Picturing the Heavens 553 been taken with the Bruce photographic telescope mounted in Arequipa, Peru, in a climate unsurpassed, so far as is now known, for astronomical work. (The telescope was the generous gift of Miss Catherine W. Bruce, of New York city, who gave $50,000 to Harvard College Observatory to defray the expenses necessary for its construction.) Charts have been made of a large part of the sky. They show such faint stars that four hundred thousand appear upon a single plate. A group of forty nebulæ (star cloudlets) hitherto unknown have been found in another part of the sky, and by its aid many new stars have been found in the large Magellanic cloud, better known as one of the Cape Clouds to navigators in the southern seas. The most important work of the Bruce telescope, however, is that every year hundreds of photographs are taken and sent to the great storehouse at Cambridge. Besides the immediate discoveries made from these plates, they doubtless carry with them many secrets as yet unrevealed and many images of objects of the greatest interest yet to be discovered. A striking example of this kind is found in the recent discovery of the planet Eros, which, next to the moon, is sometimes our nearest neighbor in the heavens. It was only discovered last August by M. Witt at the Urania Observatory, Berlin, but calculation proved that the planet must have been near the earth in 1894, and on examination of photographic plates taken during that year the planet's image was found upon no less than twenty plates, while six images were also obtained in 1896. From this Week's Letters. Our Mexican girls (Albuquerque, N. Mex.) are coming to understand many things that might never be clear to them were it not for your bright, concise way of giving information on questions of the day and present times. Mrs.***, Pottsville, Pa., wrote: Inclosed please find post office order for renewal subscription for THE GREAT ROUND WORLD for my son, Meredith, his subscription having expired with the last number. Many thanks for the number of July 21 you so kindly sent me. The paper has improved wonderfully under the new management. Most cordially, *** Miss *** (Preparatory and Primary School), Colorado Springs, Colo., wrote: DEAR EDITOR: I have taken THE GREAT ROUND WORLD almost since its first issue. I renewed my subscription last fall, but I was really sorry I had done so, for the paper had deteriorated. I see a vast difference in it now, and I am sure I speak for a large number of readers when I say it has increased in value at least one hundred per cent. I have a school of sixty pupils, and there is no time during the day that is so thoroughly enjoyed as the ten minutes devoted to THE GREAT ROUND WORLD. I will do all that I can to increase its circulation from an educational standpoint. Will you kindly tell me if I can have the back numbers bound, also if I can replace numbers lost? With best wishes for the future of the little paper, I am, sincerely yours, *** Rev. ***, Pastor, Jamestown, N. Dak., wrote: THE GREAT ROUND WORLD received this A. M. contained an extra which pleased me very much. (If you can afford to give extras, why of course we shall accept them.) I refer to supplement to The History of the World. THE GREAT ROUND WORLD is the only paper received by me that is read THROUGH. I have nothing but good words to say for itand what's more, I will say them. The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, re- ferred to under Easy Science in this issue, has aroused Copyright, 1899, by Universe Publishing Company, tion will effect many changes and will have a direct bearing on European and Eastern politics. THE GREAT ROUND WORLD has for months tried to secure reliable views of portions of the road which this great system will include. It has been fortunate in receiving several. One appears on page 567. The others will be reproduced in coming issues. In order that the reader may appreciate the vast territory this road covers, a map is shown on page 561 which deserves careful study. Enterprises of this sort do far more for a country than the maintenance of great standing armies and vast navies. It is to be hoped that the results of the Peace Conference at The Hague next month will be shown in an agreement on the part of the countries represented to reduce, in proper proportion, the strength of their armies and navies. It will then follow as an inevitable sequence that less time and money will be devoted to military and naval preparations. The plan proposed is perfectly feasible, and arbitration is equal to any strain when the parties thereto are sincere in their desire to maintain unbroken peace. It has been very pleasant to receive hundreds of letters with remittances from old subscribers. The kind words they contained are valued fully as much as the funds which accompanied them. The mailing list has been corrected. If your copies are not properly addressed, or if they do not arrive in reasonable time, please send word. It takes ten days to make a change in address on the mailing list. The Truth About Tonga CURRENT HISTORY 557 It appears that the people of Tonga are not only well pleased that England should have assumed a proprietary interest in their little doThe Truth About main, but that they in fact solicited Tonga. the protection of Great Britain. The history of this affair is somewhat interesting. About four months ago the German Vice Consul at Samoa made a trip to Tonga and demanded a sum of money that in American coin amounted to $100,000, for debts contracted by certain Tongans with German traders. According to latest statistics the entire income of the kingdom of Tonga is only $127,000 a year. You can therefore imagine the panic that overtook the financiers of Tonga when the enormous demand for $100,000 was made on their treasury. For the practical and excellent reason that they did not have the money, they declined to pay the German Vice-Consul's demand, and clinched their refusal by saying the claim anyhow was not a just one, as many of the debts were twenty years old, and for these the Tongan government declined to be responsible. When the German Vice-Consul found he could not get any money from the people, he threatened to send a German man-of-war to seize Vou-vou (voo-voo), the large harbor owned by Tonga. The idea of incurring the anger of Germany alarmed King George II of Tonga, and he thought the best thing he could do would be to put himself |