The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-07 00:00:00

THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

Saturday's attendance was excellent in point of
numbers, and unexceptionable as regards the rank
and fashion of the visitors. His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales was an early visitor, and re-
mained till the afternoon, inspecting the picture
galleries and annexes. The nave, as usual on these
days, was a long and brilliant promenade, the num-
bers in which as the day advanced received con-
siderable accessions from the visitors to the Horti-
cultural Gardens. Still, though the nave was the
fashion, a fair proportion of the visitors was distri-
buted among the side courts and galleries, admiring
their contents, in which it is quite easy to find fresh
beauties at every visit. The English furniture
court, we are glad to say, is steadily rising in popu-
lar admiration, and especially in the admiration of
those whose approbation is almost fame. None are
more hearty and more unqualified in their praise of
its contents than the great French and Austrian ex-
hibitors in the same class. In this court, as in all
others, the best things have been sold long ago;
clocks, watches, philosophical instruments, bronzes,
furniture, porcelain, tapestries, silks, and laces—all
the things worth having, in short, have found eager
purchasers competing for their possession. None
have been more astonished at the demand than the
exhibitors themselves, who mostly state that they
could have sold ten times the amount they had in
the building ; and some of the most fortunate have
received orders which will keep their hands full of
business fcr the next 10, or even 15 months.
In the Indian collection there were at first
some wonderful bargains to be had, especially
in the enamelled gold work of Jeypore and
the filligree silver of Cuttack. These were
soon found out and bought, and the fame of their
cheapness spread, and the collection was invaded by
eager customers, who have bought up nearly every-
thing, and of course all the textiles, from the fairy
webs of Dacca muslin to the gorgeous shawls of
Delhi, or thick soft fabrics of Cashmere. We may
add that the attraction of this court to general visi-
tors has been much enhanced by giving conspicuous
positions to the two stuffed specimens of Royal
tigers which form most characteristic ornaments of
the collection. They are now placed where their
huge proportions can be closely scanned, and they
excite such an amount of interest on shilling days
that it is difficult to get near the cases at all. Both
these gigantic brutes were shot by Colonel Reid
in March, 1860. The largest, though its skin has,
of course, shrunk very considerably since its tan-
ning, must still measure eight feet from the nose to
the tail, and is no less than fifteen inches between
the ears. Within the last three years tigers have
become so scarce in India as to lead to a confident
expectation that in a few years more they will be
almost as much things of the past throughout the
greater part of India as crocodiles are in the Lower
Nile, or buffaloes on the prairies of Illinois. A proof
of this is to be found in the fact that tigers' claws
(which are much worn by the natives as charms)
have risen in value in India to as much as five
rupees for a single claw. The mutineers, who were
driven into the remotest fastnesses of the jungle,
were compelled in self-defence to destroy the tigers,
and the amateur exertions of our own officers com-
pleted the slaughter, till now they are fortunately
very rare indeed.
Though Saturday was, for the first time this sum-
mer, rather a warm day, the temperature in the
building was never more than moderately warm.
Messrs. Negretti and Zambra have fixed their most
sensitive thermometers on the floor and in the
galleries for the purpose of ascertaining the maxi-
mum heat in these two places every day, and so far
as their experiments have yet gone they show the
galleries, owing to the admirable system of venti-
lation, to be as cool as the basement storey, while
the various anemometers in both the nave and the
galleries prove that there is always a good current
of air in the latter, though scarcely any in the for-
mer. 'The result is, therefore, that the hot air is
taken off as fast as it rises, and the highest reading
of the thermometer as yet has rarely been 64 deg.
in the nave and 65 deg. in the galleries.
A very useful office in the north-east tower of the
building has been established for affording to all
visitors information on various points connected
with the communications of the United Kingdom,
whether by road, rail, or sea, including the internal
communications of the metropolis itself,
transit to foreign countries, &c. A charge of
.t.
is
made for admission, in return for which the visitor
or
has the opportunity of referring to all theca me-
ver-
tables, maps, directories, railway guides,
department ad-
tisements, A portion of the
as a letter-
joining the Post-office is also set apart means
writing room, where stamps and paper are sold.
The want of such a conveyanc3 inquiry department
OS this, and especially of a letter-writing room, has
been felt for some time.
The admissions by season
tickets on Saturday were 9,826, and by payment of
half-a-crown 15,473 ; total, 25,299.