CANNON
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CAW0N
than two times more effective than the Italian and French cannon. Yet this superiority will be greatly increased when suitable, slow-burning powder is secured. Disappearing guns are cannon in which the force of the recoil pulls the cannon back, lowers it into position for reloading and then ^eturns it to position for firing. Thus there is perfect protection from the enemy. They are an American invention for use in forts whose location it is desired to hide, the Buffington-Crozier being the type most liked. Among coast and field guns the most effective, all-around cannon is the 8-inch rifle that fires a 2 5o-lb. projectile about 18 miles and can discharge six aimed shots a minute.
Cannon, Joseph Q., was born in Guil-ford, N. C., of Quaker parentage, May 7, 1836. His family moved to Illinois. Working in a country grocery, he studied until he was prepared to pass the examination which permitted him to practice law in that state. From 1861 to 1868 he was states-attorney for Vermillion County, Illinois, and was elected congressman for the 12th Illinois district in 1873. He served in Congress from 1873 to 1891, and from 1893 to the present, failing of election only in the year when the whole country turned to Cleveland and the Democratic party. He was chairman of the committee on appropriations, for the 55th and 56th congresses. In 1903 he was elected Speaker, holding that office until 1911. He now lives in Danville, Illinois. His energy, which he preserves in spite of his age, his kindly nature, his reputation for honesty and his inflexible opposition to extravagance in national expenditure have made him popular in spite of his aggressive partisanship and his stern insistence on order in the House.
Canoe (kd-noof), originally a light, narrow boat made of the hollow stem of a tree, or of bark, and moved by paddles. Those hollowed out of a tree-trunk are called dugouts. The American birch-bark canoe is light and frail-looking, but very useful. In building it, a skeleton is first made of light wood, the casing of birch-bark is put on crosswise, and the strips sewn together with the fibrous roots of fir trees, while the seams are dressed with gum. It has no keel and neither stem nor stern, but runs to a point at either end; and neither nails nor pegs are used in building it. The birch-bark canoes of South America and the native Australian gum-tree bark canoe are made of one piece of bark. Esquimaux canoes are generally made of seal or walrus skin, stretched over whalebone; and some Labrador canoes have a round hole or well in the center for the canoeist, and are light enough to be carried on the head. Many of the Polynesian canoes are hollowed out of a single log; while others are made of planks cunningly fastened together. The largest Fiji canoes are 100 feet long, and
double ones, 70 feet in length, can carry from 40 to 50 persons. Mr. Stanley on the Congo met a war-canoe with 40 men rowing on each side and ten in the bow, while eight men guided at the stern with ivory-tipped paddles. Canoes on the African inland lakes are sometimes made of reeds. The canoe has within recent years become popular in Europe and America as a pleasure boat. It is made of various materials, of tin, paper, India rubber, wood or canvas. The American Canoe Club has over 5,000 members. The American Canoeist is a magazine devoted to the interests of the sport. Canon (k&n'yftn), a Spanish word meaning a tube or pipe, now in common use for a deep ravine or gorge worn by running water. Canons are very numerous in North America. In many parts of the Rocky Mountains the streams have worked their way down through hundreds and, in some
MARBLE CANON, COLORADO RIVER
places, even thousands of feet. These canons are of wonderful depth and size on the Colorado River, over the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. For 300 miles there is a nearly continuous canon, •from 4,000 to 7,000 feet deep. The rocks rear themselves in nearly vertical precipices on either side of the stream. In large parts of the canon are numberless peaks and temple-shaped summits, and above the walls of the canon rise plateaus and mountains piled up sometimes to an added height of 5,000 to 7,000 feet. In the interior of New York, near
