Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1890, Page 8

8 CAN SHOOT TO KILL. New Yorkers Who Can Give Cowboys Pointers. EXPERTS WITH THE PISTOL. Seme Wendertul Target Shooting by Amateurs—Experts Fit to Challenge the Markemen of the World—Tfricks im Fancy Shooting. a Written for Tue Evewts Stan {Copyright.} T'S alucky thing that dueling is no longer the fashion among Americans. If it were one would hardly be likely to be bored by tales of bloodless en- Jcounters such as they have in France, where quarreis are still adjusted by the code.” “And why not?” I asked of the speaker, a Physician with a famous practice among the elite on Murray Hill and the avenue. “Because every business or professional man nowadays iss dead shot with the rifle or re- volver. Why. in a fifteen minutes’ stroll on Broadway I could point out to yous score of gen- tiemen who could furnish a team from their Own number that would uphold our marksman- ship against the world” f- THE DROP OF THE HANDKERCHIEF, “Better even than the western cracks and the cowboys?” ‘Now, that’s a popular absurdity abont those cowboys, I have sven them shoot and there is not one of them who could beat any of our amateur experts, even of the second class, Bight here, among the bankers, merchants, brokers, lawyers and other business men, we have shots withont an equal, whether it is off- hand practice, firing at the word or target shooting. Cowboys are very handy at blazing away at close quarters or ina rough-and-tamble scrape. but when it comes to really fine marks- manship they are nowhere.” The headquarters of the crack shots in New York are at a famous range oa ‘Thirty- first street, just off Broatway. Shooting Matches are in progress there at all hours, and milli. naires of sporting proclivities may be seen there contesting with busy professional men, The best of good humor prevails, and, exeept now and then when a marksman objar- gates at bis k in making « particularly poor shot, the scoring goes on as qiic State dinner. The targets used are cors nationa!.a French carton, which Wor the buli’+-eve; standard de which also counts 10, the Massachusetts ich is graduated to one-eighth of an : The French target basonly lately been introdneed bere and isa favorite, because each ring on the carton is graduated so as to admit a 4-culiber bullet be- tween the lines. targets. Lorillard, jr., made a wonder- ful ptbatgesir pgp tons shots in o minute with a Wi 67 out of a le 85. Ira Paine when ere a retty shot, isn't it? See how true aim is aber near the center it is gy yao “All the here is at 12 yards at the graduated targets. Many of the experts like to try fancy shots. One of the most successful is Frank Lord. who iss magnificent all-round marksman. If you look down the range you will see an iron plate hanging about midway onthe left side. Mr. Lordcan stand at the dist here. slightly to one side, and make a bull's-eye off the angle, his bullet hitting the iron before striking the t. A few others can do the glance shot, but it is very difficult,” OPENING THE EYES OF PARISIANS, “I remember,” said one of the interrupting, “when Frank Lord made the Pa- risians open their eyes, It was at the Valentin range in Paris, near the Grand hotel. He was im there with Mr. Miller, another American, and some men were shooting, when Lord went up to the range and took a pistol. He told the marker to hang up his watch over the target and then announced his intention of matting & bullet through the ring. It was ticklish un- dertaking and the Frenchmen watched him with wondering faces; but he did it and the watch was unharmed. You ought to have seen the look of astonishment on the face of the praprietor, He took the watch, which be- longed to one of the markers, and had it hung in the window with an inscription. Lord has done the same thing with his $300 gold watch here in New York.” “Her target made by Gen.Tom Thumb,” said the proprietor. “The little fellow tried six shots with a rifle and surprised a good many of us. Four were very neatly planted on the bull's- eye.” Among the recent notable scores are those of Mr. BR. Van Rensselaer Schuyler, with nine consecutive bull’s-eyes at 12 yards with a rifle, firing at the word; twenty-five shots in 29 sec- onds with a Winchester and one ounce bullets by George Bird; eight consecutive bull’s-eyes in eleven shots by 5 4 T. B. Collins with a re- volver and five by Capt. Swift of the twenty- second regiment, also with a revolver. Some of the marksmen prefer a regular gallery pistol. W. M. Chase, the arti: with this Weapon, made four consecutive bull’s-cyes at 12 yards on a graduated target. SPLITTING THE CARD. One of the favorite pastimes of the crack shots is splitting a card with a half-ounce bullet at twelve yards. To an ordinary marks- man this would seem an almost incredible feat; yet it is to the experts an every-day affair, The cards are set up edgewise and the slightest contact with the bullet is shown by the red line left in its trace. The faintest mark scores a hit. Maynard Bixby, a western mining official, freqnently in New York, isa renowned card splitter and has hit the edges of 9 consecutive cards in 10 shots. BR. Van Rensselaer Schuyler on one occasion hit 10 straight and Geo. Bird 9, W. K. G. Griffin 9, C. E. Tiffany of the noted jewelry firm 7, Fred Sands 7 and Pierre Loril- lard, jr.. 7 consecutive and 8 out of 10, Loril- Jurd is the most rapid of all at this kind of shooting and hardly seems to take aim. J, B. Blydenburgh, brother of Chas. ]. Blyden- burgh, « member of the American rifle team that went to Fugland many years ago, is an old timer, but he can split 6 cards out of 10. “It 18 quite true.” said the proprietor, “that revolver shooting has jor among New Yorke: to amount to # passion with who tind it not only pleasant exercise bnta capital thing for steady Aman ust be in good condit f be expects to make ashowing at the graduated targets. We have | made great progress during the last few years owing to the improvement in weapons, and target shooting is now considered one of the indispensabie accomplishments of a gentleman, | BOME GOOD SHUTS. | | thi ©© A—George Bird. @ atraicht bul Brennan, 6streigeht buil's-eyes; C—Ira b > D—ceowe Bird, 6 strat etarget wi Kin « tare ~ yards: H Some of our marksmen have fancy shots of their own which few others cure to attempt,” said the speaker. “I have scen Frank Lord take a rifle and a Creedmoor 200-yard target at the ard range there, and make good shoot- ing with « mirror. His back is to the target, and he takes aim in the glass and delivers tho fire over his shoulder, Here is a target ho made in that kind of practice not long ago: six straight bull’s eyes, you see. ‘The teaser’ is n rather unique target and it bothers thems good deal. It is in the formof a cross with the four arms marked out on the sams principle as a regular target and the centez blocked off in squares. This is set swinging and it isa hard mark to hit. “One would think, naturally, that drinking men would make i shooting, as a rale, and they probably do, but I've seen a great many exceptions, Q D A Pryor. 6 shots, revolver. Sarees tesco idem 30) yards “Let me show you some of the latest car-! fons. Here is a target made the other day by | Mr. Alfred Brenon, the artist. who is one of | ts in the country. You all weil on the bull's | them impingin on the Ene. That is the Frengh target. Here is one by Maj. W. R. Pryor. ason of Gen. Roger A. Pryor. with the half dozen shots so fairly on tat they look like three single bullets, The major and Dr. Joseph Henry. who is shooting over there at this moment. are matched against each other for a medal in a contest with rifles on the French carton, ten shots each. Both are crack shots. Here is a target made by the doctor since you came in: he has 9 on the bull’s- 9% out of a possible | Pretty good practi that. This target Was made last week by Capt. George L. Garri- Coton lag. Pryor, | With the Hall expedition. chusetts target and has scored 70 out of a pos- sible 72, These two remarkable targets are made by George Birdof the Look at them closely and sce ho cuts the bull’s-eve in both. The carton and I believe they can hardly anywhere. They each count 60 out of a 4 sible 60—the full score. Itis a better score than that made by Nande, the Paris expert, aud the shots are better bunched. Mr. Bird is Warried toe Vanderbilt ‘THE WESTERN WAT OF DOING Tr. “Ahother magnificeut shot is Mr, A. A. Cobeu, who uses a Massachusetts target. Here is bis carton. It is a full seore of 72—the high- the standard decimal target Maj. Pryor leads with the full score—60 points in 6 shots, Banker E. Wasserman, another famous marke- man, hus also 60 sud Theodore E. Beck of New- ark, N.J.. bas 59 Almost all the shooting is with the Smith & Wesson revolver, al- though some use the Colt. “One of the best shots in town is Mr. Henry W. Wickham, 4 relative of ex-Mayor Wickham. is the inal of ‘the character i | men smoke and their nerves don't seem to suf- | lawyer and one of the best men in town with a “I have known a man to stand up toa target where he could hardly steady himscif and make buil’s-eye after bull’s-eye. fhe body swayed, bat the point of the gun didn't, Smok- ing doesn't seem to affect # marksman as much as one & timagine. Almost all our marks- fer, unless, of course, they go to excess; but the men who keep temperate in these things will do the best work. One of the cleverest shots at the French target is Eugene Higgins, the son of the millionaire who recently died, leaving him a fortune of about 310,000,000. THE BEST LIGHT. “What is the best plan for lighting an indoor target so as to give the least strain to the eyes?” I asked, “Well, I have experimented with almost everything, and have reached the conclusion that gas is best—a well-protected, steady flame. The electric light is too bright and hurts the eyes, besides being unsteady on the target, Kerosene is better. Many of our crack s.ota wear spectacles. J. B. Collins, a real estate revolver, never shoots without glasses. Some of the Boston marksmen, too, who come here when they are in town, shoot through glasses,” ‘Target practice has taken the place of billiards with hundreds of business men in New York and in several other large cities, notably Boston, Chicago and Philadeiphia. In the me-4 tropolis there are many excellent shots among the ladies of wealth and fashion, but their prac- tice with revolver and pistol is principally in | the summer. when they are in the w or amoug the hills, safe from inquisitive mascu- line eyes. With improvements in weapons and | new methods of practice the old style of fancy | shooting with telescopes. shoulder rests and j straps has disappeared, Practical shooting is now the rule, and even military methods have begun to conform t the style of the sporting ny. In any international tourney with either re¥olver or rifle Uncle Sam's sharpshooters are pretty certain to hold their own against the worl G. H. Saxpisox, see WHEN 18S A MAN DRUNK? Tests That Are Applied in England With Indifferent Results. From the Newcastle (Eng.) Chronicle. “Drunk, or not drank?” That was the ques- tion which presented itself for settlement the other day at Ripon. On behalf of the luckless man, who was accused of having imbibed too freely, it was submitted that he was only “fresh.” The legal gentleman whose services had been retained farther maintained that a person who could talk, as his client had been able to do, was not “drank” within the mean- of the act, and he reminded the bench that it had been written that He ts not drunk, w! Without the power to ‘or rise, This poetical however it unquestion ably = was not pone —_ ciently sound to hold water, and so the custom- ary fine was imposed. It has lately become customary to apply tests in such cases, does not appear to have been in ent instance, When the li H WITH GRACEFUL EASE ‘Womanly Attractions and How to Acquire Them. DUMB MUSIC OF THE BODY. ———_ How to Walk, Sit, Rice, Ride, Reard a cism hear discussed 80 universally? deed, only the outward and visible sign of some secret favor of the immortal gods, as the Greeks argued,or is it not rather the expression of energy and sincerity of character, nicety of judgment, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, sa- gacious calculation and consummate delibera- tion? There is occasionally a woman s0 di- vinely fashioned that, as Emerson says, “whenever she stands or moves.or leay hadow on the wall, she confers ® favor on the world,” for hig oe Cire nee grace jorified the crown of Senay, who could no more make an awkward motion than a nightingale could utter a discordant note, The women of Andalusia pos- sess the gjit of grace, perhay ore uni- versally than those of any other race, Spanish women are noted for their majestic car ONE WAY OF CROSSING quite as much as for their A MUDDY STREET. lark flashing eyes and dusky hair. The women of lower Italy have such elasticity of gait and superiority of conforma- tion that they are said to pose unintentionally, and French women proverbially make up i grace what they lack in beauty. A French girl can express with her shoulders more than some girls can ever say with lips or eyes, Occasionally this enviable gift of gface mani- fests itself in some little child whose melodious movemeute, harmony of action and poetry of gesture while engazed in simple childish games unconsciously eliminate the most abstruce mys- teries in the science of grace, But it is only in rare moments of inspira- tion that the Creator thus endows some fortunate being with the attributes of faultless beauty and His handiwork on the average woman gives lit- tle evidence of His divin- iny. Just why He chooses to create one woman a goddess and another a + caricature is one of His ANOTHER way, ways that are past finding out. It would be a good question for the Presbyterian dominies to wrangle over when they have finished the discussion of the confession. The same master builder may fashion the Meer that skims the waves like a white-winged gull and the heavy barge with its clumsy prow and unconth bilge, and no drapings of bunting, fluttering of pen- nauts or sails of silk can transform the latter to the semblance of the former. Still, because a barge she is and must remain, there is uo use in her scraping her gunwale agai on the shore or banging her prow into all the vessels in the channel and getting herself gen- erally distiked and voted a stupid nuisance and bore, At rare intervals a musical genius is born into the world, to whom hurmony is instinct and melody an intuition, but the majority of peo- ple have to learn five- finger exercises before they can render sym- phonies. Now, though @ life-time of practice will not make of the ary ungifted mortal Liszt or a Rubinstein, there is no reason why the most commonplace little woman may not Jearn by study just enough melody to play {= sn accompaniment to ' John’s flute of an even- BS ing, and, though no amount of vocal culture PRETTY. can make ber a Patti or a Nilsson. she may learn quite sufficient har- mony to sing lullabies to her babies that they Will love if no one eleo appreciates, ‘The theory of graceful movement is founded on afew fixed and unalterable principles, which, taken in analysis, seem as unimportantand mo- notonous as whole notes and half notes, but in their entirety enable one who mastérs them to run the gamut of harmonious action with a sure and expressive touch and bring out melo- dies of movement that are beautifully effective. And though no modern Phidias would seek out any woman who had to learn to be graceful as the model for his Venus, still the most awkward and unfortunate blunderer can learn not to step on herself and other people, to fall over chairs and into street cars and tumble through lite generally, a discomfort to herself and an annoyance to those around her, The first and greatest impediment to grace is simple indolence. The awkward womun is the comfortable woman every time. She sits down ina chair in such a way that the back shail support her and touch her spinal column all the way up and down, in- stead of making a little effort to hold herself erect and teach all those intricate, shiftless little muscles around her body to support her, What is the result? She hollows her chest, throws her abdomen out, ten chances out of a dozen crosses her knees with her toe vaLy. in the air for some one to fall over, or else sprawis her feet apart in easy nonchalance. Long practice of this attitude allows the muscles to relax about the waist, settle down fold on fold, and presently that woman realizes that she cannot button her own shoes as she used to or wear the dress she wore when she was married, The modern rocking chair with its luxurious cushions made more prom- inent abdomens and curving spines than any other agent of destruction to womanly grace. The old New England housewives and spinstera sitting erect in their straignt-backed, splint- bottomed chairs never had to worry over an exuberance of adipose abdominal tissue, The awkward woman establishes herself in astreet car as lazily asif arranging her atti- tude for an afternoon siesta. What is the re- 4 sult? In the first place she shuts herself up like a jack knife in the slop- ing seat, puts her feet exactly where they are sure to be stepped on, allows her umbrella to Yaslide down where some one will trip over it her net an iby an effort anda ning seesaw motion, repeated GRACEFUL. more or less often, to get up her momentum. There is no attitude at which a woman is more than a devotional one. Indeed one has said women t to do all the pra: in the worl kneelin, ‘ers, Slowly the muscles relax and she wer and lower down in a little huddled heap, bob! her head for & comfortable place on the edge of the pew in front of her, 80 lag one won: if her prayers are earnest to be an- To sit well be quite as an art as to write s poem, to seco ther requires effect. pretty pose of the head, the erect- ness of the trunk and the ition of age woman, who, even with no house to tae print inter of nation never y if | & rectly asfollows: Fancy ‘ aslender cord about your chest, just beneath the arms, the ends of which cord shi remain taut. yet not be permitted to Re- member, too, to hold connect. yourfelf firmly at the waist; lightly on the ball rather than the Tel of the ‘oot not ben te. knees, except very, vel in ing a step, re the loss in wit ht line rather than turned outward. ‘The awkward woman lets her knees bend a = deal becanse they are inclined to, lets her ody sway and slop and turn, her head bob and shake, plants her heels firmly in the mnd of the crosswalks, splashing it over boots and skirts as well, settles down into her clothes so comfort- ably that her abdomen trudes and her bent k allows her skirts to sweep up the dust and ashes and garbage on our beautifully kept pave- ments. When she mounts the stairs she reverses her position with an en- INCORRECT, ergy worthy a better cause and leaning for- ward falls into her dress skirt, tears the lace off her petticoats, on and tugs along with her center of gravity pulling in some absurd place where it holds her body down in a half hori- zontal ition and es her carry almost more than her own weight up, besides cram ing her lungs so that she is all out of breath, pat and perspiring when she reaches the e easiest way to go up stairs is to hold yourself erect, and lifting your weight con- tinually with the chest step after step, lightly monnting on the toes, makes climbing the dreaded etairs of city houses one of the best forms of exercise yet invented, according to a famous physician, who claims that great ad- vantage is derived from its development of the muscles of the heart. Coming down stuirs the position should be the same and each step made as lightly on the toes as though the stair- way was of porcelain and the supports of spun glass, There are some muscles in the calf of the leg that ought to bear the strain of the ascent and descent and will if not imposed upon by throwing upon them a lazy load of flesh that the muscles about the waist ought to carry. It is a kind of indolence that makes the awk- ward woman rise from a sitting posture by placing her hands upon the table or the arms ofher chair and stand with the weight of the body thrown on one foot and leaning against door- ways or chairs, that enuses her to stumble over rugs und draperies by not lifting her feet, and do the half a hun- dred other stupid things that cause her to suffer so by comparison with the alert, erect, ener- getic woman poised like a@ bird ready for flight and never loosening tier hold on the reins of her THE RIGHT WAY, muscular personalityany more than the jocky slackens his fines on the home stretch. She learns to do this with no mental effort after a time, though it requires constant thought and eternal vigilance at first. The awkward woman, too, is usually a care- less, thonghtiess creature and always in a hurry. She ploughs along through the mud on wet days with her skirts in both hands and yet trailing and dipping here and there to wipe up filth, wipe off car steps and sweep crosswalks, while her inevitable bundles drop unheeded from bi neath her arms as she signale the car to es aud gets into it aguas d head first with the lure! of its sudden starting. It isa picture anda poem to see the graceful woman accomplish tho feat of mounting @ THE WRONG way. car in rainy weather. With one indescribable, all comprehenzisive touch with one hand she lifts her skirte just enough to escape the pavement and skims the puddles like some light, swift-winged Mercury, calcu- lates with a nicety of reckoning that wuold be afortune to an astronomer or a bank expert just when to signal the car in order to have it stop on the crossing instead of three steps be- yond in a poolof muddy water, trips daintily up the steps, braces for the jar of the start, sails in as serene and spotless as a white swan ona midsummer , and sits down witha pretty tilt of her skirts that throws them in graceful folds and poises like a skylark, alert, easy. erect and symmetrical. It requires years of practice and sustained continuous effort to master these simple principles, but it is, after all, the simple notes and half notes of grace that we learned in the old finger exercises that constitute the symphonies of melodious action, There is just a trace of selfishness, too, in awkwardness—the selfishness that makes you forget other people's feet as you walk on them, =~—= other people’s gowns as you tear over them, other people's elbows as you sit with yours akimbo, other people's needs when you forget the pretty courtesies of behavior that make them more comfortable in the street, at the table, in the shop or church, and it is your thought for them that avoids encoun- ters, catastrophes and all manner of awkward accidente. Ruskin claims that grace of action de- een on raters! and BOARDING A STREET ion of just feeling, can EASILY. and that oth intelli: gence and the moral faculties have their effect upon all movements sud gestures, however sight. And in women who have lost the un- conscious sweet grace of girlhood in the seri- ousness of womanhood, AR cc intuitive, beautifal serenity, thought consideration, unfailing and ready judgment, and, above ail, digni: moderation of lect grace of mo- tion under any and all circumstances, in sud- den emergencies and unexpected situations, is a never-failing test of character. Another consideration which must be enter- tained by the would-be graeeful woman 1s her age, and the style of her physique must also be aday to that —_—o—— Interesting Scenes on the River Magdalena. —___ THE STATES OF COLOMBIA. —--_—_ How to Travel in the South—Develop- ment of the Country—The People and Their Customs —Aleng the River Baaks, ——_o—___ From Tux Stan's Traveling Commissioner. Baananguiuia, Coromsta, January 1. LTHOUGH distant from New York searcely 2,000 miles this northern- most republic of the southern conti- nent is less known to the world than the heart of Africa, and ita three- hundred-year-old capital is almost as difficult of access. Until recently there has been no communication between the ports of the United States and those of Colombia, its nearest neighbor, and to this day there is mo direct way of reaching them. Some four years ago an English company es- tablished @ line of steamers between New York and the mouth of the Magdalena river (the great fluvial highway to Colombia's in- terior), by which two trips per month are made, but the vessels go first to several West India ports, consuming fifteen days in the voy- age to Colombia, Three times a month the Pacific mail steamers leave New York for As- pinwall, and at the latter place one may always find a steamer under almost any flag but the stars and stripes, which will stop at the Carib- bean ports on its way to Europe. But when you have reached this point the Journey to Colombia's espital has hardly be- gun, Before you is a short railroad ride to Barranquilla, and then 230 miles by boat up the river to Honda, near the head of naviga- tion (occupying from ten to thirty days, accord- ing to the time of year); and from Honda to Bogota, the capital city, though only a distenco of seventy miles, is the worst part of the trip, requiring at least four days on mule back over aky-piercing sierras, FEW HARBORS, Though with such a stretch of seacoast Co- fombia possesses no harbor worthy the name— those of Aspinwall aud Panama being the best. Besides the last-named insecure and rocky port there is but one other on the Pacific side—that of Buenaventura, which has lately been brought into some degree of prominence, On the At- lantic coast—or, more correctly speaking, on that of the Caribbean sea—the only available shipping place for Colombian commerce is Sabanilla, both Aspinwall and Panama being merely ports of transit trade, with so little of local industry that primeval forests crowd close upon them. Sabanilla itself is the most desolate and dirty of fishing villages, of no consequence whatever except for its bay, which, though totally inac- cessible to large vessels, has been made to an- swer the purposes of a seaport by a company of enterprising Germans. In 1871 some Bremen gentlemen put lighters and steam tugs on Sabanilla bay for the benefit of larger vessels that could not come into it and laid a line of railroad from the coast to the old Spanish town of Barranquilla, sixteen miles inland, The consequence is that the latter hitherto insig- nificant village of hardly twenty houses has suddenly blossomed out into the most import- ant city in the republic, commercially speak- ing, with a population of 25,000, and still grow- ing—far eclipsing the old cities of Carthagena and Santa Marta, lying on either side of it, both of which figured so conspicuously in the Spanish colonial history of earlier days, he custom house is now located in Barranquilla (pronounced Bahr-ran-kiel-ya), and through it must go all merchandise and passengers bound for “up the river” or coming down from Co- lombia’s interior’s into the outer world. Also every smail steamer and sailing vessel which conveys the multudinons products of the vast back-lying country to the coast via the Magda- lena must start from and return to this place and wait for official permission before its cargo can be discharged. SABANILLA. To return to Sabaniiia, The village is not situated on the main land, but on a long and narrow sand spit that has formed itself at the mouth of the river. Its bay is neither safe nor convenient for any sort of vessels, being full of shifting sand bars and exposed to the fary of tropical storms. Not a green thing grows within sight of Sabanilla, and nobody lives there but a miserable colony of curgadores or boatmen and a tew even more degraded saloon keepers, who absorb all the money the wretches earn in exchange for the vilest of native intoxi- cante, Allupand down the coasts of South America the cargadores are necessary evils— as there are few places where vessels can ap- proach the shore—and these of Colombia are mostly Canary Islanders. with a liberal sprink- ling of low-class Italians and a few Chinamen. Their paim-thatched huts are filthy beyond de- scription, but not more so than the occupants— men and women more than half unclothed and their numerous offspring entirely so. There is not a drop of fresh water in the lace, all that is used being brought in canoes roma point about eight miles up the river. Yet the water business is not brisk, though re- tailed by the atppertal for a very small quan- tity serves for the meager cooking of the Saba- nillans, while cheap liquor (dear ‘at any price) is the universal beverage. Even less is used for lavatory purposes, fresh or salt, though the wide ocean, rolling up to their doors, furnishes 8s fine bathing facilities as cau be found in any quarter of the globe, Indeed, the people seem to entertain A HYDROPHOBIC TERROR of water in any form, and the pig-tailed Celes- tial who runs the only laundry in the place looks like a sad case of slow starvation, Woe unto the lickless traveler who is com- een to stay over night in Sabanilla’s alleged jotel! If his vessel arrives too late in the is for a train to Barranquilla he will do well to remain on board until the morrow, or if her commander cannot be induced to risk a ‘norther” among the sand bars he would bet- ter walk the sixteen miles that intervene be- tween the coast and civilization. In this dos. perate community of roustabouts fighting is the chief amusement and murder and robbery are of common occurrence. But even were the Sabanillans angels in disguise the place would be intolerable on account of excessive heat and swarming fleas. Were it not for the ocean breezes that constantly sweep across the deso- late sand spit, blowing up the sand in blinding clouds, no Arman being could abide thereon. At every step in its vementless streets you sink ankle deep into the burning sand. every in- finitesimal grain of which is loaded with a flea whose sting is :ike the puncture of a red-hot needle. About the only industrious citizens I have found so far in South America are “the wicked fleas.” In five minutes time they will completely blacken your hose and cover your garments inside and out, nor cease troubling until Ri are tattooed from head to foot like a South Sea Islander, BARRANQUILLA is by all odds the most modern town in Colom- insurgents and those ‘MEN-OF-WAR sides with corragated cannon upon the decks sharp shooters, The * bars and floating logs, Pilot's position by no meaus a sine- ‘THE Boats are mostly built like those in use on the Ohio river, with a paddle wheel in the rear, and draw only a foot or two of water even when laden to their utmost capacity, as otherwise they could never get over the sand bars. During the rainy season the swollen current is so swift and strong that progress is necessarily very slow, but when the moon is bright the boats are kept in motion both night and day. At other times they can run only by daylight and must“ tie up” every night. They generally rua aground a few times during every trip and then it requires from two days to a week before they can be pulled off and set in motion again, thua rendering the date of one’s arrivai at the jour- ney’s end one of the most uncertain things in this uncertain world. If you wish to murder your worst enemy by the ‘most diabolical form of torture that the imagination can conceive just persuade him to make a trip up the Magdalena river at the height of the musquito season sans netting, veil or other protection! The iocality is in- fested with THE BIGGEST THAT BU7ZED and passengers must not fail to provide them- selves with everything attainable in the way of offense and defense against them, All the officers and deck hands wear thick veils over | their faces, tied close around the neck, and long buckskin gloves, both night and day, and yet, somehow, the enemy seems to come off more or less victorious. It is the fashion hereabouta to tell musguito stories of astonishing propor- tions—much as the people around Puget sound brag of their mammoth clams and the Cali- fornians of their fruits, but I can assure you reality. Always bad enough, at certain seasons, when'winds blow strong trom the jungles, the | musquitoes come in clouds that literally ob- | sure the sky and the sound of their humming is like the noise of a saw mill, Neither man | nor beast can withstand their attacks, unpro- | tected, and it is an actual fact that cattle and horses are frequently tormented to death by them. Iam told that not long agoa herd of | valuable cattle which were being imported | from the United States to a rancho up the river, becoming perfectly frantic after a week of untold agony, broke from their fastenings, dashed overboard and were «ll drowned. The long-nosed, flat-bottomed litte steamer upon which we are passengers has ber engine and ail the cargo above water. on the first deck, Above these is the saloon, with the cabins on either side, and still above that story is the captain’s cabin, surmounted by a steeplelik pilot house, Directly in front of the saloon are the tali, black chimneys, taller even than | the watch tower, and in front of them is the flag staff from which floats the Colombian colors. All around the upper deck are rows of benches and away up here 1s the best place to flud what little air may be stirring. THE GREAT VALLEY of the Magdalena, extending from the Ca- ribbean coust to the equator, varies in width from 100 to 150 miles, narrowing, to a point as it nears the confines of Ecuador, It embraces a region of inexhaustible resources, much of it overgrown with primeval forests, among whose gigantic growths may be founda great diversity of building timber, besides the choicest cabinet | and dye woods and a tropical profusion of | gum-producing and medicinal planta, Going up from Barranquilla for the first 200 miles one sees little at this time of year buta | continuous swamp on either side, he Tiv: itself, directly at the month, is fuilya mile | and a half wide and its lower valley is one vast | alluvial plain, which, like the Nile region, is subject to periodical overt For 300 miles the most nificent gr: lands stretch away on either side, which are covered with cattle during most of the year, until just be-! fore the fivods that foliow the rainy season, when they are driven up into the mountans, Wherever the land bas b ultivated it shows surprising fertility and overtiow might easily be controlled and turned into # bless by asystem of dikes similar to those in use ¢ the lower Micsissippi. Those inclined to emi- grate need not wrestle for standing room at Oklahoma among a multitude of crazy squat- } j that the tallest tale can bardly exceed ‘the | j | ters, when here are vast tractsof the richest | W land in the world to be had for the asking, PLANTATIONS AND THEIR WORKERS, | Years ago there were profitable plantations, worked by negroes, all up and down the middie valley; but after the emancipation of slavery, which took place, I believe, in 1858, the estate: rapidly went to ruin and were finally aban- duned by their owners, It seems that the | Spaniards and the Indians cannot endure hard labor in this climate and neither love nor lucre could induce the ex-slaves to do a stroke of it, ‘Today the once rich plantations show no traces of former cultivation, being completely over- grown with the riotous vegetation of the tropics, while the negroes themselves have re- lapsed to a state of semi-barbarism. It is the | same old story, disastrously true, of every part | of the world where THE BANANA AND TPE BLACK MAN flourish spontaneously side by side, Since | nature has provided so generously for him and he has no ambition to gratify why should be not emulate the scriptural example of the lilies, which toil not, neither do they spin? The negroes of this section are becoming consider- | ably mixed with Indian, Latin and even Anglo- Saxoa blood, so that blue eyes, fair skins and They lead a most happy-go-lucky existence, subsisting upon the fruits that grow wild in wonderful profusion and such accommodating fish as will nibble ata bit of bacon on a hook suspended from the branch of a tree, at whose other end lies a sleepy negro, flat on his face in the sun. During the long, slow days of voyaging up the Magdalena passengers may possess their | souls in patience as best they can with nothing j to do but figit musquitoes and keep as cool | as circumstances will permit, e male | passengers vary the mouotouy somewhat by | pistol and rifle practice, using the alligators | that in some places literally line the banks for ; tergets, The alligator is by no means a frisky | creature, as those who are acquainted with his | habits may know, but is not to be trusted even in his hours of apparent oblivion, With their | noses to the river, their small eyes closed and t jaws half open, they seem to be sound pep until the boat 18 close upon them, when, in the twinkling of an eye the jaws shat with the snap of @ mammoth rat trap and they Junge into the water in slow pursuit, The boat we always followed by a school of them, probably in the hope of a meal, each seeming to say in the language of the nursery tale mou- ster: Fee, fi. fo, fux Tamell the blood ofan Englishman, Aud, dead or alive, 1 will have some” What « rare field is this for the alligator hunter! Considering the value of the skins and the enormous demand for them ia the man- ufacture of shoes, satchels, &c., the wonder grows why some thrifty Yankee has not be- thought himself that fortunes lie in the ex- haustiess crop. NEGROES AND THEIR DRESS, Two or three times a day we stop at some little village for freight and fuel, where half- naked negroes come on board, selling strangely carved spoons and bottles made of long-necked gourds, flowers, fraits, chickens, eggs, &c. The women seem to do all the business in these laces and to carry all the burdens, the men jing simpiy ornamental. The universal dress of the latter consists of nothing but a pair of breeches, striped red aud white, reaching to the knee, leaving the wearer bare above and below, while the women perambulate in low- necked, sleeveless, short and scanty gowns of purple calico. Sometimes we get off aud enjoy a rambie, always returning with strange flowers, rare butterflies and other curiosities, However lovely these riverside hamlet may ap- afar, their bamboo walls and z ¢| Virginia Claret... 0... 1 00 se Norton's Vinwinla ‘Seeding. por dozen. eee - €00 320 | Sweet lamest gi ww ES) | _818-wae vite t P | Tarrant’ even red wool is not uncommon among them, | bance) ie. ‘WINES, ‘Tt ts Bow untversally conceded by even the moet fanatical teetotalere that » of thorourbis ma- every state—po matter how duces grapes from which PASADENA WINES are from those lascious SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA grapes which attain the highest xrade of maturity and riyeness and are, there fore, the best Wines in the market, B 4 SELIGSON, or 2200 and 1202 Penna. ave. nw., WASHINGTON, D. C, am the sole agent for the Pasadeva Wines and Brandiee aud sell at marvelousiy low prices. I have received orlers from rich and poot alike and all cheerfully ac- Knowledge that the Pasadena Wines and Brandies are by far the best and purest in the Distnet, potwith- Standing the fact that my prices are the very lowest My 2U per cent removal discount will be indefinitely continued, PLLASS COMPARE MY PRICES WITH THOSE OF OTHERS Orwinal Reduced PASADENA WINES, G — Prices: Perual perueh OQiaret, extra quality, wv dy aaret, extra quality. epee 120 i 30 ize oy Ww 2 iz vo ive ou Bu 0 a 08 30 oo 300 oo su 59 120 w ob eO oo lve VIRGINIA AND OTHER AMERICAN WINES. Tearry the largest stock of Imported Wines, Cow Back, Ging, Jamaica and St. Croix Runs aud all the French Cordiais, including the cclebrated after-dinner cordial, CREME DE MiNide Wresw of Minu, green oF orange. The oldest Rye, Bourbon and Imported Whiskies cau always be foundat my store. Lenumerstes few: Trimble Pure Rye. Monticello Pure Hanauevulle Pure ye ie, Kentucky Sour Mash. tch Whisky, oid. 600 480 Scutch Whisk}, very ald 750 600 Beotch Whisky, very, 10.00 BuO Irish Whisky, old.. 800 4x0 Yial Wlushy, very oi sou Guy Irish Whisky.’ very, very” 0: woos German Koxen Brantwein.. 600 $00 1 make « specialty of High-flavored Jelly Wines aud Branwes, B. A. SELIGSON, ‘THE WINE AND LIQUOK MERCHANT, 1200 and 1202 Penus. ave. n. Telephone Oall 114-3 Bur To Tux Best Apvaxtacn, Waich can be done at F. 8. WILLIAMS & CO's, DEUGGISTS, TADEK MASONIC TEMPLE, Cor. 9th aud F ste. now, cA MINE GUS Gs i. Li, EXAMINE toe + Sted AND BE CON PR Ont prices for rLiONS. scriptions Lave been rednced in x Preperuen: fe use only the purest orux aud ¢ the most redable mauu- incturers. Wecliceriully' invite cardial inepection C1 tus departivent by puysiciaus, = Red, Rex. Price Brive av lo 20 Diuy Huu, i105 Bovinsine, ena s: e Viastors, 1 wustic Plaster, Canhuwere Bougue Corter Soap che Laver bill dellow's Bitup rani spied Williams’ Com Sirup Hypophusphi Hop Bitters, per votile, Hoe r's Bitters. Sarsaparilla Horetord's Acid Fuosi W's Acid Phosphates, lance. Malt (Tarrant’s) val (ES lrop Bitters. per votue. Meiin's sod. er ovine ba Destie’s M 3B ar iz Pound's ct Per U0 “ Piso's Cough sirup. is Prussian Cough 5: lo 35 oe 69 et is 67 jie 17 Banford’s Catary > cut wulsion Cod Liver Oil. or Seltzer Ape Josphatic best, (fresh) in pint bottles. Water of Ammonia, Full St Wilhaus’ Comp. Sarsapart 4 gm open | ng te 3 Visas’ Quinine and Kua Hair Tonic Handolite is unequaled as « veautifier of the com. Jexion; Ab indispensable reguisie to the Ladies’ e akin White, smooth aud soft, aud ping. Every lady should use it.” Pet &, de. sp infallible external remedy for Neu- yuigis, Hentarhe und Toothache Tt wever tells 0 n0v0 imivediste reef Ws the must Obetinate Cases, Give 16 cual. Be 3 doren 1-srain Capswiew sn juren in nies. J dozen 2-¢rain Capsules, 100 2 -¢reln Capeules... 2 dozeu 3-Krain Capsules, 10. B-erait Capsuics. 1 dozen 5-¢rain Cape 100 d-¢rain 100 gras Quinine, Powers & Weiditinan: place—THE TEMPLE DRUG ‘lemple, corver vt and F ste #8 WILLIAMS & 00, Proprietors, Mo Moxws ELIXIR OF OPIUM Zo8 &8 enverass Don't mistake the STORE under Masonic dato Isa preparation of the drug by which tte injurion effects are removed, while the Valuable medicinal Properties are retained. It possesses all the sedative, anodyne and autispasmodic powers of Opium, but pro- duces no tickness of the stomach, no vomiting, uo costiveness, no headache. In acute nervous disurders it te an iuvaluabie Peuwdy, and is recommended by ibe Dest physicians E FERRETT, Agent, mri (672 Pearl st, New York. Roars MICROBE KILLER CURES ALL DISEASES. The claim to cure all diseases may at first ¢lance seem very abeurd, but after reading our pampblet, giving @ history of the Microbe Killer, explaining the germ theory of disease, and resdiug our testimonials, which prove conclusively there is no disease it will not