Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1890, Page 9

FACTS ABOUT CRABS. The Strange Collection to be Shown at the Smithsonian. MONSTROUS LOBSTERS. lta Weird Crustaceans Rivaling Rider Maggard’s—Creatures Twenty "Million Years O1d—Astonishing Kinds of Crabs —Raising Lobsters by Hand. ——__ ERE is an animal for which every one ought to entertain a very pro- found respect because it is 20,000,000 of years n old. It is the remote ancestor of the lobsters and crabs of the pres- ent day and was in life contemporary with the earliest creatures that inhabited the earth. What is now the North American continent was onee upor a time covered with water and the ary land was made by the gradual depositing from the water of clay and sand and ail sorts of other materials, A layer of such deposits is spread 65.000 feet in thickness all over the United States. One might say that the states were made from this layer, only that the thick- ness of New York or Illinois, for instance, has never been determined like their length and breadth. The lowest stratum of the layer, and necessarily the most ancient, is composed iargely of what was once calcareous mud. When the mud was hardening certam animals get stuck in it and being sealed up hermeticaily by its forming around them were preserved for ages well nigh countless. In this way it happened 2at many of these primitive crust- aceans are found at this day in places where the stratum of shelly mud has been exposed. and to estimate about how long ago they lived is simply « matter of arithmetic. ‘TRILOBITES. These “trilobites,” as they are called, are taken out of the rock as perfect in every detail of their shape as when they were inclosed 200,000 centuries ago. The very facets of their eyes are distinct as in life, though lime has taken the place of all animal tissue in their bodies. Youcan see plenty of them at the Smithsonian if you care to, or. if you like, you may find any number of their direct descend- ants in the horseshoe crabs on the sea beach. The horseshoe crab, indeed. may fairly be called the oldest creature in the world. being but a slightly modifisd trilobite and thus rep- resenting the very most ancion: family of the earth. In comparati-ely modern times, only eighteen million years ago, som+ crustaceans attained great size, Frogs in those days used to grow as big as men are now and thought nothing of hopping two or three blocks’ dis- tance at one jump. It was the age of things gigantic, and a lobster-like creature six feet in length. called the “pterygotus,” prowled the watery shallows in search of prey. It is not so very many years now since lob- sters were captured weighing as much as 40 pounds apiece. There is one on exhibition in the Smithsonian now that weighed 18 pounds when caught. It ix a formidable-looking beast, with claws big and strong enough to crush your clenched fist. A forty-pounder would be fully three feet long in the body and have a spread of claws quits so wide. Unfortunately, the business of catchiag lobsters has been carried on for a century or so past with such eagerness that all the big on-s pretty nearly have been taken and eaten, and one 12 inches long is now considered to be of very fair size, THE JAPANESE CRAB. To find a giant crustacean today you must go to the eastern shore of Asia, where disports himself the enormous Japanese crab. which has claws that spread twelve feet. One might suppose that such a monster would be un- pleasant to meet; but it is quite harmless and its body is small in proportion to its reach. Even the crabs of Rider Haggard’s fancy did not aitain the dimensions of this Asiatic reality. When the Smithsonian gets its new building there will be placed on view a most wonderful collection of crabs from all over the world, which are at present stored away out of sight. One of the t extraordinary of the specimens isa “cocoanut erab,” a tremen- KO- 49 donsly powerful-looking creature, so big that it tills, when tightly folded up, a four-gallon glass jar. This is the crab that climbs the cocoanut tree and. after plucking the fruit, tears off the outer husk with its mighty claws and then knocks in the shell at one of the “eyes,” afterward drinking the milk and scoop- ing out the meat It is equipped with a long and narrow pair of pinchers, evidently provided for the purpose. Darwin. who studied the ani- mal attentively, remarked this as an astonish- ing instance of adaptation of structure between two objects apparently so remote as a crab and cocoanut. The cocoanut crab inhabits the islands of the Indian ocean. It accumulates surprising quantities of the picked fibers of the cocoanut, which it uses for a bed: the flesh is very good to eat, and under its tail is a mass of fat which sometimes yields as much ass quart of limpid oil. A SMALLER VARIETY. Among other strange crabs in the Smith- souian collection is smaller variety of this same species. which lives in a burrow at the roots of a fruit tree and climbs the tree to procure its food. Then there is a “painted crab” of the West Indies, which isa land animal. it used to exist there in countless numbers and indulged annually in a migration to the sea coast, moving always in a compact army. Dur- ing such migrations they were caught in great numbers and so have become almost extinct, Acrab from the Barbadoes is remarkable for the fact of its swiftness in running, which has given it the name of the ‘horseman crab.” The “dorippe” is a species of crab quite plenti- fal on the shores of Adriatic, which has two legs on its back—a great convenience, since, if turned bottom side up, itcan run just as well that way. REMARKABLE SPECIMENS. To attempt to give a list of all the queer erabs to be found in the world would be absurd, however. One remarkable specimen in the Sunthsonian collection is entirely covered with what looks like whitish moss, but is in reality something between the vegetable and the suimal All crabs of that variety have a coat of this sort to render them indistinguishable by their enemies and unrecognizable by their prey. Another kind of crab is always covered entirely with growing sponge, save only his eyes, antenne and the tips of his claws. He in crevices where sponge grows among rocks and becomes as much hke them as he knows how. Acrab from the Pacific coast is invariably found with sea anemones growing all over his back and legs. Another. from the sme region, has large tubes, with which it sucks water into its lungs by like 2 real snuff box. and legs that look like Pacific. One of the fiercest craby known is _plentital on the coast of South America. It is called the “rock crab” and hides in crevices among stones. It is captured usually by dropping « hook on the end of a string into its lair, cae it will seize the hook in anger and permit it- self to be hauled out by its own grip, which is so strong that the claw will still bite powerfully after it has been pulled off from the animal, Afunny crab is the “‘messmate,” which 0: finds in oysters, It does not harm the bivaly. but merely lives in the shell with it and feeds upon whatever the oyster gots to eat. There ares many very surprising crabs already ou exhibition in the Smithsonian; some of them are sufficiently big and horrible ‘of aspect to A crab with « long beak straws is also from the ; way of breathing. | Still another California crab has a very neatly | made snuff box underneath its body, for holding | 88, which closes with a snap, fastening just | stands highest in the order of crnstacen, rank- ing the lobster by reason of the fact that he has learned. like civilized man, to dispense with the tail with which he was formerly adorned. The learned Bishop Pontoppidan was tho first to describe the crab as ‘‘ared fish that walked backward,” ly because it is not a fish, it is not red, and it does not walk ward. In his treatise on the subject the prelate says that the crab’s most formidable enemy is the eel, which envelo) the crus- tacean in its shiny folds and slowly crushes it to 0 death asa boa-constrictor does a tiger. Th valor of the crab has long been recognized. When Hercules was en- gaged in his famous scrimmage with the Dernaean Hydra, a gigantic crab was said to bite his big toe by tain divinity who had bet on the hydra; and when Hercules smashed the crab with his club, Juno placed the luckless créature in the heavens among the signs of the Zodiac. By the ancients the crab was used as an emblem of wisdom. Ithas been urged that he ought to be classed asa ruminating animal, because he chews his food in his stomach. In an entertaining essay on the crab Mr. Robert Roosevelt describes him as he loves most to lie half buried in the sandy bottom of the Chesapeake, “gazing all day long upon the peaceful scenery of his watery realm, with apparently as little on his mind as a fas! ionable New York joafer. Ail day long he peers up in the sky, waiting till the comet shall fail over the sun and raise the temperature of the water to boiling heat, so that fe can be ready cooked for the salamander who is to take the place of man at that interesting period.” LOBSTER RELATIVES. There are ever so many poor relations of the blue-clawed crab of the Chesapeake in exist- ence, but in the lobster connection are num- bered bat three species. One of these has its habitation all the way from Labrador to the Delaware Breakwater. The second is European, and extends all the way = from Norway into the Mediterranean. So closely alike are the Eu- ropean and American varieties that no one but @ naturalist would find any difference be- tweenthem. The third species is found in the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, but is too small to be of commercial value, Since 1885 the fish com- \ es Suan a deat | has been engaged at Woods Mass., in propagating young lob- sters by hand to plant in the New England waters, which the fisheries have depleted to such an extent that lobsters may almost be said to have been driven out of that aqueous region, In 1880 the Cape Cod lobster fishery, which at one time supplied the New York market almost wholly, gave employment to aaly theedex tour man tach year since then the number of lobsters captured per trap set has been steadily reduced. Meanwhile, how- ever, the fish commission has been hatchin; and letting loose along the shore millions 0 young lobsters. Its work has notas yet had time to exhibit visible effect. for the simple reason that the lobsters thus propagated by hand have not had time to grow to any size. It takes six or seven years for a newly hatched lobster to obtain a length of ten inches. But it is expected that the hoped-for results will soon show themselves, as has been the case with cod hatched. So plentiful have young e, owing to the commission's efforts in this way, that tishermen have been seriously anuoyed by them of late through the nibbling off of their baits. DOMESTIC LOBSTERS. The lobster does not migrate at any season for great distances; wherever it is put it stays, only seeking deep water when the weather is cold. Therefore it has been expected that any of these crustaceans newly hatched would re- main where they were put aud eventually re- ward the fishermen of that locality. Last year the station at Wood's Holl liberated 4,560,000 young lobsters, this number representing about 50 per cent of the number of eggs incubated. The remaining 50 percent either did not achieve birth successfully or were devoured by their fellows for food. Unlike the fishes, lobsters do not come intw the world with a yolk- sac attached to their bodies for food suily to last them a while. Accordingly, they are obliged at once upon coming out of the egg to seek their own subsistence frequently at each other’s expense. At Wood's Holl the hatching process is per- formed in glass so arranged that fresh sea water is constantly circulating among the eggs. The eggs are olive green in color, and when their time for hatching approaches the shells become transiucent, so that one can see the embryo lobster coiled up inside. When they come out they are about five-sixteenths of an inch in length, and they have to be fed with finely powdered clams, crab meat, &c. Boats are sent out with nets towed behind to scoop in for their food the small crustaceans that float onthe surface of the water. It is always a matter of great difficulty to secure a sufficient number of female lobsters with exgs to supply the demand for hatching purposes, POLICEMEN PAY COMPLIMENTS They Had Dents in Their Clubs and They Were Proud of Them. From the New York Tribune. Perhaps it was not right to play the eaves- dropper. It certainly was not right for two policemen to seat themselves on a man’s front steps at night and talk when they should have been tramping along their beats, keeping the public peace or awing offenders with their im- posing presence. Atany rate, this 1s some- thing like the conversation that floated through the open window on that summer night: “An did ye moind that night I dhropped the young feller down on th’ avenew? That was one of the foinest blows Moike Kerrigan iver struck. He wint down loike a bull if John Sul- livan had shlugged him. An’ it wassuch a prity blow, was it not, moi man? I niver hurted him. It wasa sloight tap only, but he dhropped. Ah, that was the proud night for Moike Kerrigan.” “An’ did ye moind,” interrupted a deeper voice, “th’ toime I cought th’ duffer what backed me doown? He had three fellows wid him, did he that. An’ I says to moiself, I says, ‘Tim, if iver that insooltin’ divil comes into your han’s, then, Tim, he would be just afther sayin’ he was lucky to escape wid his loife, when he comes to hii An’ whin Oi see him comin’ down the i kept me oye on him. dme han’ down on his shoulder an’ Oi says: ‘Young man’ phwat is the mather wid ye?” He turned loike asthreak on me an’ Qi said: ‘Ye would resist an officer, would ye, ye young murtherin’ divil ye?’ Oitetched him a clip against his ear until Oi could see th’ stharrs what dances before his oiyes. Then Oi give him another foine wan, a soft an’ coaxin’ wan loike Oi have learnt wid jewdicious phractice, He wint to slape at onct, he did.” “It was for bein’ a toine sight, Tim.” “That it was, an’ when he come to his sinsis he says wid ghroan that was balm to me heart: ‘Phwat struck me?’ “It was Oi, ye insooltin scoundrel.” says Oi. “Doan't you know any bitter than to insoolt da- cent ladies in the sthreet?’ An’ whenOi sphoke to egintiy, Young man, ye was for foightin’ loike a woild cat. A sorry day it will be for ye when I make me charrge.’” “+ “Oi hev no reccolecshun of that,’ says he, a. " says Oi, ‘an’ that is a loie as old as Oirelana’s spirit of indipindince.’” ‘Oi must have been dhrunk,’ says he.” “ ‘Indade an’ ye must,’ says Oi. An’ thin Oi let the divil go, for me hearrt was filled wid oy.” 5 Tare was a good noight’s wurruk, Tim.” “That dint in mg sthick has no equal com- paired wid de: Did you iver see the loike of that dint? O1 have several which mhake a man proud, but this is supairiyure to innything Oi hev.” “It is a great seuvenir, Tim. Oi think Oi like it bhetther than me oawn swate wan which Oi thook whin Oi smashed th’ head off that ghoat wid th’ walkin’ sthick who was for athrickin’ an officer whin Oi punched his ribs, He was a Sth avenue jude, was he, an’ when Oi phoked him gintly and affectionate loike he was mdin his face loike a blushin’ paycock) Bat it would hey mhade Fa soul aisy for yure loife, Tim, if you could hev seen that jude dhrop. Oi was just for killin’ him, me biuhd was boilin, aud whin Oi was just from comin’ from makin’ me rephorth, Oi. seen th’ dint in me fav'rite sthick, an’ Oi could lape for jhoy.” “It was a noble jut. Moike——” and the voices died away as the brave policemen saun- tered off to hunt a more comfortable step. Gooseberry Fool. | From the London Truth. An eminent conservative lately ordered some gooseberry fool for his dinner at the Cariton Club. When it made its appearance he did not approve of it, and sending for the steward in- dignantly said that he had ordered gooseberry fool and not “that stuff.” “Well, sir,” observed —————-eee—_____ Bound Hand and Foot. repay a visit. ; AN INTERESTING STUDY. The crab is @ very interesting animal to'| study. He wears his skeleton on the outside of | his flesh, and he has ten legs, eight pairs of jaws, teeth in bis stomach, anda heart in the middie of the back. itis admitted that he ™ hin the | Vithiu the sea that day, And I asked her for haf love to ight My lone life’s gloomy way. Een as I waited for her ‘loud wild shriek ‘uprose. rose up to her heart IN THE CONGO STATE. A Boat Ride on African Creeks and Rivers, INA STORM ON THE CONGO. Picturesque Scenery Among the Vil- Iages—Interview With an African Prince—The Beautiful Sunsets Along the Coast of the Mainland. Marap1, Stats or Coxao, Sournwestrrx Arsica, May 8 T has been a rule with the traveler and explorer in the valley of the Congo to perform a hasty journey by water from Banana to Matadi, viewing the country from the deck of a steamer. He has thus entered the gateway of southwestern Africa, and passed over the navigable waters of the Lower Congo river—@early ninety miles in ex- tent--without visiting the back creeks, many of which are larger than one-balf of all the navigable rivers of Europe and America, I was determined to see the Congo and its back creeks and fertile islands; and so, after making two steamer trips, I went from Boms to Banana, intending to ascond the river thence to Boma and afterward to this place in a small boat with a capacity for seven persons and food for five days, I started upon this trip on May 1, My party consisted of seven persons, an English trader, R. E. Dennett, five Musseron- gos and myself, We started at 6:16 and pro- ceeded due east from Banana, skirting the island immediately in front of that place and leaving the Belgian Catholic mission to our left, nestling dreamily among the bills, with- out the first signs of life. The first modest ri of sunlight were working their way through a beautiful curtain of light pearl-colored clouds. A cool breeze from the hills of the mainland awept down upon us like @ benediction from nature; and the boat song of our black boys rang amid the almost impenetrable mangos and reverberated among the hills of the mainland. After an hour and a half of steady pulling we passed over to the slack water of the mainland in search of fresh water to use during our trip. Now and then we met natives in canoes standing up and propelling it by means of tong paddles, the powerful mus- cles standing out at every exertion of their splendid bodies. Then we glided by a few native villages, whose friendly inhabitants @rew near the shore to gaze at us and call out “Me bote,” the native salutation, The main- land was mountainous, fringed with slight timber, with a promise of fertility upon the plateau, about 400 to 600 feet above. 4 LABYRINTH OF CREEKS. After securing water from the land of Mr. Dennett we took our course to the southwest and passed several groups of wild ducks and native pigeons, passing at least through about five miles of spacious creeks, generously and copiously fed by the mighty Congo, so in- timately related, mingling and’ intermingling, that it was quite difficult to tell which one would bring us tothe parent of these many waters. Turning suddenly to the south we came into a creek whose banks were lined with the most beautiful bamboo palm trees I ever saw. The trees stood in rows on either bank so perfect that one could not help thinkin; that they had been carefully trained throug! many years. As the breeze swept down this aisle, 40 much like an enchanted temple of ancient Druids, the palms lazily but gracefully fanned themselves. Behind these bamboo palms but a few yards stood their graceful and majestic relatives, the palm oil trees, lifting their sword-like branches forty and fifty feet in the golden sunlight. After afew miles of this glorious vision we turned into another creek, where a similar sight greeted our eyes, with the exception that now we were traveling eastward and leaving the mainland to the left. Here we observed the massive and majestic baobob tree—the elephant tree—and the cocoa- nut, in whose branches we frequently saw and heard parrots and other birds of the most gor- geous plumage. IN A CONGO VILLAGE, At 2o’clock we sighted the Congo, and one hour later we halted at Malella, in the territory of the Musserongos, where we took luncheon. These people are much like the North Ameri- can Indians; it is impossible to approach their villages unobserved. We were soou surrounded by the natives, who watched our boys prepare the repast. While at luncheon one of the princes of Malella, having heard of our arrival, calied upon us, His royal highness approached us carrying a deep-crimeon umbrella, He wore a European coachman’s winter great coat, had @ handkerchief of variegated colors about his loins, while his lower extremities were naked. The Portuguese language was the court lan- guage here, 80 we were interviewed in this tongue. We had with us an interpreter, who on our en ee # few Jeading questions to the prince. We explained that we were only making a trip through the country with friendly intentions, a sentiment which seemed to meet with a hearty response from his pco- ple. His majesty took this occasion to unbosom his complaints against the Independent State of Congo. He said that neither himself nor his people recognized the authority of the state; that the state had never purchased their land and had not even “dashed” them a box of gin; that the princes had been invited to Boma in Bula Matidi’s time—Stanley—and flags were given them with the statement that the Belgians were now the owners of the country. He said that his people all understood Portuguese, but that the Belgians came speaking a new tongue the: could not understand. I was very muc: pleased with the looks and behavior of these people and I feel confident that with kind and prudent treatment they could be made useful members of society. Iwas surprised and de- lighted to learn that this prince was a temper- ance man and, after congratulating him upon his position on the traffic in ardent spirits, I offered him tea, which, after tasting, he asked permission to share with his wife. The princess tasted the tea, but expressed her opinion that rum was a superior article, This statement was met by x cold took from the Prince of Malella and we felt it was a convenient mo- ment to take our departure. CHIMBAMBA AND KIMBAMBA, A sea breeze usually springs up in the after- noon and sometimes blows the waters of the Congo back with such violence as to prevent the natives from crossing the river. Waves are created by this sea breeze so large as to suggest that one is upon a large lake. Taking advantage of the friendly wind we hauled up two sails and were soon sailing along ata swift rate. At4:15 p.m. we turned into a creek to the northward, where we came upon several villages of the Chimbamba A aay co the scene of the late war, in which the troops of the Independent State of Congo killed many peo- ple and burned several villages. This country of the Chimbamba is divided by the creek into two distinct princedoms; the Chimbambas oc. cupying the right bank and calling their coun try Chimbamba, and the Musserongos occupy. ing the left bank of the creek and calling their country Kimbamba, On account of frequent boundary line dis- putes the Prince of Chimbamba requested the agent of a Belgian commercial company 1o- cated in his district and having its headquar- ters at Mataba to lease from him his lands, not to buy them. Having secured a lease of land from the Chimbamba prince the agent of the aforenamed company, Monsieur Proutch, sought to secure the same privileges from the Prince of the Musserongos, but was unsuccess- ful. The agent threatened to obtain the lands by force, but the brave Musserongos were not easily frightened, At length M. Proutch re- Sorted to a stratagem. The governor neral, Camille Janssen, of the Independent State of Congo, was invited to visit the country in his dual capacity as official head of the state and as inspector of the Belgian Commercial Com- pany. Agent Proutch ga great feast, to which he invited the two native princes and their le; but he took great care to intro- duce the Prince of Chimbamba as the master and ruler of all the people and the country on both sides of the creek. He did not present the Prince of the Musserongos at all, and he and his people at once_withdrew from the fes- tivities, although M. Proutch endeavored to prevent them. THIS INSULT WAS INTENDED. A short time after this affair Agent Proutch ‘ent the recalcitrant prince his ultimatum—to surrender his lands or they would be seized b: force. He then made a levy, for native troops of ten men from each one of thirty villages, and appealed to the State of Congo for troops, is Tequest was promptly granted, anda crael war was waged against the Musserongos, the results of which are still pain- fully visible. The troops of the state open a building to the Dutch house and built a fire upon » with disastrous consequences, ‘This creek, which leads around to hua, the most i creeping vines, ingeni found in England or America hand of man. We ee oe forth BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS, There is little or no twilight in Africa, although its sunsote are beautiful beyond de- scription or comparison. When the sun's disk first reaches the horizon it nts the aspect of the open door of a blot furnace at ite ‘test heat. Within six and ten minutes sired by the expert merchant of that precious gem; while just above it is the creamy and ex- quisite tint of the rich peach blending with the pium purple still further up the horizon. One hoe of pleasure is left you; there is now e spot of the horizon like an exquis- itely — block of alabaster. e an early moon—so early that there seemed to be no interim between the reign of the king of day and that of the queen of night. The moonlight in a tropical country is certainly enchanting, the profuse and deep ( emg foliage combining to make a lovely scene, lere, for example, we came upon a grove of banana trees, low but spreading their long blades like so many Damascus swords, and at every rush of the wind turning their blades like knights in deadly combat, and scattering the soft, silvery light of the moon like the crystal spray of a fountain. Now and again we came upon the native fisherman, trapping the fish with his net by the glaring light of a nde flambeau. At one village we found a funeral wake in full excitement, the people howling, gesticulating and rushing about the ope Sm after the manner of the North American ON THE CONao, The creek now began to widen, and soon our little boat swept out into the Congo, where its banks were five miles apart, In every direc- tion the vast expanse of water seemed to be surging against its banks, which, in the illusion produced by the moonlight, seemed as distant asthe horizon. At 9:30 p.m. we reached the Dutch and English trading houses at Ponta de Lehna, Leaving Ponta de Lehna on the fol- lowing morning at 9 o'clock we reached the island of Mataba at a few minutes past 1 o’clock, having followed the left bank of the river to examine the nature of the country, the most of which could be used for the cultivation of rice and coffee. The Belgians who are occupying Mataba gave us a cordial greeting, and wo re- mained long enough to have luncheon. They are endeavoring to cultivate this island, and have introduced a machine for extracting oil from the palm nut, and it is said to work admir- ably. From Mataba up on the Congo we were favored with strong breeze, which filled our sails and carried our little bark along briskly, but long ere the sun set the breeze abs , and the clouds began to gather in the south. We passed a number of beautiful islands with few, and sometimes no innabi- tants; islands green and fair to see, around whose green velvet skirts, fringed with soft sand, fine and white, the wild duck and grace- ful stork wandered in peaceful security. Some- times we passed what seemed to be the mouth of a very small creek, but the waters soon find themselves imprisoned by banks of hard, yel- low clay; and here, but a few hundred yards from the Congo river, the hippopotami refresh themselves in the long cool grass, and hide from the deadly rifle of the hunter. Under the most favorabie circumstances we did not ex- pect to reach Bomba until 8 o'clock in the evening. but now we found that we were not only without wind for our sails but had a dead head wind and a current against us, rushing at the rate of five knots an hour. IN AN AFRICAN STORM, A thunder storm had sprung up to the south- ward, and the violence of the wind had driven our boat into the tall grass on the eastern bank. The darkness had now settled over us, and we began to prepare for a fierce struggle with an African storm. We were now between the devil and the deep sea. On one hand we were threatened by She hippopotaea i, who could easily turn our boat over, and on the other the water threatened to swamp our boat. The native boatmen toiled hard to gain head- nd I think we went forward at the rate of one mile per hour, so strong were the cur- rent and wind. Attimes we were caught in violent whirlpools and spun around like a schoolboy’s top. We had no anchor; we could find no land along the left bank, and to attempt to cross the river would have been deliberate de. We were compelled to work our way along the tall grass which stood in water hun- dreds of feet from the solid ground, We could not stop, else the current would sweep us down the river, and progress was difficult, To increase our vexations the Congo mosquito indulged himself freely upon the naked bodies of our native crew, and bit my ankles so badly that I was two days recovering. The lightning be- came more vivid, and the thunder more loud and defiant. The storm seemed moving down thé river to our right, and another one seemed to move from the east to the west, and almost above us, at an augle of forty-five degrees, when, strange to say, the clouds parted and, like an investing army, marched in columns to the right and left, leaving the sky above us clear, and now a faint light from the moon streamed through. We toiled on all night, and an idea of the desperate struggle we had with wind and wave may be had when I say that we saw the lights upon a ship at Boma at 10 o'clock at night, and, although we never rested a moment, it was half- past 7 o'clock the next morning when we reached that lace. A few hippopotami grunted us, but did not interfere with our ‘rom Banana to Boma the country on both sides of the river is a low, undulating plain, but from Bomba to Matadi it is high and moun- tainous, The change in the country is abrupt and extreme. and the waters are fretted by in- numerable whirlpools, and as_I desired to see this part of the river by daylight I traveled only by day and occupied three days, a trip easily made in five hours by a small steamer. I made four stops—at Mussuco and Noqui, in Portuguese territory, where I was hospitably entertrined, und at Ango-Ango and Fuca-Fuca, in the State of Congo. +rom Bomba to Matadi there are no creeks to traverse; the poputation is sparse; the soil is sterile and the trade is light though profitable, and consists of rubber, coffco and ivory. T have just walked over the surveyed route of the proposed Congo railway, from Matadi to the mouth of the Mpozo river, and returned Heath Selly road, Ina few days I mare for the t Congo, going as far ax Stanley} Falls, aa Geonce W. Wituiams, J ——____ cee - Written for Taz EVENING STaR. Mein Gebet. My Father, hear my prayer, And let not dark despair, Seize on my soul. 1 faint, | gasp for breath, ‘The darkling waves of death Around me roll, ‘My eyes are raised to Thee, From life's tempestuous sea,— Hear Thou my call ©, turn the storm Aside, Let not the surging tide My soul appal! ‘Weary and worn and weak, I sigh and vainly seek A place of rest. My face is wet with tears, ‘My soul with constant fears And doubts oppressed. ‘The world gives no relief And naught but pain and griet Awaits me here. ‘The way of life seems dark,— Sgnd some celestial spark To make it clear. My Father, hear Thy child, ‘That from this stormy wild Cries unto thee, Stretch forth Thy hand of power, Let me this very hour ‘Thy glory see! Yet, I would murmur not, Max 0’Rell’s Chat About People and Customs on the Other Side. HOPE FOR BRITISH AUTHORS Music Halls Revisited—“‘Mighty Merry” Times in Old England—Where the English Get Their Wrong Notions Abont Americane—ibven in London. —o—— ‘Special Correspondence of THE EVENrKe Stan. Loxpox, June 90. T THE dinner of the Incorporated So- ciety of British Authors last year there was much talk about the international opyright bill and the reasons for de- siring its sufe passage through Con- Rress, British authors rose to their feet one after another after dinner to enumerate theit grievances and all complained very justly of the existing wholesale robbing of their work by transatlantic publishers, Being myself called Upon to speak I did my best to console them by comparing their lot with that of the French author, “You have the annoyance of knowing that you are being robbed in pocket, gentle~ men,” said I, “but the Frenchman is worse served stili, for has he not the additional trial of seeing his books translated into American? You are spared that, at all events,” French books are still being translated into American and English ones still being appro- priated by the American publisher, but now @ Joyous gleam of hope lights up the gloomy out- look, Mr. Moncure D. Conway has sent to the Athenaeum, a graceful, amiable and somewhat ingenious article to prove that if the United States House of Representatives refused to pass the copyright bill it was because that docu- ment did uot sufficiently favor the British author. ‘his is certainly a novel view of the case, and one which the British author would never have hit upon for himself, He scarcely knows whether to be glad or sorry to hear that his interests are so dear to Congressmen, but as half a loaf is better than no bread, he, most of him I fancy, is inclined to exclaim: “Save us from our friends,” Assuming that Mr. Conway is right. the atti- tude of the representatives of the American pore reminds me of the good little British oy of my acquaintance who ono day came to school without bringing the usual exercise, and being questioned as to his reason for this an- swered: “Please, sir, { was not sure whether it was the 16th or 17th that you wanted and I was afraid to do the wrong one.” To whom I feit constrained to say: ‘Goodness is good, my son, but do not over-do it.” AN ENGLISH MUSIO HALL, Z Last night I went to a music hall for the firs time in fifteen years, You see I am getting quite English in boasting of my virtues, I had always intended that first visit should be the last, for the thought of it shéuld linger seduc- tively in my memory, but having heard Istely of much improvement in the entertainments, I went to judge for myself. There came forward the same brassy-throated vocalists with the indiscribable something in the voice which is the peculiar product of the music hall and is as vulgar as it is unmusical, and they sang the same class of songs, some vulgar. some idiot and they danced the same old jigs between th verses, So much for the musical part. The other part of the (roeeea consisted of the an- tics of a pair of clowns. They arrive on the stage with false craniums. Number one clown takes number twos head between hus knees, and drives nails inso it. Roars of laughter. By and bye. number ones cranium is topped by a hat containing a hidden lamp, no douvt, The hat takes fire. More roars of laughter. Number two gets on a chair and extinguishes the flame by means of a wat- ering pot. The fan is that number two does not know that his hat is on fire. Wild applause, Ilook about. Over in the box opposite are some people evidently ladies and gentlemen, I marvel as L look at them. They are not ap- pasting, itis true, but the idea of the ladies ing there at all strikes me as very odd, until Iremember that it has been the fashion for a year or two past to go to music halls. The sup- posed naughtiness of the proceeding must form the attraction. I imagine. though, to give the managers their due, I believe there is nothing improper permitted, MERRY TIMES OF OLD, After all, perhaps, the taste of the English has not undergone much since the days of good Samuel Pepys. I fell to thinking of a descrip- tion he gives of a “mighty merry” time he and his wife and some friends had one day in August abont a month before the outbreak of the great fire in London. I like the relish the good fel- low appears to have got out of it; there is quite a smack of the lips in his description of how they went through the afternoon and evening. First, there is a bull jing which, however, only half meets with his approval, Upon this follows supper. After supper they go to a firework bout, and pelt and burn one another with great glee, Next, there is more “mighty merry” sport at the house of a certain Mrs. Mercer, where candle grease and soot are freely used about the faces, and a kind of nigger min- strelentertainment, minus the music,is indulged in, until the revelers grow thirsty. Then they adjourn to Pepys’ house to drink end stay to dance, the fun culminating in the masquerad- ing of the men of the party in women’s ciothes. But how they appear to have enjoyed it! I take another look at the box opposite and come to the conclusion that, though its occu- pants probably inherit their taste for horseplay from their old merry England ancestors, they have inherited the power of enjoyment in a considerably diluted form. WRONG IDEAS OF AMERICA. It is really little wonder that so many Euro- peans who have never crossed the Atlantic should have a wrong idea of American people. The extraordinary things that a certain class of Americans do amaze and appall them, and as the loud and eccentric samples from over the water are necessarily more heard of than the thousands of well-bred ones who make no noise, they get taken as the representatives of the millions at home. Last summer, being in Heidelberg for a day, I went to see the lovely old ruined castle with an English companion. The hour that might bave been full of Perfect enjoyment was spoilt by a couple of Americans whom the guide wasshowing round at the sume time. Their jokes, leveled at everything that they were shown ‘and at the guide himself, were in horribly bad taste and delivered in the harshest of loud voices, The poetry of the place was quite lost upon them and my companion was greatly incensed at its being spoilt for us, Cultivated Americans de- plore the effect produced by their compatriots and, if possible, dislike them more than do the English. The latest illustration of the enter- prising spirit of the American is surely a little overdone. A paragraph in one of the London Papers announces that when it was reported that Sarah Bernhardt’s late injury to her leg might necessitate the amputation of that liinb she was asked at once by an American show- man whether she would sell it to him to em- balm and exhibit, We are all happy, too, that the man is not to have it, for the best of rea- sons, and the lithe actress is coming to London in a day or two to show us her latest creation. JOAN OF ARC AND GEN. HOCHE. Readers of the papers will remember that there was some talk last sammer of her play- ing a pioce in which she was to impersonate the Virgin Mary. An outcry of opposition quashed the project, and now. instead et play- ing the mother of the Savior, Surah is playing the savior of her mother country. Joan of Are has been much to the fore fora year or two past. She has made guch strides that in fact thet from a witch, that is to say a child of hell, she has advanced to» saint, with a good place among the aureoled dwellers in heaven. Poor Joan; she had an aureole aroun: her helmet fora litte while during life, one. The church vention could bear with equanimity. At twen- ty-five years of age a kind of Alexander! Per- sane =, Same? De mneneees THE EVENING STAR: WASHINGTON. D.C. SATURDAY,SJULY 12, 1890—SIXTEEN PAGES. “ramet oye | EUROPEAN CAUSERIE ing Demos reigns. The French guillotine is rusty, but mud and brick- bats are alwaysat hand for men of Hoche's type. if they should crop up, and there would not be wanting men to use them liberty, fraternity and equality. HOW BRITISHERS REGARD IBSEN. Mrs. Erving Winslow of Boston ought to be Very satisfied with the andience which her reading of Ibsen's play, “The Enemy of the People,” drew to the Haymarket Theater on the 19th, The house was full and attentive. Mr. Gladstone, looking wonderfully vigorous and well. was among the intellectual-looking crowd which had come to give her an appre- ciative hearing, and the theater was dotted over with well-known faces in all But the fact remains that this afternoon audience was eo eaggoe! one and did not of course repre- sent the ordinary theater-going crowd. For the crowd, Ibsen scarcely exists as yet, and m- deed it is doubtful if it ever will, I cannot imagine anything less likely to charm them than the lofty, unsensational realism of the Norwegian master. ‘he stolid, well-fed, no- Ronsense-about-him Briton does not pay bis money to go and listen to asermon such as we had in “The Enemy of the People.” He has dined well, he awd pee wined well, he feels pretty well satisfied with the world as it is, and e is in anything but a mood to be captious about trifles. (As for the lower middle class one might as welt give them a play of Sopho- cles in the original Greek as one of Ibsen’ dramas.) The peace and complacency born scomfortable feeling in the inner man, wrap ‘him around, and he is in no mind to be shown that life is a perpetual warfare against all — of cowardice within us and without He nm THE WORLD A FAIRLY DECENT SORT OF PLACE and ono man about as good as another. He has no particular wish to improve it or them, es- pecially if it involves the uncomfortable ne- cessity of inexorably acting up to one's belief and vigorously shaking off of the shackles of Conventionality. He will take a stage pill con- taining a moral lesson without rebelling, but it must be well coated with dramatic situations, scenic effects, &c. Ibsen's plays do not glitter with baits of this kind, His oe are plain, every-day folk, and their language is not ine, not punctuated with wit and epigram, thongh this latter feature would scarcely be a drawback in the eyes of our ordinary Briton, ‘Then, again, Ibsen addresses himself to the will and to the judgment, and not at all to the senses, and this willalso bea defect for the mass of English play-goers; he,the leastsensual of men, will remain practically a sealed book to them. No. Mr. Ibsen, your own Peter Mor- tensgaard is too plentifully represented in flesh and blood here in the world for you to ever be- come universally appreciated. LONDON STATUES, When I wrote my first book about England T made it a point to mention that toa foreigner it was curious te see the fourth pedestal in Trafalgar Square remain unsurmounted with a statue. It seemed to me that if England could not put her hand upon a man just suited to the conspicuous elevation. she might meanwhile set up some good mediocrity for symmetry's sake, Seven years have since gone by, and that pedestal is still waiting. A very fine statue of Gordon has been set up in the center of the square, and certainly no one felt inclined to cavil atthe notion that a “soldier saint of Khartoum” was not a particularly appropriate pendent for George ve The “frst gentleman of Europe” is, of course, a little dificult to match, and my feeling now is more one of curiosity as to how that difficulty will resolve itself than one of wonder at the want of eym- metry in the present arrangement, I have seen so many astonishing sights in other parte of London that [ simply came to the conclusion that London in such matters is content to re- main far behind the most paltry country town of the world. Near one of the entrances of the most beautiful park in the city there are four eyesores that were once, no doubt, pretty groups of statuary. It is years since I noticed them first, but even then they were hardl, recognizable as ever having been ornamental, And there they stand yet, blotched, battered. scabbed scarecrows, such as one could not match in any town in the world. Half the statues of London look like victims of erysip- elas. In some, the disease is more advanced than in others. Queen Anne’s was the most distressing case. The figure of that sovereign lady in St. Paul’s churchyard was minus ite nose when I saw it first, and remained in that state for about ten years. And,goodness knows, a nose is a useful member in England—in the winter especially! I cull from a French police court report the following: Judge—“You say you saw the affray outside the tavern from your doorstep? How far is it from that place to your house?” No answer. Judge. No answer, Judge—‘‘Is it fifty? How long does it take o from the one to the other?” Vitness—-“Well, sir, it depends. Do you mean going or returning?” Max O’Rett. ———+e0+-____— The Mule in the Brush. From the New York Sun. Opposite alittle railroad station about five miles below Jackson, Miss,, was a dense thicket and on onw of the bushes hung a white rag. A dozen of us sat with our feet hanging off the platform, and, while every man had a revolver on his Lip, no one had thought of shooting at that rag. It was a hot day,'and we were smoking and talking, when a native came up the track and sat down with the rest of us. Presently he out with a big revolver und aimed at the rag and pulled trigger. The cartridge didn’t ex- — and there was a general laugh over the failure. “It was sich a blamed nice mark to shute at that I couldn't resist,” he explamed, seemingly much chagrined. “Perhaps some of you ‘uns kin drap that rag.” Everybody out with his gun and began blaz- ing away, some shooting high and some low, and = fusiladed for miko nage be second native appeared, crawli out of brush on henioned knees, and es he stood be- fore us he said: Paces hev I done that you all wants to kill me?” “Good gracious. man, were you in there?” exclaimed one of the crowd, “Right in thar, stranger, and seemed the wah bad come back. I didn't you hev done killed my mule, I e ran over with him, andsure enough there was his mule, down on his back and kicking his last, with four or five buliets in him. “You dun didn’t mean to, of co'se,” said the owner, “but this ar’ mew! was all I had I don’t say he was wuth whata prime mew! orter fetch, but I could hev sold him fer $50.” He was informed that we ee pra . yurse to pay the and we PI End monde iv 665, “He tok the money "and dis. appeared soon after, followed by the first rival, and they had gota long start when a third native appeared and asked: “Bin any shutin’ yere?” ake “Yes. fans at that ar’ rag?” es. “Kill a mewl?” “Yea,” to to me t hit, but on.” “Obi don't make Jove just now,” said she, ~ “My shoes are full of sand.” aes —Bosion Courter, A Party of Washingtonians tn Yellow Correspondence of Tua EvEwrwe Stan Maxmora Hot Srarmos, June 2% Here we are at the Yellowstone Netiond Park, about to take our departure, having made the tour gf this wonderland in six days, retarne ing to Mammoth Hot Springs surfeited with wonders and beauties, This point is the entrance to the park, an@ has a fine hotel, at which we arrived one weell ago from Cinnabar, the end of the railroed We were greeted by strains of music from the band, which plays almost constantly, The mammoth springs, about four hundred yards distant, were visited at once. The formation iw in terraces, and at a short distance resembles a large water fall. There are many pools of different colors, all sending forth sulphurous and clouds of steam. The strange one ote the and not hesitate to elim’ to the eo AMONG TRE PAINT PoTR The following morning we started on om journey through the park. For the ret three miles it wasup hill all the way, so much oe that we increased our altitude over one thom sand feet. From the plateau beyond we saw im the distance the@now-capped peaks of the Feton range, sixty miles distant, in Wyoming, One mountain was passed whose strate is com- of aan nating: the volcanic action of former ages. © “paint pote,” as they are called, are very curious, They are craters of boiling mud of different colors. The first stop- Ping piace, Norris’ Basin, was reached im ame Rie time foraview of the geysers pear by. ‘wo beautiful geysers we were fascinated Watching—one, named the “Minute Man, which, after one minute's inaction, would furiously for a few seconds; another fourteen minutes and would then play beaut fully. There were numerous hot of em- erald and sapphire hues and another resem- bling a morning giory in shape. One immense geyser, called the “Growler,” sent forth muck steam and some water from an opening in the side of « hill with a trightfal nowe. THR LOWER BASIN, The next noon the “Lower Basin” or “Fire Hole” was reached. Here the “Mammoth Paint Pot” was seen. The mud is cream color and as it bubbles up beautiful rosettes an@ other shapes are formed, The “Fountaim Geyser” is the great feature of this basin, There are many swaller but the “Fountain” is in action every four hours aud sends forth ime mense volumes of water to a height of 150 feet and continues im action for twenty minutes, We waited by its side for two hours, — the cloud of steam and the gradual bubbling the water until finally it lashed itself into fary and became a thing of won d beauty. The next day we reached the “Upper Geyser ” It surpasses all the others in extent and magnitude. There are eighteen geysers here and many beautiful formations, pools and various colored lakes, besides extinct geysers and craters. One of the formations resembles castle, another a grotto, both besutifal gey~ sers and in action, The formation about one of the geysers resembies a huge sponge, both in color and shape. One of the most beautiful and the most interesting geysers at the upper basin is “Old Faithful,” which comes mto action ever? hour,never varying seven minutes, after an explosion underground a col hot water is sent over 180 feet into the air, this continues for nearly « minute, when it gradually dies down ard takes an hour's res 4 SUBLIME SIGHT. The next day we made a iong drive to the falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone— asudlime sight, The mountain drive was pie turesque and interesting; past mountain tore rents and cascades. The remains of snowdrifts alongside the road were frequent. The view of the Grand Canyon cannot be described; it must be seen. Moran's picture in the Capitol gives only a i 4 the immensity of this wonaerfal gorge, ing on a narrow ledge of the cliffs, 1,800 feet above the rushing stream, one sees the lovely lower falis, 360 fect in height, in fall view The coloring of the cliffs is most beautifalh— red, crimson, pink, white and cream color, all shades of brown and brilliant green. As the sun, low in the west, shone upon this display the effect was awe inspiring. way down this giddy height, on the pinnacle of a lofty rock, was an eagle's nest containing two eagiets, from their situation as secure oe af they were not in full view ‘us all, THE MUD VOLCANO, The next day we drove to the “mud volcano,” It is a terrible thing with its sickening odors and rumbling noise like distant thunder, one feels as if the infernal region had an outlet om the earth's surface. It was a relief to turn our faces toward the hotel at the Grand Canyon, 10 miles distant mew! Lege States rere ee precy 4 each of the Geyser Basins. ey national property from injury and the ‘wild game from poachers. Tourists are now coming into the Exh great numbers, AMR —»— A RAILROAD EPISODE. The Tale of a Suicide—A Nice Little Scheme, but It Didn’t Work. From the New York Tribune. A Michigan Central railroad train was bus ling along toward Chicago at the rate of forty miles an hour, when « brassy-faced, middle- aged man suddenly jumped to his feet in the reclining-chair car and glanced hastily and defiantly around as though daring any one te restrain him. Flinging off his overcoat, and compressing his lips with the sir of a mam whose mind is made up, he rushed to the doom, jerked it open, and screetched out as he turne@ around and faced the other passengers: “Farewell, vain world!” Some of the passengers glanced over the of their newspapers toward him, others athim with languid interest, while an nearest the door threw up his arms and ya frightfully. he man stepped out to the car =p thrust his back into the car and yelled out: “Farewell, vain world, I go hence!” Nobody seemed to care whether he went hence or to some other place and» look of bitter disappointment came into the face of the would-be suicide. He thrust his head into the car and wildly out: “Good-by, forever!” “So long, my friend; let us know when get there,” replied the man who had yawned, ‘a8 he quictly closed the car door and sat The desperate man on the form his nose against the car window, and moodily at the ——— Waving them a adieu he flung off hie coat, threw up his arms, and—sat down on the platform. Then he crawied up to of the door to gaze through it on and remorse stricken faces of the men women who had deliberately permitted » buman being to go to destruction But there wasn't « single borror-stricken passenger to look upon. Several of them were giggling immoderately, and the id a, yawning passenger was indicating y signs the others that the ‘farewell-vain-world’ had not gone hence, but was still in New ¥. state, Finally he came sneaking back into the with a combined look of sadness iil hi fe which ~o on his care-worn face, grew gloomiet ran aupetion. Nobody mon techie of his t passed his relief; nobody begged him to oe them; no purse was made up; nothing out as he thought it would. Slinging himself into the seat he bad the man hissed out to the wretch in him, who was swaying to and fro with iter: i fis i verse of sortptare E | f as