PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 89

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE "WITNESS"' CALENDAR,

This is just a note to convey a hint to young readers. Last week I suggested that senior boys and girls use their mathematical geography in a practical way by marking on Mercator's Projection or the map oi Oceana the progress of the American fleet. Well, this week I make another suggestion. Over "Passing Notes" you will see a weekly calendar. Do you understand it? Can you draw diagrams representing the four quarters of the moon? By drawing a diagram I mean put the sun, moon, ana earth into their relative positions, and by shading show what part of the moon is receiving light from the sun, and what portion of the illuminated half and of the nonilluminated half is visible from the earth. Then you might draw another diagram illustrating perigee and apogee. The calendar references to the moon suggest looking up other information on our satellite ; and you might remember that 1 the portion of the moon dimly seen i« lit up by the light dimly reflected from the carth — at any rate I have read that. Again, perigee and apogee suggest perihelion and aphelion. These words, again, might be used as the basis of a root and language lesson. Look up all words containing "luna" — what does it mean, by the bye? Why, "lunatic"? Dr Truby King objects to the word, and wishee Seacliff to be called a. mental asylum, not a lunatic asylum. Then look up a series of words commencing with "peri" — perimeter, etc. "Apo" naturally follows, and then "gee" or "ge," in geology, geography, geometry, etc. "Helion" is seen in various forms, as in heliograph, and so on. I think that geography, roots, prefixes, affixes, and a good vocabulary are much better taught and learned when associated with some subject of interest.

The tides are referred to next. What time is there between two successive tides? Notice the time of full, tides at different places. If the tide follows the eun and the moon — the latter especially, — why does the Bluff get high tides before St. Clair? I must admit that I don't know: can you tell me? Does the tide travel in a curve? The more you think these questions out the more questions you will find to answer. After you have answered these questions you might start diagram-drawing again. Make sketches showing: relative positions of eun, moon, and earth for spring tides and neap tides. Perhaps you can find out how many earths the eun is in bulk, and how many moons the earth is in bulk. If you have a good dictionary and an encyclopaedia, sit down and let- yourself go for an hour or two ; if you do you •will probably become so much interested that you will want to do so again. Here are some more questions while you are at it : What is the diameter of the moon, the earth, the sun? What is a sun? a planet? a moon? What is a system? How many planets are known to revolve about our sun? What distances are they from it ? How many moons have they ? How does our day compare with theirs? our month 9 our year? And co you ran go on ad infinitum. THE CRUISE OF THE AMERICAN

FLEET.

Last week I made a suggestion that you should trace the route of the American fleet, and made a brief reference to the ports of call. Since tlien the Victorian School Paper for August has come to hand, and as it contains a very readable account of the cruise, I am reproducing it. The fleet did not call at Key West, the naval station on the south point of Florida, but went straight from Hampton Roid* (the mouth of the James River) to Trinidad. After passing through Magellan Strait it called in at Valparaiso and Callao. Magdalena Bay is on the west coast of the southern portion of Lower California. With these explanations, and following the fleet after leaving New Zealand waters, you ought not to be tripped up in fleet geography at Christmas time.

There was nothing spectacular about the fleet as it lay at anchor in Hampton Roads. the vesse's tugging at their ohains as if eager to l^e off; everything was busmesslike and' dignified. There was no time to waste in idle fehow, for the voyage was to be one of the greatest naval undertakings in the history of the world.

And now from the signal yaids of the Connecticut there flashes the message : " Got under way immediately, following the motions of the flagship." The hissing of steam and the clank of the anchor chains follow -this order. Tli-s signals flash again : '" Ful^ speed ahead." The twin screws of rhe Connecticut beat the water into foam, and the, huge prows move through the water. With tho precision of soldiers, they swing- into line, 400 yards apart. The chips gather speed and sweep on in a. grand column. Aa th© Connecticut passes the capes the rollicking strains of " The girl I left behind me " come from, the band on the quartor-deck, and 1 the crowd on shore cheers again and again. Then the

plaintive strains of " Auld lang syne " tell of the feelings of many an officer and sailor boy on tihe ships; but the call of duty is strong, and as a parting message to those on shore the atirring notes of the " Starspangled banner " float over the water. Not more than 500 yards apart, through daylight a-nd darkness, through storm and calm, the battleships maintain their course ; sometimes in double column, sometimes in single column, they go forward on an average speed of 10 knots an hour. The line — battleships, colliers, and others— when in single column, stretches eight miles. One of the chief objects of this trip is to give the navy actual practice in handling ship 3as they would have to be handled in time of war. To this end, the matter of providing coal and food was rushed as rapidly as it would have to be done in war time. The variety and quality of the 8,635,9301b of provision that were quickly placed on board the ships astonished foreign naval officers, who declared that Uncle Sam was pampering his men and making them unfit for fighting. But TJnole Sam's officers think differently. They believe that better sailors and more intelligent and efficient gunners can be made by good feeding, good reading, and plenty of recreation. Not until the palm-trees and coral reefs of the West Inoies were sighted, a few da-ya before Christmas, did the men see land after leaving Virginia. At Port of Spain, Trinidad, the fleet made its first atop. From the little British island, with its. lakes of asphalt, its palms and cocoanute, and ite fruits and spices, the fleet turned out again into the ocean to make its way past the broad mouth of tho Orinoco an«l the big nose of Brazil that juta far out into the Atlantic. At Rio die Janeiro the fleet etopped 10 days for repairs and coaling, allowing all the men several turns on shore. On 21st January the ships filed out of the pearshaped harbour, dipped the red, white,

and. blu© to th<* green i,nd yellow oi Brazil> and turn©^ southward. On, the last day q£ January the white wooden houses of Puxitsi Arenas, or Sandy Pomt — the southernmost) town of the world — camo into view* The next 300 miles of the journey hoi^l the only xeal dangers of the cruise, thS passage of -the Strait of , Magella- Sinod^ the day of its discovery, centuries ago, thia." body of rough water, that rushes tretweenJ. precipitous cliffs over spear-like rocks, haa' been the dreaded 1 part of evexj voyag«| made around the South- American oonti-1 nent. Sailing vessels prefer to go oxoundf the Horn, rather than hazard it. The tripif had to be made between daybreak aaiti dark. Like a runneT in a foot race, eaol^ ship stood at ita mark, waiting- for tliei Signal from favourable wind and tide, and 1 ,? when it came, dashed 1 over »the course to the Pacific. » Once through the strait, the fleet steerecß.J a northern course, with the Connecticut^ still in the lead; and no. stop was made". until the shifting sand dunes of Peru./ striped with 'ribbons of green where streams', rush down from tbe> Andes, appealed. Ati. ( Magdalena Ba-y the ships met the vessel^; of the Pacific fleet and the vessels of thoj '■*"+ie fle-at t.hat went before them, an<ft,| with these spent a month in target practice u»iu xii<itt'.!iu\ res. ! Then on again. Towards the end ofi j April the long line of ships^ 43 in numbers passed through the Golden Gate aries dropped anchor in the harbour of San Francisco, after a cruise of 14,000 miles:- . On the 7th" July the fleet gave San Francisco a farewell salute, and set off foo-, Honolulu. There it remained a week before* departing for New Zealand. Syd.nej^ should be ireaohed on the, 20th, and MsSl> bourne 011 the 29th August. Albany, thef' Philippines, and Japan will also be visifcedf before a course is steered- for home. All the world is watching the progress' of this battle fleet. The cruise h one a qj

iha great un.cleTtakHX.gs of modern times. The gigantic problem of coaling the fleet hae been successfully solved, and huge piles of coal waited the coming of the ships at the ports of Brazil, Chili, Peru, and Mexico. Albany will ba the last Australian coaling station for the fleet. Without a precedent to guide them the men who had it in charge have planned this trip so that it is complete in every detail, and they have already won tie- admiration of the naval officers of the world. — Adapted from the Little Chronicle. (Chicago).