Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, March 6, 1910, Page 22

EXPLORING A LONC DEAD CITY Colonel Kozloff's Two Years in Cen- tral Mongolia. TARTAR TOWN OFFERS MUCH NEW s on the Site Library t Lite Made Many Discoverl of Charn-Choto——W! §T. PETERSBURQG, Feb, J—Explora- tion attracts the Rusian mind rather from 1ts historical than its geographical beur- ings. The exploring bent of the slav has turned always to where it might expect to unearth some human story of the past Russian travellers have made the vast anclent plains of North China, golia and the first nurseries of human so- clety In cishimalayan Transcaucasia their | epecial field of search. Probably the most | fruitful of all thelr organized journeys was | crowned last night by a reception here at the Imperfal Geographical society to Col- | onel Peter Kasnutch Kosloff, leader of an | expedition that passed two years in central | Mongolia In the region near Lake Kokunor and has brought back a marvellous col- lection of records, worked metals, sacred relics and Implements of daily life from the burled city of Chara-Choto (the Black | Fortress), the capital of a powerful Mon-| gollan nation overthrown centuries ago by the Chinese It is the fourth expedition to Mongolia equipped by Russian czars in the last forty gears. Colonel Kagloff's firet effort dates back twenty-five years ago, when he went on the last journey of the immortal Prje- vallsl The party which has now had such success consisted, besides Kozloff, of the Moscow geologist Tchernoff, the topos- rapher Captain Napalkin, and ten soldiers— | of Mon- | Iike terrace, which the river Edsingol once flowed round on its north and @uth sides, but It now has diverted its course into the salt basin Chadan-Chotu. There Is a sub- {urb town outside the castern gate con- nected with the fortified town by earth bastions reaching to the gate. Kozloff gathered from the Mongolians that Chara-Choto or Chara-Balschen, the Black City or Fortrese, had its last ruler, the Batyr (Russian Bogatyr or hero) Chara-Djan-Dsum, who had an uncon- querable army with which he sought to win the Chinese throne. But the Chinese army defeated him and shut him up in Chara-Choto. The besieged Mongolians dug wells 800 feet deep without finding water. Thelr chief then put his treasures, sighty wagonioads of from twenty to thirty poods, Into these dry wells. He killed his two wives and his son and daughter to save them from shame. Then he forced a | breach In the walls, but was with his un- conquerable army annihilated by the Chi- nese, who entered and destroyed the cap- tured city. But nobody has since found his hidden treasures. The latest searchers had come only on two huge snakes. The Russion Orlentalists, S. Olden- burg, A. 1. lvanoff and W. L. Kotwitch have declared that Chara-Choto was the residence capital of the Tangout empire, Si-Sya, which existed from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. They pronuonced Koszloft's dlscoveries most valuable and the Geographieal soclety wrote, asking his to visit Chara-Choto again on his return Journey. He did so, and on May 22, 1009, began a month’'s excavations, helped by Mongolian laborers, whom Beith supplied and who furnished the expedition dally with drinking water. The Russians opened a tomb that stood a quarter mile from the west wall of the city on the back of a dry riverbed and In It they found an entire ilbrary of books, manuseripts and Buddish sacred pictures on linen, thin silk and parchment, besides statuettes in metal and wood and cuts and models of tombs. This suburgan was thirty feet high, set on o pedestal with a vertical Trans- féur Moscow grenadiers and six Balkal cossacks. The czar paid the ex- pen; The exposition left Moscow In Novem: | ber, 1907, traveling by the Kursk railroad | over the Russian plains and the Ural moun- | tains, through the steppes and forests of | Siberla to the River Angara and its| “father,” Lako Balkal, and thence to Ver- che-Udinsk, where Kosloff and Tchernoff |went on by trolka—the Russia three-horse slelgh—to Kyachta on tho Russo-Chin frontier. They had a most hospitable re ception from the Russian settlers there dur- ing the three weeks that It took them to |prepare for & two year sojourn in the bar- ren, sandy deserts of central Asla, On De- cember 25, 1907, the long camel caravan of the expedition passed outside the czar’s dominions, At first they found themselves on Mon- \gollan prairie, but were not long in com- ing upon & hilly country rich in plant and animal life. Behind Urga, the Mongollan [Lhassa, the physiognomy of the land underwent @ sharp change; it lost its hilly character and its covering of vegetation; *lits population was more scarce, especiully south of the hills, which are the eastern continuation of the Gobl-Altal range. They 'had reached the real Gobi desert, whero the only rare eminences were sand hillocks and boulders. These gradually declined and left & sea of blown sand whose drift was southerly. For islands it had mounds sometimes 100 feet high. After enduring & terrific sandstorm the expedition reached the River Edsingol, which draws its waters from the snow ot ithe Nan-Schan mountains and flows north- ward for 300 miles, parting into the two Jakes Suehonor and Chasehunnor. On its llower banks Mongolian Torgouts have been settled for 40 years and have reared dense forests. Kosloff halted his caravan and opened relations with the chief, Belieh, lwho dwelt at the monastery, Presents were exchanged and the Torgout leader showed friendliness to the explorer. Belien gave Kosloff permission to make excavations on the site of the dead city of Chara-Choto and to make the journey over his terri- tory from Alasehan to Kukunor. He gave the Russians a Torgout gulde named Bata. Very soon they came on traces of an earlier land culture—milistones, the courses of water canals, and pleces of clay and porcelain vessels, There were grave memorials of as many as five stones plastered together with mud. Three miles from Chara-Choto Kozloff came on an old river bed with tree branches lying in it (At the northwest corner of the city was the chief suburgan, or earth mound mauso- leum, Inside the sand walls. At the south- west corner was & dome crowned building in the style of a mosque. As Kozloff advanced Into the Chinese Mongollan waste he found marked ditfer- ences in the character of the peoples. 1n the north the nomads were proud of their traditional daring, their rich clothing, thelr handsome, sturdy, well-saddled horses and thelr horsemanship—above all of their his- torle past. Thelr recognized spiritual hel ch, the Bogdo-Gegen (agaln born), upheld by the hereditary princess of Ur and the lands around. In central Mongolia the peopie fall away from this standard, and toward the south become more and more Chinese. ‘They cease to adhere to the national life of thelr race kindred. | Yet however poor the culture of the Mon- | gollans may seem to Europeans they r tain their own writings, thelr printed laws and interest in religlous questions and the study of Tibetan sciences In March, 1908, Kosloff's caravan halted at Lake Sochonor, in the middle of the| Mongolian desert. Thelr approach to it was slgnalled by the sight on a fine spring ovening of a flock of birds flying over the Beyond its high lay banks on the turther side the one time oamis of Boro-Obo, where are the remains of the rulned oty of Erge-Chara-Baruck. Next day they came on flights of herons, swans and gulls. 3azelles and wiid asses crossed the track: of the caravan. Among the sedge by the lake a group of armed Tor- gout tribesmen were guarding & herd of horses. After four days' rest on the south of Lake Bochonor the caravan set out again for its main purpose Koaloff and his companions entered the lake side. middle section and a conical, but much damaged roof. Inside this tomb, which was about eighteen feet wide, were set around | an upright base circular paling twenty life | size earth figures, thelr faces looking in- | ward, as Lamas read their holy books at| religious service. Among the figures lay | a great number of books and manuscripts in the Sl-Sya language. After' storing ‘all these priceless archae- ological material the Kozloff expedition started on the home journey and reached St. Petersburg at the end of last year. Its entire collection will be handed over to the Asiatic and Ethnographic museum of the Academy of Sciences. TRYING TO SAVE THE SALMON Oregon Wakes Up Begine plenishing Streams Ravaged by Canne! There is a glimmer of hope ahead for the American people deprived of meat by high prices. If no rellef should be afforded in the matter of steaks and chops by the nu- merous officlal investigations now under way, not to mention the effect of strikes and boycotts, folace may be found in the salmon. This noble fish, all ready to serve when turned out of its native can and requiring only a drop of lemon julee to develop its Intimate flavor, is well and favorably known by the common people. At its best it is a poem of the Pacifie, an ode of Oregon, and an anthem of Alaska. Years of ruthless waste have dl- minished its numbers; it used to be as plentitul as the buffalo, and was slaugh- tered In’the same ruthless manner, but to- day etate and federal authorities are coh- serving the fish, encouraging by sclentific methods its propagation, and they expect that in @ few years it will become a large, reliable part of the national food supply. The state of Oregon has lately estab- lished a large central hatchery with a ca- pacity of 60,000,000 eggs, and has cut down the open season for catohing salmon by for- ty-seven days, including & month in spring and a twenty-four hour closed period from Saturday night to Sunday night during the open season. The latter restrictions, operative In 1509, did not decrease the total vield for the catch on the Columbia River, but had the beneficial result desired, which was to allow more of the parent fish to reach the hatcherles and spawning grounds on the headwaters. Owing to the new laws, says H. C. Mo~ Allister, master fish warden of the state, the number of eggs obtained at the hatch- ery on the McKenszle river, nearly three hundred miles from the mouth of the Co- lumbla, amounted to 8,515,500, as against 2,969,900, taken in 1%8, “proving conclusively that with fishing stopped and all classes of gear out of the Columbla for .& long enough period each year a sufficlent quan- tity of fish will get by and the river be made to produce, by artificlal propagation, the same amount of salmon It did In its palmiest days.” It was fourd that the first hatcherles established In Oregon were giving poor re- sults on account of the pollution of streams by power plants, irrigation ditches and awmills. These appurtenances of civill- zation encroached on hatchery sites and | caused the death of a majority of the young fry liberated. The last legislature therefore appropriated $12,000 to establish a large central hatchery at some point on the Columbla river so far below all power plants, ditches and sawmlills that the fry would have a chance to live and eoter the great ocean for thelr mysterious quadrennial development. Tanner creek, near Bonneville, was selected as the site. A hatchery 55 by 230 feet, equipped with U8 16-foot hatching troughs with an esg capacity almost equal to the population of the United States, was bullt. At the for- mal opening last November there were 2,000,000 chinook salmon eggs and fry be- Ing cared for, all having been transferred from the hatcheries of the McKenzle, Clackamus, Salmon, Wallowa and Little | White Salmon rivers. Nursery ponds for holding and feeding 10,000.000 young fish {are connected with the central establish- | ment. Besides the numerous state hatch eries there Is a United States government | plant on Rogue river. In the present year { experimental work will be done on the | Alsea, Nehalem and Nestucca rive city by the west gate. It is bullt in a quadrangle a quarter of a mile wide, In- tersected by dirt covered streets, where were the wreckage of mud houses, of tombs and of brick foundationed ruined temples. Water was not to be found and during th excavation It had to be brought from a distance. The absolute height ot Chari- Choto was established at 2,70 feet and its geographical position at {1 degrees 45 min- utes, 40 seconds, northern latitude und 101 degrees, 5 minutes, 1483 weconds, castern longitude from Greenwich, The excavations gave rich finds in books, manuscripts, metal and paper money, women's dress, household utenails and trad- ing wares and objects of Luddhist art, & pood Chirty-elght ily filled w.th antiju.les, were collected. The news of the astual dlsovery of the fabulous rulned city and of the rich finds, along Wwith some specimens and manuseripts, Wis sent at on.e o St Paters. burg to enable the sxperts to determine the approximate date when Chari-Choto flour- ished, The torgouls of today say that their an- cestors when (hey first came to the coun- Wy found the ruins in the same state that they are mow. It was a town of Chinese type, U8 high mud walls facing the four polats of the compass, bullt on an lilend- The salmon Industry in Oregon s ex ber and wheat. The amount invested in cannerfes and other outfit s $5,000,000; la- hor gets $2,600,000, and the annual revenue | from the sale of salmon reaches $4,000,000.— New York Tribune Pointed Paragraphs. may look innocent cloud séldom looks | | | Even a mince pis | The other fellow's dark to us. | "Pawning & check sult is one way to | cash checks. | Would & towel trust be able (0 wipe | out all competition. Never judge a man's importance by the self-concell he has on tap. And some girls are known by the com- pany they refuse to keep. Any excuse would be all right if you could make psople belleve it When & man hasn't any reputation left he can afford to run for office. | If a_man won't listen to reason it's & sign that he doesn't agree with you A_thought one cannot express without profanity would be just as well suppressed. There 1s something wrong with the wo- man "who prides herself on ner lack of court. Steer the average up againgt & soda fountain and he'll com; l?n l*l belnx treated right. lcago News coeded only by the state's output of tim- | readers a lot more Red Tor oohiempt Gf |Mies 9scaped his lpa. Lsn't | panakerchief back saying thi THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: MARCH 6, 1910, Omaha Woman Saw Halley's Comet on Its Last Visit HEN Halley's comet appears in the heavens it will be almost in the light of a famillar visitor to Mre. Mary Svacina, who In her 101st year !s enjoying life at her home, 1417 South Four- teenth street Mrs. Svacina was past her twenty-fourth year and married back In the old Bohemian home near Zuhorany when the comet swept within the view of oarthly folk before. In those long, long ago davs, the humble Bo- hemian folk knew little of the knowledgoe that the savants had stored up In their universities. The pet was to them a message of various omens, probably the wrath of God. Zuhorany was terrorstricken and ihe peo- ple fled to the churches to pray to the saints that they be spured. There could bs no other meaning to them than that the world was to be destroved when the stars fell in showers and the mighty, mysterious body of light appeared in the Old World sky. Many of theiold folk of Omaha can re- call the tales to them Ly their grandfath- ers of the vear that the stars fell, but Mrs. Svacina, in her remarkably well pre- served age, stands alone as one that can recall the visit of the comet as a matter of personal observation. She saw the comet, not as a child, but a person of ma- turity. She, however, was not a sharer in tho terror that struck the hearts of the people. For has she not been a church- goer and communicant for well near a century. Back in {m those days as now she had trust and faith. When the comet had passed with Iits traln of stars, Bo- hemia and all the world beside had es- caped from harm. Then, indeed, they wero sure thelr prayers had been answered, and there were many who belleved who had never belleved before. Mrs. Svacina cares not about comets and the matters about which the world of to- day 1s concerned. She spends her days In her home turning over the pages of her Bible from Bohemla, which she has read 80 very many times over that she has no count of it. Martin Svacina, her husband, dled here thirty-five years ago. She has been alone since, refusing (o give up her home to go to live with her children, who are themselves gray-heads now. With her own hands she cares for her home and takes pride in her housekeeping. not? She has been at it longer than most women. In Mrs. Svacina one sees that much marked feminine desire to have one's own way. And she has her way, too. She ls the mistress of her home. She finds her way about the Bohemian settlement in which she lives with all the ease of any other resident. She calls at the home of friends and visits her children, rather pre- fering, however, to welcome them to her own home. There is a remarkable degree of liveliness about Mrs. Svacina, despite her extremo age. From her appearance one would not belleve her to be more than 75 years old, Her step is firm and her volce clear. She Why * MRS. MARY wears her spectacles to read, but at other times looks at one with a clear eye, Diet is not a matter of much concern to Mrs. Svacina. She makes rye bread and beer a part of most every meal and relishes it, too. Mrs. Svacina reared eleven children of whom five are vet living. Peter, the baby of the tamlily, i years old, runs a grocery store on South Thirteenth street and Ja- cob, 62 years old, a retired grocery man, lives & few squares away. Martin, the eldest son of the family, is 76 years old. He s living at Seattle, Wash. SVACINA, Life was not always so pleasant for Mrs, Svacina as it is now. In her childhood the government of Bohemia was oppressive to the Czechs, the strain which Mrs. Sva- cina represents. For three days out of each week, she, with all the rest of the folkk of her village, worked for the gov- ernment. It was a toll of labor, a tax- ation in wages. She escaped it all by com- ing to America. The Czechs started a movement for a revolution and independ- ence, but the power of the Germanic in- fluence was too much. They stayed at home and lo EAST SIDE DEVIL CHASERS Cabalistic Charms Sought for All Kinds of Ills, 0DD SURVIVAL OF SUPERSTITION Allments Ascribed to Evil Eye Cured by ‘“Holy Word' —Some Wonder Workers Work for Fees, Some for Living. NEW YORK, March 6.—~"Over an the East Side hundreds of old men have earned reputations by their skill as soothsayer: devil chasers and wonder workers and are employed to break the spells cast upon children and otherwise undo the mischiet the devil is held responsible for,” sald & man who lives on the Kast Side. “Almost every block in the ghetto has a man who is Rnown to the women in that block as possessing superni.tural powers. “When & child gets sick all of a sudden and the women cannot assign a proper rea- son for the sickness the man is called in or the child is brought to him. He mutters something in an unintelligible language for a few minutes, rubs the child's forehead with his hands, shakes his fist in the air as It menacing someone and then informs the good woman that her child must wet well, for he has frightened the devil away. “Some of these wonder workers take money for tnelr work and charge as much as a doctor would. Others do it for charity and for the honor that there is in the pro- tession. “There are thousands of women on the East Side who are regular visitors to these wonder workers, not only when they are sick, but also when they have any worry on their mind. Sometimes It Is advice, but most often a charm that they receive for the quarter or half dollar which they pay out. “The wonder workers have all the more influence since, unlike the devil chasers of other nationalities, they are almost ex- clusively men and are not mediums, mind- readers or fortune tellers. Whether they | are always sincere about it or not, they | convey the impression that they are fight- |ing the devil not with black art of any kind, but with the ‘holy word.'" Sent to a Batcher, A search for some of these wonder work- ers was not without interesting incidents, Upon the advice of one who is thoroughly familiar with the Kast Side ways, the re- porter approached an old woman who was selling candles on Hester strect and asked her if she could not recommend him a man | who could cure a child suffering from an evil eye. “Go to the middle of the block,” the woman sald, pointing toward Ludiow street. “There Is an old butcher there. He is an expert at fighting the evil one. Tonight yet your child will begin to get better, I assure you." In the butcher shop was & young man of When asked where the old butcher was he surmised what the old man was |{wanted for and hastened to inform the visitor that he too could fight the evil {one. The visitor Insisted on seeing the old | | the shop. There in & room, which was partly a living room and partly a storage room, the man was found. lie was about 70 and sat near & window reading. When Informed what was wanted of him he ex- plained that he could not o to see the child just then, but that if the visitor had some object which the ehild wore hg could fight the evil one at a distance A handkerchiet was handed to him, the name of the child and of the mother told, and the old man proceeded to the struggle with the invisible enemy. There was not much to be seen except the feverish clutch- ing of the handkerchief. An occasional Ons or twice he stamped his feet as If he were haying It out with some one. Finally he handed the man and he was told to go to the rear of | would now get well in a short time, as he had done his work thoroughly and the influence of the evil eye had been shattered, Asked whether he charged for his serv- ices, the man said no, but pointed to & tin box fastened to the wall and suggested that the visitor give something for charity. This One Meant B Another of the wonder workers visited was professional in every respect. His wife, a plump woman, Interrogated the visitor in a manner which showed that she had been accustomed to handle people. Bhe wanted to know whether it was a love affair that the visitor came to seek help in, or whether it was sickness. Sickness, she said, w the thing the man was especlally skilful in. But, of course, he could help in all sorts of difficulties, business as well as love troubles, and where husband and wite were separated, no matter how far apart, he could always use a charm or a prayer which would turn the husband's mind back to his home, to his wife and children once more. There were nearly a dozen women wait- ing In the room. They all drank in every' word which the fat woman was saying. Hope seemed to rise In the eyes of even the most dejected of the women as they listened. About half of the women came there because of illness. One woman, holding an emaciated baby In her arms, explained that doctors could not help him and she was advised to try this man. Just then a man entered. He recelved preference over all others and was admitted into the private offige of the wonder worker. The women evidently knew the man and his mission, for they 800n began to guess that he would soon be reunited with his wife. A girl of 18 sat there with a swollen arm. She explained that “the man” could cure her arm much quicker than a doctor, for it was clearly a case of an evil eye; other- wise why should a healthy arm become swollen all of a sudden? After a long walt the visitor finally gained admittance to the devil chaser, He was a man of 8, with a silk skull cap on his head and a flowing heard. He explained that he was really modest about Eis work but that people insisted that he could do wonders it he wanted to. Well, he was not sure he would care to actu- ally perform miracles, but he certainly could cure people of all sorts of ailments, short of surgical operations. He used cabalistic prescriptions which he made them wear in the form of charms. His charges? They were not exorbitant. In fact he did not take money from the poor at all. Btill he made a very nice living from his practice and had four daughters married and gave every one of them a good big dowry. How long had he been in this business? About fifteen years. At first he was a seribe. Yes, he used to write parchment coples of the Bible for use In synagogues. Then people learned of his gifts and began to come to him to ask all kinds of cures. Ho effected cures at first merely as a favor (o his friends. Soon he began to tind that he had'no time to work at his trade. His house was always crowded, 50 he gave up working and became & healer of the sick and a peacemaker. People came to him not only from New York, but from other clties. His methods? Ol, they came baltistic books., These books a cure for all sorts of allments and were infallible. With this he pointed out some of the books and the symbols in them. An East side physiclan was asked wheth- er It was true that doctors sent patlents to this man. \ replied “I should pot be surprised trom ea contaiped New York people from some of the re-| motest corners of Europe. They have with them many of the mediseval super- stitions. You give them a prescription, but they know beforehand that it won't help them becauss at home when they had such a sickness they were cured by words of the wonder worker ““You see thess people In reality are pining for some superstitious man (o come and chase the devil out of them. Well, the cllld | chaser It you knew where he w would not you send them to sueh a devil We have in| BIG HARVEST FOR TRAPPERS Louisiana Profiting from a Whim of i Fashion. LARGE INCOMES FOR POOR MEN Millions of Muskrats Killed to Sup- ply the Demand for Furs——Mink al Otter Skins Also Obtain NEW ORLEANS, Feb. 2.—The Lousiana trapping season will be over on March 1 and contrary to expectaations the fur crop of the state will be a good one and will leava probably & million and a half in the hands of the trappers. Half a dosen times in the last dozen vears it has looked as though they would have to work for a living instead of fol- lowing the free and easy existence they lead in their huts and pirogues along the | Breat sea marsh of Loulsiana or the rivers, |bayous and lakes which empty into the gulf. They are unfortunately extermina- | ters. Starting with the alligators, they killed the entire saurian tribe in Loulslana, con- verting them into hand bags and satchels, until there were no alligators to kill, Then when fashion changed, they set In to kill the terns, egrets and other seabirds for thelr feathers, In two years they exter- minated several specles of these birds and would have annihilated ail of them had not the Audubon soclety intervened and se- cured the protection of the birds by state and federal statutes. When it looked like hard work with the hoe and the spade for the trappers, furs came Into fashfon, and the arctic reglon not being able to supply the demand, sub- stitutes were sought for everywhere. To the surprise of everybody It was dlscov- ered that Loulsiana was a great fur pro- ducer. It contributed last year and will probably contribute this year more furs than any other state except the wilder states of the far west, for it turned in for 1900 In a season of throe months some- thing like 10,000,000 pelts. Profits for the Trappe: The business has assumed immense pro- | portions. A number of dealers sprang up | in New Orleans, and the trappers found the | competition great and prices so high that from their polnt of view they rolled in wealth. Think of a trapper, living in a hut a negro would disown, who probably never made $200 a year before in his life, recelvipg $5,00 or $,000 for muskrats and minks, The profit came mainly becauss of the great advance in prices. In the alluvial parishes of Loulslana muskrats and minks have been accounted among the greatest pests of the state, costing it millions of dollars annually. Burrowing as they do in the ground and bullding living places in the levee with tunnels to the river and the dry land they are the frequent causes of crevices In the levee and overflows. These burrowing: rodents with the king- | fisher and the crawtish are regarded with | reason as the most dangerous enemlies of the levee system. In some places, as at | Bougere In Concordia parish their numbers are so great and the banks so riddled by | their holes that levee construction there | has been Impossible. At times bounties | have been offered for their heads, and at a recent session of the Loulsiana legislature alligators were placed under the protection | of the game law on the ground that they | detended the levees, owning to the large number of muskrats they ate—a statemant estap- s0 | which has never been sufficiently | 1tshed. | Advance in Price of Pelts. | The alligator protection is no longer | necessary, as the fur of the muskrat has | become #0 valuable as to make the irap ping of the animal profitable. Two years ago the skin was worth only § cents; last year It ran up to 2 cents and occasionally 2 cents. This year It is 3 cents and rising. Mink skins have advanced to §2 and §2.00 each, otter skins from 3§15 to $20 and even coons are worth 80 cents. The possum is almost valueless except | Weekl s food, the skins bringing only 10 cents, As for the muskrats, although reported to be eaten by other siates, even the negroes reject them in Louisiana because of their musky odor, although the flesh is #ald to be sweet and tender and easily substituted for rabbit With the advance in price there was rush for the muskrats. One million are #ald to have been killed in Plaquemino parish just below New Orleans, and some #ix million or more in the state. A clever boy could easily make his 8 a day at trap- Ping and at a season when there is no other work to do, no other crops to raise. Along the Mississippl river, along the gult coast, particularly in Vermillion and Cameron parishes, the trappers were active last year. Perhaps they wore a little too active, for they killed off more than the yoar's crop of rats, and it was reported that the supply would be less this on than last. The blg gulf hurricans of Sep- tember 2, 1900, helped to cut down the army of muskrats. The storm drove them up from the gulf coast to dryer land, the 110048 In the streams drowned out immense colonies of them and there was a sirong conviction that this year's yleld would be reduced. Perhaps Its has been reduced, but not much. The animals multiply rapidly, the price of pelts has Increased and the trap- pers with better knowledge of the muskrat and his pecullarities is able to trap them more easily than formerly. They have Im- proved thelr methods. Instead of pirogues many of them have gasolene launches, which carry them from one set of traps to another, enabling them to harvest the crop more rapldly. Hard Season, Big Output. It has been rather a hard life this winter because there have been many severe storms. And the , trappers, on the gulf coast at least, lead & very hard and ex- posed life, thelr huts being bullt on the marsh of palmetto bushes. Beveral cases of freesing to deeth in the swamp have been reported and other lives have been lost in the storms. The pelts are brought to Ne wOrleans weekly and judging from those that have arrived so far, the'indications are that the fur crop of Loulsiana will, in spite of the activity of the trappers last season and the big September storm, prove larger than that of 1900 and veral times larger than that of any previous year. None the less it s evident that the fur crop of Loulslana is certain to decline unless some way can be found of pro- tecting the fur bearing animals, particu- larly the muskrats, The area of swamp and marsh in which thess animals thrive is rapidly decreasing as the drainage work 18 extended, so that by the natural course of improvements the number of fur bearing animals will decrease. When in addition to this they are hunted o strenuously by the trappers, their varly extermination is inevitable. In Plaquemine parish it s proposed that the State Game commission shall place some protection around them, that is, establish a closed season for them, but such a regulation is inconceivable. The rate are & public pest, dangerous to the levee, and it 1s not to be thought of that the safety of the alluvial lands from overflow will be endangered in order to put money into the pockets of the trap- pers. In 8t. John parish it is proposed to cultivate the mink, to have mink farms and raise the animal for its fur. The experiment will be made, but of course on & small scale, and it is impossible with the muskrats, which contribute the bulk of the Louisiana pelts. Audubon Soclety Alds. Moreover, the Audubon soclety, while pro- teoting the birds, has declared war on the muskrats and coons, which destroy mils llons of birds' eggs annually, and the so- clety has Invited the co-operation of tho trappers to get rid of these pests. The so- clety owns nineteen islands off the Louls- fana coast, donated by the state and fed- eral governments, on which it has sel apart bird reservations and on which it is trylng to raise sea birds. In this it would be eminently successful but for the thou- sands of coons and muskrats which swim from the mainland to the islands during the laying and hatching seasons and de- stroy thousands of eggs and young birds. The Louisiana furs are so widely dis- tributed that they do not yet figure con- spicuously in tho market supplies. Com- paratively few go to New York or Bosto some are shipped to Canada and Chicago, and help to swel! the supply of Canadlan fur for which Americans compete. Others go abroad to London, Paris and Berlin. 1t they are ever worn in Louisiana it s as {mported furs and certainly under another name than muskrat. It sesms 04d, though, that a state re- garded as sub-tropical should be helping to supply the market with what is re- garded as & product of tho Arctic regions. !MAKING THE CITY BEAUTIFUL States Urged to Set Examples for the Individuals to Follow. In America we have been so careful of the indlvidual that the community has been allowed to suffer, and the conserva- tive and jealous care of private inter has been carrled to such a point that the most necessary improvements are delayed or entirely defeated. However, we do not despair of our fu- ture. idly, and while it was once thought to be the prerogative of the rich, it ls now un- derstood to be the right of every citizen. The elevation of thought and mind that comes with association and a belief in beauty i8 apt to be disregarded in this materfalistic age. Art for the people must be better than art by the people. I be- w take the lead and provide examples for the individual to follow. The time has come when the street sys- tem of our overcrowded citles cries aloud for readjustment. The demand for new parks and small open squares to provide breathing spaces for the poor and play- grounds for the chfldren has met with a general acceptance. Well-planned schools arranged so that sunlight will cheer and purify every room being crected, and nothing satisfies us that falls short of the new standard. Beautiful interiors harmontously colore with mural paintings in the assembly rooms, teaching the lessons of history and art, are willingly provided for our publie | of light | gchools. But the pressing nec | and air in our streets has not yet been| recognized. The streets that the pupils| very streets upon which | are neglected. | crowded, dark, traverse, or the the schoolhouses are bullt, They may be disorderly, and dismal; we are not interested. This {noonsistency seems inexcusable [ these can only be solved | Problers like by @ consistently prepared plan for the entire city, by & scheme for the general| arrangement of streets and thoroughfares devised by men who do not belleve that a | bridge may be independent of its ap- proaches, that & park needs no boule:- | vards to reach It, or that streets can ac- commodate an unlimited amount of tral e “luch a plan, Intelligently coneelved, would determine the position of great publie bulldings in relation to the rest of the city, fix the widths of the main ther- oughfares, and make them double or tri- ple, I necessary, possibly with streets above and below the surface—Harper's lieve that it is Incumbent upon the state | and corrtdor are now | DETECTIVE OF OLD JAPA Folk Lore Story that Goes Back to Feudal Days. PRACTICAL USE FOR THE IDEA Mayor of Yedo, Who Sentenced a God to Emprisonment Got Evidence that Led to the Arrest of Highway Robbers. Somebody sald recently that the detective story fs as old s the pyvramids and that some of the “Arablan Nights” forecasted “The Murders in the Rue Morgue and “A Study in Scarlet” by a thousand years and more; but no better proof of the catholic- ity of the detective story can be found than that offered by feudal Japan, which pro- duoed the tale of the arrest of the stone god Jizo. In this folk story of anclent Yedo the hero detective moves with all the seeming indirection of Lecoq and Sherlook Holmes his marvéls to perform. O-oke. was he, muyor of Yedo under the elghth shogun and holder of the high jusilce and tho low over all the merchants of Tokugawa's cap- Ital. This O-oka received a salary of 10,09 | koku of rico and Mme. Y. Ozakl, who s the wife of the present mayor of Toklo (0ld Yedo renamed) and who Is (he ehre fcler of the craft of O-oka In the Japan Megazine, says that the old o™ surnad his salary ten times over the story “Ops day a servant employed hy the' Froprietor of a big store near Japan bridge In Yedo was sent with a heavy pack of valuable cotton goods on his back to a dyer In Honjo district. When the store's messenger reached Yokogawa street ho | was ready to seek rest. What more safo Invitation eould have offered than the littls grove of trees wet about tho stons status |of the god Jizo, the patron saint of trav |elers and defenseless women and children? | The somnolent porter awoke from a nap to find that his employer's cotton had dis- appeared. In great disiress he went to | the storekeeper and confessed that he had slept and that a robber had made off with | the goods during his slumber. The mastcr would not belleve his story, saying that it would have been impossible for a robbe to make off with so large a bundle I brcad daylight; unless the porter should | pay for the lost goods he would have to &0 to prison, said the master. In despair the ‘porter took counsel of Mayor O-oka. “'You are certainly to blame for having fallen asleep,’” reproved the mayor, ' Jizo is equally to blame, for he is & god bound to protect every one who trusts In him and in this Instance he has be- trayed you. Even though Jizo is & Buddha 1 cannot pardon him for his neglect of duty. I will have him arrested and brought before me for trial.”" O-oka gave immediate orders to hiy court officers to go and arrest the Jiso of% Yokogawa street and bring him before the mayor's seat for trial. Thres of the officers departed on thelf mission. They first bound the arms of the stone god with coils of rope; then they tried to lift him from his firm pedestral into a cart. A great crowd assembled before the Jizo, attracted by the unusual behavior of the court officers. When they were told that Jizo had to go before the mayor for trial, the citizens of Yokagawa street and the neighborhood of Honjo marvelled. The task of unseating the god w too much for the three court officers and they sought aid of those standing about. They promised that in return for assist- ance they would admit all volunteer workers into the court room to witness the extraordinary trial. Hundreds were spurred by curfosity to lend a hand and when the stone god wen! through the streets, strapped to a cart llke any offender the crowd grew. It fulled the great hall of justice when Jizo was lifted in and proped up before the | platform upon which sat the mayor. O-okg addressed the-god in stern words. “You are a negligent fool, O, Jizo!" he exclaimed in a voles loud enough for all to hear. “You are supposed to protect every one who belleves In you and who renders tribute, yet this trusting porter here made @ prayer to you, then fell asleep at your very feet and he was robbed while he slept. You stand accused of belng an ao- complice in this robbery. Have you any- thing to say for yourself before I pass sen- tence?” Mayor O-oka walted for a few moments as if expeoting the stone lips of Jizo to open in reply, but when no answer was made by the god he passed sentence im- medlately. “Bince you do not defend yourself I con- ' sald his honor. sider that you are gullty, “Therefore I will imprison you. At this remarkable spectacle of a mayor passing sentence upon a stone god there was a titter of laughter. O-oka thundered in & voice of bass; “Who are all these people standing about here?' he inquived of his court officers. “Ave they accomplices of Jizo or only plain thieves? They think this court I8 u penny show and they laugh at the court's orders. Shut all the gates at once.” The scared attendants hastened to shut the gates of the court room. Then Mayor The love of beauty 18 growing rap- |O-oka adjudged every man in the great crowd in contempt of court and fined each of them one tan (a kimono length) of cotton cloth, The hundreds thus sud- | denly found in contempt were happy (hat | their punishment had been so light at least, |ana under bonds they hurried to thelr | homes tq bring back the cloth fine. Be- |fore the day was done 700 pleces of cotton | cloth had been presented before the may- |or's court, the name of each culprit belng \lel down upon the one tan of cotton cloth which he presented Bofore he would allow the 700 to §o, how- ever, U-oka retired with the porter who had been robbed to &n inner chamber and he asked the porter to look over the 700 Dpleces of cotton cloth and see If he could \dentify any of them a8 having been ongg in |the pack he had carried. Since every | manufacturer of cotton cloth In Yedo al | ways marked the selvage of each strip with |a little red trademark stamp the porte., searched the edges of the many strips of cloth for a stamp similar to that borne by the cloth which he had been robbeu He found that two of the pleces of cloth brought to pay the mayor's fine bore the stamp of his plundered pack. Instantly Mayor O-oka gave orders for the arrest of the two men who had brought this cloth; they contessed to the robbery and all of the cloth they had taken from the slecping porter's pack was restored to him. All the other pleces of cloth taken in toll by the mayor were restored to thelr owners and all but the two gullty unes of the crowd which had attended the trisl of Jizo were released. Then Jizo, (he stone g0d, was put on & cart, wreathed with the evergreen pine and the bamboo, symbols , of long life and prosperity, and he was carrled back to his pedestal In Yokogaws street at the head of & triumphal proces- slon, Jizo had vindjeated himselt and Mayor O-oka, the wise, sal even the more tirmly in his seat of power. —— ' Her Scheme. Mrs. Ne'l'l.d—-’l‘h‘.n cl o an_ be no dom: happiness uniess ¢! e atie are mutual con- esslons. Mrs. Henpecque—Nonsense. My husband Kot along all right, g .loulnd 1 make him ke