Evening Star Newspaper, August 8, 1937, Page 83

Avgust 8, 1937 r is incidental. One collector struggled into the heart of Borneo for six weeks e beyond the place where previous ex- plorers had quit. When he came out he brought a cargo of fish and a ¥ tropical disease that kept him in ! bed in Singapore for a month and a { half. Another field man followed him into the interior. He escaped the disease, but got out with exactly four fish. Not * foul kinds of fish — just four live fish, each lcss than two inches long. The expedition cost $18,000. But the four fish lived during the long trip to Ham- burg, and they bred well in captivity. In the end, the trip probably paid for itself. In many tropical countries, miners and planters can go into the interior by airplane. Not so the fish men. They are river-bound. When they are lucky enough to get a launch, they ride up to the head of navigation in grand style and tow a string of native dug- outs filled withempty cans. Iflaunches aren’t available, it takes man power to @eliver the cans to the head of the stream. Beyond navigation, it’s sim- o ply a matter of hard, slogging work up crecks and rivulets until the cans are filled. Eventually the cans are collected in the seacoast towns of Africa, the Far East and South America where the larger steamers regularly call, and ' then they are picked up for shipment to Hamburg or New York. At least nineteen large ocean liners plying to all parts of the world are fitted for transportation of fishes. Their installations are most elaborate; the actual physical equipment of tanks, pumps for air and water, elec- tric heaters and so on ranges up to half a million dollars in each ship. Some of them have as much as six- “teen miles of hose connecting the tanks. And on each ship is a sort of supercargo, an employee of the dealer who laid in the installation, whose only job is to take care of the fish cargo. It’s a full-time job, too, for the THIS WEEK Million Dollar Mites Continved from page seven failure of the hose system carrying warm water and pure air might mean the loss of thousands of fishes — to say nothing of the supercargo’s job. Christopher Coates of the New York Aquarium staff is the man largely responsible for the vast inter- est in tropical fish in this country. He has been writing about tropicals, talk- ing about tropicals and exhibiting tropicals for years. In the course of building up the Aquarium’s collection, Coates has relied partly on purchases and gifts from the dealers, and partly on stray collections of fishes brought into New York by the one class of persons whose passion for pets is almost uni- versal — sailors. A phone call from a perplexed cus- toms agent sent Coates to a distant New Jersey pier one day. ““There’s a guy over here that don’t speak any language we can make out,”” the customs man told him. “He’s got some fish he wants to sell, as near as we can figure it.” Coates was gone all afternoon, and came back with a story that had both comic and tragic sides. - “It was an Indian from somewhere in Brazil,” he said. “He didn’t speak anything but a few words of Portu- guese. I talked in gestures all after- Drown by Lovis Priscilla “GENTLEMEN! THE JUDGE IS STILL WAITING FOR‘ A DECISION ON THE CASE" noon and managed to make this out: “‘It seems he had a job about a year ago with some fish collectors who came into his neighborhood. He knows all the local fishes, so they hired him to help them collect. They had a phonograph along, or he’d heard one somewhere — and he wanted one so he could be a big man in his tribe. He drew me a pictwre of it — an old- fashioned phonograph with a big horn. “After the collectors left he began to get ideas. He had learned that fish are worth money, if you can get them to New York. And he also learned that the fish worth the most money are the rare ones — the kinds a col- lector has never seen before. “A few months ago he ran across a fish that was new to him. He figured that phonograph was already bought and paid for. All he had to do was take his fish to New York. “He collected a lot of them — about two thousand —and hauled them into Manaos. Then he got a job on a boat and got to America with about five hundred still alive. “And every last one of them was a guppy — a wild guppy! They were worth only ten dollars on the open market.” The strangest part of the story is that wild guppies are not found in the area around the head of the Amazon. The nearest ones are supposed to be about eight hundred miles away. But Coates couldn’t learn exactly where the Indian found the fish; he showed him a map, but the Indian had never seen a map before and it meant noth- ing to him. Coates spent most of the afternoon trying to convince the poor Indian that his fish were practically worth- less. He never did succeed. But the dealer whose collectors were indirectly and innocently responsible for the Indian’s plight bought the guppies at something above the market price and shipped him back to Brazil — with a phonograph. Victim Number Seven Continved from page thirteen the door and, obeying Foo Jung's in- structxons to see who it was, Ho-Ling opened the door. He stepped back hastily, frightened. There was Ben, the fnendly policeman, who stood all day on the corner of Mott and Pell b Streets, and often joked with Ho-Ling, pi dnd with him was another officer, a § police Captain. ¢ Ben smiled in a friendly fashion at ) Ho-Ling and this bit of encourage- ) ment made him less frightened when i the Captain said, ‘‘This the kid?"’ “Yep,” said Ben. Foo Jung, when he saw the police- men, blinked with astonishment, and asked weakly, ‘‘What's he done now?"’ Then, realizing that even in the face of calamities good manners must be observed, he offered both the officers a of tea. His polite gesture was as politely declined. r “Know anything about a dead cat left on the steps of the State Build- ing?"’ asked the Captain. ““Yes, sir,” replied Ho-Ling, giving him the Boy Scout salute. ‘‘Me put it H there last night.” Foo Jung groaned. He had the < Animalgrams by GEORGE HOPF [ Me LANCHOLY BLUE FisH - | SEEMS A SHAME, S SAD AND Gmomq,— UP TO HIS NAME/ proper respect for government build- ings, and also the proper disrespect for dead cats. But rather to his amazement there was no stern reprimand from the Cap- tain, who said kindly and coaxingly, “Well, kid, let’s hear your story.” And Ho-Ling told him exactly what had happened, told everything up to the point of Tony giving him the note to deliver. “Why didn’t you come directly to us in the first place,” asked the Captain, ‘‘when you had your sus- picions of who he was?”’ “‘Not sure, then,” said Ho-Ling. ‘‘Are you now?"’ “Yes, sir.”” And he handed the Captain the note Tony had given him. “‘Evidence, eh?” said the Captain. “Yes, sir.” ‘“You should be a detective,” mur- mured Ben. Ho-Ling beamed. That was food for thought. “I'd hazard a guess that Tony wrote this note, all right,”” said the Captain, after he had read it. ‘“Says he’s been waiting three days to make a get- away. And the place where you were to take it — we cleaned out yester- day. We'll take a look at this fellow in the basement. If it’s Tony, kid, you’ve got a thousand dollars coming to you. If it isn’t, you'll get a swift — ™’ “You catch me first,” said Ho-Ling soberly. ‘“‘We won’t make any more rumpus over this than necessary. Let’s go.” And the Captain gave orders to Ben to accompany the two Chinese boys. They made their way quietly into the streets. In a short time, shorter than Ho-Ling thought possible, several police cars suddenly appeared. “Now, kid,” said the Captain, “there’s just one thing for you to do. Show us where this basement is — and. then keep out of the way.” So together with the Captain and several policemen they tiptoed down the passageway. Peering around the corner, Ho-Ling saw that the door of the basement was closed. He indicated to the Captain that that was the place. “Rap three times,” he whispered, “‘so he’ll know it’s me.” The Captain nodded. ‘““‘Now beat it.” Ho-Ling paused just a moment. He glanced at the spot where Meu had died, and doubled his fist over the clay cat in his pocket. Then putting his little hand into the friendly grasp of Ben, he was quietly led out of the pas- sage and into the street beyond. There he stood with Ben and Foo Jung, waiting. Quietly the police took up their positions. As quietly, China- town looked on, curious and expec- tant, but pretending that it was not particularly interested. Ho-Ling's heart was beating rapidly. If they didn’t catch him — he wouldn’t have the thousand dollars and no riding on the roller coaster at Coney Island, and what would Foo Jung say when he found his shoe box gone? Suddenly the air seemed tense with excitement. Ho-Ling gripped Ben's hand. From the courtyard came the sound of muffled shots. A few banging noises. Then all was still again. There was a long moment of agoniz- ing suspense for Ho-Ling. Then he . sighed contentedly. From the passage- way came the policemen, leading handcuffed a glaring and sullen Tony. ““He’s our baby, all right,” said the Captain. “‘Good work, Kid!’ Before they could stop him, Ho- Ling stepped up to Tory, and slipped into his hands the tiny clay cat he had vought for a penny. “For you,” he said. ‘Nice present.” Then Ho-Ling smiled happily. He haddonehisgooddeedforuxeday Stranger than Man by CARL KULBERG ThE male Gafi-Topsail, or four-whis- kered sea cat, carries eggs in his mouth until they hatch. During this period of egg gargling he goes without food. * * * Ir vou'Re bald and would like to have the mice in your home match you, feed them wheat mixed with thallium. Their youngsters will be born hairless. * * * THE Marbled Murrelets are among the commonest birds along the shores of southeastern Alaska — yet their nests and eggs never have been found. * * * TuE Remora, “tramp of the seas,” irritates a larger fish by closing its gills and striking with its tail. It at- taches itself by suction disks, and forces its host to transport it in search of food. After a killing, the Remora heips himself and returns to his host for t_nmspa'zation.. > Tie Tapir, which inhabits Central and South America and the Malayan Islands, is the only animal that has remained unchanged through proc- esses of evolution. All other animals down through the ages have developed from lower to higher forms of wild life by evolutionary means. * * *® ThEsE is none so foolish as the Wild Turkey of Mexico, which, perched in a tree, watches coyotes running round and around the tree until he drops dizzily to the ground, becoming an easy victim to the patient marauders. 15 BECAUSE OF MIS OLIVE OIL POWDER | Maogazine Section A(:Alhs'r “prickly heat” your baby’s surest, most soothing protection is Z.B.T. Olive Oil Baby Powder. The olive vil explains why Z.B.T. is so much softer and more comforting—why it is so su- perior to other baby powders in prevent- ing chafing and irritation even on hottest days. Leading hospitals use it. SETE nsou‘s OINT BUNIONS Dr. Scholl’s Zino-pads give instant relief; stop shoe pressure on -\ the painful spot. Also ) sizes for Corns, Cal- louses, Soft Corns. Cost but a trifle. Sold here.