STILL TO BE BEATEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 300, 16 December 1912, Page 7

STILL TO BE BEATEN.

I A LITTLE LIST OF RECORDS. The largest trees in tbe world are undoubtedly the giant redtwoods of California One of these, in Tulare Comity, has at tht base a circumference of 108 ft, and at a point 12ft from the ground a circumference oi 70ft The largest desert in the world is th« Sahara. Tills barren -waste has a length oi 3,000 miles and an average wldHi of 90( miles. Rain falls there at intervals of Aye ten, and twenty years. It is bßsterhij hot in summer, and hx winter the tempera ture frequently falls to zero. The largest cave is the MamrmoUi Cav< in Kentucky. TMs consists of a successioi of irregular chambers, certain of which an traversed by the Echo River. The highest active volcano is .Popocate petl, near Pneblo, Mexico. It is 17550T1 above sea level, and has a crater 2009P wide. The longest railway-tunnel, aside from tb< New York subway, is that of SL Gothard on •the line of the road between Lucenx and Mrkm. It is 26Jft wide, 19ft fron floor to roof, and »i mSes long. The Chinese Wall, now reported to be ir process of demolition, is the greatest or earth. It was completed in 201 R.C, as i protection against -rne Tartars. The wai traverses a rough stretch ot country, pass ing over mountains and valleys and across r±»exe. It is LSOO mOes long, 20ft hlgn 25ft thick at the base, and 15ft at its top The greatest pyramid 2s tiuct of Cheeps of the Gizeh. group. It contains 89,000,001 cubic feet of masonry, is 451 ft higii, an< the total weight of its stone has been est! mated as over 6,000,000 tons. The highest lighthouses- are the Barthoid Statue of L*erty in New York Harbour .•which. Is lalft, besides a pedestal of EBCt one at Genoa, Italy, 210 ft in height, am Cape Hatteras Light, which is 139 ft. The •largest bell is the great bell at Mos cow, which is 86ft In circumference at thi bottom, over 21ft high, and 23in thick a the top. Its weight has been compute* at 217 tons. It has never been bans.