HomeMy WebLinkAboutExeter Times, 1912-7-25, Page 6HAUNT OF THE WiLaEBEESi
fB ;P1NG MOUSE IN THE
REA.IL ,l GIS AFRICA.
Offers the Sobs of Civilization to
Travellers Looking for Big
G tulle.
"Most people have heard of
Juja, the modern dwelling is the
heart of an African wilderness be-
longing to W. N. McMillan," writes
Stewart Edward White in World's
Work. "If most people are as I
was before I satw the place they
Lave considerable curiosity about
it.
"Juja is situated or1 the top of a
high .bluff overlooking a liver. In
all directions are tremendous grass
plains, Donya Sabauk, the Moun-
tain of Buffaloes, is the only land-
mark nearer than the dim moun-
tains beyond y d the edge of the world;
and that is a day's journey away.
"A rectangle of possibly forty
acres has been enclosed on three
sides by animal -proof wire fence.
The fourth side is the edge of the
bluff. Within this enelosure have
been planted many trees, now of
good size; a pretty garden with
abundance of flowers, ornamental
shrubs, a sundial ,avid lawns.
"In the river bottom land below
the bluff is ,a very extensive vege-
table and fruit garden, with corn-
fields and experimental plantings
of rubber and the like. For the
use of the people of Juja there .are
raised a great variety and abu -
dance of vegetables, fruits and
grains.
"Before leaving Landon we had
received from Mr. McMillan earnest
assurances that he kept open house
and that we trust take advantage of
his hospitality should we happen
his way. Therefore when one of
his white robed Somalis approached
us to inquire respectfully as to what
we wanted for dinner we yielded
weakly to the temptation and told
him. Then we marched to the house
and took possession.
A BEAUTIFUL HOME. •
"And inside—mind you,we were
fresh from three months in the wil-
derness—we found rugs, pictures,
wall paper, a pianola, many books,.
baths, beautiful. white bed -rooms
with snowy mosquito curtains, elec-
tric lights, running water, and
above all an. atmosphere of home-
like comfort. We fell into easy
chairs and seized books and maga-
zines.
"The Somalis brought us trays
with iced and fizzy drinks in thin
glasses. When the time came we
crossed the veranda in the rear to
enter a spacious separate dining
room. The table was white with
napery, glittering with silver and
glass, bright with flowers. We ate
leisurely of a well -served course
dinner, ending with black coffee,
shelled nuts and candied fruit.
"Next day we left all this and
continued our march. About, a
month later, however, we encoun-
tered McMillan himself at Nairobi.
He insisted on our going back with
him, and very soon my companions'
and I tucked ourselves into a buck-
board behind four white Abyssinian
mules. McMillan, some Somalis
and Captain Duirs came along in a
similar rig.
"Our driver was a Hottentot half
caste from South Africa. He had a
flat face, a yellow skin, a quiet man-
ner and a competent hand. His
name was Michael. At his feet
crouched a small Kikuyu savage, in
blanket,. ear ornaments and all the
fixings, armed with a long lashed
whip and a raucous voice. At any
moment he was likely to hop out
over the . moving wheel, run for-
ward, bat the off leading muff, and
hop back again with
EXTRAORDINARY AGILITY.
"We rattled out of Nairobi and
swung into the Fort Hall road.
This famous thoroughfare, one of
three or four made roads in all
East Africa, is about sixty miles
long. It was built for strategic
purposes, but is used by thousands
of the natives on their way to see
the sights of the metropolis. As
during some seasons there is no wa-
ter for much of the distance a great
many pay for their curiosity with
their lives.
"At about 2 o'clock we suddenly
turned off from the road, apparent-
ly at random, down the intermin-
able grassy inclines that, form the
Athi Plains. By 4 o'clock we had
reached Juja, where tea and a great
table of bottles, ice and siphons
were waiting for us.
"The next morning we inspected
the stables, built a stone in a hol-
ism space, like a fort, with box
stalls opening directly into the
eourtyard and screened easefully
against the deadly :dies. The
horses, beautiful creatures, were
led forth each by his proud rand
anxious syoe. We tried them all,
,and selected our mounts for the
time of our stay.
"The syces were small black men,
learl and well formed, accustomed
to running afoot wherever their
Charges went, at .walk, lope or gal-
lop, Thus in a day they covered
credible distances over all sorts of
country, but were always at hand
to seize the bridle rein when. the
master wished to dismount. They
ate anti slept with their horses.
"Jnst outside the courtyard of
the stables` a Tittles barred window
had been cut through. Near this
wore eongregated a number of
ikuyu .savagee wrapped in their
b anke
is, reeeiving atWkturn a
portion of smacked Born from 'a
dusty white man
BEHIND THE BARS,
"They were a solemn, unsmiling,
strange, type of savage; and they
performed all the manual work
within the enclosure --squatting on
their heels and pulling methodi-
oally but slowly at the weeds; dig
ging their pangas; oariyilag
loads
to and fro or solemnly push.
ing a lawn mower, their blankets
wrapped shamelessly about their
necks,
"We went to mail a letter and
found the ,postmaster to he a gentle
voiced, polite little Hindu, who
greeted us smilingly, Three times
a week such mail as Juja gets
conies in via native runner; We
saw the latter, a splendid fig-
ure, almost naked, loping easily
down past the comfortably, airy
white man's clubhouse, his little
bundle held. before r e
him.
"The next afternoon the various
members of the party decided to do
various things. I elected to go out
with MVIcMillan while he killed a
wildebeest; and I am very glad I
did, You must imagine us driving
out in .a buekhoard behind four
small white Abyssinian mules. We
jogged along examining the herds
of game to right and left until
finally in a herd of zebras we espied
a, lone wildebeest,
"The wildebeest is the Jekyl anrcl
Hyde of the aminal kingdom. He
usually stands with his head down,
stolid, inert. the personification of
respectability and gravity. All of
a sudden up go his head and tail;
he buckjumps, cavorts, gambols,
bounds stiff legged, and acts gen-
erally, like an irresponsible infant.
It is astonishing and disconcerting
to see a whole herd of these grave
and reverend seigneurs suddenly
blow up into such capers.
"When we caught sight of the
lone wildebeest I thought we would
descend from. the buckboard ,and
approach to within some sort of
long range. Not at all. Michael,
the Hottentot, turned the buck-
board out of the road and
HEADED FOR THE ANIMALS,
Over stones that sent us into the
air, down into and out of gullies,
we went. I was occupied with the
state of my spinal column and the
retention of myteeth, but McMillan
must have been keeping his eye on
the game. One peculiarity of the
wildebeest is that he cannot see be-
hind him. Also he is curious.
Sooner or later this one would be
sure to stop to look back and see
what was the.eause of the row we
were making. Just before doing so
he would slow down for a few steps.
McMillan was watching for this
symptom.
" `Now !' he yelled, when he saw
it
"Instantly Michael threw his
weight' ' into the right rein and
against the brake. We swerved 'so
violeutly to the right and stopped
so suddenly that I nearly landed on
the broad' prairies. At the same
moment the wildebeest turned and
stopped, ' but even before he had
swung his head McMillan had fired.
It was extraordinary good quick
work, the way he picked up the
long range from the ,spurts of dust
where the bullets hit.
"At the third or fourth shot he
landed one. Immediately the beast
was off again at a tearing run, pur-
sued by a rapid fusilade from the
remaining shots. Then, with a vio-
lent jerk and a. yell, we were off
again.
"This time, since the animal was
wounded, he made for rougher
country. And everywhere that
wildebeest went we too were sure to
go. I do not know the name of the
manufacturer of the blackboard. If
I did, I shetild certainly recommend
it here.
"Twice more we swerved to our
broadside and cut loose £ e port
batteries.- Once more McMillan hit:
Then, en the fourth run, we gained
perceptibly. The beast was weak-
ening. When he came to a -stum-
bling halt we were not over a, hun-
dred yards fromhim, and McMillan
easily brought him down. We . had
chased him four or five miles, and
McMillan had fired nineteen shots,
of which two had hit. The rifle
practice throughout had been re-
markably good, and a treat to
watch. Personally, beside the fun
attending the show, T got some
mighty good exercise."
NO DANGER.
Miss Antique—I hope, driver, you
will not run away with rime
Cabby -••Bless yer, no alum ! I've
got a wife and silt young •'uns at
home already.
A SUMMER QRINK
WHICH STRENGTHENS
A delioions, -summer drink is iced
Bovril, Nix. a spoonful in a cold split
soda writer, , This is both cooling and.
strengthening, Cold bouillon served
alone or with toast or crackers is an
exquisite afternoon refreshment. Malto
a Quantity of Bovril with boiling water
in the usual manger and cool it in the
toe box. Marcy hostesses are serving this.
bouillon which is always excellent.
The best way to buy Bovril is in the
1 lb, bottles. These are by far the
most eeonomieal, being retailed usually
at $1.75, and contain eigbt tfzues as
much as the bottle usually sold at 35o.
We will gladly send on application a
very useful leaflet on invalid and
metal dietetics, which explains why
fovril aids digestion and enables von
to absorb the full nourishment from,
Your ordinary diet,
Address: Bovril, Limited, 57 St. Peter
9t„ Montreal.
MANIA FOR EVERYBODY.
Scientists Collect List of Manner-
isms and Give Thent Big Names.
Are you a maniac f What a per-
sonal question! What an absurd.
suggestion ! Of course, you are not
--at least, you don't think you are,
Mental scientists think otherwise,
and they have just invented• a
frightful list of names for our little
manias, nags
says Pearson's WeeIl;Iy.
After all, a maniac is only aper-
son suffering from a mania and, al-
though the word is associated in
our minds with the inmates of asy-
lums, there are others, as the, catch
phrase says;
"Mother, 3'o•hnny will have to see
a. doctor at once," any fond father
might well say,; after reading the
British Medical Journal; "the poor
little fellow has undoubtedly got
stomatodactylomania."
"Oh, James, whatever makes
you say that? What an awful dis-
ease!" mother would reply.
As a matter of fact, the awful
sounding disease is really not ,lan-
gerous, and is only the baby habit
or mania. for 'sucking the fingers
under the selected scientific name.
No fretful little mister will ever
dare to bite his nails again after
the latest edition to our knowledge.
Tell him he is a. regular onycho
phagomaniac, and if that doesn't
frighten him, nothing will.
There is hardly a single person—
minor key, have all been classed
under the heading of sharnsonios
maniacs, and, as such, tfhoy should
be phut up away from their fellow --
men until they are quite cured.
RNIf.'ING A MAIM.
Bravo Deed of a British Sailor at
Santa Lncia.
Whether sharks really eat human.
beluga or not, no one likes to be
chased or to see a friend chased by
one of them, And so, whether Wil-
liam Tozer actually saved his ship-
mate's life or not, he did a very
brave thing, in a very neat and
workmanlike manner.
When George Kirstell, teward of
the British steamship Ramsay, fell
overboa•id while the steamer was
coaling at Santa Lucia, Captain
Mallen and the officers and crew,
most of whom were on deck, laugh-
ed heartily at the plight of the
steward. Kirstell was inno partic-
ular clanger, for he is a strong swim-
mer., but he was not in a, pleasant
humor, with the 'soaking ,his clothes
were getting and the merriment of
the crew at his expense.
A strong tide had swept him
away from the steamer, but he was
leisurely swimming back, whet
those on deck saw the fin of a shari'
corning through the water in his
direction with alarming speed.
They shouted a warning, and the
steward 'swam as he never had be
fore, while Captain Mallen set.
about getting a life -boat over the
side. But -the captain and creu-
soon realized that before the boat
could reach Kirstell the shark
would overtake him.
They lowered .away, but before
the boat was, in the water Kirstell's
efforts had brought him almost be.
neath the overhang of the stern.
and the shark was less than a dozen
feet behind. The men who had not
manned the life -boat turned aside
in dread of seeing Kirstell dragged
beneath the water, when William
Tozer, the third officer, a. big Eng-
lishman, sprang on to the rail and
dived overboard. Iii one hand he
clutcked his big sailor's knife, its
blade ready opened.
His body sscarcely, raised a ripple
as it cut into the water, but an in-
stant later there was a tremendous
New modern plant of E. W. Gillett Company Limited, Toronto, Ont., consisting
of six•buildings, with three Railway sidings and separate office building.
man, woman or child—who is not
the victim of some mania or pecu-
liarity, :many of which have been
allotted blood -curdling names.
Everyone has at some time or other
seen distressing examples of the
equimaginomaniac. Probably they
didn't recognize the disease under
its scientific title. No doubt the
afflicted person did strike :theta as
being possessed of a, quaint habit,
but when they saw he of the riding
breeches and leggings switching his
legs under the vain impression that
he was bestride a horse, they had
no idea his case was so 'serious:
There is, after all, some good.
reason for the modern craze among
men ruthlessly to chop off their
beards or moustaches. The practice
is really akin to vaccination. It
guards, or is said to guard, our sa-
cred person from the terrors of
smallpox, and in the razor lies our
chance of safety against .becoming
a raoustachio-strepsomaniac. Once
we allow our moustaches to grow,
we are in danger and if we find our-
selves twirling a flowing military
ornament or nervously fingering a
stubby upper lip, we are infected
with the deadly disease.
Now that the holiday season is
coming along, many of us will be
going to the country for a fort-
night, and in the fields and quiet
lanes we may at any moment be
confronted by a capillioirriomaniac,
We need not stay at home or pur-
chase a Browning automatic for
fear of meeting one•of these mani-
acs, for if. we, do this specialform of
disease will only evince itself in the
oft -observed habit of pushing his
hat to the back of his head and
scratching.the scalp, generally prior
to answering any question on sub-
jects which call for more, considera-
tion than a remark- an the weather
or the state of the farm Crops. •
The bulk of thesemaniacs which
science has tabulated might well be
left at large, but they have located`
and named --as the naturalists say
—one epecies which, harmless
though it is. is nevertheless a nui-
sance to mankind, The man or wo-
man Who .trurns on the window-
pane or desk, -the people who insist
on humming tunes with 'utter dis-
rennrd to the 'author's original in-
tellti )ns. incl the soulful-lcoleing
ym th who persists in whistling
doleful dirges in a mare or less
commotion where the shark had
been coming on. Its tail lashed the
water, and the big fin thrashed up
and down. Then it disappeared
amidst the reddening water, and a
moment later Tozer rose to the sur-
face, to catch a long breath and
strike out easily for the steamer.
When he and Kirstell had been
hauled aboard, the young third offi-
cer explained that he had merely
Vin.(nG. M co 'P�� "'.-. "`." -"*
2 ° P,�
his
P l sund
led
ackag ::•
Ask your
Oro sra o tV t
CANADA SUGAR REFINING CO. UMITED. MONTREAL
performed a trick .common to many
of the natives of the south seas,
where he has cruised for many
years. He had tinned his dive to
•come up beneath the shark, and
had ripped him open with the big
knife. There was some danger if
you missed the shark the first time,
he confessed.
R'
INTELLECTUAL PILLS.
To Increase Ulan's Physical and
Mental Vigor.
It took a German scientist to in-
vent the intellectual pill.
The basis of this is a drug called
a.ntikenootoxin, which has the quai-
ityof neutralizing the poisons which
are said to be the cause of mental
fatigue.
Dr. Weiehardt, professor at the
University of Erlangen, Germany,
recently demonstrated that the
muscles of animals suffering from
physical • or mental weariness
secrete a certain poison, to which
he gave the nanie kenotoxin. Then
it was shown that antikenotoxin in-
jected into a man increased his
physical and mental vigor."
This led Prof. Lorentz to think of
utilizing antikenotoxin to stimulate
brain work. He considered that
errors of calculation, for example,
should be set down to fatigue.
He found that problems given to
his . class in mathematics at the be-
ginning of the lesson were solved in
five minutes by three students; in
eight minutes by thirty-three; in
ten minutes by sixteen. Other
similar problems, given at the close
of the lesson were solved in five
minutes by one student; in eight
minutes by twenty-seven; in ten
minutes by twenty-three. Evi-
dently, said the professor, itis men-
tal fatigue that causes 'the slower
work.
40101001.1,
On a subsequent day Prof. Lor-
entz vaporized antikenotoxin in the
class -room first before the close of
the period and then set his pupil:
problems as before.. The result was
that they were solved in three min
utes by three students; in four
minutes by thirty-one, andin ten
minutes by one. And the solutions
contained fewer errors than usual.
This was the origin of Dr. Lor-
entz's intellectual pills. European
physicians are still a bit sceptical,
saying the pills must be subjected
to more thorough tests.
PANSIES GIVE A SURPRISE.
Seed Must Have Lain Dormant
More Than a Century.
The Rev. Tertius Poole, Vicar of
Culnastoek, in Devon, England,
tells a curious story of the results
of ploughing in. a grass lawn the
year before last for the purpose of
turning it into a rose garden. He
says the lawn had not been disturb-
ed for quite a hundred years. •A
parishioner who is 95 years of age
says that his father used to mow it
when he was a child. Since it has
been ploughed in it has been cover-
ed with an amazing assortment of
pansies of splendid quality.
"No seed," says_ the vicar, "has
been sown nor have there been any
pansies nearby.' The only solution
I can give is that the seed must
have lain dormant in the soil for
mare than a century."
One of the pansies, it appears, is
of an altogether unusual type, be-
ing like a gold and bronze butter-
fly.
Occasionally we meet a grown
man who can eat almost as much as
a small boy.
Camilla
A
root
cellar
like this
won a prize
last year.
THE drawing was made
from a photograph of
the root -cellar with which D.
A. Purdy, of Lumsden, Sask., won
a cash prize itt last year's contest. In that last
contest there were 36 prizes. There will be three
times as many prizes (108) in the
1912 FARMERS' PRIZE CONTEST
RtrS you will have three times as many chances of winning a cash
prize. You do flet have 'to use any certain amount of Canada Cement
to win a prize.. There are absolutely no "strings" to this offer.
There are twelve prizes for each Province (three of $50 ; three of $25; three of
$15 and three of $IO) and you Compete only with other farmers in your own Prov-
ince and not with those all over Canada,
It makes no difference whether you have ever used cement. Many of last year's winners
had not used it until they entered the contest, When you writefor full particulars, we will
send you, free, .a book, "What the Farmer Can ba Wilk Concrete," which tells everything
you need to know about concrete. tt is absolutely free, and you are under no
obligation to buy "Canada" Cement or to do anything else for tis.
Want yoar name and whiten oh the coupon, and mail 11, or nee letter or poet card and
• we will toedyou at once the boos•, and full partfautars o1 the 1912 5'r17e Contest,
Addeo* Irohlteitr Menais
earnest Company Limited
504.554 Herald Btuldieg, Mao real
„„•an.
eaesaesossieseessasesseaeseesebeseiossasia
On the Farm
CONSERVING SOIL .MOI$TURIL
The damage directly attributable
to drouth represent an enormous
annual loss to farmers. If we would
devote more attention to the work
of conserving soil moisture during
the spring and early summer, the
summer drouths would be far lass
destructive to our growing crops,
There are few seasons when there
is not sufficient moisture to mature
good crops if proper methods' are
employed in handling our soils so
that the moisture will not be lost:
through evaporation during the pri -
many growth of the crop.
The growth of crops should n
bo retarded at a time when it ill's i�
within our power to provide them
withof r
zn stn e.
The average farmer begins every
spring with an average supply of
moisture in his soil to supply' the
crops through a rainless season,
but on mo
stof our farina arm the lack
of drainage and indifference to the
conservation of moisture reduce
the yield of crops.
After the soil moisture has been
allowed
to evaporate we are pow-
erless to provide a new supply for
the crops that have been robbed.
Summer drouths can he avoided in
no other way than by improving
the water -holding capacity of the
soils and shaping the methods of
tillage and cultivation so than we
may prevent the .loss 'of the mois-
ture with which they are saturated
at the beginning of the• season.
On many soils underdrainage is
necessary and will produce won-
derful changes in the character of
the soil. It improves its action to-
ward heat, light penetration of
roots, and the implements used in
the preparation and cultivation
and stimulates bacterial action,.
which we are just beginning to arp-
precia'te as an important factor in.
soil fertility.
BENEFITS OF SPRAYING.
For the purpose of showing the -
farmer and fruit grower how . he
might save that part of the apple
crop which .is usually sacrificed to "7
insect and fungi, most excellent ex-
periments were made duting one
entire season by the Kansas Col-
lege of Agriculture, the college -men
going into the •field and personally.
carrying on the work of spray
The results of the spraying
uniformly good, and the owners '.o
the sprayed orchards were well
pleased,
The following splendid results of
this work are valuable to farmers
and fruit -growers in ' Canada as
well as Kansas, for they demon-
strate beyond a doubt the helpful-
ness of spraying.
Commercial results from seven
widely separated orchards, includ-
ing both commercial and home types
and composed of the varieties of-
apples
fapples recognized as standard in
Kansas, carefully sprayed showed
an average gain of four bushels in
actual yield of merchantable fruit
per tree, or 37 per cent., compared
with untreated . parts of the same
orchards.
Not only was the actual and rela-
tive amount of merchantable fruit
materially increased, but .the aver-
age percentage of number ones and
number twos, which are the high-
priced
h-
prieed grades, was also increased
by fifteen per cent. and 6.6 per cent.
respectively.
The average net profit from
spraying was shown to be $1.62 per
tree, or $97.20 per acre when the
fruit was sold as orchard run, and
to be almost doubled when proper-
ly graded and marketed.'
All seriously injurious insects and
fungous diseases have been marked-
ly reduced and most of them have
been made almost negligible.
Prepared lime, sulphur plus arse-
nate of lead has produced the best
results on apples subjected to Bor-
deaux injury and nearly free from
apple blotch, while Bordeaux mix-
ture plus arsenate of lead gave best
results on varieties attacked by ap-
ple blotch.
DAIRY SUGGESTIONS.
The universal interests > he
problem of increasing dairy profits
through the cow -testing associations
show that dairy farmers are willing;.
to learn better ways when they
have convincing prod to sustain a
theory..
Some dairy farmers who are pro-
ducing veal and cream from the
same cows milk the cows partially
and let the calves finish. pretty
rich feed for the calves for the fat
content of the first milking is about
two per . cent. fat. A little dairy
education would save $1.00 a year
in many dairies in : this one point
alone.
It is imperative ,that we provide
some means oftiding the dairy
herd over the season of failing pas-
tures, instead of vainly regretting
that it has occurred,
The dairyman who depends upon
the pasture during t1%e'sutnnaer and
hay during the vlinter. to feedhis
cot' is treading on treacherous
ground..
1