The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-06-06
M j S c elan Q oTI 8.
Menageries and what they Cost.

The best place to study botany is in the
fields, where it becomes delightful COM
bination of recreation and labor. 1t is not
convenient, nor would it be altogether sat
isfactory and pleasant to go to the deserts,
.jungles, mountains and marshes to study
zoology. The next best thing is to visit
menagerie and interview the unfortunate
animals in prison. They are not quite
themselves any more than man is himself
in irons. Tanned wild beasts are really
stale and insipid compared with their fresh.
ness amid the scenes of their nativity.
Tanned wild beasts! They are impossible.
They are not tanned. They can only be
cowcd. Their spirits can be crushed, not
broken. Wild beasts cannot be tanned any
more than barbarian can be civilized.
Remove the pressure of the stronger power
and governing mind and they relapse into
the freedom and license of mother nature
who gave their unquenchable instincts.
Commerce subjugates the whole field of
nature and weakens the pristine vigor of
everything it embraces in its system of con.
quest. When wild plant is found to be
good for something as commodity, and is
cultivated for that purpose. its constitution
undergoes u change. 1t loses some of its
original flavor, and hosts of enemies arise
against it as if to eXterminate the species.
Wild beasts are hardy in their natural fast
nCsses, and they battle successfully against
the elements, but when they are caught and
put in the menagerie dens for commercial
purposes, they become very precarious
property. Although their appetites are
carefully consulted, and their native eli
mates as far as possible are reproduced for
their comfort, yet their whole life is pant
ing for freedom while they languish in lux
ury. They have lost vitality, and their
health is necessarily impaired. This is the
character of the wild beasts we are permit
ted to look at in menageries. They are
the best that can be offered to our inspection,
and they doubtless suit the tastes of specta-
tors better than the real animal to be met
near its chosen habitation.
AS an article of commerce, it may be of
interest to examine the" tanned wild beast"
in q light in which we do rot view him
when acting his part in the showman's
arena. His market value is consideration
of which owing to his secluded life very
little is known outside of the comparative
ly small circle of showmen themselves.
He will lose none of his interest in connec-
ton with the figures in which he stands
related to his owner, and some other par
ticulars of his history in the show business.
| A great many showmen have been made
bankrupt by the large prices they pay for
stock, and the inclination of the animals
to an early death. Whilst on the other
hand few rare and hardy brutes have made
half dozen fortunes for as many proprie-
tors. There are only three or four good
collections of animals in the United States,
and no one OF these contains some fthe rare
beasts. There is only one lonely giraffe
living in the United States, and the only
hippopotamus ever brought to America
alive departed this life ten years ago. His
stuffed skin is now a museum attraction.
He made three showmen rich while he lived
and in his death he was not all destroyed.
There is q standing offer of large sum
of money for good able bodied hippopot-
anus to be landed on our shore, payable ON
delivery in perfect health. Such a one
woul6 probably be worth from $4,000 to
$4,000. Small elephants about the size of
three bullocks, are worth from $4,000 to
$4,000 according to education. Their gen
eral knowledge of things and ability to do
tricks enhance their value. A large ele-
plant who has killed several keepers and
is looking around for another victim is
worth $4,000. They are always represent
ed as exceedingly docile; their tusks being
put ON for ornament, and their trunks harm
less as bell-ropes.
A shrewd Yankee had money enough to
buy the finest pair of lions in all Europe
for American consumption. Hepaid $1,000
in gold for them. Single lions bring from
81, 200 to $4,000, according to age, size and
training. Trainers have been trying to
convince themselves and Others that lions
born in cages and brought up in civilized
society are harmless and tractable as kit
tens, and will suffer all kinds of liberties
patiently. Lions, however, have way of
shutting down on such noodle heads as
are inserted between their jaws. The king
of beasts has proved himself the most false
and trcacherous being in his whole king
dom.
A rhinoceros costs from $4,000 to $10,-
900, and is always great feature in an an
imal show. There is one in Lonnon known