HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times, 1889-6-6, Page 2SLAVERY IN AFRICA,
The Evil Spreading*, and the Numbee in
Post Few Obtincles Met na the Traders in
latiunan Beings.
,IiStS +tkfrios, but It I
:aid to be comtently on the imamate, with
the •fiffdots 4preading proportionately,
Tbere aetine to be two aletleat kindot sla-
very, that cao be w olassed as domestic
and foreign. The first ha': always prevail-
ed there. Priaoners taken in war are either
sacrifieed, eaten or made :sieves of. Certain
offences are punitseed by making the oriree„
heal a slave, and in some tribes men pelt
themselves. But in such mem whore those
surrendering themselves willhogly to a Slave's
life are of the same tribe as their owners the
oruellty and horror of the real slave life are
not made apparept la what comes under
thethead of foreign elavery men, women and
claildrai are torn from home and each other,
aid made the servants of a brutal master
who cares no more for them than the dirt
under his feet.
At first ivory was the exonse. On the
beautiful inland plateaux of Africa it was
found in moat quantities that elephants'
tusks were used to fence in the gardens and
to support the poles of the natives' tante.
This ivory was the ruin a the country. The
trader was not satitfied to bny it for a trill-
ing min, or to take possession of it without
payment; it must be carried to the coast;
so when the Arab traders beoame acquainted
with the country and gathered quantities of
ivory, they eeized upon a alight pretext to
quarrel with the negroes ; in other words,
they organized
A PREMEDITATED MASSACRE.
The villages were burned, captives taken—
men for porters, women for the harem—all
who resisted were slain, and the caravan of
devise and ivory proceeded to the meet
where the humsee beasts of burden were sold,
couple of wiveaat leset. Naturally the,
together whit the ivory they brought.
greatest lawlessneas in regard to marriage
This was the beginning. Every year the
is the result, the More so as many cif the
merchenta of Khartoum sent armed expedi.
tions into this regton to collect ivory. These
expeditions amendecl the Nile to the Soudan
and the lake region. It was at first a fine
time for the Turkish speoulators. Glass
beads, copper dishes and armlets were arti-
cles eagerly sought after by the negroes, and prompt them. Striking int:tames of love
for half a dozen or so of "dove's eggs,' large, and devotion are nob leaking even among
milky white glass beads. an elephant's tusk these metallized creatures.
weighing 80 pounda could be purchased—yes, eeThe name price for a wife is three or four
a slave could be bought at that price ! oxen, or their equivalent; but where the
But this state of affairs did not last long, trader has been, six drill -eyed needlea or a
The Soudan eves fairly flooded with glees box of matches will secure one of the best
beads, etc., e� that these Fancies became al-
most worthless ; but the value of the slaves King Russuna, of the Upper Lualaba die-
inoreased, and this blamed the speculators Won is credited with having the hand -
to send oat armed expeditions almost entire- somest women in all Africa for his wives, of
ly for slaves. They established stockades at whom he has nearly 200. When he receives
short distances apart, which served as the a visitor one of his wives sits and hot& his
basis of their. operations. These stookadee feet in her Iap, and often when he site down
are called " seribasand though at firat to rest it is upon the back of one who is on
they were presumably only stations where her hands and knees.
.
the Arab traders and Metis bou,ght ivory, A custom which clustinguishes the western
they soon became centers of elave hunting tribes from others ia that of waxing a piece
when the elephant hunt became ttnprofit- of vette of 2 or 3 inches long, through the
able. under hp, which verytnutott impedes articu-
The waribe of the ivory trader, which is lation, already impaired by breaking. out the
sourrounded with strong palisades or thorn incisors of the lower teeth, which is also a'
hedges, oomposea a sort of citadel; and custom. The Morn women wear a splinter
many of them are so strong that they can of wood in the upper lip, or a ring with a
defy even the Egyptian Government, single petui. Other ornaments are eae.ringe,
wbich has ' necklaces, and rings for arms and legs, of
FORBIDDEN THE SLAVE TRADE. iron Or other metal or of leather, anything
By degrees these markets have been they can make a ring out of, ln filen and
opened everywhere beyond the Bahr el vvith aid of copious lavings with palm oil
Gbazel and the other peovince once coned- or other grease they are considered to.
tubing Egypt's equatorial empire, bat now have made themselves exceedingly attract -
under the rule or the Khalif Abdallab of ive.
successor to the Mahdi, and
known now as Mahal. The only obstaclen
to the treffie are E111111 Pashaeat Wadelai,
the Christian missionaries. and the Ea-
glish trading stations at the takes Victoria
Nyan.ze. and Tanganyika. The Mahal is
aiding the inane trader:a in afforts to destroy
Emir' Pasha and to expel the miseionaries
and all Europeans, and religious fanatiolein
is n th the greed of the slave
trader the Christians from the lake
region.
The methods which the slave-tre.dert melte
use of to secure the human tattle they deal
in are perfectly force:lone, and the wanton -
nets with which many of the tribes are de.
stroyed is frightful. If the ruler or pasha of
a large tribe is called upon for tribute by his
superior, if be wishes to build himself a
•palace to replenish Ms harem, or to put
himeell in funds, he mends his soldiers, erne
ed wivh guns and ammunition (impertedfrom
the Christian conntriee of Europe), against
a negro tribe armed with bows and spears,
and captures slaves anough to supply his
wants. . .
SaAt present the principal victims of slavery
are women end children; the men are killed.
The negro traders of the interior are not
dealete in ivory. They are employed by
great Arab slave traders, or by native chiefs,
like the lately deposed Wwanga of Uganda.
who hunt slaves simply for their own cap-
rice.
Tbe slave hunters surround the village of
the tribe atm:tit:bight, when all the residents
are asleep, or creep upon it from the sur-
rounding thiekete at a time when most of
the men are kr:town to be abeent. The few
men who endeavor to defend their homes
arelsoon made to see how useless are their
efforts, and
THEIR ORIES OF TERROR,
deepair and agony mingle with the murder-
ous fusillade of their fiendish aemailante,
who ehaokle the terrified, helplees WOrO8D
and drag them away, while the screambag
Mildren follow, if they can, leaving the
men dead r dying among the ruins of their
home; for il the barbarous executioners dr
nob set fire rt the village in the first plane,
smoking their prey out,„they burn it after
their captives are moored.
A trader's camp where the fettered cap-
tives are cox fined foe ehr night is a heart-
rending sight. Thine the poor, naked create
urea are huddled like sheep, too close for
comfort in the hot equatorial climate. Row
upon row crowd the dark, nude forms of the
captives; youths wita iron rine around
their necks, through which a chain is rove
'teeming theses by twenties; three copper
rings are used to secure the children ove
ten, a ring on each leg, being faetened ee
a seng between; the women are fastenechn
droves, with 'shorter chains than the yontha;
but: the little children and infants are urn
bound sot by the tiess of 'maternal bye,
and they cling to the necks of their as tive
mannas and cluster round them, liking the
cruel links of iron which hang in loops or An Objeetien-
festonna t vor their breasts. Amorg a fold Aunt Mincly a—Bresa yo' deah, ole, brat&
ef 2,300 women and children, them was nob bunt, beacon Gillis, howls eb'rereing down
a single adult male captive, yet the inhuraau t' d' che'cle?
dealers had devastated 118 villages, and Deacon yo' go enny furder,
killed at least 2,500 men I And after the Mies Wonkley, I wanter &gest dat my shad-
slave.drove has reached its destination. In' doat go quite ter fur in, ez yo' remahk
many of them will have sudeumbe.1 to the wud Mein far t' /limply 1
hardships of the march, for the etoppagras
give theni no relief, mid they often die of Burls, Mod in making veneers with re- c
hanger on the way. makable occentricitiee of grain, are excrete. p
They are compoilecl to walk on, at the conceit that grow upon various trees, such b
point of the epear, even when they are cly- as the walnut, roeewood, mahogany, oak b
ing and, although iron shackles sisie not a- and kith, litheY weigh from_ 1%60) to 02006
ways Iliad, heisey wooden feria: are e plead poande, and the lergezt end best come trom
on their neolta, as we put Ss yoke on tsar Persia and Clroessia, and coat In the rough w
oxen, If a poet creature can no lenges` ptit item 15 to 40 cents a pound,
one foot before the other, instaml of remov.
ing the fork the trader leaves it on, so that
the elave who falle by the way
CAN NOT en..4stst DEATH.
Sometimes they are devolved alive by wild
lama: met more savage titan tte bratal
trader, who will break a child's nech before
its agoeized reothertt eyes, waen, fainting
and exhaosted, her weary arms can no
loeger uphold tbe double burden of her load
of ivory and her infant,
Satvery is worse then death to these poor
women of Africa ; death tots the men free;
but slavery holds a thomand deatbe in re -
:serve for tee women and children. They
are delivered defeneeless iuto the hands of
-their mestere, uleveeno the vilest debauch -
mid victims to every deed of wanton
and atrocious cruelty.
At the negro come, of Uganda, from 1200
to 1500 women are ;slaves to a brutal tyrande
caprice. "Not a day has peased," an eye.
wieness says, "without my seeing one, two
or even three of these unhappy women who)
melee up aftesan harem led to death.
Drawn or dragged, along with a cord around
their wriste, by the body -guard, which lead
them to the elaughter-house, the poor area-
turea, with eyes full a tears, utter cries
that break your heart. 'Hai Minange
(Oh! ray Lord ) libe,kka (My King a
'Hai N'yetvis ! (Oh ! my mother 1). In
spite of these piteous appeals to public pity,
not a hand is lifted to save them frotn the
exeoutionere, though here and there one
eeete remark, made in a low voice, on the
beauty of the victims."
Conoubinage and polygamy ilourith in all
countries wheels women are the surplus
population ; and. as the wealth of a man is
irequently estimated, as in Solomon's
time, by the number oi his wives, it follows
that mattimony is for the most part a busi-
nese transaction, and that the women are
not tumidly considered as anything but a
valuable artioles of merchandise or domestic
furniture. Almost every moat tries to =ape
enough wealth together to buy himself a
poorest classes are not able to purchase
wives, and so steal them, the women some-
times abetting the thief if inclination and
the desire to escape from
A HATED TYRANT
The Men delight in the trappings of war,
min warriondremed and arraed for the fray,
with :peep and shield or bow and artiefresare
frigntfun object to coistemplate, although
be can do no more harm than a divilized sol-
dier well armed with repeating rifle and cern
ridges. Still more frightfuldeoking objects
are the.anham devile," who are men dressed
in a fashion which they imagine closely rs.
eembks real devils, and who ehow.themeelves
where the woods are reeorted to be haunted
by real devils, as in Klbokeve, and make
them remove to some outer locality.
TELEGRAPHIC BRIEFS.
Frost did much damage generally through-
out Ontario on Taesday night.
The Wimbleann Team is to sail by bit e
Parisian from Qeebeo on Jane 20.
It is said that Mr. Edward Murphy, of
Queheo, will succeed the late Senator Ryan.
The Toronto 'Varsity baseball team won a
hard fought game from Cornell at Ithaca, by
11 to 10.
Mr. C. H. Rose, of Stratford, was found
dead in a bath room at the Russell house,
Ottawa.
It is expected that Montreal's increase in
ateessment this year will he about 0,000,-
000.
, The Grand Trunk Company have been
served vith notices of suit by three Wood-
stock residents, °Jointing $65,000 for iirjurien
received in the S. George accident.
A report from Duluth eays that a new
company proposes to pus a dozen large
steamers in the waters o the great lakes se
fast as they can be built.
Soule of the Hudson Bey Co. shareholders
propose to have the capital divided into two
armee, one ranking On the trading privileges
and the other on. the land property.
Some of the crew and offioers of the
Cynthia are the guest% of the St. Andrew's
Horne. Most of the crew were nearly
naked when they got there. Divers say it
will be almost impossible to get the Cynthia's
cargo out without blowing her up.
George Murison, of Hamilton, well known
among the riflemen of Canada and Britain
as a crack shot, died at his home in Handl-
ton on Monday night. lie had held the
office of mayor and was universally esteem-
ed.
:Lizzie Davis, an employee in the kitchen();
the Grand Central hotel, Peterboro, was ar-
rested the other night on a charge of having
stolen $10 from the trunk of a fellow -set -
vent, Ada O'Btien. The girl pleaded guilty
and was remanded for sentence to allow the
magistrate to ascertain her previoile char-
acter.
THE RIMALAYA,S.
--
Along the Hillsides et the Highest Xenia -
tains tn. the World.
In the hes rt of theIiimalayas in th
midst of mouataina whose perpetuta snows
glieten like diamonds ender the rays ef the
tropical sues, with oceans of elands below
me, 7,000 feet above the jungle where the
tiger hides and almost within the sound of
the Englieh troops, who are fighting on the
bordere of Thibeb, I write this letter for
my Cauedian readers. From ney window
I can 'see the snow on It anoltanjanga, 28,•
000 feet above the eea, and upon a Thibe.
tan pony I galloped thie morning twelve
miles higher up the mountain to Tiger Hill
and paw the sun gild the snowy :summit of
Mount Evereet, which is a full thoueand
feet higher. Ttae top of Mount Evens:it is
of all the world, the nearest point towards
heaven. Fusiyama, the seemed, snow cap.
ped rnountam of Japan, is nob half as high
an Mount Everest, and if my memory servee
me, the snows, of Mount Blanc are at least
10,000 feet) lower. Go to the top of Mount
Blanc, ascend in a balloon straight upward
for two miles, and you have ihbent reached
the altitude of this highest of the }Itemises
Mountains.. It dwarfs everything in the
Andes and the Alps, and it is a fitting king
to this noblest range of mountains in the
world. Himalaya means the abode of onow
and thoueauds of the peaks are crowned
will eternal front.
Has. any one ever reached the top of the
highest of these mountains? I should say
not An American attempted it a few
months ago, and he left Darjeeling with a
staff as bong as himself and enough provialons
to last him a mouth. He came baok four
weeks later and claimed that he had spent
the night on Kanohanjanga.
"It was as ectay," said he, "as falling off
a log. It takes an Arnerioan to do a thing
that you Englieh fear to attempt," And he
then went on to describe the glaciers in
spread-eagle colors. He told of mountain
bears and polar wolves and discoursed for
hours in the language ot Juke Verne. The
English residents of Darjeeling cooked their
one -eye gleams at him, and some believed
and some did not. About a week after he
had left the Himalayas, a wealthy tea plant-
er same to thestation and asked the people
if they had heard anything of an Ameriosn
named Jones. They replied that Jones was
the wonderful man who had ascended Jim-
chanjanga, and they described his tour. Up.
on comparison it was found tint the date of
JOIla starting up the mountain was the day
before he came to visit this tea planter. Tie
planter mid; "Re talked nothing of tie
mountains to me, but I found him a geou
fellovnand ho stayed with me full four week'
We played poker three-fourths of the time,
drank whiskey and soda during the interval,
of the game, and the remainder of the days
Jones apent in reading up my libraryof
mountain literature. He was at this time
doubtless thinkhrg how he would take in
Darjeeling, and was making up the Muin
°barmen story whioh he MISC."
Man here is fully as interesting as nature,
minima have servants and guides who are
more like the people,of Thibet than India.
There is no seclusion of women here, and
great strapping girls dreased in the gaudiest
of colors go about with flat plates of gold
hanging to their ears, each of, which la as
big soma trade dollar. They have gold on
their ankles and breceIete of silver running
all the wey from their wristes to their elbows.
Their complexions, originally as yellow In
'the Chinaman, are bronzed by the crisp
mountain air, until they have now the rich
copper ot the American Indian. Beth men
and women look not unlike our Indians.
They have the same high cheek -bones, the
esme semi -fat noses and long, .etraight black
hair. If you will take the prettuar equavr
you leave oval'. seen you may have a fair type
of the average belle of the mountains. She
wears two pounds of jewelry to the ounce of
the squaw, however, and her eyes are bright.
er ana she is far more intelligent. She warke
juet S8 hard, and the woman of the Hiram
layan does much of the work of the moun-
tai"THE 'WOMEN WORE LIRE THE MEN.
I see women digging in the fields, working
on the roads and carrying immense baskets,
each of which holds from two to throe bush.
els, full of dirt and produce, on their back.
Just above the hotel the road is beingrepair-
ed and a side of the mountain is bane cut
away. The dirt le carried about a quarter
of a mile and need in filling up a hole in the
hillside. Its is all done by women. Two
women are digging clewn the dirb with pick-
axes and a halt dozen are shovelling this in-
to the baskete of the girls who carry it from
one place to the other. The basket rests
upon the the beck and shoulders of the girl,
and it is held there by a wide strap
which comes' from the basket around and
over the girl's forehead. They stand with
the baskets on their backs while they are
loaded, and one of the women who lc doing
the shove/ling has a baby a year old tied
tight to her baok, and it bobs up and down
as she throws the dirt from the ground into
the basket. These girl's carry easily 160
pounds, and I was told that one had oarriel
a cottage piano a distance of twenty miles:
up the mountain upon her back. This is
hard to believe, but after seeing the mighty
shoulders, the well -knit frames and the
great craves and ankles of the etrongeet of
them loan believe ite
The men are fully as strong as the women.
They are not so tall as the American Indian,
and they are very fierce -looking. Borth
wears a greab scimitar -hike knife in his bolo,
and they are jamb like the Thibetene whom
I mew alt Pekin. They are notorious as
wife -beaters' and the woman of the Him-
alayas ham, as a rule, a very hard time.
Many of the men wear earrings, and the
women, both before and after marriage, carry
their fortunes upon their persons. They
wear strings of Sliver 00b18 of the size of
fifty and ten cent silver pieces in rows
about their neoks, so than often the whole
front of a woman's bust is covered with
them, and the poorest vvorkingegirl has
her earrings of gold and her anklets of
silver.
A SEMI -BARBAROUS EE/STENCE.
They work all day for whets would he the
price of a drink in Canada, end ,their
inotintain huts would be ooneidered hard
ltnee fee the establishment of a Canadian
pig, Little low hut*, thatched With enerev,
end not trench bigger than store berms. They
do inoee of their cooking Out of doors, 'deep
upon the floor, eat with their fingers and
worship Buddha in a ,half.civilized way,
Scene of ,thena MO the ptayer-witeel, and
thii memos to be ,the only invention they
have, The prayer -wheel consiets Of a metal
box aboue as big around as one tyhich holds:
boot,tilaoking nnd about twice an deep.
Through it a wire is stuck and tibia isfasten•
ed into a handle a foot ong. Inificle the box
there le a Yall Of prayer's Weittoo in Thibethe
hareatere and the 4$siotehipper tattlea off
tayere at the rate ef a hundred a minute
y giving ttte handle 0, *let and sentiug the
tor to rolling, Earth roll retokds a prayer,
very prayer does away with Mid or snore
Ms attd puta a briokitt the pavement
hieht beede toWarde heoeien.
In going up 'the tiltuolyas to ballot,
ling you pass through the torrid, the
temperate and land et last in the frigid zone.
At the bottom le the jungle into whioh you
dealt out of rice fields, and which, with ites
thick bamboo, its benyen trees en1 ite inter-
woven III15800 of foliege, forms the home of
the tiger. As you go through yoo ean al.
most Ate the bright eyes ot this noble Ben.
gal beast shining out of the deeknees, land
the old residente of India who are with you
will tell you storiee of the tiger hunts they
heve had and of accidents that have hap.
paned to lone travellers. They will tell you
that the tiger la only found where live, the
deer end the wild hog; that if he once has
a taste of human blood he is satisfied with
no other. A single one of these tigers is
known to haye MU 108 people in three
years and another killed 80 portant per
annum. One of the agents of the Indian
Perot Department tells me that about two
thoueancl tigers are killed in India evely
year, and in 1682, 395 men were killed by
tigere. The English Government gives a
reward for tiger killing and during that
year several thonea,nd dollen were paid
for the killing of 1,700 tigers, In a few
week e there will be an immense tiger hunt
in India. The party will to olds upon
elephants and will 'spend some weeks in
the jungle, '
As you go up the Himalayas this jungle
give is way to huge forest trees, but the
branohes have long roots and creepers
shooting from them down to the ground, and
the trees are often from one to two hundred
feet high. These Mees are clothed with a
luxuriant growth of moues and ferns, and
you see many varieties of orchids fastened
to trunks and hanging to their branishes.
As you go up you note the tree fern; a tall,
round trunk, from ten to twenty feet high,
with fern leaves jutting out from its top like
those of a palm. The underbush becomes
more sparse, and as you rise the color of the
moos upon the trees changes from green to
silver. This hangs from the branches, in
clustere, clings to their limbs like a coat, and
makes them look at a distance like a forest
of green dusted vidth silver. As you near
Darjeeling you find many of the hard woods
of Araerieen mountains; the rose begin,:
to bloom and there are tea plantations by
the hundreds of sores.
TEA BEST TEA nt MB WORLD.
The tea of the Himalayas is the beat in the
world, and I would advise Canadian house-
keepers to try Indian tea, There is a tea, in
thibet which has the flevor of milk to suoh
a degree that when used it has all the good
properties of good tea mixed with the most
delicious of Jersey cream. This Himalaya
bets has the flavor of flowers. It is pure and
clear, and it ie supplanting the Chinese tes
in England markets. The tea plant growe
wild in Mese Himalaya hills, and in some
of the regions near it attains the dimensions
of a large wee. It was probably introduced
from here into Chins. Still it is now only
ebont half a century since tea culture was
aommenced in India, and now there are
many Indus tea men who prophesy that
India tea will eventually push Chinese tea
out of the markets of the world. Just ten
years age the exports of Indian tee amount.
ed to 33,000,000 pounds. Five years later
they had risen to 58,000,000 pounds, and a
osa planter, whom I met here at Darjeeling,
tells me that they are now making 100,000,
000 pounds of tea a yeas in India.
The exports of Indian tea to the Amer-
ica have abeedily inoreseed, and it is now
take over a half a million pounds of Indian
tee every year. The lownr hills of these Hiram -
ayes are covered with them tea plantetiona
The plants look nob unlike well trimmed box-
wood hedges, and they rise in terraces up
the sides of the hills. Here and there you
may flee a gayly dressed woman picking
their leaves, and now and then a low shed
in, evitioh the firing is done. The .seede are
gown itt nureeries in December and Jennery
and they are transplanted between April
end July. The ground has to be well
drained, and 1 ant told that the best tea
oil is virgin forest land, which in India is
very rich. The plants begin to bear about
the third year, and they are at their best
when tney are ten years old, The Indien
tea planters get about five pickings a year
and often seven. In China and Japan three
pickings is considered good.
I note some curious anomalies here in
them old Htinaleyas. Many of the rude
huts, which are of the same Moyle as they
have been f or a thousand years or more,
are roofed with galvanized iron and the
skies of some of them are sheeted over with
square pieces of tin. This tin comas from
Philadelphia oil cans, and some of the
mountain huts are lighted by the Standard
Oil Company's oil. Calico from England
is corning into use among the natives and
many of the idols upon being inverted are
ound to have sunken into their brass bon
Hems the trade marks of the Birininghani
manufactories.
Who Started the Slander? 67Z4
TORONTO, June 8.—When tin Campbell,
a, lumber dealer and builder of this city,
wenb for a trip to Sault Ste. Marie a few
weeks ago, some naaliolous person started a
report that he had left: without sealing with
his creditors. Messrs. Mills & Mills have
been given charge of the case, and a writ
has been served on Mr. Danoan Coulson, of
the 13ank of Toronto, for having repeated
the slanderous atatements. Matters are to
be made hot for those who have assisted in
giving It currenoy.
He Knew His Man;
An old tenant -farmer, on Paying his rents
told his landlord that he wanted SOMO tim-
ber to build a house,and would be much
obliged if he would give him permission to
out down what would answer for the pur-
pose. " No1" Paid the landlord sharply,
Well, then, sir," the farmer went on,
.1 will you give me enough to build a barn ?"
" No 1" "To make a mite then ?" "Yee."
"That's all 1 wanted," said the farmer
and more than I expected."
A Slight Respite.
Count Bagitnolles (junt after his rejec
tion):—Aha ! a.s. 1 You refuse one of z:
nobility of Fr-r-rance ? 1 go me away„tor
evair 1!
Mies Kiettletas wouldn't hurry.
Mamma wants you to stay to dinner with
us. We are to have brazed lege d'frog, with
Halm,
Count Bagitnollos 1—Meroi 1 I will my
aelf give one more hoer of basest before Iffy.
To tell a dignified citizen to null down his
yob, is apt to make him raise hie choler.
Strawberx:y and old rose Medea are well
efitablished in popular favor, but are more
delicate than heretofore.
Georgia Petrie, while cutting peat on the
bland of Burray, Orkney, found nom cud'
ous and Valuable salvor twins and ornaments.
There were twenty aye minket: and bangles,
and tWentaattvo neck rings a silver wire,
tope pattern, The coins are of the eleventh
centrity.
AT INDIAN C.RIME
Pronnestonal Poisoning Taking the Place
4 n °iinterestingrha'r 42 014°ortth:err :spree onlm n
in Indian province has been prepared hy
Mr. Eastace J Kitts, of the B, angel Civfi
Service. The province is the important ad.
afinstrative isdivieion called "The North,
West provinces and 0 ade," and the period
treated Of Many bhpOrtalltfa0f8, all of which
cannot be referred to, but among °there is
the prevalence of dimity in the heart of
fildia. To those who think that the exist-
ence of daeoity in Burrnah demonstrates the
slender hold we heve on that country it
will`be some encouragernent,p?rhaps, to learn
that the 'same sorb of thing exists in districts
of India where our authority has been un-
questioned for a century. Decoity is only
another name for
nIG-IIWAY ROBBERY.
The small States subject to the rule of their
awn chiefs in Central India seem to be the
centre of daeoity organisation and to pro-
vide the deemits with a place of refuge. Of
4,530 murders committed during these 11
year's 72 were perpetrated by dimwits and
368 by highway robber% Thuggee which
used to be a sourge of the people of India,
was in the same period reeponsible for only
abc -murders blab the report goes on to state
that if "Tnuggee has died out professional
poisoning hue to some extent taken its
plata." Mr. Kitts mentions many oases of
professional pononiag to justify this state-
ment. Another curious 'mot:iota whioh re-
minds one of China, is the murder of a re-
lative in order to throw 'suspicion on a per -
sena! enemy who is maimed of the crime be -
clause the body is found on his premisee. Mr.
Kitts describes deceits as"all tnoreorleas des-
perate oharaoters." The muss of the band
depends on the merit of its leader, who, al-
though he is
•RUTHLESS AND CRUEL,
only outs down those who ;east, and tor-
tures only for the betrayal of treasure. The
Kmajers seem to be a formidable tribe of ex-
pert footpads. Their numbers are fortunate-
ly few, and "their women, in the Deccan at
lamb, are noted for their handsome looks,
their command of native Billingsgate, and
their extremely filthy songs." In theperiod
discussed there were 500,000 mass of house-
breaking and 700,000 oases of ordinary theft.
The significance of these large figures is dim-
inished by the individual offence being as a
rule trivial. Mr. Kitts concludes by show-
ing how great the improvement hes been in
40 years, and he says that "the oriminel
classes in these provinoes still exist, but they
exist under diffioulties, and are becoming
every year more and more open to bhe eon.
viotion that an honest livelihood is both
easier and more profitable than their former
Ishmaelitieh existence."
Can't Do it.
We have been offered $25 in cash and
a barrel of wild plum vinegar to publish
the record of the man who nuns the weekly
turther down the street. 'While there le
no doubt in our mind that he is a bigamist,
horse thief, barn -burner, and Anarchist,
sympathizer, we know what belongs to
decency, and we positively refuse the bribe.
There ss too much rcud.throwing among the
editors of the West, anyhow. They seern
to have forgotten what is due to the poen
tMn. If one of our dootors kills a patient
by some mistake, the rest are always reedy
to awesr him clear. If one of the editorial
fraternity makes a trip, the rest are eager
to pitch into him. It shouldn't tbe so.
There should be more of the fraternal
spirit —more of the pride of profession.
Therefore, vrhile we are perfectly satisfied
that tee beldheatled, bowlegged, equina -eyed
old coyote who calls himself the editor of
the moribund dish -rag eleven doors below
ought to be in State prison for life, we are
not going to forget what belongs to the
amenities of editorial life.—Arizona Kicker.
Carrier Pigeons For Railroad Service.
Superintendent Given of the Rook Island
road Is mating experiments with carrier
pigeons, with a view to using them to sup-
plement the telegraph service. Ono day re-
cently he sent thirty-four pigeons by express
from his home to Brooklyn, a station on the
Reck Island, seventeen miles eaab. They
were released by the station agent there.
The birds firat rose m the air and made a
circuit of the town as if to get their bearings,
and then took a bee line straight west
toward home. They made the seventy miles
back in less than two hours, and all but
three reached Superintendent Given'house
in good oondition. These were all young
birds, and this was their first long trip, so
that their success in coming home was the
more remarkable. Mr. Given says that
the wind storms often render the telegraph
line useless, even if the wires are not blown
down, and he thinks that a eee of carrier
pigeons at) each station might be made very
serviceable in such an emergency. He is
experimenting.
He Had the Bulge.
13arber (to first comer in hand): "Shave
sir ?" (To second customer): "Take a chair,
sir; 1 shallise disengaged immediately.'
Smith (firat coiner, who has recognized in
the glans opponite that it is that fellow Brown,
his rival and enemy): Yaqui, I wish to be
shaved, and—ah—ben 1 should like my
headlwashed—shampoopd, y' know,and after-
ward my hair cut and—carofully curiae{ 1"
(Tableaux.)
Deaths by Lightning.
At the mooting of the Royal Meteorologi.
cal Society on the 17th ult., a paper "On
the Deaths Caused am Lightning in England
and Wales from 1852 to 1880, as Recorded ih
the Returns of the Registim.General," was
read by Inspector General R. Dawson, LL, D
The total number of deaths from lightning.
during the 29 years amounted to 546, of
which 442 were of malets and 104 of female's.
In oonsequenoe, apperently, of their greater
exposme, the inhabitants ot rural districts
suffer more from lightning thanthose of
towns. It appears ale° than the violeity to
the weet encl south comas reduces the ohanoes
of injury by lightning, and that distance
froth the coast and high lana items to increase
them-4E1'1°6406n.
The newest form of Mit gown is the me-
diteval, which has a °ukase omega, tall akin
and antique sieeneta.,
In Reeetoen,. Hollapd, there is a giant
mina tree belongIng to Maiti. Regnen, Which
ale* years ago held 6,000 roads at the saint
time.
Four Mend:are nogroen are iamb to appear
et the Gowen eourt ae Anibassadore from
their Afti ran &then, Who ate lraid to bt
tnarvei o intelligenee and with a moral
etaridatd extraordinarily high. Though they
will drat in their outtneoottense„the etigtette
of tho derineet couetinannet be foregone, and
an the regtriat tittles coatniiill be Wert' Over
bhetr Aftkiati
PLAYED HIMSELF FREE
he Adventure or a lilted= lalan'st Who
Wanted to Go to Germany..
Arthur Friedheim,. the famous pianist,
wished to arose the western Russian border
reoently for the purpose nf filling hisengage-
matte to play In several German oitiera As
a Russian subject he WAS Obliged t? go
through ell Porte of formalities with Russian
offroials before leaving the country. Two
weeks before the date of his first concert he
asitecl the Captain of the city of St. Peters-
burg, where he: was stopping, to ask the
Governor of Livonia to afik the Mayor of Per
nem, where he was born, for the consent) of
the Pernau pollee to the departure of Arthur
Rriedheim to Germany, Of course, the
Mayor and the police of Perna,u had nothing
magnet Mr. Friedheitn or hisenomert tour
in Germany, and they said 80 ill a letter
which they want to the Captain ofathe cap-
ital by return of mail, "
Owiug to the wretohedness of the Liven -
km meat servioes, this ane e'er was stranded
ir a fourtlnrate Post Offioe a few mtles from
Pernan and lay there four weeka. At the
end of the second week Mr. Frieclheim had
broken two engavements to give concerts in
Germany. At the end of the third week he
had broken tour engagements and was re.
oeiving telegram by the "more from German
theatrical managers' whom he had disap-
pointed. The fourth week brought tele-
grams and demands for an explanation, but
no letter from Perna%
Priedheim wae in despair, and he resolv-
ed to OrOMS the border withOut passes, He
tried it, was airested, and was taken before
the ohlef of the distriotr, who sent him to
prison after confiseeting his papers. In
Friedheimtspooketbook were apaokage of his
visiting cards and several nevespemer crib-
ieferne of his playing. The chid concluded
that he had caught the murderer of Artbur
Friedheim. He had Friedheim, whom he
sisspeoted of murdering Mansell and con -
&eating his own papera, doubly ironed
end doubly guarded. After protesting and
appealing for a whole day, Friedhelm got
an audience with the chief. He reiterated
in vain the atetement that he was Arthur
Friedheim, the pianist. The ohief wouldn'b
believe birn. Finally Friedheim begged to
be allowed to prove his indentity by playing.
The chief, who was something of a musician,
consented. Priedheim was marched throttgh
the street to the ohief's house between
two spldiers and was set down before a
piano. He played the second Rhapsodies of
Liszt. As soon as he finished, the chief
removed theguard, saying : "Now I know
you are Priedhem." The &mist was re-
leased on his promise to return to St. Peters.
burg for his passes.
Upon hie arrival in the capital Friedhehn
found the letter from Haman and his other
papers reedy for him, Four days later he
began playing in Germany with a reoord of
seven broken engagements behind. him.
The official red tape, of which h$ -was a
victim, so distended him with the. Govern -
meat of the Czar that he has declared hie
intention to give up his Russian oitizenship
to become a aubject of Emperor William II.
Cultivating the Lotus.
The verymention of the sacred lotus of
bhe Ent brings with it a host of poetioaa and
historical suggestions. Beautiful similes in
allusion to it are common In Oriental poetry,
and for its influence on actual life, we have
only to xemember how deeply it has affected
art. To one who thinks of it so a rare
growth, set apart for high uses, it is a rather
startling fact that it may be cultivated in this
country from Cape Cod southward, along
dee coast.
It had been grown here and there, ex pera
mentally for some time, when Mr. E. D.
Sturtevant, of Bordentown, N. J., succeeded
in really naturalizing it, in a pond near his
house.
Nine years ago, he obtained a plant from
Europe, whither it had been taken from
Japan, and it soon hem n to spread in all
directions, blooming profusely. Otto sum-
mer, it was nearly desbroyed by cattle
which, finding the foliage sweet in taste,
waded into the pond, and ate the pleats
down to the water. In a year or two, how-
ever'the lotus had recovered its lost estate,
and last summer and autumn it showed a
solid rams of leaf and blossom, covering
three-quarters of an acre.
Its botanical name is " Nelumbium specie -
sum." Although it is a speoles of water -lily,
its leaves do not float upon the surface of
the water, bub grow profusely above it.
The flower is at least a third larger than our
MI lily, of a rosy color, and grows upon a
firm, hard stalk.
Last August, at the height of the blots -
mining season, the pond at Bordentown was
covered by a mass of foliage, in which the
tallest man would have been hidden from
view. Five hundred of the beautifully
sthe,cled flowers were open at once, and in
their last stages of expansion they measured
from ten to thirteen inches in diameter. In
some instances the flower stalks measured
eight feet in length.
The water of this pond has several times
frozen to a depth of ten inches, and its trop-
ical inhabitant :shows a curious "vegetable
intelligence" in dealing with this phenom-
enon, with which it is quite unfamiliar at
home in Egypt, India or Japan.
During the summer, its roots spread hor-
izontally in every direction, at a ,moderate
depth of mil. On the approach of autumn,
however, the root atalks demand to a
greater depth, sometimes as deep as eighteen
inches, and there, below tine frost line, tub.
era are formed, which lie dormant until
spring. When the warm weather comets
again, a new gro wth of roots amends to the
normal level, and the prooess of horizeital
growth is again resumed.
An Arithmetical Question.
Grocer—" What do you want, boy
Boy—" One pound of coffee, onoand-four
one pound of sugar, twopence; one pound
of butter, oneandosix ; two pounds of rioe
at three halfpence; and two pounds: ofja
rants at fourpeoce per pound. If I now, ive
you half-a.crown, how much do I still oise?"
Grocer—" One 'shilling and fivepence." Boy,
turning away—" Thank yen. I hope it's
quite right. Grocer— Where are you
going ?" Boy —"1 am going htime to oopy
the anewer in my home -lesson book1 must
give it at school to -morrow morning,"
aramirY.*
On the ground of famillatam with French
the Rritieli Mb:dater and the Freneh Miniater
at Washington are getting quite &Minty.
Father Damien 8 self.sacrificie itt the leper
settlement of Molokai, aroused Audit general
admiration that the Ptoteetante Of agland
raised Money for hint to build a ehirreh.
At the Bat des Artistes Of the Park' °petit
Sarah Bernhardt appeared aa the conductor
of an otoheette of 120 eitrualoians with Cheque -
lin eatte6 lig the leader d the violins. Leto
in the evening, when they played the Inter -
eel 0 -O&M°, which Was danced with dia.
helieal Oplrib, Covell -it out subli antic e that
he broke lila how,. and then eineahed his
violin over the head Of to dancer, all with iMo
mange Ontlitisieniti.