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The Brussels Post, 1959-11-26, Page 2.1T BIG AS ALL TEXAS — A permanent reproduction of the old fort is only part of the bigness of the movie, "The Alamo," now being filmed by John Wayne. The set will become a tourist attraction when the job is done, Laurence Harvey, right, has a hefty part in the script, along with Wayne, left. ;FABLE TALKS eiarve Am cbews Solve Mystery Of The Koala Bears. Although. Port Jackson, near Sydney, Was discovered and named by captain Cook, no white men settled there until 1.738, whew small colony was founded. Teri years later, a rung man from this colony set off to explore the land behind the port. On this journey he was destined to diseoVer One of Aus- tralia's most delightful animals. After travelling some sixty miles he reached the Blue Moun- tains, and here he came across an enchanting sight Sitting in the trees were great numbers of tiny, bear-like creatures, with large heads, big furry ears, and. Prominent noses looking like blobs of black rubber stuck in the middle of their rather hu- morous-looking faces. The Aus- tralian natives called them koalas, so to the white settlers they became koala bears. The koala bear has a pouch and is not related to real bears. Its young are born at a very early stage of development. which is completed in the pouch. Even when the well-developed offspring finally emerges after spending several months in the pouch, it Still stays with its mother, riding on her back, un- til it is about a year old. A healthy koala bear 'never drinks; only a dying specimen has ever been seen to take water, Nor is it capable of sweating; in hot weather it will lick its fur to cool itself. One result of the lack of sweat is that the koala always smells very sweet, its only odour being that of eucalyptus from the leaves on which it feeds. In modern times one of the biggest handicaps to any ani- mal is the possession of a warm and durable fur, and the koala bear has been one of these suf- ferers. For many years koala bears were hunted for their fur. Kill- ing reached a peak after the first world war, when in a per- iod of two years more than 200,000 died. Certainly koala fur is attrac- tive, warm and hard wearing, but you can no longer buy a koala coat. After the little crea- ture had become exterminated from large areas of Australia, the government intervened and banned large-scale exploitation. To-day great care is taken of those that remain. But until quite recently it proved impossible to keep the koala in zoos for any length of time, even in its native Austra- lia. For years the reason for this has been surrounded in mystery. One difficulty was that it will eat only the leaves of eucalyp- tus trees, or gum trees as the Australians call them, which made it useless to attempt to keep them except in places where fresh daily supplies of eucalyptus leaves could be pro- vided. This, however, was not the complete answer. In Australian zoos ample supplies of these laeves were available for the picking, but always the results were the same, A batch of cap- tive koalas would live quite hap- pily, perhaps for as long as nine months, and then within a per- iod of days or weeks they would all die, Post-mortem examinations gave no clue to the cause of death, for there were never any signs of disease. Recently, however, the mys- tery was solved by Ambrose Pratt, president of the Royal Zoological. Society of Victoria. He was struck by the fact that death was always sudden, an animal being perfectly fit one day and dead the next. This suggested that death was caused by acute poisoning. He remembered, too, an oc- casion when seventeen koalas were brought to his zoo, Three cf them escaped after a shaft *irne and took up residence in a eucalyptus tree in the grounds of the zoo, where they could be kept under observation, The fourteen that remained in captivity all died after a few months, but those that had es- caped stayed in their tree for three years. Then they were re- captured, only to die a few months later, During their yours of freedom, however, Ambrose Pratt saw something that made him think, Up in the tree the three koalas seemed nearly always to choose old tough leaves instead of the juicy young leaves at the tips of the branches. In the zoo koalas were always fed on young leaves in the be- lief that these would be the most nourishing. Could it he that young eucalyptus leaves con- tained a poison that disappeared as they got older? Pratt decided to find out what the botanists could tell him about eucalyptus leaves, He learned that the young leaves of the sugar gum, one of Australia's 200-old kinds of eucalyptus trees, did, in fact, produce the deadly poisonous prussic acid during a certain period of ther develop- ment. Later, as they grew older, the prussic acid disappered, and they were no longer poisonous. But koalas would eat only the leaves of five kinds of gum trees and the sugar gum was not one of these, Unaware of Pratt's speculation, however, a group of Australian botanists had been carrying out further investiga- tiorls into the production of prus- sic acid in the leaves of other kinds of eucalyptus trees, and they found that the leaves of most varieties, including those eaten by the koalas, produced prussic acid during their period of development. The answer to the koala mys- tery was now obvious. Left to their own devices, koalas al- ways chose the older harmless leaves, whereas in the zoo they had to eat the poisonous young leaves or starve. Given an adequate supply of old leaves they could now be kept in captivity without fear of sudden death. As zoo animals, though, they must still be main- ly confined to Australia, for only there do their favourite gum trees grow. However, when some koala bears were exported to. America a special supply of leaves was sent with them, Most people seeing koala bears for the first time are struck by their resemblance to teddy bears. This is not surprising because the man who made the first teddy bear modelled it on a stuffed specimen of a koala bear, and named it after the famous American President Teddy Rose- velt, who was also a distinguish- ed hunter and naturalist. Britain's Guards Duck Sight-Seers They're changing the guards at Buckingham Palace, hut Christopher Robin's not there with Alice. He's 50 yards away, pressing his nose, and perhaps his cam- era, through the high palace railings. The Queen's B r i g a d e of Guards have sounded the re- treat. They have fought their last battle — with tourists who obstruct their routine, with small girls who want to he pho- tographed "wiv the sodjer," with small boys who tie their boot laces together, with sight- seers who pull whiskers from their bearskins, and with gig- gling schoolgirls who try to make them laugh. The War Office announced that from Oct. 1'7 the Queen's sentries would patrol in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. The crowds of people who ga- thered outside the tall Palisade made it impossible for the guards to patrol in a manner appropriate to their dignity. The Civil Police, moreover, had to guard the Guards, The guardsman marches up and down and does his heel- clicking and rifle-slapping mu- SITTING ON TOP — Decked out in an eye-arresting outfit in black and yellow, pretty Ja- panese actress Yoko Tani perches on the roof of her hotel in Rome. She had just finished making a movie in the city. tine far from the admiration and the hero worship. What will he feel about his lonely patrol? Will he pine for the hustle and bustle of life on the pavement outside? "It's the quiet hour after the tourists have gone which seems the longest," a guardsman once told me, writes Melita Knowles in The Christian Science Moni- tor. Will the Buckingham Palace guardsman envy his colleague ' at St. lames's Palace who re- mains the only palace guard on foot exposed to the photograph- ers? The Horse Guards are on, big black steeds. Will he regret not seeing his photograph in colour any more, next to the girl wearing the latest Paris hat in the fashion magazines? On special occasions in the past, like coronations, VE-Day, and state visits, when great crowds have been expected, the sentry boxes have been moved into the forecourt behind the But for' 100' years this has been the exception, not the rule. The sentries have patrolled outside the gates since the days of Queen Victoria, the first sovereign to live at the palace, From now on no cockney voices will be heard at the gates urging little Alfie "to tie up 'is bootlace," or little Flo to "come on and see if we Pan make 'irn laugh." Anyone who w a n is to see what happened in the old days when the guards were Outside the gates will have to see Noel Coward's ballet -- onda 11 Morning." it's all there, rrr FAIR EXCIIANOEI Pulling his car into the side Of the road, a motorist climbed out and flagged down a following driver. At the point of a gun he forced the hapless man to hand over the contents of his wallet. The gunman then backed to his car and attempted a getaway. The engine refused to start, Whereupon the robber returned to his victim arid offered to give back part of his takings if he Would help him get his tar stAtied. * There are many combinations of canned soups that you will want to try this fall and winter. Here are only a few of the many possibilities: One can each, cream of celery and beef with two cans Of water to make beef- celery soup; one can each, green pea and Scotch broth to, make Highland pea soup; one can each, cream of mushroom, cream .of asparagus, and cream of chicken .soups and 2 cans of milk 'to make cream buffet supper soup; one can each, cream of celery and chicken noodle soup and two cans of milk to make celery- chicken-noodle soup. * If bean soup happens to be a favorite in your family, here is an easy way to make it. Dry peas may be used instead of beans, if you desire. DRY BEAN OR PEA SOUP 3i cup dry beans or peas 11/2 quarts cold water Ham bone 1 small onion, chopped Few stalks of celery or celery leaves 1 tablespoon flour Salt and pepper to ',taste Cover beans or peas with half the water; boil gently for 2 min- utes and- let stand 1"honr. Add rest of water, ham bone, onion, and celery.Simmer until beans or peas are tender. Remove bone. Fut soup through sieve or food press. Cut meat from bone and add to soup. Stir in flour mixed with a little cold water. Cook soup until thickened and hot. Season with salt and pepper. * * * You'll like this potato soup that can be made in a short time, QUICK POTATO SOUP 11/2 cups embed potatoes 1 tablespoon, chopped onion 1 tablespoon butter ItA cup boiling water 2 cups of Milk !M teaspoon salt Pepper Cook potatoes, onion and but- ter in the water until potatoes are tender. Add Milk, salt and pepper, Heat until almost boil- ing. Serves 4. If the man in your house wants to try his hand at soup making, now that his back-yard barbecuing is at an end, encour- age him to work at making vegetable soup. With crusty rye bread, this soup makes a whole meal. You'll need only a dessert pie, apple dumplings, cheese or fruit cake, writes Eleanor Ridley Johnston in. The Chris- tian Science Monitor, Advise him to begin' with a knuckle bone sawed to eXpose the marrow, and round-steak Cut into 2-inch ehunkS Dip thetri in flout and brown theM in a little suet Melted in a deep kettle. The Meat must be browned Without burning the edges When this is accoMplishedi, he can add a earl Of beef bouillon and ail' amount of Water, Siinirier 1 h tittr, Now it's time for him to' add vegetables — and let him select his favorites. They must be peeled and cut into bite sizes — he'll probably want carrots, cel- ery, onions, and perhaps green peppers or tomatoes or both. Some want a parsnip, some add a bay leaf or a pinch of -some favorite herb such as marjoram, fennel, basil, rosemary, or thyme. Add these vegetables to the meat and broth and cook slow- ly to mingle all the flavors. For the last 30 minutes of cooking, he may want to add po- tatoes, They should be small or cut to that size. When they are added, he will want to taste the broth and add seasonings and then continue tasting until it's exactly right, At serving time, be sure everyone gets a potato and -a generous serving of meat. * Colorful and festive for spe- cial occasions is: PEPPERMINT CANDY PIE Prepare and bake pastry for a one-crust pie envelope unflavored gelatin cup 'bold water cup crushed peppermint candy (6 to 8 ', small sticks) cups milk cup sugar egg yolks 1/4 teaspoon salt Ys teaspoon red food coloring' % cup whipping cream 2 egg whites 1,4 cup sugar- Soften gelatin in cold water. Crush peppermint candy to make 1/2 cup. Beat egg yolks into 1/4 cup sugar; combine with milk in saucepan. .Cook over boiling. water or low heat, stirring con- stantly until mixture coats a metal spoon. Add salt, food coloring, crushed candy,, and diss,olved, gelatin. Stir until dis- solved. Chill, stirring occasionally un- til thickened and partially set. Fold in cream which has been whipped very stiff. Beat egg 'whites until mounds form. Grad- ually add 1/4 .cup sugar and beat until 'glossy peaks forth'. Gently fold into peppermint mixture and pour into baked pie shell. Chill until set. Several houis before serving spread with Checolate Topping. CHOCOLATE TOPPING I square unsweetened chocolate 3 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (sifted) 1 unbeaten egg Melt chocolate. Cool. Cream butter, and confectioners' sugar in small bowl, And melted chocolate-" and •egg. Beat until well balanced and smooth. TALL STORY The stranger stopped his, ear to watch an angler on the river bank. The fisherman caught a big pike, but threw it back. The stranger said nothirig. The fisher- man then landed a large trout, but threw that back also. Finaly, he caught a small perch, and smilingly deposited it in his bag. _The stranger was naturally cttri ous. "Say," he' celled out, 'why did you throw those two big ones back and lecep_the small one?" T Ii e fisherman shrugged. "Small frying pan," he replied. ..,OLD FLAME? Questioned" by police on a charge of setting fire-to her fa- ther'S fart' arid bath in dad, Ger-Marry,• ,Agnes SehWirsitiri beck tearfully confessed that she Wae thadly iii love with a Mein- her d the local volunteer fire brigade and Wanted Mtn to call at the Old Wrecks Wait Under The Sea Pieces of eight, gold ingots, fine jewels — all to be had for the searching! That is the sort of tribute that was to go from the New World to Spain more than 3n0 years ago, and has lain buried in the ocean, caught in the almost impassable reefs that guard the islands of Bermuda. There, only 25 or 30 feet deep, lie more than 100. wreeks, wait- ing for those who can find them, Now, as they are being slowly uncovered, the rich facets of life aboard a far-travelled galleon are coming to light, galleons that bear the mark of Africa, China, Central America, and Spain. Teddy Tucker, a native Ber- mudian, whose family first tame to the colony in 1616, is one of the treasure finders. Stocky, compact, with penetrating blue eyes, Teddy Tucker always has been interested in ships and the sea. lie "has never worked on land," his wife says. In 1943, re- turning to. Bermuda from sea duty, he started looking for wrecks. "More money has been thrown into the ocean looking for wrecks than has been recovered," Teddy Tucker says, simply because peo- ple do not know what they are looking for. There is little help for the would-be treasure seek- er, "Old charts and accounts of wrecks are misleading because the judgment of distances was $o poor. One wreck described as being three leagues (nine miles) away from shore, was only three miles away,. Teddy Tucker had to get all his knowledge from experience, and it is very limit- ed, he modestly explains. Even if you are on top of a wreck, it is not easily distin- guishable. Usually a pile" of bal- last rocks is all that can be seen: sometimes there is some wood around, and if there is a cannon, that is fairly distinguishable. Cannons," however, were one of the first things to be salvaged from a wreck of that period be- cause they were so valuable, were worth a good year's pay, Mr: Tucker estimates, Anchors, worth about half a year's pay, were also ' quickly salvaged, writes Isabel Ferguson in The Christian Science Monitor. Teddy Tucker has saved two cannons: one' from a ship that .sank In 1595; the other from the wreck he is at present uncover- ing, thatight to be the galleon Vigo, which sank ,in .1637. The Vigo and the Galgo, a meat supply ship, were part of a 34-vessel Flotilla of the Indies; under the command of Don. Ge- ronimo Gomez de Sandaval, which left Havana bound for -Cadiz.: In a "most awful storm," 'so the, record says, both ships sank off Bermuda.' Pieces of eight found in the recently discovered wreck were struck at the Potosi Mint in Peru during the reigns of ip I, II, and III, These dates indicate that the wreclt wreckmust have +Decoyed between 1021-44, when the coin dies were changed in the New World. Further evidence, the style of the ship and of certain weapons abo ard — halberds, for example — helps to establish the date as 1637, Ships leaving Spain for the New World would sail to the Cape Verde Islands, then across to Central. America, On the way back, they would pass through the Caribbean and up the North. American coast as far as Hat- teras, then follow the Cult Stream across to Bermuda, There they would stop for water and food (it is thought that pigs were left on the un- inhabited islands as early as 1503) before making the long journey home. There many of the ships remained, caught by the reefs, Unexpected things are pre- served in the ocean. Teddy Tucker has found a resinous paint that is still usable, and a sealed pottery jar of water that, though smelling strong, was still drinkable. Daggers, rapiers, pieces of eight, bottles — things manufac- tured — were all coral encrust- ed, but gold, jewels, natural stone, and unglazed pottery were free. A line gold chain was pick- ed up, not more than five links at a time, and restored to 487 links in all, Teddy Tucker works in con- junction with his two brothers- in-law, Robert and Donald Can. ton. They have a 52-foot boat, and their equipment includes a De vilbiss compressor and Desco of Scott masks, that are connected by hose directly to the boat. In this way, they could stay uncle] water from seven to eight hours Usually they average five. Uncovering a wreck is a sloe process, hard work, and nor all glamour, The last wreck tool four years. The present one wit probably take two at least. Although he knows of mar* other wrecks in the Bermudiar reefs, Teddy Tucker does not leave one that he has started until all is disclosed. "If you did that, you would never know what was left behind," he says Is there any part of the work that Teddy Tucker finds tedi' ous? "No, I enjoy it all," he exclaims. Reports of TV quiz show fakery probably are welcome to some who couldn't stand the thought of anyone being that smart, ISSUE 48 — 1959 MOVIE VETERAN DIES — Victor Melaglen, above, left, as he appeared recently, died.'in his Newport geo-ch, toilf., home at 72. He Wan an Academy Award 4,1035 for his perfohnonce in 'The Infortrier," which he IS Shown Of right.. What causes food to stick in an electric fry pan? First of all, do not• put short- ening' or food in the pan before it is properly preheated. (Bacon is •an exception to this.) Second, aeoid•too high heat; you may be able to fry at 25° F. less heat than, the recipe says. Third, be •sure you use enough shortening — 2 to 3 tablespoons for frying, except when baking griddle cakes, which have short- ening in the. batter. And last, when you wash the fry pan, be sure to rinse thoroughly with hot water; if detergent suds remain, on the pan, they will cause stick- ing. Up-to-date Fashion PC111. FORMAI, 'W.tAit, an elegant costume in amethyst velvet, lAdatis it's hylcih r Waaliable and wrinkle reSiStant, SelVel,,, • worthy neckline flatters the fate and draws the eye ,away from figure ,problems.. Printed Pattern 4898 in Half Sites - 14% to, 241/4, Send Fifty Cents foreach Pattern (stamps; tarinot be accepted tisepostal note for SafetY), Please print plainly NAM '.8ehtt yew:, 'ertlei, 1.6 Millie Admiii, tbk 123 tighteenth St., :New Toronto,. eint,