Evening Star Newspaper, July 28, 1894, Page 15

THE EVENING STAR, SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1894-TWENTY PAGES. 7 fate ann city Minit aa ABOARD A CHINESE MAN-OF-WAR. THE WAR IN KOREA The Lives of Foreigners by No Means Safe. Seeectwespdfinewstcese JAPAN AND CHINA TAKE A HAND —_—___ The Probable Results if They Come to War. BOTH SIDES PREPARED (Copyrighted, 1994, by Prank G. Carpenter.) Epecial Correspondeace of The Evening Star. HE KINGDOM OF I SXorea is in the throes of a rebellion, and the Chinese are sending troops by the thousand to the aid of the king. Eight gunboats have al- ready left for the Korean shores, and it is said here that there are sixteen men-of-war in the harbor of Chemulpo. The Russians and slish are sending their ships to Korea, and the flagship of our Asiatic Squadron, the Baltimore, has already ar- rived. Admiral Skerrett is In command, and the American colony, in case the city of Seoul is bombarded, will be taken to the Sea coast and put upon this ship for protec- tion. It is hard to conceive the condition of Korea. The lower classes are little more than slaves. They have been oppressed for ages by the nobles, and the exactions of the government officials during the last two years have been so great that many of the natives are said to be starving. An unset- tled condition prevails throughout the whole peninsula, but the revolution rages at its worst at the south. Here 4,000 in- cendiary rebels have taken up arms against the government. They have massacred many of the Officials and they have twice Gefeated the soldiers of the king. Their numbers have increased until it is said that they have in all about 10,000 followers, and many of these are armed with guns which Shook Hands at Me in Fashion. Chinese they have captured from the royal troops. They have 3,000 match-lock rifles, and the most of them have swords and spears. They have a thorough organization, and there are 100 men among them who serve as scouts. At the first battle, which occurred about two weeks ago, the government troops were victorious, but at the next, a few days latet, the rebels conquered and 200 of the king’s soldiers were left dead on the field. The advices we get here are to the effect that the officers of the rebels are able and brave. They led the government troops into ambuseades, and hzve outgeneraled them in nearly every instance. The rebels are favored by the people, and the govern- ment soldiers find it hard to get anything to eat. Li Hung Chang has sent a number of soldiers to the assistance of the king, but there has as yet been no battle between the Chinese and Korean troops. In the capital of Korea two-thirds of the people re said to be friendly to the rebels, who are marching toward Seoul, and it will be only the foreign troops which will prevent their takimg the capital. Rivalry of Two Nations. One of the chief cries of the rebellion fs against the foreigners. I have before me a manifesto which has just been issued by them. It states that the foreigners must be expelled from the country, and that the old religion must be upheld. It advocates the destruction of the officials, and is of the most inflammatory nature. There is no doubt but that such of the missionaries as are outside of Seoul are by no means safe. Dr. W. J. Hall was attacked by a mob in the city of Pen Yang the other day, and it is said that the governor of the’ city headed the mob. So far no foreigners have been killed, but the colony at the capital, numbering about one hundred foreigners, is in great danger, and only the presence of the foreign gunboats makes them safe. In the meantime the troops which China is pouring into Korea rSay possibly get into trouble with the J The two nations hate e rans and ation is afraid of the other, and each is apparently advices t the Chinese have sent s sperts of troops to Korea, and sixty-five hundred Japanese soldiers’ have ead n landed on Korean soil nd Japanese have colonies ch of state in no intries involve two ex nossibl, i event! pean war. It is ij © state what is g ies of the they have been in nang has an army of e latest of im- y will s of with pe. Japan is which are yard. es 7 turne rhe i ou at the Ss have rs. tro pattern invented by a Japanese, and they have something like 200,000 trained sol- diers. They have navy yards and men-of- war equal to ours, and they are as brave as any péople on the face of the globe. As to the bravery of the Chines@; this is a dis- puted question among the foreigners here. They have in the past been routed by west- ern troops, but wherever they have had gcod western leaders they have shown themselves efficient and courageous. Today they are in good condition for a great war, and the story of the events of the next year may make some of the bloodiest pages of history. The Chinese Navy. I wrote from Shanghai of my visit to the great Chinese arsenal at Kiangnan, and I deseribed its hundred acres of foundries, factories and powder works. Since then I have traveled thousands of miles through different parts of this great empire, and I find everywhere evidences of the wonderful preparation which these almond-eyed celes- tials are making to fight. the barbarians, as they call us. At Nanking, 200 miles from the sea coast, I visited a naval school, pre- sided over by English officials, and saw the A Chinese Marine. cadets go through their maneuvers. At the city of Han Yang I inspected a gun factory, where they were making small arms, and at Nanking I saw vast powder works and the smoke stacks of an arsenal covering many acres. Here at Tien-Tsin, Li Hung Chang has between fifty and one hundred acres of buildings, in which the | finest of modern guns are being made. He | has schools for the education of officers for | his army and navy, and nearly every one of the great viceroys of the empire has his own military establishment. ‘There is a big ravy yard at Foo Chow, below Shanghat, where the Chinese are making torpedo boats and modern vesels of war. This is on the Min river, and they have been building boats here for ten years of all sorts and received | n guns | sizes. I have seen some of the cruisers turned out at these yards, and they are equal to the same class of boats you will find in Europe and America. They make also armor plate and big guns, and, though they are now importing their steel in the shape of ingots, they are putting in such machinery as will enable them to make their own steel with their own iron, and they ex- pect to place themselves on an entirely in- dependent basis. Here at Tien-Tsin is the best place to make a study of the Chinese navy. Li Hung Chang, the famous viceroy, is its head and Lo Feng Luh, his naval secretary, has his headquarters here. Mr. Lo Feng Luh is one of the most accomplished men in China. He speaks English and German as well as he does Chinese, and he is as well posted on the doctrines of Huxley and Darwin as he js in the philosophy of Confucius and Mencius, He knows all about the great navies of the world and he adopts everything new in naval warfare as soon as it is invented. I am under many obligations to him for fa- vors during my stay at Tien-Tsin, and some of the best of my information comes from his headquarters. The chief fleet in the navy is the north coast squadron, which is di- rectly under him and which is, perhaps, as fine a squadron as you will find ouiside of the greatest European forces. It consists of four barbette seagoing armo: ds, one of which is 9,200 tons in size, and two others of which are more than 7,000 tons each. It has a number of deck-protected cruisers, a torpedo flotilla and eleven gun- boats. The Foo Chow squadron has a num- ber of fine boats, and in addition to these are the Shanghai fictilla and the Canton flotilla. These are under the viceroy at Canton, and the Foo Chow syuadron is, I think, under the viceroy of Nanking. Two of Li Hung Chang’s armorclads have a speed of fifteen knots an hour and they are armed with four twelve-inch Krupp guns. These ships have Hotchkiss cannon and tubes for Whitehead torpedoes, and they are of the best workmanship the Germans can turn out. I can’t describe the excellence of the guns which the Chinese are making themselves. The guns and ships which they are importing are of the best. They have, in short, everything that is known to mod- ern warfare, and I see everywhere their ships manned with rapid-firing guns, Hotch- ki guns, Gatling guns and the giant monsters known as six, eight, ten and twelve-inch gums. The Japanese have al- most equally good fighting material, and a war between the two nations will result in an enormous destruction of life and prop- | erty. : } They Are Clever Imitators. One thing which strikes me in the great gun works of China, which I visited, is the fact that they make everything without regard to patent rights or patent law. There is nothing of this kind in Chin and they | Seem to have no scruples against adopting ay invention they can put their hands on. hey can copy anything from a collar but- | ton to a 50-ton gun. An American i | who looks to C! a future field will be | disappointed. 1 know of an Am: to intr: MK) che 8 have to be ser the ind translated back into | bet contains | it is now telegrams { umbers } By this ix | mselves could be jet imm a. The | to whom the man applied, said i probably introduce the inveniioa, bi | would first like to have one of the inac ont on trial, The Ameri i ss than $250,000 worth machines, and the venture dropped through. Had he sent a siugde instrument it would pzobably have been copied by the mechanics of the viceroy, and China would have made her own telautographs. I heard of similar in- stances at Nanking, and the Chinaman who told me laughed as he described how easily an American gun-maker had been take: in. The man represented a_ rapid-tr ing gun, and he wanted to get an order from the viceroy. He came to. Nanking anc was received right royally. He had severa of his guns with him, and as he exhibiter them the button-hole eyelids of the Chines: officials widened and their black pupil: grew big at its destructive properties. They began to figure with him on prices, and led him to believe that they were going to buy the guns. They treated him well, and wher he was invitel out to dinner night he tho: : and his visions were those of Monte Cristo. All at once the civilities ceased end he was told that the viceroy had concluded after al) that he did not want the gun. Before he left it leaked out that during the nights he had been out cating bird’s nest soup and shark fins and listening to the dulcet screeches of the singsong girls the agents of the viceroy had picked the locks of his gun cases and had taken accurate measure- ments and models of the machinery of the guns. The only reason why they are not making these guns today is because they have other guns they consider better. They have the drawings and they can reproduce them at any time. In the gun works at Kiangnan I saw all kinds of modern rifles, from the Winchester to the Enfield. and I was told that the best of the lot had been chosen, and that they were now making them for the troops. I handled some which had just been finished, and to my inex- perienced eyes they looked as well as any I have seen elsewhere. Speaking of the wonderful power of the Chinese to copy any piece of machinery which is placed be- fore them a curious incident occurred in connection with the electric Mgnt plant in the palace of the emperor. The foreign manager of this plant became sick and went off for his health for a few weeks. When he returned he found a second plant run- ning. The Chinese had copied the original machinery, and for fear that they might make a mistake they had reproduced it evey to the color and amount of the paint put on the different paris. On Board a Man-of-War. Dering my stay at the Kiangnan arsenal I visited one of the Chinese gunboats,which was made at Foo Chow. My photographer was with me, and he took pictures of the boat and some of the officials. The sail- ors did nét relish being photographed, but the commands of the captain made them pose as we wished. Mr. Cornish, the for- eign adviser of the arsenal, was with me, and our Chinese cards were sent in to the captain. A moment later a round-faced Chinaman, standing at least six feet two, and weighing two hundred pounds, ap- peared on deck. He bent over and shook his own hands at me in Chinese fashion, and then asked Mr. Cornish and myself to step down into his cabin. This was a large room, built much like the salons of one of our big boats. It was furnished with a number of two-foot tables, which stood against the walls of the room between heavy armed teak wood chairs, so that as we sat down each of us had a table beside him, upon which later on tea and champagne were served. The tea was given us in Chinese cups, with saucers on their tops, so tilted into them as to keep the tea leaves out of our mouths. The champagne was served in little glesses th> size of an egg cup, and the captain smacked his lips as the amber flutd audibly gurgled down his throat. In the center of the room as we entered one of the officers of the ship was sitting on a stool, with a copper basin in front of him and a barber behind him. The barber was skaving his head and braiding his queue, and the officer did not em to regard our presence in the least. He rose and shook bis own hands at us, then bowed half a dozen times, and then had his man go on with the shaving. There was, in fact, an ventionality about the’ whole ship as refreshing. A big mandarin was expected, and the marines were dressing themselves on board. One man pulled on his trousers as we came out of the cap- tain’s cabin on to the deck, and another hurriedly got himself into his coat. Interviewing the Captain, The marines wore dark blue shirts or sacks and blue pantaloons of wadded cot- ton, which were tucked into thick black cloth boots. The shirts were bordered with wide bands of red and were embroidered on the breast with Chinese characters. I had one of the marines on deck photographed, and I noted that his gun was a muzzle Icader, though he was standing beside a big Armstrong cannon at the time. I after- wards got a picture of a whole crew with their turned-up straw hats and their light blue clothes, as they posed for their pho- tograph on one of the biggest ships of the Chinese navy, and I was struck with the nerve shown in their faces and the agility = which they moved about at. their work. I chatted with the captain sometime about his boat, and I found that he under- stood its organization andeequipment. He was anxious to have a new six-inch gun, and he told Mr. Cornish so. He spoke Pigeon English, and when Cornish asked him if he did not want to try the gun before he took it out to sea, he replied emphatically: “Yes, must havey tly! S'pose my go pose gun no good must havey tly—my take gun out—we go shoote. S'pose alle lightee we takee, but must have a tly. This Chinese captain, however, I am told, knows more about his ship than many of the other officials do, The mandarins, as a rule, are politicians rather than business men, and some of those who are in charge of the arsenals know nothing whatever of mechanics. A few days ago a twelve-inch tested and the leading officials hai went out to see it. These high mandarins discretely retired to a pavil- fon when the gun was ready to fire, and the understrappers did the business. If there should be a war between China end Japan it will in all probability be a blood-thirsty one. The Chinese would have no scrupies about the use of dynamite, and all the devilish contrivances of modern in- vention will be adopted. It may be that the “fo yok po,” or hand grenades, which were used by the Chinese war junks of the past will be again brought into service. I chatted the other day with Capt. Impey of the Monocacy, of the American navy, about these. He describes them as the most horrible weapon known to man. The smell from them is so suffocating that no one can withstand them, and when they ex- plode they often set the ships on fire and tear the skin from the bodies of the men on beard. It is not probable that they would be of great value in the present prospective war, but these people who have used them in the past would not hesitate to adopt any- thing that might be invented of the same nature in the future. Fok 4, Cadents —_»__—- Artcsian Wells of Warm Water. From the Idaho Statesman. George W. Newell is in the city from his Snake river farm. Mr. Newell has developed three artesian wells and has a fourth down 173 feet. The water from all the wells ‘s hot. One of the wells is down 335 feet, another 200 feet and the third 150 feet. There is a splendid flow from each. The pressure from one is so great the water was forced through a hole in the sand digger at the bottom: of the pipe, past several valves and fully forty feet above the ground. Mr. Newell intends to sink enough wells to erable him to irrigate his entire farm of 640 acres with warm water. He will make a specialty of early vegetables, which, with the het water, can be raised several weeks in advance of those preduced by cold water gation. Mr. Newell is now using horse pewer in sinking the weils, but he is figur- ing on a steam engine. panies Wedded to Hi From Truth. ight afte Way. “You ought to marry seme girl who would eh ‘ y a woman fectly smooth, whereas under the same magnifier the point of a needle appears rough. It often happens that an ignorant person will remove the poison fangs of a venomous serpent,imagining that the opera- tion renders the animal permanently harm- less. This mistake is apt to give rise to fatal accidents. Within a few days the next two teeth behind the extracted fangs move forward and establish a connection with the poison glands, Then the snake is as dangerous as ever. Fakirs in India understand a more effective process. They cut out the poison glands-and apply hot irons, destroying the parts entirely. Even the deadly cobra may be rendered in that Way as innocuous as a kitten. “My scientific ardor bas never induced me to try the effects of snake bites on my own person. But several of the people at- tached to the staff of the National Museum kaye been bitten. Mr. Schindler permit- ted a coral snake to bite him in order that he might study the results. Our taxiderm- ist, Joseph Palmer, narrowly escaped a nip from a rattlesnake which was torpid and came to life while he was handling it. Dr. Shufeldt was bitten by a Gila monster and suff consid in comsequence. A man ought always to be willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of getting knowledge. A certain person in the employ of the Smithsonian Institution, whose name I will discreetly withhold, found a peanut in the stomach of a Peruvian mummy and ate it. He wanted to see if anything would happen. Biggest Toad the World. “Among the most venomous serpents in the world are the marine snakes of the Indian Ocean. They are the dread of the fishermen, and it sometimes happens that vessels are obliged to thread their cables through barrels in order to prevent the rep- tiles from swarming o1 board. Great num~ bers of them may often be seen floating on the surface of the water as if asleep. They are exceedingly fierce and will commonly attack human beings without provocation. From a shelf near by Dr. Stejneger lifted down a bottle containing an enormous toad. He said that it was the biggest toad in the world—that is to say, a representative of the largest known species. When a specimen, it tipped the scales at nearly four pounds. “There are ever so many superstitions about toads,” remarked the doctor, “But the most interesting of them relates to the ‘stone’ in the toad’s head. Every toad is supposed to carry such a stone, which is @ charm against poisons and the evil eye. To get one, take a large and old he-toad and place him on a table upon a red cloth. Watch him all night carefully, and before mcrning he will vomit up his stone. That is the accepted recipe, at all events. Plenty of toad-stones exist; they are of particu- larly good ivory and are shaped somewhat ike an acorn cup. Science, however, has discovered that these stones are actually the teeth of an extinct species of shark. Life History of the Frog. “The toad ts a higher animal than the frog, because it gives birth to little air-breathing toads, whereas the frog lays eggs that pro- duce fish-like tadpoles. But the frog is in certain respects the most wonderful crea- ture in the world. Think of a vegetable- eating fish with gills that turns into an air- breathing land animal, developing teeth and becoming a carnivorous quadruped. That is the history of the frog. The frog has no ribs and fewer vertebrae than any other anmal. It is obliged to swallow by gulps the air it breathes, instead of projecting its chest as we do and creating a vacuum for the atmosphere to pour into. The big- gest frog is the gigantic ‘bellower’ of the Louisiana swamps, which attains a weight of four pounds, “Here is a specimen of the ‘flying lizard,’ with wing-like appendages, the framework ef which is formed by extensions of the ribs, One of the queerest of lizards is the chameleon, which has a lung so big that, \.hen it is inflated, the body of the creature appears transparent. It is like two animals in cne, each half having movements and feelings of its own. While one side is asicep the other may be awake; the eyes have separate motions and the limbs do not mostly by private individuals; people send | act in concert apparently. The Department them from everywhere. You cannot employ | of Agriculture recently contributed to the field agents ta gather serpents, because one | collection a good many lizards ef odd sorts only comes ecross them by chance and oc-| that were obtained from Death Valley and casionally. We obtain a good many by ex-| Heighboring deserts. Some of them can run change with scientific institutions abroad. | much faster than a horse or greyhound, Here is a jarful ot reptiles of various kinds, | While others feed exclusively on flowers, including lizards and batrachians, for-| and you have only to cut one open in order warded from Africa by young Astor Chan-| te get a gorgeous bouquet. More than one ler, the explorer. Not a few specimens | Of these desert species is very good to eat.” come to us through the Department of Ag- oo — riculture. Any government expedition, such DEAD PAUPERS MADE USEFUL. as that of the Mexican boundary survey commission, is likely to furnish more or less of such material. “The specimens come in alcohol usually. After being identified they are put into jars, each species having a bottle to itself. 1t may be desirable to obtain the skeletons of some of them. That is a very difficult task with snakes. The flesh must first removed with delicate scissors and forceps. Then the bones are carefully scraped, great pains being taken to preserve the cartila- ginous extremities of the ribs. These mpy be regarded as the feet of a snake, which actually walks on the ends of its ribs. The aca and pythons have rudimentary hind legs.”" The Horned Toad and Lizard. The doctor reached to a shelf near by and took therefrom a small and particu- larly hideous object. It was a horned toad from some desert region of the southwest. Evidently quite tame, it blinked its bright little eyes at the reptilian expert as he rubbed the front part of its head with his finger. That it enjoyed the operation was unmistakable. When angry this animal squirts jets of blood out of its eyes to a dis- tance of a foot. This fact, long discredited by sctentists, has been established recently. “Though called a toad, this creature is in reality a kind of lizard,” said Dr. Stejneger, as he replaced it on the shelf. “But, speaking of lizards, the queerest one we have seen for a long time reached us the other day from New Zealand. It is named the ‘cyclopean lizard,’ because it has a third eye on the top its head. However, it is not a true lizard, but a sort of connect- ing link between the lizards and turtles, The species is limited to a small island near New Zealand, and it has been ren- dered almost entirely extinct by hogs with @ taste for its flesh. It attains a length of three feet, but all of the big ones were eaten up long ago. The third eye is rudi- mentary, but a dissection of its structure plainly reveals the eye-socket, the’lens and a strand of nerves connecting with the visual tract of the brain, “This eye is interesting chiefly because tt corresponds to the third eye with which every human being is provided. The so- called ‘pineal gland’ is actually an eye that has become The gland is of UNCLE SAM’S SNAKES They Are Securely Housed in the National Museum. VISIT 10 THE SNAKE MAN IN HIS DEN A Lizard With Three Eyes and a Four-Pound Toad. WEIRD EXPERIMENTS Written for The Evening Star, HERE ARE IN THE World five great col- lections of snakes— one of them is in Washington,the prop- erty of Uncle Sam; the others are in Lon- fon, Paris, Berlin and Vienna—all of them belonging to govern- ments. The coilection here is hidden from public view in an out- of-the-way corner of the National Mu- secm, It is under the care of Dr. Leonard Stejneger, who is known everywhere as an expert in reptiles. “You do not admire snakes, I suppose?” said Dr. Stejneger yesterday, as he rat in his work room, surrounded by reptilian specimens in bottles of alcohol. “Well, it is all a matter of taste. There was Prof. Baird, formerly secretary of the Smith- sconian Institution, He swallowed the poison glands of a rattlesnake one day, just to make sure that the venom was harmless when taken internally. The experiment was a risky one; I would have advised him against it, At all events, it is well that he did not try the poison glands of a cobra. “You see,” continued the doctor, gently stroking with his finger the head of a harm- less living snake, to give the creature: pleas- ure, “the poisons are diiferent. Each of them contain two distinct active principles, one of which produces local symptoms in case of a bite, while the other has a ten- dency to paralyze the nervous centers of the victim. The latter preponderates in the cobra venom. A wound made by the tooth of that species of serpent is a mere puncture and causes little swelling. The person bitten is killed by paralysis of the nerve centers, The danger of the rattle- snake bite, on the other band, is from mor- titcation of the injured part, which may proceed so far that the flesh actually putre- fies. Cobra poison in its natural state is one of those fluids which are able to pass through membranes. If swallowed it would be apt to go dhrough the walls of the ali- mentary tract and get into the circulation in that way.” ~ Sunken of North America. Kicking out of the way two large Jand turtles which were walking across the floor, Dr. Stejneger called attention, with a wave of his hand, to shelves on every side, con- taining thousands of jars and bottles of serpents and other reptiles. Said he: “Of course, this collection is far ahead of all others in respects to the snakes of North America, Wiere do the specimens come from? you ask. Well, they are contributed The Gold Extracted From Their Teeth to Pay for Their Burial. From the London Telegrapt. Nothing is useless nowadays—not even a defunct pauper. Hood's plaintive’ wail— Rattle his bones over the stones; He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns— is now out of date. The guardians know better than to act so recklessly, for often the party concerned is the possessor of a set of artificial teeth which contains a good deal of gold—tast relic of more prosperous times—and in the interest of the rate- payers the precious metal must be secured and turned into pounds sterling. Often, too, they are the owners of rings or tiny trink- ets, not pawnable, but still containing as much auriferous value as not a few mod- ern gold mines. These have to be collected and also converted into cash by means of the melting pot. In the Holborn Union the meiting process takes place once a year, and has just been accomplished for the ‘present ¢eason, The jewelry dealt with is what is found on paupers who die friendless and unclaimed in its various establish- ments. This week rings, chains, brooches and trinkets have been melted down, and pro- duced a bar of gold, estimated as 11 karats, and worth about £10. A good portion of it was got from the plates of artificial teeth. Mr. Walton said that on one set of artificial teeth there was at least i# worth of gold. The proceeds are paid into the common ex- chequer of the union. Not Gailty of Disobedience, From Texas Siftings. “Thomas, you have disobeyed your old grandmother. “No, I didn’t, ma.” “Yes, you did. Have you not been swimming?” “Yes, ma. “Didn't I hear her say to you not to go in swimming?” “Oh, she didn’t tell us that; she only came out and sald: “Boys, I wouldn’t go in swimming.’ And I shouldn't think she would, an old rheumatic woman like her; but she didn’t say anything about our goin’ in swimming. pe: uated in the middle of the head. Place the tip of your finger just above the bridge of your nose, on a level with the eyes, and directly behind that point about five inches is the gland. It still retains somewhat of the structure of an eye. The ancients sup- posed it to be the center of consciousness and the seat of the soul.” The doctor ppinted to a big jar of alco- hol in which,e (single huge snake with stripes was cqiled, up. A Python's Attack. “That is a python,” he said, “but it ts rot a very lapge one. The species attains a length of thirty feet and a diameter of a foot. If I met sach a serpent would my scientific knowledge give me a better chance in an encounter with it? Well, perhaps. Notwithstanding my enthusiasm as a col- lector, I would certainly run away if I could. Supposing that the animal seized me it is probable: that I would keep my wits better than the average citizen would un- der such circumstances. The only thing to do would be to grasp the creature by the throat to @trangle it. The other day I read a statement to the effect that the proper courserto pursuefjin an emergency of the kind was to tak® hold of the tail of the snake and unwind the constricting coils from that end. In my opinion that would be a poor plan to adopt with a py- thon, inasmuch as its tail is the strongest part of it, being made powerful for holding on. “Snakes have their usefulness in the world. They are the scavengers of swamps and morasses where other animals of size are unable to penetrate or to exist. It is in the tropics, of course, that serpents chiefly abound. All snakes are of tropical crigin, but ve spread cooler very cold countries Contrary to the popu si ——— eee --- Strategy in the Tropics. From Life. nd serpents in th of the tropic: pout as big a air-sized earth ome snakes lay eggs, while others bring forth their youne alive. In the latter sory are vipers, all water snakes. Pythons incubate their eggs after laying them. The Poison Glands, “The tooth of a rattlesnake or cobra is so sharp an instrument that beneath a pewerful microe-ope the point looks per- The proof, P 2 3 * &! e z & nn nc eyes senses THEY ARE EXTINCT Animals That Haye Disappeared in Recent Years, DRIVEN FROM THE EARTH How the Greed of Man Has Been a Primary Cause. BUFFALOES AND SEALS GONE Written for The Evening Star. HE MENTION OF extinct animals is apt to suggest to many of us a very remote period in the history of time, and to bring before our minds the " pictures of those marvelous creatures - that roamed the earth ages and ages before the Egyptian pyra- mids were built, and when almost the en- tire world was a vast wilderness of trackless forests, plains and seas, We are inclined, therefore, to regard the average extinct animal as a huge monster after the fashion of the ichthyosaurus or the pterodactyl—some great reptile or beast whose outlandish name is fully in keeping with the frightful aspect such a creature must have present- ed while splashing about in the water or soaring through the air like the fiery dragon of the fairy tale. But it must not be supposed that animals of prehistoric times were the only ones to enjoy the distinction of becoming extinct, for the work of extermination has been go- ing on ever since the world began and prob- ably at no time in the history of creation has it been so rapid and so widespread as at the present day. In times long gone by, when there were comparatively very few people in the world, or when there were no people on the earth at all, animals became extinct through the slow operation of pure- ly natural causes—change of climate, lack of food, or destruction by other animals, but as the human race increased and spread over the earth, forests were cleared away, settlements made, farms laid out, and towns and cities built, until what was once a wild, uninhabited country became a great, thriving nation. The March of Civilization. As the wild animals did not feel alto- gether at home under such conditions, they moved to other regions, only to be again driven out by the advancing tide of human- ity, and so on, farther and farther from their native haunts, at the same time being rapidly and constantly reduced in numbers at the hands of the pioneers and huntsmen. The American buffalo, or bison, affords ore of the best and at the same time one of the most pitiable examples of the extinction of an animal through the cause of civilization. At the time of the discovery of America millions and millions of buffaloes roamed over the entire country, from ocean to ocean; in fact, it is claimed by good authori- ties that never in the history of the world did there ever exist at one time so vast a race of animals as the American bison. Only a comparatively few years ago great numbers of them still roamed the plains of the west, and what boy is there who has not read with absorbing interest the stories of western life, in which the hunting of buffalo constituted the chief feature of thrilling and exciting adventure? Lven then they numbered hundreds of thousands and were a common sight to every traveler beyond the Mississippi. The Buffalo and Seal. Today the buffalo is practically an ex- tinct animal. With the exception of one or two small herds in some isolated por- tions of Texas and the few individuals that the government has been careful to pre- serve, there is not a buffalo left of that im- mense race, whose numbers seemed utterly to defy extinction. Mankind is alone re- sponsible for the extermination of this ani- mal, and if we look at the statistics of creatures that are being constancy killed for the purposes of food and raiment, but more especially to supply the capricious and greedy demands of fashion, we cannot help wondering that more creatures have not by this time been added to the long list of extinct animals. When « few ago hog-skin goods were “the fashion, slaughter of peccaries in Téxas was so great that these little animals became vir- tually exterminated in the effort to meet the demand for their skins. ‘The Animal $! ehter, The records of the yearly sales in London furnish a fair index of the enormous de- struction of animals and birds that is con- stantly going on to satisfy the whims of modern society. At a single sale in that city some time since 30,000 monkey skins and 20,000 Australian opossums were dis- posed of. At another time 6,000 birds of Paradise, 360,000 bird skins from India and 400,000 humming birds were sold, while not very long ago one dealer disposed of 2,000,000 bird skins during the year. To supply the demand for sealskin sacques re- quires the annual destruction of nearly 200,000 seals, while an additional $00,000 are slaughtered for their oil and hides. In order that the people of the world y have all the ivory goods they want, 100,000 elephants are slain each year—enough to make a procession in single file nearly 200 miles long. The mere hunting of animals for the sport of it is likewise a cause of the modern extinction of animals, and the graceful zebra and the ungainly giraffe in their rapidly decreasing numbers bear sor- mals, and that it is performing its work far more rapidly and ruthlessly than did gentle nature before mankind undertook to manage the world’s affairs. The Dodo. Perhaps the most generally quoted ex- ample of @ creature that has become ex- tinct within recent times is the dodo; in fact, it is so totally extinct, both in its living form and in its remains, thet at one time naturalists looked for its existence as a myth. Since then, however, a few meager records of this strange bird have come to light, and we know that it was first seen by the Dutch in 1588 on a voyage to the Island of Mauritius. The dodo belonged to the order of pigeons, although it could scarcely be said to have looked like its cousin, for a chronicler of the voyage de- scribes these fowls as being “bigger than our swans, with large heads, half of which is covered with skin like a hood. These birds want wings, in place of which there are three or four blackish feathers. The tail consists of a few slender curved feath- ers of gay color.” The chief characteristic of this homely fowl was stupidity, whence it derives its name, as a corrupticn of the Portuguese word “doudo,” meaning a sim- pleton. How They Were Exterminated. As they had neither the sense nor the ability to fly out of harm's way, and as the Dutch seem to have a particular grudge against them, the dodoes were slaughtered in great numbers, especially when in 1601 a crew under the command of William Van West Zannen visited the island and spent the chief part of their time in destroying everything they could lay their hands on. Other Dutch crews followed, and treated the poor dodoes in the same unfriendly manner, until, in 1693, barely a century after their discovery, not a trace of the dodo was to be found, and as the Island of Mauritius was the only place it ever lived, its extermination from the world was com plete. On the neighboring isiand of Rodri- Suez dwelt another curious very close. ly resembling the dod he strange birds in the island the mc markabie is that which goes by th of the soli- tary, because it is very se’ company, though there are them.” So writes Francois Legaut, who founded a colony on the island about the end of the seventeenth century, and = account of the solitaire is the only of its existence. Although there is not! on record to show how this bird a + extinct, it is quite probable that the lise tory of the dodo furnisbes the clue to the secret. The Great Ark. Another bird that has recently become extinct, and which, by the way, was an ine habitant of this country, Is the great aul, or, as it was originally and generally called, the penguin. This bird was unable to fly, its wings being adapied only for swimming, an art, however, in which it was so pro- ficient that it could move through the water with wonderful rapidity and take longer Journeys than many of its fellow birds that enjoyed the ability of fying. These strange aquatic fowls were very partial to ceid Weather, and consequently never troubled themselves to come much farther south than. the shores-of Iceland, Newfoundiand end other arctic islands, where they abounded. in great numbers. They, were first discov- ered in America about the middle of the sixteenth century, and when it was found: that their flesh and eggs were exceedingly palatable the work of extinction began, fishermen feasted on them to a latger passing ships weuild stop at their favorite abodes and lay in a store Le while the early settlers salted and them for winter use. As they abou in such great numbers, however, it is quite likely that these modes of destruction would, ‘not haye been sufficient to have exterminat- ed them by this time, but when it occurred! to some one that the feathers of the great auk would be both useful and valuable, thetr extermination began in good earnest, many people made a profitable a killing ‘unk Island was one of" the custom for the crews to summer there and spend their vacation in destroying these: birds for their feathers. men were not content with killing the birds si or in pairs, but resorted to all sorts: rong for their wholesale destruction; sm a millions of these birds-were put ont of istence, and by the year 1840 not a living: Specimen was to be found anywhere: nothe ing but the scattered remains of what was once @ great race of birds, and even these remains have become so rare that at the Present day they ‘bring enormous prices, one skeleton having recently sold for $430) while @ great auk’s egg would readily bring: $1,500, In Hawall Stil! another bird that has gone out of em istence within modern times fs the mama, or the Pacific sicklebill, which was confined exclusively to the islends of Hawaii. The extermination of this little bird was due to. the vanity of the Hawaiian nobility, who considered it as part of their dignity to Fear long robes made of bright feathers, ‘The deep yellow feathers of the mamo were much prized, and as only the brightest and largest were chosen, it required an itm miense number of birds to complete ome robe. Bunches of these feathers were re- ceived by the kings as taxes from the poer- er people, but as the from — this source was not sufficient to satisfy their royal avarice they emi * reculer lively for the poor masse thet t po enaae vely for the mamo it it pes retaliated by becoming extinct. The Sea Cow. An aquatic animal, confined alone to America, was the sea cow, or the rytina, Somewhat resembling the dugong, and abounding only in the icy waters of the arctic regions. This animal measured from twenty-four to thirty fest in length and weighed in the neighborhood of four tons. Its skin was thick and wrinkled like the bark of a tree, and was so tough in places. that it required a sharp ax to penetrate ft. When it was discovered by Behring, im 1741, on the occasion of his shipwreck,while returning from a voyage of discovery to Alaska, the sea cow was already in process of natural extermination. By 1708 not # single specimen was in existence, the few remaining herds having been quickly de» stroyed by the fur hunters, who used the fea cow as a source of food during thelr honting expeditions. With naturesund mam combined against this helpless animal, its final extinction wes accomplished in short order. These are but a few of the creatures that have become extinct within the history of recent times, and their unhappy fate only too clearly presages the destiny that is: rapidly pay ged many of the birds am@ animals of the present day. CLIFFORD HOWARBR, (see DAUDET’S HOME IN PARIS. Living in a Fashionable Quarter, But im a Simply Furnished Home. Though now grown wealthy and one of the first personages in Parisian society, being the most welcome guest in such exe clusive drawing rooms as that of the Prin+ cess Mathilde, the simple and good-hearted Alphonse Daudet is the most accessible man in Paris, says a writer in McClure’s Maga- zine. I don’t believe that any one is ever turned away from his door. He lives in the fashionable Faubourg St. Germain quar ter, on the fourth floor of a house in the Rue de Bellechasse, which is reputed to Possess the most elegant staircase of any apartment house in Paris. His apartment is simply furnished, and is in great con! to that of Zola or Dumas. Still there not wanting for its decoration objects Paris, is a very large an@ highly ornament> e1 one, reminding one of an altar; while the chair which is set against it, though less thronelike than that of Emile Zola, is etate- iy and decorative. Daudet's study is the most comfortable room in the house. The three windows look | portieres, a heavy carpet covers and the furniture, table and chair, is show. Daudet’s favorite place writing is on a little sofa the fireplace. When the here his back ts to the light. sits opposite to him on another wich may ‘usually’ be seen the 1 which wu of the day eo Daudet an i Ee 8 H ea 4 fine otek righ ii te listaiaineallet i sleeping in the coal yam tonight?” Second tramp—“You'se a fine one ter fale ler. | They ain't bin no soft coal dere tere, w The Prevailing Epidemic, From the Indianapolis Journal, “What's the matter that there Is no dim ner ready?” asked the labor leader. “The cook quit,” replied his wife, caning: back in ber chair and aaner once “Why didn’t you get it ready yourself? You know how well cnough.” “Me? I'm out on a sympathetic strike with the cook.” e Acream of der. Highest of all in leavening strength.—Laws: Uniled States Governmen Food Report, tartar baking powe Royal Baking Powder Oo. 106 Wall St, NX,