The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-12-05
wtla Reasts--The Lion assd Haser
Tradc-sE0w tsso Menarchs OF ssse
Eorc. II arc ECngisa and Solid. $3.50
fFrom tne New York TimcNl

J /
Trade-sow tao Menarcsis OF the
rorc g arc Eongha aitts Sold.
Iron The New York rimcs-l
In the course OF my wandcrinss around .es
the city came, the other day, across me-
nopoiist psT Ell simple. lie i fis'aeI on .
large scale, but l. generally very caIetu, not
to haudle that five stock IN wh,ch ne 9ea ae'
nor. for that matter, do any OF ms .epiINo!es..
His business Is the importation Oh every va !.
riety or wild beast and bird, from an ere,
plant to guinea-pig, from an ostfich 70 Ga q
lava sparrosy. Docs the proprietor OF q
n,onaeerie lose his elephant, he repairs TO
this eentieman's repository. He states Whe-
fher he would prefer an African or on
As;atic elephant. He gives his order ae-
cordins to his fancy, and in due time
the animal arrives, and Is immediately
shipped to wherever his new owners cara
van RAY happen TO be. II an African
lion is wanted, dispatch is at once sent
TO Capetown; if horned horses, giranes, or
rh;noceroses are in demand orders are at
once sen. out to ship to New York all that
can be bought or found. The fact IS, tillS
gentleman has some fifteen employees, who
are scattered over Africa and Asia. whose
sole business consists in collecting rare wild
animals for him. so complete are all his mr.
raneemer,ts that none arc found to compete
with hin, in the business. He has the entire
trade to himself, and supplies every MENACE
RE i'll this country with such animals as they
need from time to time. There are over
thirty mcnageries travelling about the conn-
try every year. Every year they lose CERTAIN
percentage of their aninalsfron natural 0eath
or by accident. Some OF the more rare
animals are generally delicate. and never be-
come acclimat!zed, consequently 90 not 1--we
long. This makes them very costly. Others,
again. Nike the giraffe, often die of sea sick
ness on the voyage. The giraffe, too, is 50
awkwardly built that it does not lie down
with its legs under it, like others of the ante
lope tribe; consequently, if the vessel rolls
at sea it loses its balance, is swung against
the side of its cage, and frequently breaks
its long, ungainly neck. This risk runs up
the price Of giratfes to high figure. A year
or two ago well-known Snowman who had
imported four giratfes through the gentle
mans agency, but who took the sea risk on
himself. lost them all on the voyage. He
could not now get four equally good Speci-
mems under S25, 900. But when cargo does
come safely across tue profits to the importer
are very large.
It is great mistake to suppose that any
of these animals are captured when full
grown. A full grown lion, could he he
trapped and put in q cage, would soon pine
away and die. A full grown, wild elephant
Is the most sayagely treacherous Of animals.
Even when captured young and trained in
circus, the elephant betrays these Inborn
qualities more and more as he grows Older.
IL is only OF late years that elephants have
been imported from Africa. Many persons
will recoliect p. +. Barnum'S advertisement
OF the first one-a dWart--Whlch was to APP
pear in bis mcnagcric. The animal, now.
ever, died Oh the voyage, and was conse-
ouently never seen in this country. Our
moaoDoiist dealer in wild beasts soon after
obtained four young elephants from Africa
about s. 00upicce. They were "babieS." The
elephant is an animal Of very slow growth.
Wien five wears old it does not stand more
than three feet high; and one out Of the four
alluded 10 above was only thirty inches high.
They were, however, Il perfect God-Serd to
sh0Wn.en in the way Of startling novelties.
One, the thirty-inch one, was coolly eXhib.
tied as Il dwarf. Another was shown is an
offspring Of an old female elephant, which
had been in This country years before the
yuuugstcr first saw The light in his native
Aficln Jungle. Three of these young cle-
plants are still alive in this country, but
lney have grown out Of all knowledge,
especially the dwarf. The showmen who
exhibited the young calf asserted to have
been born here made gre1t hit, rs 1t IS
pretty gcucrallv known that elephants will
MT breed in this country. Lions breed free
". In fact, there are few menagcrics which
do not have litter Of cubs every year. But
the mothers always destroy or desert them,
and they are obliged to be brought up on
milk given to them in Il bottle similar to That
used in rearing babies by hand. The hippo
Do,amus has also been known to breed in
the Geological Gardens in London. Like
the iionesS, she destroys her young rs soon
~ they are born; but the attendants in Lon
don did once succeed in rcscuing Il young
one from lis mother, and in bringing it up
By hand. But animals brought up in this
artificial way, and born in a confined cage,
never grow up to be such fine specimens as
those born in u state OF nature.
Asa general thing all animals are captured
when young by the natives, acting under in
structions from the white agents. If lions
are wanted the natives sally up the country,
and either Kill the parents and then secure
the cubs, or track the lionesS to her den,
and then, waiting till she goes hunting for
food, seize the opportunity of stealing the
Cubs. In capturing elephants they drive
them, old and young, into IN Enclosure, haul
string the old ones so as to disable them from
protecting their calves and then easily Sc
cure the young ones. An African lion COM
mands higher price in the market than an
Asttic lion OH account Of his more
noble and commanding appearance. His
name is much thicker ana longer than
that of his Asiatlc brother, and is black. The
quantity and length of the name is the test
OF the value OF lions. An African lion sells
Tor $1,000; al Asiatic only $1,000. The
same with tigers. Royal Bengal tigers will
command 1000 pair; Brazilian only $1,000
pair. Camels and dromedares bring about
$1,000 apiece, but white camcls have been
sold at $500 each. A good ostrich can be
bought for about $500 elephants from $4,000
to $1,000; horned horses $50 called, though
they afe really only a variety of antelope,)
from 81 900 upward. n
The importation of animalsis only branch
of the business; but it is in this case very
extensive, for the last fifteen years the value
oil the animals imported having averaged
over 100000 year. or course, the needs
of every menagerie are known; and when
one wants to sell u surplus animal or two, or
10 replace them with finer specimens, they
are almost invariably sold direct TO this gen.
tleman, or through him, on commission, to
the proprietors OF other menageries. Avery
fair meuagerie may be stocked for $4,000;
but some few Of the giant shows value their
stock Of animals ut two and three times that
figure. The aggregate value OF all the wild
animals in the different caravans in this couu.
try must approximate S2,500,00O. In nc
other country in the world are there SO many
kept in confinement The show business i
essentially American, aud, as general thing
isa very profitable one.