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^ ere °P® ne d In grave surprise,
the pretty baby head
Both captains shouted, “Halt! ’ The men
w^sasfflsssr t
Back to its mother’s cottage door.
As 1
:
■ 9 ig Crocodiles
The The w New w Orleans n i JWBsnbwrat w „
Ws,at r r mnaF T hj r anhef° l -
lowing description of the smgular man
'hJr C troco ^ l es aro captured in
™
On the 10 th of February, „ 1878, alters
ong voyage t rough liurmak, Tenasrim,
a e -ing om of Siam, I reached
- ,ito1 of Kingdom
’ ca * tQ e of
° )a '.
ore wit , me a letter to King Noro
om. will spare you all descriptions
0n ?". C a8 wcl1 63 °* m y recep
« ion , by h s majesty. . What 1 promised
Vou was the history of a crocodile hunt
~ had n vvell received at court,
, A ter aving . been kindly treated by the
mg, all his ministers did their utmost
o give me a pleasant welcome. Several
servants had been placed at my disposal,
and also one of the court-carriages with
» fine team of thoroughbred Birmaneso
horses.
I did not fail to inform my hosts of
my passion for the chase, and for three
months they had spoiled me like a child.
day S0m0 huntin 8 P art ? or olher
* '%m su arranged for my benefit. From
«,2, TsLTo, u c.»bS d te “th”
royal tiger itself, f had ko.ted alteoa,
^^ZmorninTon^et JlT<lTe7lJ™T ’ *
of the prime minister who saidtu me’* ’
“Tabe, Thoo...,- (Good day, „
lord).
“Tabe, Sais!” (Good day, servitor) I
replied. “Who sends you?”
“My master invites you to call upon
him forthwith, at his palace."
•/“Forthwith—now?"
/‘‘I “Yes, my lord."
go”
And ordering my coach'run to follow
the Sais, who had started off at a run, I
soon found his excellency awaiting me
at the threshold of his dwelling.
“ Excuse me, "he said* «tek “if I have dis
turbed ,»»; but I b, th. king-,
orders. His majesty invites you to a
crocodile hunt. We shall be Absent at
least one week.”
I thanked his excellency and promised
to be at his house by 5 o’clock next
morning, whence we should go together
to the palace to join the caravan of
hunters
At4:30 o’clock next morning we ar
rivet i the courtyard of the palace. A
w r of servants had already com
necessary preparations. The
horses, carriages, elephants, and palan
ke*n destined for the use of Horodom,
Jus guests, and his wives, were ail then
near the palace front. Further off was
e long train of wagons freighted with
provisions and supplies, as well as the
tents and planking required for our tern
Porary quarters.
' ■’ £ though
as we
were nrime^min o’ L war. The
ie midst of
rejoin the
8 .rodom
ap
gh officials
m present
mselves. I
descended
jesty. U His
ibteit,
i - ■
'
1
PLACE. GEORGIA, THU 'AY, JUNE 25. 1885.
nB. ’
-—
the first halt; at
^SLSrt anate Jor tne ■£?£* mgtit. I Ren
, proceeded the
e ng s men to erect
e i ce in w icn is majesty was tore
pose or t *e night—a sort of immense
cage, e eva e upon posts six feet above
t e soi. elow this cage was another
s ructute or the king s harem. f The
‘UTSS'* a ou this portable 8old ‘ m palace, formed and a kept circle all
l Gl ° r f S » ° f US B * a ^‘stance 'hted in from a' circle it.
a * npraent to keep
at a distance. Tho
prepared. At _8
• 6
i*4 ' W °
tort dent Without ^
attention to the roaring f of th* e igcrs.
Next dav The.fZlvJZo the ^ 7*1
reneated Trh °?° i C
in the momlnw we a v d
of a little lake „ h o„t ' Tj
our pomt ofde.tiMtion.and which, we
* innUmW -
able crocodiles.
Our camp was pitched on the western
shore of the lake, and preparations to
catch the great sauri&ns were immedi
ately begun.
The minister, by order of Norodom,
placed tho chief of the hunters “under
my orders. That signified that he was
to keep me perfectly well informed
about everything which might take
place.
The chief conducted me some distance
to the right of the camp, and'showed
meacompnny of some fifty Cambodians
busy binding together a number of
smooth planks by means of bamboo
ropes.
About twenty of these rafts (I cannot
tell them by any other name which ex
presses their form equally well) were soon
finished. *
Near by a number of other men were
engaged in preparing strong running
nooses, made also of bamboo filaments,
After inspecting these raft and noose
factories, the chief took forty men with
him, and all of us skirting the lake,
vmwrHfi I 71
." „„ ”, „ uU> rt.Tl.d .„ raU „ m of
lke , h cll
clo8ely ' a PP roached the bank. In an
swer to my question, he said:
I ” lh ' !,,i4 '
.
climbing upon the shore. Seel" he ob¬
served, suddenly pointing to a declivity
trampled smooth—as level as if heavy
cannon had been constantly foiled over
it, “there’s where they come out. If we
can notice him, the one who comes here
will not be easy to nail.
Nail? I only wondered in my mind.but
my eyes must have been like two points
of interrogation, for the chief of the
hunters added after looking at me a mo¬
ment: “Yes, nail! You are going to
*“ ... “* WoM “
y ° U
He P osted % Bft3 " s at tMa P ath < and we
continued our inspection. Thirty points
werc chos8n - and thirfcy men wore 8ta '
tioned at them ’
Before turD,n 8 hack t0 cam P 1 to
<be cbie * : '
“But I have not noticed a single
wrinkle on the water-are you sore there
are any crocodHes?”
no ^ answer » taking ft piece
of wood . he wrapped it in a bit of red
cloth and flung it about twenty yards out
--■
Plftcen «econds passed—a few wave
lets appeared-on the still mirror of the
lake i there was a sort of dull sound,
followed by a great shock in the water,
1 could not ses anything distinctly; hut
the wood wrapped in red cloth had dia
appeal- - -
We returned to the raftmaking estab
Ushment. Thirty rafts—fifteen feet long
b y “bout four broad—were ready. A
hundred running nooses were also pro
pared for operations, V v ■
A* a sign® 1 from the leader all tho men
not 0D dut 7 a® soldiers followed him.
Each raft was carried by four men, while
about a dozen followed us with the
™P es - “To morrow^orning the baits,”
said the chief, “will be attsched to the
rafts—about « of
: ;
Wo came to the first crocodile-beak,
•" a.pmatioa.a.r.m.l.toptec.th.
on i ’
ished it do :
’reall
.
,
attached, intended to catch tho croco
head. The nooses are operated by long
strings, which were so arrnged as to be
pulled at the proper moment by the man
perched in the tree.
These arrangements being completed,
preparations were made for tho night,
Fires were lighted behind each trap
to keep the crocodiles in the water until
dawn, when the hunt was to begin.
At four in the morning, Norodom, his
ministers, the courtiers, and the invited
guests, are all awakened. From his
elevated cabin the king can got a good
view of the capture of the crocodiles,
His guests, all armed with lances, take
^ 10 * r way to tbe western bank of tho
lakc ‘
All around the lake, the sals are posted
‘“their respective trees; the rafts are
baited ; tho fires are put out. -----j~
About sis or sevcn fiaces from each
n ‘ ft > alit t le ‘o one side, crouches a sals
a ™ d a mallet, and great sharp
nai lg from eight to ton inchca W
Absolute calm everywhere. The day
branks. The crocodiles, which have
been imprisoned in their slime for twen
ty-four hours, must want to breathe.
We wait.
About 5 o’clock little eminences push
themselves about the water. They re
main awhile motionless, then they begin
to move altogether. In the middle of
the lake we behold a regular conciliabu
luro. Twenty, forty, a hundred croco
diles assemble, play about, dive and re
appear alternately.
Suddenly they all remain stilt Have
they suspected something, or heard some
noise? No; the breeze has wafted to
them odors of flesh.
A long black mass detaches itself from
the assembly of saurians, and makes for
the great slope. Others betake them
selves to their favorite morning landing
places.
Norodom has seized his telescope, and
watches the progress of the drama with
■
intense interest. All the rest of us look
on breathlessly in silence.
The biggest crocodile has
edge of " * —
gfjm *<**%&& -
X
H. A whole quarter 1 .
by. Tho snout of the alligator leaves !
the water and now his fore-legs are on
the raft.
Everybody holds his breath.
He keeps on climbing—slowly—very
slowly. The bait is there, only twenty
inches from his nose. He seizes it. At
the very same instant the sais in the tree
above him pulls the strings which oper
ate the running nooses, and the reptile,
caught at once by head and tail begins to
struggle furiously. Immediately the
other sais leaps forward, his hammer in
one hand and a huge nailinthe other;
and while the monster stretches his legs
in trying to reach the water, the sais
nails the right fore-foot to the rail. The
worst of the job is over. In the twink
ling of an eye, the right hind-foot is also
nailed down. Then, boldly stepping
over the alligator, the sais immediately
nails the two left-feet also to the raft.
Thus crucified, the saurian is. well
muzzled, and his tail is fastened firmly
with bamboo ropes.
He is carried to Norodom and measured
—seven and a half feet long.
We remained on the lake shore two
weeks, and during that time caught six
teen more croc odiles, which were brought
alive to Pnom-Penb, and then skillfully
butchered.
The Cambodians are very fond of cro
codile flesh, and I must confess that I ate
it myself without the least repugnance,
Ordinarily it sells at two cents a pound
in Cambodia-excopt when the animals
are caught during a royal hunt, and then
the "king’s crocodile meat” sells for four
cents. Just on the same principle that,
in France, President Grevy’s rabbits sell
at four francs a pair, while yours or mine
are worth only forty sous. _
It is nearly seven years since I enjoyed
the hospitality of King Norodom, and I
would not have thought of publishing
this recitelof my hunting adventures had
not public attention been again called to
22-* 1
-----
A London firm of pencil makers man¬
ufactures its shavings and sawdust into
an article which they call the “dust of
Lebanon.” It is sprinkled upon the fire
to remove the unpleasant smell of cook
ing notice able in . room ef.er . meat.
The standing armies of Europe aggre
0:'" 0 —
the mest
-
. •in the
if DOLPHIN FOR DINNER.
> Mmssss.'sss
Ift'a cosy laboratory hidden away in
one Af the corners of the national museum
builling, crowded with skulls. bones,
stuf|«d the |uimal skins, and various memorials of
creation, a Washington Star
repftcr came upon Mr. F. W. True, the
curator of the department of mammals,
justps life-saving he was station-keeper reading a telegram tho from New a
on
Jer.^v coast announcing that a porpoise
had stranded there. “The men in the
life saving service are instructed," said
Mr. 'True, “to notify us of any strange
creature that may be stranded. If we
wisp it wo telegraph them to sew it up
in a canvas bag and ship it to the
museum by express, or send it any other
way that may be convenient
“Speaking of porpoises," continued
the curator, “here is something that will
interest you." As he spoke he took from
a shelf behind his desk a black looking
object, Ucd at the ends like a large bo
logna sausage. slago
“Itis a of porpoise," he went
on. “That one is one-third beef and
two-thirds porpoise. I have another
specimen here of smoked porpoise,which
you can try."
The curator soon found the specimen
he wanted. Tho meat was dark and the
fibers very coarse. It was very dry and
very hard—so hard that the curator had
to use a hatchet to chip of! pieces of It.
“The oil has not been taken out,’’he
®a he handed a morsel to the ro
potter to try, “and that gives it a strong
taste, which might be disagreeable to a
person with a sensitive palate.’’
The reporter ate his piece of porpoise
with as much facial composure as possi
ble. It had a flavor something like a
amoked honing nultiplied by a hundred,
After regaling himself in this manner,
the reporter inquired tor further particu
Ihrs concerning porpoise meat.
“There is a company in Philadelphia,"
mid Mr. True, “engaged in the business
>1 preparing the flesh of the porpoise for
-
■s ; .
■■■
used to be considered one of the delica
cies of the king’s table. It is mentioned
in L’Estrange’s household book."
“Has porpoise been sold inthePhila
delphia market as porpoise?’’ '
“I think the flesh was introduced
under the name of buffalo. It is dark
like buffalo meat, and has a gamy look
snd flavor, but,” continued Mr. True
with a smile, “during Lent it was intro
duced as porpoise, I received a letter
from a gentleman interested in the. trade
asking if it could not be introduced as a
food which might be eaten in Lent,
Among scientific men tho porpoise,is not,
of course, known as a fish, but the scien
tific and the ecclesiastical definitions
of a fish may not, of course, be based
upon the same distinctions. There wns
once, during the middle ages, a great
controversy as to whether the otter could
be eaten in Lent. It was held that
creatures that swam in the water were
fish, and it was decided, I believe, that
the otter could be eaten without viola
tion of the rules of Lent. ”
“What do you think of the quality of
the flesh.”
“The quality is as good as any in the
market. It is not tender, of course, like
the meat of animals bred especially for
the market. The porpoises have to
fight for existence, and that makes them
tough. There is no reason why this
meat should not be cheap.”
“Porpoiso is not a new dish?” sug
gested the reporter.
“No. It has always been considered
fit for food. The porpoise lives on fish,
and eats only live fish. In the Arctio
regions, you know, the natives live on
white whales, eating fat and all. The
Indians on the east coast of Maine have
a fishery for porpoises, and eat their
flesh. Inifactthe Indians both on our
east, and on our west coast hunt the eehL por
poie. I, i. . mette, of f
entirely. Three centuries ago when the
it
n prophesying that por
„ be generally eaten. I
>me of the milk of the porpoise
May. It is very thick, like
•to -W~r
m
the
who,
VOL. V. New Series. No. 20.
them up snd get the oil from them ta *
find a market. About a year age
a company was formed at Capo May,
New Jersey, for the purpose of obtain
ing porpoise oil and leather. This com
pany, I believe, has not succeeded well,
One of tho men interested in the com
pany went to Hatteras and leased the
fishery there for five years—leasing the
grounds, the fishermen and everything -
paying at a certain rate for every por
poise caught. lie has his tanners and
his apparatus for taking out the oil. He
saw that the fleah might bo of someuae,
and has been successful iu introducing it
in the Philadelphia market. 1 ’
“The porpoises are caught In Beta.
Twc high poles are erected on tho beach
about four miles apart. Men are eta
tinned at these polos on the lookout, and
when the porpoises pass into the fishing
ground, between these poles, the lflok
out shows a signal flag. There
are • two boats some distance
out, which separate obliqLy giving foward out
nets as they proceed'
other boat, further inshore These boats
in turn move toward the shore, paying
out their nets, and the result is the por
poises are soon surrounded, imprisoned
in a huge pound of strong netting with
coarse meshos. These nets are not
drawn to the shore. Sometimes there
will be 800 or 400 porpoises in the en
closure. If they were stampeded, as
they might be by an attempt to draw the
net to the shore, they would make a
break altogether for one point in the
net and break through it. They are sim
ply kept in the pound, and boats put out
from the shore with smaller nets, with
which they take out thirty or forty at a
time. The method is very much Ilk
that u.efi in catching tunnies at fisheries
on the Mediterranean. This winter the
man who has gone into the enterprise
expects to get 1,200 porpoises. They
are six, seven and eight feet long, and of
the kind known as the bottle-nosed dol¬
phin. As soon as they are caught flayers
take off their hides, which are sent to
New Jersey and made into excellent
le * U,er ’”..............
‘
“Yes. Porpoise boots in London cost
threo times as much as any other. The
leather is’perfectly water proof. If the
flaying is done carefully a pretty big
piece of leather con bo obtained from
each porpoise—enough to make several
pairs of boors. One great difficulty, I
believe, is to get a tanner who knows
how to treat the hide properly. It has
to be tanned with some peculiar process,
From one porpoise thirty or forty pounds
0 f edible flesh can be obtained. I had a
steak cut from a porpoise which was re
eeived hero, and it was cooked for me at
the restaurant. It was very dark in
color because I had not let the blood out,
but it was, nevertheless, quite palatable,
The flesh of that portion," said the eu
rator, pointing out on a picture of a por
poise the region near tho tail, “is very
tough, on account of the ligaments that
run through it, the muscles that operate
the tail. It is proposed, I believe, to
utilize these ligaments in making glue,
Then every part of the porpoise will bo
used for something, the hide, the oil and
the flesh. The skeletons are left now on
the beach, but they can be used for for
tilizing purposes. Take some more,”
said the curator, again passing the
smoked porpoise, but the reporter, ex
cueing himself on a plea of business els*
were, took his leave.
-—-/
The Enrth’* Magnetic Force.
Says the Hordogiml News: Every
thing on the earth and in the air above
i 8 permeated with the earth's magnetic
force-it goes through your clothes, it
penetrates your bodies, it saturates your
brains, it is a part of life itself. Gaus,
the illustrious German astronomer, has
computed—taking as a unit of his meas
urement a magnet fourteen inches long,
one inch wide, one-fourth inch thick,
weighing JU* one pound, made of the hardest
possible-the earth’* magnetic force as
power of the earth 42,810,000,000,000,
^distributed 000,000 tons. If this magnetism were
“ throughout the mass
of the *—
M’ H
I
M-a ’ ] 1
to an
.
wmm
PLAYING THE FIDDLE.
And L'slnz a Visiting Csurd,
I ntbrcllst and Shoe for a Bow.
I reached tho city of Cologne (writes'
the Rev. Edward Abbott) by steamer
down the Rhine at 8 in the afternoon
This gave me an hour before dark in!
which to visit the great cathedral, whose
mfty spires bad been before me since
twenty miles away. Then I had an hour
for dinner, which" I ate with great nest at
the hotel du Dom, nearly opposite the
cathedral. Two hours and a half were
then left before I was to take the night
express for Brussels. What should I do
in that two hours and a half? The por
tier to whom I addressed this question
said I had better go around to the cafe
Chantant for an hour. So I told him to
lead tho way. The cafo Chantant I found
to be a large room or small hall, which¬
ever one might please to call it. At one
end was a simple stage, like a concert
platform. The floor was filled with small
square tobies, with two or three chairs at
each table. The chairs were nearly all
filled with people, men and woman, of *>
very respectable aspect. The scene was
strange, but orderly and proper; and toe
concert, which I stayed an hour to enjoy,!
was of a high musical order. “i
The piece on the programme which (
entertained me the mest was a perform¬
ance on the violin. It had just begun as
I entered the room. The perforate r was
, handsome young fsllow, dressed in a
grotesque suit of many colors,and he was
talking away to the audience as I camei
in in a very animated manner. It seemed,
as nearly as I could understand him,
tnat he had lost Ms violin bow, and un¬
less he could find some substitute for iti
he could not do his part in the concert.;
Did any of his audience happen to have'
a violin bow with them? No! ? Well,t
that was too bad! What should he do?
Would anything else answer instead of a
bow? Couldn’t somebody lend him
something? etc. Of course all this was
made up. The object of the violinist
was to get hold of some nondescript ob¬
jects with which he could play on his
violin inste.vd of a bow, and to show hiir
lki y. and all his talk, was simply to en
tertoin his audience so
visiting card—a common, plain
card. The violinist took it,looked at it a
moment inquiringly, tried its edge with
his finger, and then applied the edge to
the strings of his instrument. * It an¬
swered tho purpose very well, and he
played quite a nice tune. At the end
*......
there was a burst of applause. Then he
called for something else, to see, he said,
If he could not do a little better. j
An officer of the army, who was sitting
a car the stage, passed up his sword, and
with the sword for a how the clever young
violinist, after a moment or two’s experi¬
menting, played another nice tune, over
which there was mere applause, louder
than before. Then he handed the sword
back to the officer, and asked for some¬
thing else. A lady handed up an urn
orella. An umbrella? How could any
one play on the violin with an umbrella?
But this man did. He opened the um¬
brella, and, finding a smooth place a few
inches in length on the handle, went to
work with it with ease, and succeeded
surprisingly well. The applause when he
had finished was heartier than ever, and
what had been before a scene of mere
amusement on the part of the audience
seemed to rise into something like admi
ration. And now the violinist good
naturedly offered to try once more. And
what do you think was handed up to
him this time? A shoe; an old shoe!
Surely ho would have to give up now.
For a moment he looked as if he would.
After examining the shoe with care fora
moment, the violinist found a place on
the inner side, L^l «.a U™
toe, where the projecting solo furnished
» d“>rt, shar P When he M
found that, and felt it with his finger,
he looked up with a pleased expression,
»* if 40 ®ay, I guess that will do. > And
do it did; for with the shoe for a violin
bow he went on and played a tripping
tone that set sverybody’s feet agoing,
end -be. he tad «.W»d Ulled ttetec
with a deafening round of applause.
jasausMs baskSand
ner Be carried a little two
Towei pence to pay for it Finally Bui he anoZ was
to go Mone.
'
1 .
imo, uz ■ :
njmlito Mmm
