HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1914-10-8, Page 6TNF CAPITAL -MF O:.1611lM
THE ORIGIN OF THE cart OF
BRUSSELS.
A Seeond,Pari'is on a Smaller Seale,
and (las a Population
of 200;000.
Some time in the sixth century
let. Gory, the Apostle of Belgium,
fixed his abode on an island in the
River Senile, and gathered a village
community round him, to which he
ave his owe name. Such, accord-
ing to tradition, is the origin of the
city of Brussels. Whether the era,
dition is authentic or not, both the
town and its name can claim a his-
tory going back over at least four-
teen oenturies. Mention of Broek-
sole or Bvnosedle, "the village on
time brook, occurs in the chronicles
of the eighth and tenth centuries.
Situated on one . of the main
Frankish roads, Brussels ,possessed
ooneiderabl.e strategic and trading
importance. ;The Emperor Otto the
Great funded or endowed the
church of St. Gudule here in, 988,
aid later in the same century
Oharles, Duke of Lorraine, made it
the centre of his court. Afterwards
it became the chief seat of -.the wax-
like Dukes of Brabant, In the fif-
teenth century Brusselshad grown.
from St. Gery's primitive settle-
ment into, a flourishing trading town
of 45,000 .inhabitants, a very large
city under medieval conditions,
though . at the same epoch Ghent
could number a. quarter, od• a million
citizens. It was then surrounded by
the city wall, which, •according to
the ohrenielers, took twenty two
years to build, and which remained
until 1830,
Besieged and Bombarded.
In its subsequent history the city
saw the brilliant courts of the Dukes
of Burgundy.. and of the Spanish
and Austrian Emperors. It was the
scene of the first rising in the Ne-
therlands against the Spanish domi-
nation. During the war of the
Spanish Succesasio•n it was besieged
and bombarded by the French under
Villeroi„ who plied the city with
red hot shot. In the conflagration
which ensued many of its ancient
monuments were destroyed, and six-
teen churches and four thousand
houses are said bo have been burn-
ed to the ground., Brussels has also
its historioal associations with the
French Revolution, for in the
Grand Place the French Republic
was proclaimed by Doumourier.
Modern Brussels, the beautiful
and well-plannedcapital, dates
from the revolution of 1830, when.
the uneasy partnership of Holland
was :dissolved. Since that date the
city: has beau practically trans-
formed
ransformed by the zeal and energy of
its 'burgomaatera, aided and sup-
ported by the Belgian rulers. In
particular Bruslseis owes much of its
beauty to ging Leopold II. Of
him one of the recent historian's of
Belgium has said that "Brussels was
little mere than a provincial Mown
when he carne to the throne; he
made it acity of palaces." Apart
from bhe strategic reasons that dic-
tated its abandonment at this time,
it can hardly be matter for surprise
that the Belgian authorities should
Shrink from risking the destruction
of the fruits of the labor of the last
four generate -one by offering a re-
sistanee t, its entree which at best
could have little military result. It
may be hoped that, however the tide
alf wax may roll, ,B•ruesels will be
i spared from the'horrors
Pof lam-
bardanent..
Long, ;red.Varied.
But despite ,the transformation
which has made it a second Paris on
)3. smaller `;but scarcely lees impres-
sive scale, Brussels presents in its
arehibecture many records of its
long and varied history. The
churches of St. Gudule, and the old
market place, the Grand Place,
,where the Dukes of Burgundy held
bheir tourneys, and where the pa-
triots, Count Egmont and Hoorn,
were executed by the Spanish, carry
the mind bask to medieval bianes,
The.University, hours ?•eethe pe-
ace 'built;
al-ace'built e'er COtardrsbg":Granvelle
febeeSsjenhertian and Jakob van Noyen,
y speaks of the Renaissance period,
The upper ,town preserves•, its eigh-
teenth century •aristocratic flavor in
c ntradi:seinction to the more fined
• am .and restless ,architecture of the
Quaartier Leopold. An enumeration
Iof ihe numerous fine' buildings, old
and modern, of tile Belgian capital
—the ,Palais de 1a Nation, the Pal -
leis de .Beaux Arts, the Hotel de
Ville and the rest—would be tech:-
7cu's. No visitor to Brussels, how-
rover, can •avoid the sight of that
came -reading and imposing structure.
1 the •Paige• do Justice. This, gigue
tie btiilding', the tergest of the' nine-
teentla century, rovers en area eon -
r aklrrably larger than St. Peter's at
fl rime, and in lits serengbh and sa1iel-
ity,necalls, the, monuments bhab!rave
coMe down from the ancient ctvili-
Zettio/1e of Egypt and Assyria. It is
indeed largely designed on bhe mod-
e ls of the ,teanple.s at Lemma and
insveh. Ilia great structure,
taIti
t,i
n 16,06, was not eomplated un-
it 1083, toed emit Wohxee, two and a
x040,.:mC.':
Bathing Houses at Fashionable Ostend Now Shelter Belgian Refugees.
Ostend is the fashionable watering pleas of Belgium, and its miles or more of bathing houses -have been
one of the sights of European travel. They are more than usually interesting just now beceuee they are
being used to house the Belgian women and children, whose homes were burnt by the German invaders.
half million pounds sterling to con-
struct.
The City of Brussels Proper,
that is the municipal area enclosed
by the Boulevards, has a population
of about 200,000. It is surrounded
by a ring of nine suburbs, which
in the prosperity that has attended
the little kingdom during eighty*
years of peace, have grown with
amazing rapidity. This Greater
Brussels — the "Agglomeration
Bruxellois"—•contains a population
of 700,000 souls. Brussels is e. bi-
lingual city. In it the two elements
that go to make up the nation min-
gle, and while French is the busi-
nese language Flemish prevails in
several quarters Of the town. The
city is the centre of a number of in-
dustries. Brussels lace and )3rus-
sels carpets are knorwn everywhere.
The furniture and carriage -making
industrie.a employ many workers;
there are also cotton and woollen
manufactures, and a good deal of
brewing is done. In our own day
also Brussels, though 70 miles from
the sea, may be said to have be-
come One of Belgium's •seaports, be-
ing connected by canal with the
Scheldt,
'These mercantile developments,
however, have played burl a subsi-
diery part in the, rapid growth of
Brussels. It is a. residential city,
the seat of Government and the
Court, the centra of tate kingdom's
artistic and educational activities,
that it has attracted to itself the
well-to-do and aristocracy of Bel-
gium. That fact that minimizes to
a considerable extent the impor-
tance which attaches to it at the
present time, It occupies no such
position relatively to Belgium as
London does to our country. The
occupation of London by a, foreign
Power would be a blow from which
Britain might find it hard to re-
cover, so intimately is the organiza-
tion of'nationa3 industry and finance
bound up with the capital. The oc-
cupation of Brussels, art the other
hand, unweleome and distressing as
it must be to Belgian national feel-
ing, carries with it no each paralysis
of national activity,
S
Genius and Brains.
Investigations show that the
brain of the famous M. Bertielon,
late head of the Identification De-
partment in the Prefecture of Po-
lice in Paris, was considerably
above the •average in weight. Such
brilliant men as Bismarck, Cuvier,
Kant and Turgenief also possessed
brains far :beyond the portion al-
lotted to ordinary mortals. Tur-
genief'Possessed one of the, heaviest
brains on record. Appareiitta,
tlh.eret•ire, that peceelar grey mat-
tes known as brain plays a very
important part in the sueeess of
mankind. We are apt to dub a fail-
ure as "lacking in brains." Con-
tradictory to this, however, is the
fact that men whose genius has
moved the world, and whose brains
will be remembered for all time,
have been the owners of brains far
below the average in weight. The
brains of Descartes, (Shelly, and
Schumann, for instance, weighed
considerably below the normal
standard.
How All May Help.
There are some who Seel that ow-
ing to oireum,stanoes er respoesi-
bilities they are cut off from any
obviously clear way of giving active
co-operation for -the national bene-
fit. It seems bo me that anyone
who' • feels that he may .at least
ob.arge himself with this responsibil-
ity: that no action of itis, directly:
indirect) of
or y, o • s those e
os he can in-
fluence, shall tend bo accentuate,
aid to inolkease Suet anxiety ail no-
cessarily prevails a'alt present.--
Arebbishodr. of Canterbury,
GENERAL. SMITH-DOILRIEN.
$as Covered the Whole Ground
Open to British Soldiers.
General Sir Horace L. Smath-
Dorrien, is the first great hero elf
the war. General Sir John French
in his official report to the War Of-
fice, gave the whole credit of sav-
ing the entire left wing of the 'Bri-
tish .army in. France from ,annihila-
tion et the hands of the Germnna,
to Smith-Dorrien, who, by the way,
was in command of the Canadians
in the South African War. General
French declares him to be a "cam -
mender of rare and unusual cool-
ness, intrepidity, and determina-
Sir Horace has covered pretty
well the whole, groued o'gen—until
the other day to an English sol-
dier. That means Egypt (many
times), South Africa (twice), India,
and a host of "penny fights at Al-
dershot," His first fighting was in
the South African war that ended
with disaster at M'ajuha. He was
at the babble of Islaudula—d,tself a
tragedy, but by no means an inglori-
ous one, though still something of
a mystery. Our men died there
tike Englishmen, but the "more
one sees the ground," weak Oollsy
after the event, "the more unintel-
ligible eh'e whole affair is. 'llhe mar-
vel of how a ]urge hostile army
could have remained in the vicinity
unnoticed grows upon nee," When
Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien writes
his memoirs lie will now have great-
er .battles' to describe, but let him
not forget the engagement that won
him his first medals and still puz-
zles the historians.
At Ielandula, las at Ginnie, he had
seen the most serious fighting that
could possibly have come his way.
Ginner was the most thorough
piece of business put through by
our Egyptian army before Kitchen-
er took it in hand, and Sir Horace
put ,the finishing touches to the en-
gagement when he and his mounted
troops . pursued the retiring enemy.
A few years later, and hs joined
the Chitral Relief Force; and in:
1898 lehlamtum creme to 'corn -Plebe, en
a larger coals,' his military edueae
tion in that past of the world. Four-
teen years ago he was given com-
mend of the loth Brigade in South
Africa. He kept the lines of gom-
nntnicatidon south of P.reboria, and
his brigade harried the Boers . ecu-
tinually, Be cams through with,
pronaotaon, and with Lord Xi-eche-ewe-
for
i-echeew-for a backer, Evan Botha, most
chary in his aclmmra,tions for Eng-
lish generals, _found an opportunity
of complimenting the mast pressing
of hie adversaries,
The Eighth Campaign.
Sir Romeo was half-imolinled, to
think of South Africa, are the last of
his batble-gromnd's. At the close of
the war he went eo India, in ,place
of Lord Kitchener, for thmee years;
after India came Aldershot, and.
with Aldemhot=his' A.D,0.-slete fo,
the King in 1910. His marriage
twelve years ago marked rthe close,
of his seventh campaign, and though
he had not •set ` his mind on an
eighth, The was not' unprepared. At
Altdershiot,' is it happened, he had
brought manoeuvres into line with
eon tin e,nail realism, Dispensing
with besets, he bivouacked his men
in rho open as in war time, I,ord
ICitc•hener had planned' that the
Scolttislt and Light .Divisions of his
new army ,should go through the
same oonrse, Sir Horace end bit.
chief bad arranged things together
at the War Office when the news of
General Sir J. M. Grierson'a death
eamo over the wires,. It 'book Lord
Kitchener exec* three minutes to
appoint as successor.
Unlike sceeral of .flue big military
men of the moanene, Sir Horace fee
?ublic School boy, . Ire is one of
the Harrowers of the. enemy. The
son of a (soldier ea late captain in
the 3rd Light Dragoons and 16bh
Lancers), Six Horace was born
fifty-six years ago ; two elder bro-
thers entered Me navy, and one the
church. His family is the same—
with a difference !—as thab which
lords it in the Seilly isles:
"King of the Scillies" is
the local title given Mr.
Tboanas Smith Dorrien-Smibh, who
can claim among other distinetaons
ttrat he is probably the only Eng-
1•ishmen to go to the trouble of as-
suming the name of Smith by Royal
License, French, says the French-
man, was the predestined name of
the •counmander-in-chief of the expe-
ditionary forces; Horace Lockwood
Smith-Domrien has its value, too;
it is British, and it sounds well in
the ears e£ everybody who knows
the record behind it.
He Loves His Soldiers.
He is a man who love's his work.
Bat above all he loves the men who
wear the British unifoxen. Mat is
bhe great secret of his success. He
knows his men. He has •studied
their welfare ;mid requirements, and
above all he trusts them. That is
why -he is called "Tommy Atkins'•s
pal." When he undertook the Al-
dershot command in 1907 he decided
to trust the soldier's sense of honor
rather than bhe ,system, of picketing
to keep ceder in the streets.
One of the pluckiest acts perform-
ed by es British officer stands to the
credit of Genesee Smutlh-Doraien.
Mixing the South African war This
brigade; which included bhe Gordon
Highlanders, moved forward to take
the main Boer position at Doarn-
kap. The Highlendens dashed up
the hill impetuously, and General
Smith-Dorrien, realizing their dan-
ger of being surrounded, set off as
fast as 'has horse could galloap
straight amass the enemy's front in
order to 'turn them back.
The onlookers held their breath
as a hail of bullets beat up the earth
all rbaund the intrepid rider, but lie
came through unscathed, and hav-
ing sueceeded in his object, calmly
returned to bis position in the rear
of the troops, and proceeded to de-
velop his plane for the attack as
quietly se though be were exercis-
ing troops on the parade ground..
.•
(t jL&iq JUSTICE.
Until Recently Trials Were Most
One-sided and Unjust.
The Lorean judge dispenses jus-
tice in the open, and by etiquette
omdy the judge. *en sit. Every one
else must stand, except the prisoner
and his friends, who are forced to
remain in a humble, kneeling posi-
tion with bowed herads. Until quite
recently these trials were always
very one-sided and ehoekingly un-
julst.
When a man was brought to a
judge it wag taken far granted he
was guilty, and if he did not eon-
fess he was tortured end made to.
do to. Witnesses, too, were openly
bribed. In foot, giving evidence, for
or against en 'accused person meant
a living to a portion of the com-
munity, and these witnesses natur-.
lolly favored these who paid best,
1'
Drink "Dish" of Tea.
The ¶Iiavistoek—the: bachelors'
hotel in Covent Garden• -as prof,
ably the only place in London
where a man, must . 'drink his.
"dish" of tea after the fashion of.
a eenttiry and more ago, These
lilies are cups without ..handles.
They are larger than those used by
our great - great - grandmothers,
which woulid hardly suit the 'modern
masculine demand, The Tavisbock
dishes are of uniform pattern —
white china with a, bread' blue band.
II4EM THE WHITEST, LIOIH'
°I1TAINS
1,3s�u--1M
E. W.
WINNIPEG
M AllfJl. I(IIl ij laic :f11toMO?
TO GUARD AGAINST ALUM
TO
IN BAKING POWDER SEE
THAT ALL INGREDIENTS
.RE PLAINLY PRINTED ON
THE LABEL,AND THAT ALUM
OR SULPHATE QF ALUMINA
OR SODIC ALUMINIO SUL-
PHATE IS NOT ONE OF
THEM. THE WORDS "NO
ALUM". WITHOUT THE IN-
GREDIENTS IS NOT SUFFI-
CIENT.. MAGIO BAKING
POWDER COSTS: NO MORE
THAN THE ORDINARY
KINDS. FOR ECONOMY, BUY
THE ONE POUND TINS.
,11,111 II I
isms
ea
BISCUIT,CAIIEA
THIS
n BAKING POWDER
ISCOMPOSED ermE
FORMING MSet-
ENTsAHOHOaasEVDU :
PHOSPHATE OMAN,
OVATE
OUATEOFSOOAN0
STARCH
„nY u
IbtIn;prCO5JMl ,„,,,,�
Nro.w*.
kiln NS NAA -iso
GILLETT COMPANY LIMITED
TORONTO, ONT.
MONTREAL
is
FIRE AS BACON TO SNIPS
PRACTICE DATES BACK TO
DAWN OF HISTORY.
Modern Devices on Which the In-
termittent Beacons Are
Operated.
The use of fires to inform the na-
vigator at dark and in foggy wea-
ther of the (proximityof the coast
and of. his actual ppsition can bo
dated back to the days of Grecian
antiquity. In ancient times torches
were lighted or heaps of logs burnt,
but our inventive age has produced
beoons in which the rays from vari-
ous sources of light are re -enforced
by mirrors and lenses. These beac-
ons, in accordance with the rapid
strides made by navigation, have
lately Ibsen developed to extraord-
inary perfection and variety.
The airman requires a similar
means to find his way in the atmos-
pheric ocean las navigators at sea.
Whereas the light from beacons in
the sea need be seen only in a prac-
tically horizontal direction, lights
for aerial navigation must so give
out their beams as to be visible
from any point of space situated
above the lowest flying level.
A Berlin (Germany) firm has for
some years a been engaged in experi-
mental work destined to produce
special types of searchlight for
aerial navigation. The first type of
aerial !beacon which they evolved
WAS
A Stationary Apparatus
radiating freely in an upward di-
rection ,beams of light coming from
the upper hemisphere, whereas the
teams from the lower hemisphere
were deflected in a ,practically hoii-
zontal direction by a set of
prisms. The type eventually de-
veloped, however, comprises sever-
al belts of lenses, sending out uni-
formally in all directions the beams
of a lamp placed in the focus.
A point was made from the outset
so to design these intermittent
beacons as to allow each place to
be distinguished from any other by
some characteristic mark. Each
aoriel beacon must have a dis'bine-
tive mark of its own, this being the
only means of reducing the risk of
the aeronaut's nosing this way. ,Such
marks are made up of variable suc-
cessions of light flashes denoting
given figures.
These characteristic flashes en-
able the aeronaut, with the aid of
his log !book, .at a moment's notice
to ascertain the place where the
beacon is situated. Other methods
of characterizing the place, e.g.,
by e sequence of long and short
flashes, in accordance with, the
Morse alphebet, or' by' multioglored
lanterns, would mob seem oto be de-
sirable. In• ,foul, the use of the
borse'eigns would presuppose 'a
perfect familiarity with the Morse
alphabet, and the •adoption of col-
ored lights would ;be impracticaible
oe account of the considerable re-
duction in luminous intensity, due
to the insertion of colored glasses.
The Aerial Beacons
are designed to emit en unlimited
sequence of flashes of sufficient lu-
minous intensity. Electric ' incan-
descent 'lamps or gas (e.g., acety-
lene or Blau gas) lanterns are used
as sources of light. One is an elec-
tric searchlight comprising special
lamps (of up to 50,000 candle power)
surrounded Iby a lens ;system which
is so designed" that the beams of
light in clear weather are visible
up to 40 kilometers as a minimum.
A glass globe covers the lenseson
the top, a discharge hood serving to
prevent exeessive healing in the in-
terior of the lamp.
'The distinctive flashes previously.
referred to are produced by a spec'
ial switch. Xn flashing the (beacons
for aerial navigation the end sit -
nal is of great importance. While
marking flashes of ono and one-half
seconds as it maximum have been
found to .be absolutely sufficient, a
light of about five seconds' dura-
tion is desirable for t'he stud signal.
Wherever electrical energy is
available the use of eleoteie seatrch-
lights. wall be feund • preferalble,
Whereto on anouneaiu tope and close
to the seacoast, where there is no
eupply of electricity, gins -operated
beacons .are need to advantage.
Rotating 'beacons have also been
constructed_ which combine the
beau of !light in a bundle ascii as
a narrow turn -Moue band teaching
froyn the horizon to the zenith, In
order to be seen from all points of
space this (band must be given a ro-
tation round its axis.
ACTIVITIES OF WOMEN
I
New York has awoman night
watchman.
Women ere now considered just
as able as men. .
A woman can exist on slightly less
food 'than a man.
Girds are used in Germany as
caddies by the golfers.
There are over 150,000 telephone
girls in the United States,
Maine is the latest state to grant
pensions to widows.
New York City has over 100,000
girls and women studying home-
makm
Therg,e are over 7,000,000 female
bread -winners in the United Stapes,
More than 10,000 women have
asked fox widow's pensions in Penn-
sylvania.
New York has over 20,000 gala
who are walking the streets looking
for work.
Bombay, India, bas 119 munieipal
areas in which women possess ,the
franchise.
A sister of General Villa, the
Mexican rebel leader, attends
echool in a Nebraska city.
The majority of women workers
in the paper -box industry in New
York are earning less than $6.50
a week.
The German postal department
employs over 8,000 girls, whose
wage's range from $12.50 to $17.50
a month.
At the present ,time 113 women
have the right to wear the coveted
red ribbon of the French Legion of
Honor.
Paris women are defying the po-
lice in that city by wearing their
hatpins unprotected as provided by
law.
The French Senate is considering
the passage of a bill that will make
marriage matzoh easier in that Form
try.
Frieda Hempel, the opera singer,
has received first prize at the Ber-
lin Food. Show with her potato salad
reoipe.
In all German cities with over 50,-
000 population there,are only e6 wo-
men medical d'octoraand only 32 wo-
men dentists.
Oyes 5,200 young women are at-
tending universities in Germany
this year, being five times as many
es there were four years ago.
Washing their mouths with soap
and water as. the -punishment .,meted
uiib it du'sobedtent•giris in the 'New
Jersey State home fax girls. '
Miss Marie Tompkins, a woman of
unusual strength, is in charge of
the dedeceive equal in aPhiladel-
phia department store,
Miss Mary Best of Barber Coun-
ty, Kansas, is the best-known ear -
mer in that State, where she runs a
large farm on scientific principles,
Among the seventeen who quell -
sad for the position of assistant den-
tist in the bureau of health of
Philadelphia was one woman who
was second on the list.
Mrs. Katharine Wrexham, who is
bringing suit against a London
store, acted es her own lawyer re-
cently and made a nine -hour speech.
in her appeal for a new•trial, •
Graduates of Philadelphia Wo-
man's Medical. College have organ-
ized to consider plans for raising
$500,000 to be used in expanding
the facilities .and usefulness of the
college.,
S•
In Costa Rica.
Taking the country generally, the
laboring .classes, er peons, are
about two-thirds pure Indian. They
are induebriaus, and very many of
them are landowners in a smell
way. Coster Riots, in fact, has a
very large number of small land-
owners. That is one oettse of he
at ilia o the overnmenb for
evolu 1 ne so common" elsewhere1
r vo t o ,
in Latin America, and especiallly
in some of the neighboring Centrale
Atneri.oan ,eepubiiea, are unknown
in ;Corm Ries. As in the •Curled
Slates, they' have plenty of excite-
ment during an electoral campaign,
hut when the election is Iho1d, all
parties libido by the result.
'11.111 Al'lll-AYE.
lllaalagasoar Mammal Ts One of
Nature's Curiosities,
In spits of the well-worn maxim
that ":beauty is only skin deep,"
most people base their admiration,
in part et least, on external ap-
pearances. We are especially like-
ly to +prefer those four -footed ani-
mals that possess pleasing forms
and 'bright colors, Those that are
grotesque and ungainly, however,
have a fascination that is some-
times as hard to resist as to under-
stand.
None of the curious animals that
nature has fashioned is more ,spec-
tre -like than .the Madagasear mam-
mal called the aye -aye, Its gro-
tesque features suggest vividly the
weird creatures of a nightmare.
In The Animal World, Mr. W. S.
Berridge describes it as about three
feet in length, with long, coarse fur
of a dark brown or black color, The
tali is long and bushv, and the ears
are remarkabe for their .size. The
hands and feet are unlike those of
any other creature, for the fingers
and toes, with the exception of the
great 'toes, are exceedingly long
and slender, and furnished with at-
tenuated claws. These, combined
:with the peculiar staring eyes, give
the creature a most gruesome ap-
pearance.
The slender fingers play a curious
part in the feeding habits of the
aye -aye. By their aid the animal
can. dislodge from their hiding
places the grabs and insects that
-form aapart of its diet. When it
gets an -orange the aye -aye will first
bite a circular hole in the fruit, and
then hold it against the side of its
open mouth, while with the long
fingers of its disengaged hand it
scoops out the entire contents of
the orange until only the skin is
left.
The aye -aye is related to the le-
murs, although when it was first
discovered, its chisel -like teeth led
the naturalists to believe •blab it
was a rodent.
The natives of Madagascar great-
ly dread the aye -aye, and have a
superstitious fear that if they
should touoh one they will die with-
in n year eertain individuals, how-
ever, claim to have a secret power
by which they can overcome its evil
influence. When ib is accidentally
caught M the traps set for other
creatures, the owner of the trap,
unless he believes that he is pas-
ssssed of the secret power, liber-
ates it, after he has smeared fat
over its ,body as a peace offering.
d•
PORT OF WILD ANIMALS. .
Singapore Collection ('lace for Sav-
age Beasts..
More animals—wild ones, that is
—are shipped- from Singapore than
from any other port in the world.
Singapore is the collecting place for
half Asia, .and there are sbeamships
which actually specialize ,in this
trade 'and cater for it,
Elephants, panthers, leopards,
deer and monkeys of many keels,
crocodiles, snakes, in huge variety—
all these are shipped ab Singapore,
The collectors buy snakes wholesale
from the Chinese who are particu-
larly good about getting the crea-
tures iihey want. •
Wild animals won't stand confine-
ment in the hold of a ship, They
are all, or almost all, carried a•s
deck cargo. This means a lot of
extra risk, for a bad storm or a
sudden change of temperature may
play havoc with .•u valuable consign-
ment.
The most precious df all four-
legged
ourlegged passengers is a giraffe. A
giraffe is a most difficult creature
to catch clave, and when caught
too often dies before it reaches the
coast. For twenty years, from
1880 to 1000, only three giraffes
were brought to Europe. During
the present century the supply hes
been larger, owing to the •opente
up of East Africa, particatlarly: of
the Sudan.
A young giraffe, even before ship-
ment, is worth at least $1,000, and
neede two, men to look after it.
One that was sent from Delagoa
Bay to the Landon Zoo was eleven
feet high, and was packed in a huge
box ten feet laigh,' with an opening
in the top for the lengthy creature
to put.its head out. Something like
$250 worth of fodder was shipped
fox its consumption on the voyage.
and when it was landed the box was,
found to be toe big to go bhr'ongh
the railway tunnels, Beery ,
Every brill e and
g t gel eras
measured, then the box was re-
duced to eight feet, telescoping Mr.
Giraffe, ' but he • !arrived seely in
London none the worse,, for his
eraamr�ed journey,
A big elephant is an awkward sail,
m'al to handle, especially to get
ebolnrd ship. Elephants, as a rule,,
hate ellips, When Bern= bought
the faanoue Jumbo for $10,000, it
took about la week to perauado him
to enter the box in wbiolh he was
bvonbually rshipped,
No Trouble to Change,
"That is ,a beautiful hat."
'Acharming hay' said the saes-
, g ,
lady, "but net suitable to a 'brun-
ette• Now if you wore Only a
blonde,
"X m use have tat; hhat, XIII be a
blonde,. •
O