Evening Star Newspaper, July 18, 1896, Page 21

/ THE EVENING SFAR, SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1896-T WENTY-FOUR PAGES. LOLOL way te TH TURONE OF THE PART L. Far south, beyond the Atlas mountains, beyond that great, limitless plain where nothing meets the aching eye but a dreary waste of red-brown, drifting sand, one ex- periences some curious phases of a life comparatively unknown, and little under- stood in European civilization. In the great Sahara life today is the same as It was| ten centuries ago—tke same as It will ever be; free and charming in its simplicity, yet with many terrors ever present, and cel bleached bones ever reminding the lonely traveler that a pricked water-skin or a) lame camel means the end of all things. On a recent journey from Biskra to} Monrzouk, in Feazan, I foolishly disregard- ed the injunctions of my old friend, Emile | Chandioux, the commandant of the outpost | of Spahis, stationed in the Arab town of In Salah, in the Touat Oasis, and was} rendered extretaely uncomfortable by the, astounding discovery that the eamel cara- | van I had joined in Zaouia Timassanin, and with which I had been traveling for twen- ty days, belorged to the Kel-Izhaban, a tribe of outlaws whos depredations and | relentless butchery of their weaker neigh- | bors caused then: to be held in awe from | Morocco across to Tripoli, and from Bis- | kra to Lake Tsad. In addition, I ascertain- | ed that our sheikh, known to me as Sidi | El-Adil, or Just.” was really none | other than the dreaded Abdul Melik, the | frate of the desert, against whom the mch government has sent three ex- peditions, and upon whese head a price had been With re zed, aquiline features, long, | gray beard, and keen, deep-set eyes; tall, | ereet, 2 and of commanding presence, | he was 4 splendid specimen of the Arab of | the plains. Though he expressed intense hatred for tae iafidel, and invoked curses most terrible upon the horsemen of the Roumis in general, and my friend, Captain Chandioux, in particular, he, nevertheless, | treated me with haughty courtesy, and ex- | tended to me the hard of friendship. As, | | | | at the head of cur cavalcade of two hun- dred armed horsemen and a long string of camels, he rode day by day aeross the parche: Iderness, interspersed by small sand s and naked ledges of rock, | speckled with ethel bushes half overwhelm. ed by sand, he was truly an imposing fig- His burnouse was of finest white wool, embroidered heavily with silk; the haick surrounding nis face was of spot- less China silk, and around his head were wound many yards of brown camel's hair. ‘The saddle upon which be sat was of crim son velvet, embroidered with gold and set with precious stones, and stirrups and spurs of n ve silver completed the trap- | pings of his splendid coal-black horse, which he managed with rare perfection and skill On my white Ku-hai-lan stal- lion, [ usually rode at his side, chatting to him in his own tongue, while two hun- dre? of his people, erect in their saddles, | and with their leng-barreled rifles slung behind. were ready to instantly execute his st wish. : days were breathless and blazing. | i Scorched by the sun, and half-suffocated bv | the sand-laden wind, our way lay through | a wilderness that nature had forsaken. At | night, however, when the outlaws of the | desert had cast sand upon their feet and | prayed their maghrib, and we had encamped under the palms of the oasis, eaten our dates and krouss-krouss, and slaked our thirst from our water skins, then commenced the real luxury of the day—the luxury of idle- ness—as. reclining on a mat in front of his | tent, with coffee and a cigarette, the great Abdul-Melik would relate with’ slow dis- tinctness stories of past encounters between his people and the hated Christians. While nt with loaded rifles kept a vigilant lookout lest we should be surprised by the ever-watehful Spahis or Chesseurs, half a dozen Arabs would squat in a semi-circle before the great shetkh, and, twanging up- on their guenibris—those queer little banjoes fashioned from tortoise shells over which skin is stretched—would chant wierdly in a strange staccato Arab songs of love ard war. that hour a coolness falls uver everything, intense silence reigns, the sky above grows a deeper and deeper blue, and the palms and talha trees look mysterious in the haif-light. Soon the stars shine out like mond points, and it grows darker and rker, until the chill night breeze of the cesert stirs the feather, heads of the date palms. Then the lawless nomads, my come panions, would wrap their burnouses closely about them, scoop out a hole in the warm sand, and there repose until the first flush of dawn. About five weeks after I had inadvertently thrown in my lot with the Kel-Izhaban, ard after penetrating a region that, as far os I m aware, has never been explored by 3, for it remains a blank upon the ‘ent map issued by the Depot de la uerre, we were one evening, at a spot evi- ently prearranged, joined by a boly cf 200 orsemen. who armed themselves with the rifles oblained from our camels’ nacks, and then, leaving the camels in charge of half a dozen men in a rocky valley called ihe An- zoua. we all continued our way in high spirits, jesting, laughing and singing snatch- es of songs. Throughout that night and during the following day we rode at the same Steady pace, with only brief halts that Were absolutely necessary. On the second night darkness feil swiftly, but the moon rose, and under its mystic light we sped forward, until surdenly the gaunt man, in @ dirty ragged burnouse, who acted as our xulle shouted and we pulled up quickly. ‘Then, In the mooniight, EF could just dis- tinguish among the trees of the ttie casis a few low. white houses, of what I subse- quently learned was the little desert village of Tilouat, inhabited by the Kel-Emoghri, and distant ten leagues from the town of Ideles, Abdul-Melik shouted an order clear and distinet Wherenpon the horsemen spread themselves out in two long lines, and with their gens carried across their saddles, the firs! line crept slowly and stlently forward. ky this movement T knew that we were about ie attacks the village, and held my | ide Sheuted and Quickly. We Pulled tp own rifle ready for purposes of self-defense. Sitting in the second Hine, I advanced with the others, and the breathless moments that followed were full of excitement. I had be- te of the desert, one of a band laws, reports of whose terrible had sent a thrill of horror across on more than one occasion. nly a shot startled us, and at the same moment a niuttered curse fell from the sheikh’s lips as he saw that our pres- ence had been detected, for the shot had n fired in the village as a sound of warn- ng. Almost instantly it was apparent that we had been betrayed, for a great body of horsemen galloped out to meet us, and In a w moments I found myself lying behind horse pouring forth volley after volley in my repeating rife. The fusillade was deafening, and for fully half an kour it was kept up. About twenty of our men had been killed or wounded, wl.en suddenly the first line rose with loud shouts as if they were one man, and, mounting, rode straight at thelr opponents, while we dashed at headlong speed upon ovr enemies almost ere they had time to realize our intention. ‘The melee was awful. Swords, rifles and Keen, crooked jambiyahs were used with terrible effect, but very scon all resistance was at an end and the work of looting the village commenced. URS LULULLULSUL (Copyright, 1804, by Wliliam Le Queus.) DONO, NOWE ANE NOW OVD, ESESENTENESESESENUSESESESE | taller captive | journeyed to Tilouat to see my father’s THOUSAND TERRORS. LE QUEUX, “Stolen Soule,” Eta. Half demented by excitement and suc- cess my companions entered the houses, shot down the women wth relentless cru- eity, tore from them what Kttle jewelry they pessessed ard pluadered, wrecked and burned their homes out of sheer delight in destruction. I stood watcaing the terrible scene, shuddering at the imhuman brutal- ity of my companions, but unable to ayert the terrible calamity that had fallen so swiftly upon the peaceful little place. The flendishness of the outlaws had, alas! not been exaggerated. Abdul-Melik laughed gleefully, atterizg some words as he rode Psst me swift as the wid. But I heeded not. I loathed, despised and hated While dawn spread in saffron streaks the work of plunder still proceeded, but when the sun shone forth only the smoke- blackened walls of Tifouat remained stand- irg. The plunder was quickiy packed upon our horses, and soon afterward we rode | off, carryimg with us twenty men and wo- | men who had been captured. All of whom, I was informed, would eventually find their way into the great slave market far away at Mourzcuk. At sun down, five days afterward, we descended into a rocky valley, and suddenly came upon a wonderful mass of scattered ruins of amazing magnitude and extent, which Abdul-Melik told me were the re- mains of a forgotten city called Tihodayen, ard as we approached I saw by the mas- | sive wells of hewn stone, the fallen col- umns half imbedded in the sand, and, by an inscription over an arched door, that they were relics of the Roman occupation. When we dismounted I found that ie ruimed city gave shelter to the outlaws, and was their habitual hiding pla An hour later, rectining on mats under the walls of at had once been a great palace, the owilaw sheikh and myself ate our evening meal of saubusaj, beryseh and luainyeh, and drank cop:ously of dushab, that lusc‘ous date sirup that is so jt able after the heat and burden of the Sa- haran day, while my companions feasted | and made merry, for it appeared that they kept stores of food concealed there. On commencing to smoke, A-thul-Mellk ordered that the captives should be brought before him, and when, a few minutes ixicr, they were ushered info his prese: they, with oe exception, fell upon their knee and groveled, and cried aloud for mercy. The single captive who begged no favor was a young, dark-haired girl of exquisite beauty, with black, piercing eyes, pretty, dimpled cheeks, and a complexion almost as fair as an Englishwoman’s. She wore a zouave of crimson velvet heavily em- broidered with goid, a heavy golden girdie confined her waist, and her wide trousers were of palest rove-pink silk, while her tiny feet were thrust into velvet slippers of green embroidered with gold thread. But her dress had been torn in the fierce strug- gle with her pitiless captors, and as she Stood, erect and defiant, secured behind her with a leathern thong, she cast at us a glance of withering scorn. The sheikh raised his Rand to command silence, but as her fellow captives con- rued wail he ordered the noval of 1 but the girl, who apparently set him at defiance. Turning his keen eyes upon her, he noted how extremely handsome she w: and, while she returned his gaze unfini ly, her beauty held me in fascir n all my journeys in the land of the sun I had never before seen such an absolutely t face. Who art thou?" demanded the dreaded chief, roughly. “What is thy name?” “I am calied Khadidja Faihma, daughter of Ali Ben Ushashami, cadi of Ideles,” she answered, in a firm, defiant tone. “Ali Ben Ushshami! echoed Abdul-Melik, knitting his brows fiercely. “Thou art his daugh the daugher ef that accursed When Saddenly the Spade of One of the Spahis Struck Something Hard. son of offal who endeavored to betray me into the hands of the Roumis?” he cried, exultingly. “I have kindied the lights of knowledge at the flambeau of prophecy, and 1 vowed that I would ere many moons seek vengean “I have anticipated this thy wrath ever since thy horde of cowardly ruffians laid hands upon me,” she answered, with a ccntemptuous toss of her pretty head. “But the daughter of the cadi of Ideles craveth not mercy from a servant of Eblis.” “Darest thou insult me, wench?’ he cried, pale with passion, and starting up as if to strike her. ‘Thou art the child of the man who would have given me into the hands of the Spahis for the sake of the two bags of gold offered for my head. I will return his good offices by sending him to- morrow a present he will perhaps appre- clate, the present of thine own hands. He will then be convinced that Abdul-Melik knoweth how to repay those who seek to injure him.” “Dost thou intend to strike off my hands?” she gasped, pale as death, never- theless making a strenuous effort to re- main calm. “At sunrise the vultures will feast upon thee, and thine hands will be on their way to Ideles,” he answered, a sinister smile playing about his hard mouth. “Malec hath already set his curse upon thee,” she said, “and by each taurder thou committest so thou createst for thyself a fresh torture in Al-Hawiyat, where thy focd will be offal and thou will slake thy thirst with boiling pitch. True, I have into thme hands, having mother, who was dying; but thinkest thou that I fear thee? No,” she added, with hing eyes. “Though the people dread thee as the great and powerful chief, I de- spise thee and all thy miserable parasites. If thou smitest off mine hands, it is but the same punishment as thou hast meted out to others of my sex. Thou art, after all, a mere coward who maketh war upon women.” ~ “Silence, jade! ” he eried, in a tumult of Passion, and, turning to the men beside bim, commanded: “Take her away, secur her alone till dawn, and then let her hands be struck off and brought to me.” PART IT. Roughly the men dragged her away, but ere she went she cast at us a look of haughty scornfulness, and, shrugging her shoulders, treated this terrible mandate with ineffable disdain. “The jade’s hands shall be sent to her father, the cadi, as a souvenir of the in- terest he taketh in my welfare,” the sheikh muttered aloud. “Her tongue will never again utter rebuke or insult. Verily, Allah hath delivered into my hands a wea- pon to use against mine enemies.” I uttered eager words of intercession, pointing out the cruelty of taking her young life, but he only laughed derisively, and I was compelled to sit beside him while the other captives were questioned and in- spected. That night I sought repose in a shed that had been erected in a portion of the ruins, but found sleep impossible. The defiantly beautiful face of the young girl who was to die at dawn kept recurring to me with ta: talizing vividness, and at length I rose, di termined, if possible, to save her. Noise- | lessly I crept out, my footsteps muffied by j the sand, saddled one of Abdul-Melik’s own | horses, and without attracting the notice of either sentry on duty at each end of the encampment, I entered the ruin where, ccnfined to an iron ring in the masonry by with her hands } a leather band, she crouched sient amd | thoughtful. “Pb amani-iHeh! E whispered, as I ap- proached. “I come to have speech with thee, and assist thee to escape. “Who art thou?” she inquired, struggling to her feet and peering at me fn the gloom. “& Roumi, who has determined that th outiaw’s command shall never be exe- cuted;” and, taking the jambiyah from my girdle, I severed the thongs that confined her hands and ankles, and the next second she was free. Briefly E explained how I had saddled a fleet horse and placed a saddle-bag with food upon it. “If I get safely away I shall owe my life to you,” she said, with intense gratitude, pressing.my hand for an instant to her quivering lips. ‘IL know this place, and ere two moons can have risen I can travel through the rocky defile and be at my fath- er’s house in Idelés, Tell me thy name, so that my father may know who was his daughter's liberator. I told her, and in the same hasty breath asked for some souvenir. “Alas! I have nothing,” she answered— “nothing but a strange ornament which my father’s mother gave me immediately before she died, an hour previous to the attack beng made upon the village;” and placing her hand deep into the breast of her dress, she drew forth a rough disk of copper about the size of a crown piece with a hole in it, as if it had been strung upon a thread. e “When she gave it to me she told me it had been in her possession for years; that it was a talisman against terror, and that some curious legend was attached to it, the nature of which I do not now recollect. There was strange writing upon it in some foreign tongue of the Roumis that no one had been able to decipher.” I looked, but unable to detect anything in the darkness, assured her that its posse: ston should atways remind me of her, and slipped it into the pocket of my gandoura. ‘then together we crept along under the shadow of the wall, and, gaining the spot where the horse stood in readiness, I held “Who Art Thon?” Demanded Dreaded Chief Roughly. her for a second {!n my embrace while she kissed me, uttering a fervent word of anks, and afterward assisted her into the Then a mome with a whi “Allah iseleme sped away, unbound hair flying behind hei and was instantly lost in the darkness. On realizing that she was gone, I was seized with regret, but feeling that at least I had saved her from a horrible doom, I returned to my little shed, and, wrapping myself in my burnouse, slept soundly until the sun had risen high in the heavens. Opening my eyes, I at once remembered Khadidja’s qua enir, and, on examin- ing it, tished to find both obyer: and reverse of the roughly fashioned ¢ eription in English, crudely engraved, or rather scratched, ap- with the point of a knife. Investi- gating it closely, | was enabled, after some difficuity, to read the following surprising words. This record I leave for the person into whose hands it may fall, for [ am starving. Whosoever reads this let him nasten to Zemnou, in the Zelas desert, two days from the well of El Ameima, and from the Bab- el-Oued pace twenty steps westward out- side the city wall, and under the second bastion let him dig. There will he be re- warded. John Edward Chatteris, held cap- tive in the Kasbah of Borku by order of the Sultan Othman. Sunday, June 13, 1843. Chatteris! Instantly is occurred to me that a eelebrated English explorer, archae- clogist and fellow of the Royal Geograph- ical Society of that name, had years ago been Jost, and his fate had remained a complete mystery. This, then, was a mes- sage inscribed with apparent difficulty within the impregnable citadel of the war- rior suitan of Borku, whose little mountain kingdom was situate 54 miles south of Mourzouk, between the Tibest! mountains and Lake Tsad; a secret that for half a century had been in the keeping of Arabs | who could not decipher it. | What might not be buri | dicated by this curious relic of the great raveler? My curiosity was excited to the tmost. Impatient to investigate the truth, tut compelled, nevertheless, to remain si- such time as I could escape from my. undesirable companions, I concealed the disk in my gandoura and rose to Join Ab- dul-Melik at his morning meal. Khadidja’s escap@ caused the old outlaw intense chagrin, and his anger knew no bounds, but luckily no suspicion fell upon me, and, having remained with them du ing two whole moons, I succeeded one day, when we were near the town of Rhat, in evading them and getting away. As quick- ly as possible [ returned to In Salah, @rhere I exhibited the metal disk with its strange inscription to Capt. Chandioux, who became terested in it, announcing his in- to accompany me next day to in- vestigate the truth of the-engraved record. With an escort of twenty spahis, all well mounted and armed, we rode out of In Sa- lah at dawn, and for nine days continued our journey across the desert due eastward, first taking the caravan route to Tarz Oulli, beyond the French boundary, and continu: ing through the rocky region of the Ibe- haouen and across the Djedid Oasis, until one evening, at the maghrib hour, the high white walls and three tall minarets of the desert city of Zemnou came within view. It was unsafe to take the spahis nearer, therefore we returned and bivouacked until darkness set In. Then, dressed in the haick and burnouse of the Arab of the plain, Chandioux with myself and three spahis, carrying spades concealed beneath our flowing drapery, approached the town and@ crept under the shadow of the walls until we reached the Bab-el-Oued, or principal gate. Guarded by strong watch towers on either side, the gate was closed, and silently we crept, anxious and breathless, on over the sand westward until we had counted twenty paces and reached the second bas- tion. Then, after glancing eagerly around to reassure ourselves that we were not ob- served, we all five commenced to dig be- neath the wall. Discovery, we knew, would mean death. The sand was loose, but full of stones, and for some time we worked without result. Indeed, L began to fear that some one had already been able to decipher the record and obeyed its injunctions, when suddenly the spade of one of the spahis struck something hard, and he uttered an ejaculation. With one accord we worked with a will, and within ten minutes were unearthing an object of extraordinary shape. At first it puzzled us considerably, kut at length, when we had cleared the earth sufficiently to remove It, we made a cursory examination and discovered it was a kind of stool with a semi-circular seat, supported by stx short columns of twisted gold ir Imitation of serpents, the seat itself being of gold inlaid with many precious stones, while the feet consisted of six great yellow topazs, beautifully cut and highly polished, held in the serpents’ mouths. The gold had become dimmed by long contact. with the earth, but the gems, as we rubbed off the sand that clung to them, gleamed and sparkled in the tapers’ fitful rays. The stool, or throne, was so heavy that it was with difficulty two men dragged it out of the trench, and breathless with anx- lety we all lent a willing hand to carry it over the five miles of open desert to where the men were awaiting us. Our arrival was greeted with cheers, but quickly the strange relic was wrapped in saddle-bags €nd secured upon the back of a spare horse, and we'set out on the first stage of our return journey, reaching In Salah in safety ten days later, and learning with satisfaction on our arrival that Abdul- Melik had, during our absence, been killed in a skirmish with the spahis in the Ahag- ar. Not until [ had brought the jeweled seat to England and exhibited it before a meet- ing of the Reyal Geographical Soctety was I aware of its real antiquarian value. From the Ietters sent home by the intrepid Dr. Chatteris, and still preserved in the ar- chives of the society, it appeared that dur- ing 1839 Salman, the great Sheikh of Au- jila, assembled a formidable following, and having proclaimed himself Sultan of Tunis, led an expedition through the country, ex- torting money from the people by reason of horrible tortures and fearful barbarittes: While sentencing his unfortunate victims he always used # curiously shaped judg- the dat the spot in- Pp ment seat, which, for,ages, had been the Property of the Sultans of Sckoto, and It thus became known ,@nd dreaded as the Throne of the Thousgnd Terrors, it only being used on occasions when he sentenced the unfortunate wretehes to torture for the purpose of extracting from them in- fcrmation as to whey their wealth was concealed. Against this flerce rebel the Bey of Tunis was compelled to senda great expedition, and after several sanguinary encounters at Sinaun and in the. Um-el-Cheil, he was utterly routed and killéd in his own strong- hold at Aujila. Dr. @hatteris, in the last letter that reached ‘England, mentioned that he had secured the jeweled throne, but that om account: @f the superstitions of the Arabs it was.an extrmely difficult matter to convey it to the coast. Fearing lest he should lose it, he had ap- parently buried it, and,soon afterward un- fortunately fell into she hands of the Sul- tan of Borku, who held him captive until his death. y Khadidja is still living in Ideles, where she ts happily married to the younger son of the governor, but in the seclusion of her harem she is still in ignorance that, by the curious little souvenir with which she re- warded her intidel friend, she added to our national collection of antiquities a valuable and highly interesting relic. Visitors to the British Museum will experience but little difficulty in finding it, for in the ori- ental section at the present moment one of the most frequently inspected and greatly admired treasures is the quaint, historic and bejeweled Throne ef the Thousand Ter- rors. (The end.) ee INSPECTION OF BAKERIES. What Is Being Done in Baltimore for the Consumers’ Benefit. From the Muryland Medteal Journal. The enforcement of rigid and efficient food inspection has shown itself to be of great value in a large city, and while some ze#.ous othcers or inspectors may have done injustiee to dealers, still, on the whole, this method of protecting the public against bad food supplies has been of the Breatest benefit. Mik was one of the first articles of food to receive close attention and now an in- spector of bakeries in Baltimore will, it is hoped, remedy some of the existing evils in that industry. While the outside of a loaf of bread may reach a very high temperature in the pro- cess of baking, it is doubtful if the center of the loaf is always thoroughly sterilized, and hence any dirt or impurities in this part of the bread may not be deprived of their harmful properties, and one of the acts of the bakery imspector is to look af- ter lack of cleanliness. It has often been reported that bakers sleep on their bread boards in small, badly ventilated bake shops and it is this glaring wrong that wil! first be righted. Then bakeries in dark cel- lars and unhealthy places will no longer be allowed. The city chemists will look for poison- ous and dangerous products in fancy cakes and candies and for the detection of such things the municipal laboratories of chem- istry and bacterioiogy will be called into requisition. Now, not only is the milk in- pected, but ihe dairy stables will be care- fully looked into and in the near future a veterinarian will be added to this food de- tective force. When such work is undertaken in a truly honest way by ccmpetent men, it can be easily seen that much benefit will redound to the consumer of these products, and no one but the unclean and dishonest dealer will object to any réasopable inspectio: The food detective force in some fore!gn cities is a very importaht part of the muni- cipal government and demands large ap- propriaticns, which, the city fathers of those enlightened places, find it economy to pay. Unfortunatdly, the inspection Baltimore can only be carried out with the city limits and fm the case of dairy farms which are outside of this line some are near enough to stpplf milk to the city, but not near enough to ceme under the in- spection rules. rdqno As years go by these small but import- ant beginnings will gredually grow unill the dealer who sells {mpure goods or who maintains a filthy and unhygienic dairy farm will be. compelied tp reform and the ¥ of pure and ,wholesome articles of uch as bread apd milk, will be cheapest in the end. RD BEECHER’S RING. HENRY WA He Gave It to Ellen Terry, Its Pres- ent Owner. ¥rom Time and the Hour. Many persons !n and out of Boston know well the little shop under the museum fa- miliarly known as “Remick’s.” It has been the haunt in past years of many a prominent man and woman, and the owner has been consulted by a little army of no- torieties regarding rare and costly gems. Some twenty years ago Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose fondness for gems was almost a passion, and who never visited Boston without stepping into this little shop, found here an uncommonly beautiful aqua-marine ring, which he bought and wore for some time. Durirg the first visit of Miss Ellen Terry to this country the actress lunched with Mr. and Mrs. Beech- er. In the course of her stay with them she caught sight of this ring on Mr. Beecher’s hand, and asked to examine it. When it was handed her and she had dis- played great enthusiasm over it she kissed it passionately several times. “Why do you do that?" inquired Mr. Beeche! “Simply because I love these gems s0, was her reply. “Well, if you care s0 much for the ring as that,” said Mr. Beecher, “piease keep it and wear it for my. sake.” Last spring, while Miss Terry was tn Boston, she hunted up this little shop, and passed some time in looking at the gems and talking with Mr. Remick about them. At length he asked her what had become of the ring that Mr. Beecher gave her. “I wore it for yeurs,” She answered. “After his death I became more attacited to it than ever. But on the day that Queen Victoria knighted Henry Irving I tcok the ring from my finger and gave it to him in honor of the occasion. Sir Henry now wears Mr. Beecher’s ring, and will wear it as long as he lives.” ———___ -+e+______ The Montgolfier Brothers. From the Gentlemen's Magazine. Proceeding on the principle that heated air expands and so becomes lighter, bulk for bulk, than air at the ordinary temper- ature, the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier filled a paper bag with heated air, which rose to the ceiling of the room. This preliminary success was rapidly fol- lowed up, and they gradually increased the size of the balloons experimented with un- til they were so satisfied with their pro- gress that in 1783 they gave a public exhi- bition, sending up a linen balloon 105 feet in circumference, which was inflated over a fire supplied with small bundles of chopped straw. The balloon succeeded be- yond their utmost expectations, and, after rising to a height of over 6,000 feet, it de- scended ten minutes after in a field a mile and a half away. The next balloon carried a car, In which were a sheep, a cock and a duck. The success of this further experiment induced M. Pilatre de Rozier and the Mar- quis d’Arlandes to risk their lives by mak- ing the first ascent in th new and wonder- ful machine. Their hi on, which was forty-five feet in diameter and seventy-five feet high, and was ted with hot air, passed over Paris to @ great astonish- ment of the people, attaining an altitudo of half a mile. Ballast was then for the first time employed jn regulating the as- cending power of the balloon. This first venture was followed by others, and De Rozier, the frst to‘ascend, was also the first to meet his death in this manner, having been killed, With a companion, by the burning of his balloon near Boulogne. A SUMMER PASTIME Pleasure and Instruction in Amateur Entomology. ADVICE 0 WOULD-BE COLLECTORS How to Capture, Preserve and Mount Insect Specimens. A SIMPLE OUTFIT NEEDED —_-—___ Written for The Evening Star. 3 MATEUR ENTO- mology has become quite popular as a summer pastime. Many are now work- ing with net, bottle and chloroform, em- balming the bugs, butterflies and lo- custs or other com- mon members of the family of insects. There is no better spert for girls to en- ee gage in during their much-welcomed vagation. It is exercise of the most beneficial character, and is never uninteresting. To think that there are, out of the 10,000,000 species of the entire globe, 40,000 in North America, should en- courage the beginner. You must capture the little and big; let not size guide you, nor peculiarity, nor beauty; be not guided as to what specimens to catch, but strive to obtain a complete collection, and you may some day be well repaid, through a sale to a wealthy entomologist or museum. The outst. Fo follow this study of insects no large outlay is necessary. The ordinary outfit is so simple and easily obtained that expense is seldom an item in the mind of the col- lector. Remember that a collection, to be a good cne, skould be extensive, well ar- ranged ard systematically mounted. The usual and best and easiest obtained outfit censists of a cotton umbreila, a small trowel or digger, a haversack to be slung across the snouiders, a cigar’ box lined on the bottom with sheet cork, and perhaps some sort of a small satchel or hand bag for odds and ends. It is well to wear a coat with many pockets, and com- fortable c:othing in general. The Use of the Outit. The umbreila proves the most useful arti- cle. It is handy when footing, in sunshine or rain. Its other use Is in collecting spec- imens. It should be placed open and in- verted under an overhanging bough to catch the insect which you beat from the leaves and branches. If it has a curved handie, all the better, for then it is indis- pensable in securing specimens from high boughs, The trowel you take in hand when veneuth the roiten bark of a dead or fallen tree, or in the ground, you perceive ur ex- pect to find a stray specimen. Without Uus instrument you will aave considerabie difficulty in catching a beetle which is making his way Usrough the private halls of his earthly mansiun. The haversack is the best thing in which to carry boxes to hold the specunens taken alive. It is advisable to carry all captures home before mounting, or even killing, as in your haste you will likely injure the specimens, The cigar box is intended to temporarily receive the pinned specimens ch you kill on the field. There are nets and other appliances used in the collecting of any one of the several classes into which the great fam- ily of insects is divided. Ss are: Coleoptera, iwo-winged ; Hemiptera, Hymen- optera, bees, wasps, etc.; Lepidoptera, but- series alu ulus, Nenuroptera, lace-wing- ed insects, the dragon fly, scorpion fi etc.; and Urthoptera, locusts, grasshoppers, etc. Thus, the collector of any separate class is advised to provide certain extra appliances. Different Kinds of Nets. For collecting Lepidoptera a mosquito netting or wire gauze net is needed; it is preferable to make it out of wire gauze, tine and strong, it then being suitable not only as a sweeping net for flying insects, but also as a sieve or dip net for aquatic specimens. An ordinary pill bex is often used by the professional entomoiogisis in the capturing of Lepiduptera, in order to prevent injury to the wings. A pair of broad pincers will be needeu in ccliecti especially Coleopte: Don’t worr providing a whoie carpenters shop of pock- el tools, but carry a stout pocket knife. In attempting to capture a nest of bees, you had better first throw upon the nest some ehleroform or benzine to stun the sting- carriers. Diptera should be taken from the net with a puir of rorceps, appearing much like a combination of the handles of a pair of large shears, and two small fiat nets— @ pair of net tongs. Use your net freely in catching the Neuroptera seen about electric lights at night. And above all, use com- mon sense as freely in collecting any in- sects; don’t be in a hurry, don’t try to catch a butterfly with the net and at the Same time a beetle with the pincers. Killing and Mounting. From the several methods of killing in- sects, it is an uneasy task to decide the best one. For killing Coleoptera, Hemip- tera, some Neuroptera and larvae of all sorts, alcohol proves most satisfactory, provided only pure alcohol which has been diluted with 35 per cent of pure water be used. For Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hy- menoptera, Chloroform, ether or benzine is the best agent. “A small, stout bottle of chloroform or ether, with a brush securely inserted into the cork, will be found very serviceable,” said the late Pref. C. V. Riley. A similar bottle to that just men- uioned is arranged for killing purposes by putting into it several small strips of blot- ting paper previously soaked in chloroform or ether. Tne “cyanide bottle” is the best for killing the larger insects, and quite Satis{actory for all kinds. This bottle, much larger than those already mentioned, has a wide mouth and should be fitted with a giass stopper. A convenient size is five inches in height by tbree in width. Obtain from a druggist a small quantity of cyanide of potassium, a small handful, say; break it up into pieces the size of peas and pour into the bottle level. Then mix in a suitable vessel a quantity of plaster of paris with just enough water to make the whole semi-fluid; pour this slowly and care- fully over the cyanide ir the bottle, cover- ing it evenly. Allow the plaster to thor- oughly dry before replacing the cork. Clear the sides of the bottle of particles of plas- ter, and put in some narrow sirips of white paper, on which the captured insect can find support while undergoing the dead- ly effect of the cyanide fumes. In all cases, the stepper should be replaced immediate- ly and securely after opening the bottle, as, if the agent be chloroform, ‘ether or benzine, it will rapidly evaporate, and if the cyanide bottle be allowed to remain open its strength will diminish. A small tube mey be similarly trans- formed into a “cyanide bottle,” to be car- ried on the field. Gasoline is a cheap and satisfactory agent for killing Lepldop- tera, and a few whiffs of cigar smoke will kill the smallest insects. Creosote and am- monia will prove efficient in an emergency. How to Pin Specimens. Pins used in mounting should only be those expressly manufactured for entomo- logical purposes. The pin should pass through the Insect’s thorax, then through the labels which you may have on each epecimen, giving such data as when and where collected, and what the insect ts, if you know. The box mostly used for pre- serving collections is of varnished white pine wood, about thirteen by eight inches by four inches, outside measurement. There is no especial top or bottom, the box open- ing on hinges exactly in half. Each of the halves being used for pinned specimens, sheet cork one-fourth of an inch thick is glued to the inner bottom of both. This cork enables the pins to be stuck in any Cesired position without bending them. The smallest spectmens and those such as worms, having only a soft skin, should be kept in separate tubes of diluted —e : RLS. ‘The principal Diptera, OUR UNEXPLORED GLOBE. There Are 20,000,000 Square Miles of the Earth Yet to Be Explored. From the Literary Digest. We are apt to think that we moderns have very little to do in the way of explor- ing the globe, and that the recent explora- tions in Africa have quite put the finishing touch to geographies] knowledge, so that he who wishes t: set foot on virgin soil must sigh, like Alexander, for another world. Those who entertain such opinions may calm themselves with the thought that no Jess a portion of the earth's surface than 20,000,000 square miles is yet a fit sub- Ject for im ition, and on a large part of this the foot of civilized man has not yet trod. We translate from Ccamos (Paris, June 6) an article that brings this fact out very clearly. It runs as follows: “At the London geographical congress Mr. Logan Lobley gave a very interesting study of the present state of exploration of the globe. It appears that modern gcog- raphers have an immense amount of labor before them to make us acquainted with all Parts of the earth. This conclusion will astonish some people, for there is a gen- eral impression that almost all regions of the earth are well explored. “Mr. Lobley reminds us that in the first Place, toward the midale of the sixteenth century, ali seas had been traversed by navigators, and that if the maps of the continents were not yet very exact, at least their relative positions and their gen- eral configuration were known. Australia itself appears on a French map of 1542, un- der the name of Great Java. In the course of the sixty years included in the last decade of the fifteenth century and the first haif of the sixteenth, a pleiad of navi- gators had advanced geographic knowledge in a degree that has never peen reached in any other period so short. Sebastian d’Elano had made his first voyage around the world; Vasco da Gama had doubled the Cape of Good Hope; Christopher Columbus ad added the two Americas to the map; the voyages of Cabot of Magellan had completed this wonderful list of new dis- coveries. “Today, outside of the polar regions, we must confess that all the seas have bee explored, but this is far from being the case with the land. An immense extent is entively unknown to us; another, still more considerable, has veen only imperfectly ex- plored; travelers have traversed it, com- merce has exploited some of its products, but gooa maps of it do not exist. Finally, only the least part is well known; geodesy has covered it with a net-work of triangles and the maps of it are complete, even from a topographical standpoint. “After the arctic and antarctic regions, which have remained inaccessible up to the present time, Africa is the part of the world that is least known to us, notwithstanding the admiranle explorations made in this century, which are daily clearing up the map. The earliest explorers, however, could not dream of serious efforts, and many years will pass before the country will be taoroughly explored. “after Africa, Australia offers the vast- est field to the investigation of explorers; we must remember that even its seacoast was not fully explored till 1843. Since that tte, at the price of great suffering, it has been crossed from south to north, but no traveler has yet traversed it from east to west. “In the two Americas, except the extreme northern and southern parts, the continent is known; nevertheless, the whole central region of South Americs, though in great part explored for commercial purposes (for mines, wood, caoutchoue, ete.), is not ex- actly mapped. “To sum u th t unexplored parts of the globe cover an area of about 30,000,000 squa iclometers (about 20,000,000 square miles), approximetely divided thus: Square APrica ... Australia . America 2aKm,000 290,000 Antarctic regions . Total .. “Opportunity will not be wanting here for a long time, to the explorers who wish to undertake their part of the immense task that must be achieved by humanity before it knows its own world. Two Good Convention Stories. Corr. of the Boston Advertiser. A member of the Massachusetts delega- tion was asked what caused the sudden and surprising change in the financial opinions of Williams. “Mr. Williams is an opportunis: reply. ‘A what “An opportunist: He is looking out for the possibilities. And, sure enough, the young ex-mugwump from the bay state had not been in town five hours before he was “talked of” for Vice President and for temporary chair- man of the convention. When asked if he would accept a nomination he repiied that he was always willing to do whatever he could to promote the interests of his party; but the senatorial syndicate didn’t take kindly to the suggestion. One of the ven- erable gentlemen who represents a southern state in the Senate observed: “Mr. Williams is an uncommonly bright young man—an uncommonly bright young man—but he is also uncommonly unreliable, and he might change his views on the finan- cial question before we could get him from the floor to the platform.” An old Kentucky gentleman went into the Blackburn headquarters and asked: ‘Joe, what are you running fer’ “President,” was the laconic and some- what testy reply. “Of what?” “I'm candidate. sir, for the democratic nomination for President of the United States.” “Do you reckon you'll get thar, Joe?” ‘If my friends stand by me.” “Well, I never reckoned 't'd oome ter this, and the venerable remnant of the old Ken. tucky democratic party glanced slyly about the room, as if to discover a bottle. Dis- cerning none, he took his hickory stick, offered his hand to the candidate, and silent- ly stole away was his a Prophetic Pipe. From Pearson's Magazine. Prince Bismarck is a great pipe collector, and the gem of his collection has a curious history. Many years ago, as Bismarck was strolling in the suburbs of Friedrichsruhe with his two hounds, he was accosted by a Bohemian peddler and asked to buy a plain meerschaum pipe of the type that Bismarck most affected. At first Bismarck declined, but the peddier claimed for the pipe a power of forecast, and told him he would serve three emperors as minister, and that three important changes in his life would be fore- told by accidents befalling the pipe. Laughing, Bismarck bought the pipe. He has since served three emperors. Two days before the historic moment when he was re- fused an audience, the stem of his pipe sep- araied and came to pieces. Later he chip- ped a piece trom the side of the bowl, and within a month he was practically dismissed by the present emperor. The third sign has yet to come. Bismarck’: Se Birds as Seed C From the St. Louis Giobe-Democrat. Two centuries ago the Dutch destroyed every nutmeg tree in the Moluccas, in or- der to enjoy a monopoly of the business, having planted the trees in their own pos- sessions. In spite of their most earnest efforts, however, the islands were being constantly estocked. For a long time the thing was a mystery, but at length it was solved. ‘The doves of that quarter ofthe world are of large size, and readily swallow the seed of the nutmeg, with the fruit of which they traverse wide stretches of sea and land in a few hours, and deposit the seeds of the nutmeg not only uninjured, but bet- ter fitted for germination by the heat and moisture of the bird’s system. By a similar process thousands of acres of land have been covered with trees of | different Kinds, the birds acting as nature's | agents in the dissemination of plants. But in quite another manner do they transport seeds from place to place. Dar- | win found in six grains of earth adhering | to the feet of a plover three different kinds ot seeds, and in mud sticking to the feet of ducks and geese shot in England he found | the seeds of plants peculiar to the Victoria | Nyanza, in Central Africa, thus proving | not only the extent of migration, but also | the possibility of plants appearing in strange localities through the ageney of these birds. In the mud sticking to the feet of a Tex- as steer the seeds of five different kinds of weeds and grasses common in Texas wer: found by a microscopist after the arrival cf the animal in New York. Gladness Comes Wits better understanding of the transicnt nature of the many phys- ieal ills, which vanish before proper ef- forts—gentle efforts—pleasantefforts— rightly directed. There is comfort in the knowledge, that so many forms of sickness are not due to any actual di: ease, but simply to a constipated condi- tion of the system, which the pleasant family laxative. Syrup of Figs, eens ly removes. ‘That is why it is the only remedy with millionsof families, and is everywhere esteemed so highly by all who value cot health. Its beneficial effects are due to the fact, that itis the one remedy which promotes internal cleanliness without debilitating the organs on which it 2cts. It is therefore all important, in order to get its ben ficial effects, to note when you pur- chase, that you have the genuine arti- cle, which is manufactured by the Cali- fornia Fig Syrup Co. only and sold by all reputable druggists. If in the enjoyment of good health, and the system is regular, laxatives or other remedies are then not needed. If afflicted with any actual disea muy be commended to the most siki!l physicians, but if in need of a |: 3 one should have the best, and with the well-informed everywhere, Syrup of Figsstands highest and is most largely used and gives most general satisfaction FLY-WHEELS SHOULD BE OF ST Namerous Accidents the Result Making Them of Cast Iron. From the London Engineer. The bursting of a fly-wheel is almo heard of in England, notwithstandir high-speed engines we now have running, yet in the United States the fly-wheel cas- ualties have become a matter of week! and of un- the En port. we have many thor s h-speed cast-iron fly-wh and very large wheels up to sixty tons welght, running with very high periphery Speed, and they all run safely, the states they say: “The sudden advent of electrical apparatus and its high spec is found people making fly-wheels of iron, with a narrow factor of saf. indeed, no factor of safety at all consider the impossibility t herent strains and imperfections material. No one can know the v material molded into form at a and yet in cast . OF, if we rs th f detecti ar temp ture of 2,00 degrees and then coole. to a fortieth of this temperat 4 nor sa he judge internal struc surface indications. ‘rhe fact is that cast ira: is not suitable material for wheels t are to be driven at high i i necessary to make them of this materi. There is not even the claim of ch in their favor if the methods of such wheels of wrought iron and st once worked out. “Twenty years ago a Scotch fi years Scotch fir had to make a large fly-wheel for up a box rim, ma with ning mill, riveted rolled plat and filled it Tee erout,’ and did a ver ~——+e. - His Nat From the Detroit Fi “Oh, Kitty, I've something awful to tell you. “What is it?” “I’m so mortified over it! You ser, Gus- sie Lillypad came around on his wheel the other afternoon, and I got out my bike and we started off for a spin togethe “Well?” “I had on my new bicycle suit and ca and we were spinning along in great sh away out in the country when Gus wheel struck a stone in the road and ee header and nearly le fainted, mind you, and while I bathing his head with some water I fet« broke his ne>k was in his cap, a stupid old farmer came al. and aske¢ “ “What's the matter of her?’ ” ‘Oh, Maude!” “And befere I could reply he says “Is ste much hurt?” § “Why, Maude!” “I was so mortified! And Gussie came t in time to hear the old simpleton say ~ “Better cut her corset string an” a littie.” I thought ! should die! Gussie Sat up and said coldly, ‘I am a gen- Ueman, sir,’ the awful old coot cap i the climax by pointing to me and saying a ° ‘an bh And when ly: ‘Why, "t say! I thought this « eee wees ie v one The Terrige Tam-Tu From the Nineteenth Century. The ol] barrel-organ was a sufii malevolent affair, but the piano-orgzan simply a fiendish invention, before which ‘all the apparatus of the chamber of to: ture fades into insignificance.” Long be- fore the dweller in a quiet neighborhood is aware of what tune the dreadful thine is hammering out, the “tum-tum-tum” cussion of the bass can be absolutely and to brain workers the sensation of continued drumming or throbbing is culiarly maddening. And this sort of thing we are asked to pay for, too! Dr. Holmes does well to be sore on that point in his “Music Grinders,” where he- advises the tortured citizen either to fetch a constable or “go y uletly and drop a butte ip tne hat d a a Pats Clean Hit. From the Chicago News. The Irishman when called upon to reason out a problem often makes a short cut to- ward the answer, and thereby proves that “brevity is the soul of wit.” One day as Pat, a water carrier who sap- plied the little village with water from the river, halted at the top of a bank a man famous for his inquisitive mind stopped and asked: “How long have you hauled water the village, my good man?” “Tin years or more, sorr,” was the answer. “Ah, yes! How many loads do you take in a day?” “From tin to fifteen, sorr.” “Ah! Now I have a problem for you. How much water at that rate have you hauled in all, sir?” Pat promptly jerked his thumb backward toward the river and replied: “All the wathe: you don’t see there for uly now, fortune trying to From early \ childhood uctii 1 was grown my 7 family spent @ og Ee a disease. I visited Hot Springs and was treated by the best medical men, but was mot benetited. When all things bad failed I determined to try SSS, and in four ) Af moathswae ‘entirely cured. 4 |] The t=r- tible eceema was gone, ‘mot a sign of at lett, my, ‘general health built up, and I have never had any return of the dis- ease. I have often recommended 8. 3. S. CHILDHOOD GEO. W. MWIN, Irwin, Pa. SSSE3 cure, even when all other SWIFT SPECIFIC CO., Atlanta, Ga. remedies have. Our treatise on blood and skin diseases mailed free to any ad-