The Sunday Oregonian., July 21, 1907, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 48

8
the Sunday oregoniax, Portland, jtjly i, 1907.
TIMSE IFlEiny
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.
(HAVE Just returned from Mechia,
the great ou! which lies on the
edge of the Libyan desert, east of
Tripoli. It faces the Mediterranean
and Is an Island of green on the edge
of this mighty ocean of sand. It con
tains more than a million date palms,
fully an many olive trees, and vast
groves of oranges and lemons. The
oasis is cut up by roads, much like the
streets of a city. Each little farm lias
walls six or eight feet high and every
where are to be seen the tall frame
works of the wells by which the land
Is Irrigated. The motive power for
raising the water is cows, -camels,
donkeys and women. In many places
tunnels or long Inclined ditches, be
ginning at the wells and sloping down
ward for several hundred feet, have
been dug, and In these as tracks, the
-cow, donkey, camel or woman, trots up
i&nd down, dragging the ropa, run
nlng over a wheel on the top of the
'framework, which raises the water. At
'the end of the rope Is a huge bag of
Sskln open at both ends. This . is
'dropped Into the well, and, when It
'fills, the lower end is pulled up, thus
forming a closed bottom, and the whole
;J dragged high up Into the air. The
bottom Is now released, and the water
3ours out Into a trough, which carries
it off Into a reservoir. - One of these
buckets will hold about thirty gal
lons; and, as the work goes on all
Viay, the supply raised Is enormous.
An Oasis Farm.
J During my stay I visited some of the
gardens. They are of all sizes, and
are beautifully kept. One I remem
ber was ,cut up by cement .conduits,
'funning along on the top of the
ground, so arranged that every little
tract could be Irrigated at will. Under
the rich orange groves bed of beau
tiful flowers were to be seen here and
there; and In most places three crops
were growing on the same soil. Over
the whole rose date palms, with theli
rugged trunks, their wide-branched
fan-like leaves quivering In the breeze
end their yellow fruit shining like gold
under the sun. The trees below were
loaded with oranges, pale yellow lem
ons, flaming pome-granates and even
with peaches and pears. On the
ground Itself vegetables were grow
ing, and I saw even alfalfa and grain
of different kinds. This garden was In
the charge of a Bedouin and several
of his wives. The women were boil
ing dates In a pot, about the size of an
apple butter kettle, over a fire, out In
the open. I don't know whether they
were making date butter or date honey,
or whether they were merely cooking
dates, for sale In the markets. The
women were loaded with Jewelry. I
bribed one with a franc, and she let
me take her photograph. The others
were more bashful, and they wrapped
themselves up In their shawl when
ever the camera was pointed their way.
The Oases of Barbary.
The oases of Trlpolitana. or Barbary,
as It Is often called, contain practically
Its whole population. They are scat
tered over a territory one-ninth as
large as the United States, and they
have altogether about one million peo
ple. A large number of them, such as
Mechia, are found along the shores of.
the Mediterranean; others are further
south In the desert, In a great depres
sion known as the Fezzah, and In ad
dition there are others In the beds of
the dry rivers, where' the water sup
ply comes from springs or artesian
wells. There are caravan routes lead
ing from Tripoli to all of these oases.
and also route's crossing the deeert to
the Soudan from oasis to oasis.
Tripoli is, In fact, the commercial me
tropolis of the eastern Sahara. It lies
almost directly north of Lake Chad.
nd its Toutes across "the desert are
the "Shortest; although by no means the
safest. The roads over tjie Sahara
lead not only to Lake Chad, but also to
Tuat and Timbuktu, so that Tripoli
gets much of the trade of the French
Sahara as well.
The French decidedly object to this,
and they are now making special In
ducements for the caravans to land
their wares at Gabes In southern Tun
isia. They have policed the Sahara
with their, camel soldiers and are now
sending escorts with such of the car
avans as pas that way. So far they
have not created the requisite market
at Gabes. and within the past few
months the reputation of that port has
been greatly Injured, because it has
no merchants at hand ready to buy
out a iarge caravan when it arrives.
The caravans often carry goods to the
value of tens of thousands of dollars,
and a big capital Is required to handle
their trade. The last caravan which
called at Gabes had to put its wares
upon the steamers there and ship them
to Tripoli.
In Trlpolitana. all such companies
luuit have their armed escorts, and
every individual I see in this part of
the desert has a gun strapped to his
back. I passed several caravans com
ing in and going out, during a ride
which I took on a camel along one of
the caravan -routes a few days ago.
The only roads I could see were the
fresh camel tracks, but these must be
obliterated by every sand storm, and.
In eome places, for quite a long dis
tance, there were no tracks at all.
Nevertheless the Arabs and Bedouins
can travel two thousand miles over
such wastes, and not once lose their
way. The journey to the Soudan takes
many months, and the freight must be
valuable to stand the cost.
In the Fezzan.
I have heard much about the great
oasis centers from the merchants of
Tripoli. They tell terrible stories of the
horrors of the desert, and of the gloomy
villages scattered through It. Between
here and the Fezzan there is a wide plain
of hot stonea upon which travelers al
most roast as they hurry across. This
plain, known as the Hammada, Is about
as big as Kentucky, and Its altitude Is
near that of the Blue Ridge Mountains
in Virginia.
The Fezzan, which lies on the other
side of the Hammada, also covers a large
territory. It is a shallow depression In
the desert, spotted here and there by
oases. It lies just about 800 miles north
of Lake Chad, and the chief caravan
routes to Kuka and Bornu pass through
It.
The trans-Sahara trade of the past has
largely consisted of slaves, and the
laves are carried from the Soudan by
that route through the Fezzan to Tripoli
today. From here they are smuggled
to Tunisia. Algeria and Turkey, finding a
ready market in the harems of those
cities. They are often taken on the
steamers, as the nominal wives ofhelr
masters. No Mohammedan will tolerate
any inquiry into his family arrangements,
and such a statement prevents Investiga
tion. Not long ago the number of slaves
carried across the desert through the
Fezzan amounted to as many as 10,000
per annum, and it is said that the route
from there to Lake Chad can even now
be 'followed by the bleaching bones of
the human beings who have died on the
way. The capital of the Fezzan la Mur
xuk. a, gloomy city containing about 7000
people. It depends almost entirely on the
caravan trade.
Anothjer Important caravan center la
Life
the oasis of Ghat, which lies in the bed
of a dry river, and a third Is Ghadames,
In another dry river some distance away.
Ghat Is famous for Its great fair, which
Is held once a year, bringing together
traders from all parts of the Sahara. In
ordinary times the town has only about
4000 population, and the fair has" to be
held on a great plain outside. The city
is surrounded by walls and entered only
by gates. Its streets are dark passages,
with bouses built over them, so that go
ing through It is like traveling through
the tunnels of a mine. .
Gha-dam-es I hesitate to write the
word. It .sounds so much like swearing
Is another oaals center of about the same
chaYacter as Ghat. It has been a trading
place since the days of the Romans, aud
the caravans of the Fezzan. Tuat, Tim
buktu and Lake Chad all pass through
It. Ghadames is twice as big as Ghat.
It Is surrounded by a wall thfee miles in
length, but the people live In only one
corner of the lnclosure. The houses are
box-shaped and are so laid out that the
women can walk from one to another on
the roofs, which are reserved for their
use.
Captured by tlie Americans.
Some of the most Interesting parts or
this region are along the Mediterranean
Sea. Here in Tripoli we have 60,000 peo
ple. Farther eastward. In Barka. is the
town of Benghazi, which was a thriving
city in the days of the Phoenicians and
Romans, and. still further east is Derna,
the only place on the African continent
ever occupied by Americans. It was cap
tured by our fleet in 1818. and the ruins
of a battery which was then erected on
the heights are still to be seen. I am told
there are other tracts along the Mediter
ranean coast whlfh might be cultivated,
if properly handled, and that the ruina
of many Roman settlements still exist
there. It Is through that region that th
Khedive expects to build his railroad
from Alexandria to Tripoli.
Products of the Sahara.
The products of the desert are much
larger than are generally supposed. The
caravans which are now coming here
bring quantities of ostrich feathers and
also cotton, dates, tobacco and grain, as
well as the ivory and gold dust of the
Soudan. The output of the oases them
selves is greater than that of any similar
area on earth. As I have already said,
Croker's Castle
RICHARD CROKBR displayed a dis
tinct appreciation of the beautiful
when he pitched his Tudor castle on
the slope of the hills that encircle Dublin
Bay.
. Mr. Croker is a man who wants to
get things done promptly, and always
goes right ahead. I wanted to linger
over some of the beautiful things he had
brought to his beautiful house, but as
we passed through the rooms he was
always most unconscionably marching
on. Indeed, proud as he Is of his fine
mansion, and of all the valuable things
that are In Its many rooms. Mr. Croker
is far prouder of his stud. That was
what he wanted me to see all the, time.
But before we came to the stables I
was able to get a good general Impres
sion of Glencalrn itself, says the New
York World. The entrance gate, in
solid cut granite, seems rather strange
to an Irish eye, and looks like the gablo
of a house In an old Belgian town like
Bruges. The lawns and flower beds are
laid out with great taste, and today are
a perfect riot of green and colors.
There are few buildings in Ireland like
Glencairne. Most of the great residential
houses in this country were erected in
the eighteenth century, when domestic
architecture was conceived in somewhat
commonplace vein. Glencairne . Is not
unique, but Is certainly exceptional in
Ireland. It Is a noble pile, crowned with
an Irish tower In the center and a beau
tifully ohaste Italian portico running
from the hall door on the west, round
the building to the south, and so to the
gardens. The house Is built of cut gran
ite, and part of the wall of the original
building, once the residence of a well
known Irish Judge, Is incorporated in It.
The Japanese room Is Indeed a gem.
There are no corners In it as In an ordV
nary room. The "corners" are .all cir
cular, and they are covered with charm
ing and quaint Japanese tapestry. The
celling Is Japanese, with a perfect avi
ary of Japanese birds painted with ex
cellent taste, full of life and movement.
At the other side of the hall Is Mr.
Croker's own study. Here on the wall
Is an address from the Democratic Club
of New Pork, of which the ex-leader Is
obviously proud. Here, too, are some
books, nfany of them relating to Ameri
Farming-Business
in the Oases of Tripolitana, as
Seen by Frank G.
vyjz Sahara afs OUZ SZ4ZS: "
these desert islands comprise altogether . kind of grain. Outside of them there are
a tract about twice as big as the State of I vast tracts which are used for the graz
Vlrginia. and they produce almost every ing of millions of camels, sheep and
on the Shore of
can affairs, one by his friend, W. J.
Bryan..
And here, aboe all, are two large pho
tographs of Mr. Croker's two dead sons.
He shows the pictures to you without
any apparent emotion, because he Is a
man who has mastered emotion. Pres
ently, as you go through the house, you
wlll( see, off the large and handsome cor
ridor upstairs, a very beautiful little ora
tory, the stained glass windows of which
he has erected to the memory of these
two boys.
Tho grand hall, however, to whloh wa
retired from the study is the principal
feature of the house. It Is a large
apartment in dark mahogany, with an
elaborately carved and massive old Irish
mantelpiece. Around are tables and writ
ing materials, chairs, etc., as in a sit
ting room, and on the walls are por
traits in oils of Mr. Croker's favorite
horses and photographs of some of their
famous relatives. All the chief rooms
of the house radiate off this central hall,
Including the two I have already named,
and the dining room and drawing room.
In fact, standing in the grand hall you
feel that you are In touch with the
whole house, for the main staircase rises
out of the hall also and so brings you at
once to the upper part of the mansion.
But before going upstairs note the
stained glass celling illustrating the king
of birds and the little waen soaring to
ward the sun on the back of an eagle.
Mr. Croker is especially fond of. this de
sign, for the eagle Is the one dear to
Americans. This stained glass celling can
be seen by night as well as by day, as the
electric lights shine through when dark
ness falls. And, by the "way, I noted as
I entered the grounds that Glencairne
makes its own illumlnant, as the steady
thump-thump of the engine-house Indi
cated. -'
The staircase is a noble one, six feet
wide, also in carved dark mahogany. At
the top there is a stained glass window,
with the arms of the various branches
of the Croker family given in Burke.
On the left o the staircase, as you go
up, there is a fine piece of tapestry,
showing Glencairne Itself, with gaily
dressed women on the lawn.
Setting aside the oratory and the fine
corridor, there is nothing upstairs that
Mr. Croker seems to be anxious to show
; you, except an old fashioned bed in one
MBS ;
and Social
Carpenter
Doublin Bay
of the rooms, which once," it appears, be
longed to Daniel 0"Connell.
After this substantial piece of domestic
comfort, the thing that seemed to excite
Mr. Croker's Interest most was an old
and quaint engraving of a meeting of
the'puglllsts. Heenan and Sayere, hanging
among other thugs of the kind. In a pas
sage leading to the billiard-room.
I mentioned the billiard-room. Like the
large strong room, with . the Croker
archives. It Is oft Mr. Croker's study, and
Is a noble apartment, containing two
tables especially made for Mr. Croker 1n
the United States. This room can be
entered not only from Mr. Croker's own
room, but also from the hall and again
from the grounds; and, Anally, there Is
communication with the kitchen, to facili
tate the attendance of servants. The
walls are oak paneled, and decorated with
oil paintings In chocolate tints, of many
of the chief streets and buildings of New
York, Including Wall street, Tammany
Hall, the Postofflce. the City Hall, Cen
tral Park, Fifty-ninth street. Fifth ave
nuo and the Democratic Club.
The bedrooms are in the Adam style.
The bathrooms, etc., are sumptuously fit
ted and have beautiful, tiled walls and
floors, and all -the bedrooms have their
own supply of hot and cold water.
The drawing-room and dining-room
were the two last apartments to whloh
Mr. Croker conducted me. The most
striking adornment of the drawing
room is a gigantic tiger rug with the
head raised, the jaws open and the ter
rifying; teeth fully displayed. The pan
eling; is in bird's-eye maple, and here
again the elaborate decorating of the
ceiling is In the refined and delicate
Adam style.
The dining-room is the most spacious
room at Glencairne. The walls, like
those of the ball, are mahogany pan
eled, the paneling being filled in with
tapestry. The celling is also in mahog
any, elaborately carved and molded.
There is a beautiful sideboard in the
same material, designed by the archi
tect to harmonize with Us surround
ings. The thing In this room, however,
which Mr. Croker shows you with most
Interest is a quaint and Oriental look
ing bow, which he tells you with much
satisfaction once belonged, like the old
bed upstairs, to Daniel O'Connell.
And so to the stables, which, as I
1 have already, hinted, are the great
1 "v.
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goats, as well as horses and cattle. And
of late years a new crop has been found
which Is bringing fortunes Into the
Sahara.
This last Is aifa grass. It grows wild
along the edges of the desert and upon
the plateaus where there is only a slight
rainfall. A few years ago this crop went
to waste, but now the Arabs are gather
ing it and it is brought in from every
where by car and caravan. I' saw it
stacked up along the railroad In the
deserts of Algeria and Tunisia; the trains
were loaded with It, and there were
mountains of it on the wharves of every
port I visited.
Here In Tripoli the alfa grass Is
brought In upon camels. It is picked by
the Bedouins. Arabs and Berbers, every
blade of it being pulled from the ground.
It is packed In bags about four'feet wide
and eight feet In length. Two of these
bags are slung over the hump of a camel,
and are thus carried for miles over the
desert. When the grass arrives at Tripoli
It Is weighed upon steelyards and paid
for at about J10 a ton. It 13 then baled
up like hay and shipped on the steamers
to England, where It is used for making
the best of book and writing papers.
Some of the great newspaper companies
of England have put up factories in Alge
ria for the handling of alfa grass: and.it
Is said that Its value was originally dis
covered by the Lloyds of Lloyd's Register.
It makes a much better paper than wood
pulp; but It Is more costly, and there Is
no possibility that It will displace the
latter.
A large part of the caravan business at
the ports Is handled by Greeks and Ital
ians. The alfa grass Is bought by Ital
ians, who act for the English, shipping
this stuff to Liverpool and London, and
bringing back hardware and Manchester'
cottons. The date exports also are In the
hands of Italians; although the bringing
of the dates here Is largely through na
tive tribes, who make a specialty of mer
chandising. '
Have you ever heard of the Mozabites?
They are sometimes called the Jews of
the Sahara. The Arabs say that while It
takes five of their people to beat a Jew
at a bargain, it requires at least five
Jews to get the better of one Mozablte.
Indeed, many believe that the Mozabites
are of Jewish origin. They are the de
scendants of the old Carthaginians, who
were driven down Into the desert and
settled there. Carthage was founded by
Jews, and It was ruled by Queen Dido
the Jewess. At any rate, the Mozabites
are superior to the Jews In their trading
ability, and; they have monopolized
certain kinds of trade In the desert.
source of Interest at Glencairne to Mr.
Croker himself. He tells you as you
look around the stables that he has 20
racers, but his chief Interest at pres
ent is In Orby.
"After S1, Mr. Croker." I ventured to
say, "after a strenuous political and
public life, this is a pleasanter place
than New York in which to spend the
evening of one's days."
He replied very quietly and without
the least trace of a smile: "It is
Quieter."
All this time, whether inside the
house or outside It. Mr. Croker puffed
away at his big pipe, as contented as
one could desire to see.
Bor dads 915,000 and Gets 200.
Copenhagen, Denmark, Cables Dispatch
in New York Sun.
A messenger boy found a bag con
taining jewelry and American notes to
the value of $15,000 In the ' principal
square. Cards in the bag bore the
name of George Hamfeldt and gave
his residence as the United States,
found Hamfeldt, and received a reward
of 200.
The Summer Argument.
Detroit Fr Press.
A problem of wedlock.
That never Is settled. ,
That makes fatbar mad.
And that gets mother nettled;
It comes up each year
At the Summer resort;
Who'll clean the fish
That father has caught?
Mother says that ?he won't.
Father fays that she should;
It Is clearly her task.
And Is so understood.
"If I catch tho fish.
And I head 'am and tall 'em.
It's really your duty
To dig In and scale 'em."
To this mother says.
In a positive way:
When I clean your fish, ,
It will be a cold day.
You havs all the fun.
When you angle and book 'em.
I'm doing- enough,
If I'm willing to cook 'em."
'You're wrong." declares father,
"Yon swore to obey:
It was one of your vows
On our glad wsddlng day.
True." resiles mother.
"I'll bow to your wish.'
When the minister says
That I swore to clean fish."
Oh. endless the worry.
And ceaseless the row;
The Summer 1s here. '
They are arguing now.
They want to decide.
And the prdblem Is great;
BhouM Ma clsn the fish,
IX Pa digs the baltr
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They have seven cities, tar down below
Algiers In the middle of the Sahara, at
Just where the caravan tracks cross.
They are engaged In commerce there, and
also In Algiers. In Tunis and in nearly
every trading center of North Africa.
These men stay away from home only for
two years at a time. Their laws require
that they come back every so often, and
their wives can claim a divorce If they
remain longer. If a man absents himself
more than two years, his wife has not
only the right to marry agatn. but she
can take possession of all the property
belonging to the family and keep It.
I am told that the Mozablte women are
true to their husbands. They wear black
while their husbands are absent, and
make great feasts when they come home.
Among the viands served, on such oc
casions are barbacued camels and sheep.
At the same time a dinner Is given to the
poor, and this, strange to say, takes place
at the cemetery. Here the wife plays the
Lady Bountiful, sitting on the tomb of
her parents, while she hands out the soup
and dispenses her alms.
I have seen many of the Mozabites dur
ing my travels. They are short, stout
and light complexloned", with features
Jewish in cast. They are noted for their
stinginess. Most of them sleep in their
shops, where they sometimes do their
own cooking, saving every cent to take
home.
Love and Marriage in the Sahara.
All the women of the Sahara marry
young. A girl Is often betrothed at
8 or 9; she Is married at 12 or 13, and Is
an old woman at 30. At 10 she begins
to primp and look at the men, and
something is supposed to be wrong
with her If she is not married at 17
or 18. As to the age of the husband,
that matters not. He may be 16 or 60,
and he may have several wives.
The marriage is usually arranged by
a female matchmaker, employed by
the groom, who Is supposed to find
out all the details as to the" character
and wealth of the bride. She goes
with her to the bath and investigates
her beauty; she makes such Inquiries
at home about her cooking and house
keeping ability as enables her to fur
nish a full description. The groom Is
supposed to pay a certain sum for the
bride, and she is expected to bring "nlm
a small fortune in jewelry and house
hold effects.
Preparatory to the wedding the
bride is put through a course of train
ing. She Is bathed and greased again
and again, and her akin Is coated with
powder. On the wedding uay she Is
Stingless Bees
ONE of the most fascinating experi
ments ever attempted In apiculture,
According to Discovery, was begun last
Summer at the American Museum of
Natural History, New York City, and
has ended, as was expected. In failure
through the death of the insects.
The subjects of the experiment were a
colony of brown Btlngless bees probably
the first ever seen In this city, if not in
these latitudes.
They were brought from the interior
of Venezuela by W. K. Morrison. In the
Insect gallery visitors could see them
busily at work In a glass-covered box, In
which they had built the queerest nest
Imaginable. Rising to a peak, it resem
bled nothing so much as an irregular,
jagged mountain, of a very dark choco
late color.
The box was placed at a sunny win
dow. In the lower frame of which small
apertures connecting with the box af
forded egreSB and ingress to and from
the outside world. The little foreigners
when Installed Immediately set about
making themselves familiar with the
city and its parks and the surrounding
country. .
Hard by, at another window, was a
colony of our familiar American honey
bees, stingers these. Tbe visitors were
brought to the United States with the
idea that they might be crossed with
the honey bees and a new stingless spe
cies thus produced combining this ad
vantage with the superior qualities of
the native insect.
The species were so remotely related
and the habits of the stingless variety
so highly specialized however, that tho
scientists at the museum considered hy
bridization to be an impossibility.
The honey of the stingless bee, al
though much appreciated In Cuba and
South America, where It is supposed to
possess valuable medicinal properties
and is an article of food, is very inferi
or both in quality and quantity to that
of the honey bee. As pollen gatherers,
however, they are vastly superior to the
latter, being able to carry much heavier
loads and to work longer and In weather
when the honey bee would not venture
out. In this capacity they would have
been important allies of the agriculturist
in the cross-pollination of flowers and In
Increasing the fruit supply.
Through the hong warm days of Sum
I
4
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wrapped up In so many veils that sin
looks more like a bundle than a
woman, and in this shape she Is car
ried on a camel or donkey to the home
of the groom.
The first home of the desert bride is
with her husband's family; but only
when she Is the first wife. If be has
other wives she goes to the common
tent, and there takes her place as boss
of the establishment. She holds this
position for a year or so. but after
that comes-down to everyday life and
does her share of the work. She. aids
in the rooking, in gathering fuel and
in weaving the cloth for tents and the
family clothing.
Have you ever- heard of the Ouled
Nails? Tiey are to he found In every
oasis, and there is a whole street given
up to them In Biskra, the so-called
Paris of the Sahara.- They are noted
for their beauty and are professional
entertainers, much like the Nautch
girls of India, the Ghawazt of Egypt
or the Geishas of Japan. Robert
HIchens rather effusively describes
them In "The Garden of Allah," making-
them more beautiful than I havs
found them either In Biskra or here.
The Ouled I.alls sing and dance fo
money in the Moorish cafes. Any one
who will pay for a cup of coffee ca
see them, and 'scores of these dark
faced, turbaned. long-bearded Arab
will sit and watch them for hours. Th
girls are paid by the owners of the es
tablishments, but they also collect
contributions from the foreigners pres
ent, coming to them and kneeling down
at the close of each dance. Thereupon
the foreigner wets a sliver coin with
his lips and presses It upon the fore
head of the dancer. The coin stick
and the girl rises and goes through tha
wild abandon of another dance, mov.
Ing her head so gently that the coin re
mains where It wag placed.
The dance of the Ouled Nails is tha
well-known stomach dance, in vogue
throughout the'Orlent. It consists of a
series of contortions of the hips and
abdomen, while the rest of the body
remains stationary or perhaps twiyi
back and forth. The girla are fully
dressed; there is no exposure of per
son, and they lack the ballet tights of
our wicked stage. Nevertheless, their
actions are more demoralizing than
those of the worst of our dance halls.
Their profession Is considered respect
able, and after a time they take tha
money they hav thus made and go
home to marry their lovers.
Tripoli, June 10. .
Are a Failure
mer and while the woods took on their
Autumn tints the stingless bees, which
when they arrived numbered about 300.
thrived and multiplied amazingly; but
the chill, drying winds of the late Fall
brought disaster to the busy Inhabitants
of the hive. '
They did not seem to mind the cold
so much. Indeed their resistance to it
was a matter of astonishment to the
experts. What they could not bear up
under was the dryness which comes with
the approach of Winter. The hive box
was taken from the window into the
warmth of the steam-heated museum
and honey in abundance was given to.
the workers, who at once began storing
It in their pots. But indoors the air. If
comfortable from the point of view of
temperature, possessed, like that outside,
the fatal quality of being-too dry, and
though fighting bravely against this un
accustomed and impossible condition the
bees one by one died off, until now son
remain.
Memory From Other Days.
Nineteenth Century.
As I walk along a dark lonely road,
my ears are on the alert, I glance to
right and left, I look over my shoulder.
Where did I learn this habit? May it
not be the memory disk giving off its
record? My savage ancestor learned by
long years of experience to "be specially
on his guard In a lonely place, and in
the dark. When my Indignation Is thor
oughly roused, I find my hands clench,
there Is a tightening of '. the lips, the
teeth are more plainly visible, and tha
whole attitude Is suggestive of making
a spring. Here Is a trait of early man.
who gathered himself together and
sprang upon his enemy to rend him with
tooth and claw. I have often noticed
that when people use the word "offen
sive" it Is accompanied by a quiver of
the nostrils and an involuntary move
ment of the nose. The Imagination Is
still haunted by that piece of very offen
sive carrion which my primitive ances
tor with a prejudice for raw meat found,
too strong for him, so strong that his
nose rejected It at once.
The pearl fishery, of Ceylon, leased hr
the British government. Involved an expen
diture of only $7S..M0 last year, with a
net profit of 801.882. 7
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