inflammable, were no doubt present, as the odor of sulphurous acid was perceptible at the time of my visit; but the part that such gases played was seemingly secondary. In order to be able to judge of the conditions where everything was destroyed, it is necessary to learn what took place on the outskirts of the storm. The people on the borders of the devastated area who escaped were in some instances injured, and the injuries were inflicted by hot dust, which on touching the skin adhered and burned. These burns resemble scalds, and destroyed only the epidermis. In several such instances the hair on the burned portions was not destroyed, and where the bodies of the sufferers were protected by even light clothing they were uninjured.

"Had the dust which struck the injured people been somewhat hotter, their clothing would have been ignited; and if they had inhaled the hot dust, death would have been almost instantaneous. The condition of the dead in St. Pierre favors the conclusion that this deduction shows what took place there. While the inhalation of

« AnteriorContinuar »