The World's Encyclopedia of Wonders and Curiosities

Everything a Victorian found astonishing, gathered into one enormous volume — burning springs and buried cities, freaks of storm and flood, the habits of bees and the manners of nations, filed under headings like “Curiosities Respecting Man.”

The Bridge of Xerxes

7 pages in this part of Wonders and Curiosities.

Xerxes' Bridge of Boats Over the Hellespont

Xerxes, having resolved to attack Greece, that he might omit nothing which could contribute to the success of his undertaking, entered into…

Xerxes' Bridge of Boats Over the Hellespont: Abydos

He likewise commanded a bridge of boats to be laid over the Hellespont, for the passing of his forces from Asia into Europe. The sea which…

The Bridge of Xeras

might take an account both of his sea and land forces. His land army, upon the muster, was found to consist of one million seven hundred…

Basaltic and Rocky Curiosities

GIANTS CAUSEWAY, IN IRELAND. - The following account is taken from notes of a mineralogical excursion to the Giant's Causeway, by the Rev…

Giant's Causeway, in Ireland

them of three sides, some four, five, six, seven, eight, or even nine. Five or six sides seem to prevail most. From the bottom of the…

Curiosities--Basaltic and Rocky

having given way and tumbled down, they have been thus buried beneath the ruins, and there remain. “A considerable way from the repository…

Curiosities--Basaltic and Rocky: British

It has long been a dispute among the learned, by what nation, and for what purpose, these enormous stones were collected and arranged. The…

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