New-York tribune., 1881-12-28
THROUGH MANY LANDS.

an INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR VT ,uvpv
or THE WHITE EIEPHANr Al Ho' 80
NV HAS BEEN AND WHAT HE hNo 90 20 600
vor,I TO NEw-YORK AFTER loo'ooo
MIIFs OF TRAVEL. .otiyo of
when n few days ago. representa- =;
,1'o,xv called upon Frank vincent Jr'.
,or,oor traveller whose book, Inc Ian" Vi
49, white Flephant," fiIst made known In' "o"'
dsrs nj Siam to the general reader ne loun" ''',
sooted in an apartment. the accessories ol ""'1"
were cosmopolitan in the widest sense. no 49,, r"
.ler,s elbow rested upon table, the co'H ol "'1'
,vos manufactured and ornamented IN CalhD9".''
One foot reposed the skin OF deer H'" ~
bim,elf had shot among the Rocky MoHh'a."S ''''
other occupied a bamboo footstool OrouHh' i''N
Batavia Java. pile OF manuscript was Mr. "
nlace bv n paper weight that once FORMED poI'''n
af tbo Partbenon at Athens Mr. Vincent dropPe"
,h r.,,rter's card into card receiver oil Japanese
-clo;sonne from Toxic, aud prevented q door "nI'H
lod into an adjacent dIeSsinClOom, I"m ol"s'"e
comnIetely by means OF percussion -Sueh H"'",
n, tho battlefield OF Gettysburg. Water sP"'N'"'
m an iridescent glass goblet from Nuremoue' "'
host had lust laid aside turban manufacture" 81"
Cashmere and was smoking a maenIhcehU Sl'N''
bookah purchased in COnstantnople Inc lHe''o"
voiced clock on the mantclnlece was S"Iiou"''N
with tbe stone gods of Cambodla among WhlcH vas
hoartirul porcelain white elephant. Idols from
vari,us hooks and corners. The large apartment
was lighted by two windows looking on, upo"
liftb.ave near Madison Square. The light ioH upon
. choice library of two thousand Volumes W"'l'
covered with paintings and cngraynsS caoIh''s
oort.ininr valuable collections OF minerals anu
coins huge albums bursting with Pu"'ot'"l'"',
terrestrial globes. Egyptian antiquities, s'o's Ca
specimeus gymnastic apparatus, targets "n.o''
charts brir-a-brac ard all hat countless HiiSe1""nS
which n traveller and man Of the world uIspoSeS
around him when he takes a few years rest Nv
very hallway througn which entrance Is 'ouhu 10
III rusonm-for such it is-was piled with maps
rs though to indicate that TO Journey lOunu '"o
world was the vocation OF the oceupaht'
The library consists of well-selected books aoouI
eoual.y divided among the three grand depart
,ocrts science. literature ard art. voyages ana
travels of course enter largely into the catalogue
Ttbuology and geography form prominent SUD H.
visions Among Oriental languages figure 'he
Malay, Siamese Hindostance Chinese, ferSla' ANA
Arabic with several Of which Mr. vincent Is
familiar 1t is one of hls objects always to nave at
hand score or more OF books on each OF the luhla-
mental sciences and on many OF the ieadluS a'S'
These volumes begin with primers ana lhlro""'-
tories and end with text books and speclai tealScS
of the highest grade and latest pubhcatl"h' III ono
,1enartmeut are placed what he regards as Il c
otus to the Italian of Di Amics. Among them lda
Pfeiaer. Ravard Taylor, Captain Richard buTtoh'
EinqIake and Gautier hold high rank. The owner
of these works who is "A devoted student, conlc'seH
q great partiality for the close observation ana Hho
descriptive powers of Madame Pleiter, Wmlc a'Nu
ting the brilliant pictuTesqueness and RAINBOW eio-
ouence of Gautier His fondneSs for fact leads MN
toperceive that Madame Pleiiier gives photographs
Of scenes and persons while Gauticrinnishesa Pc
ture dazzling with polychrOnatic TINS
The pictures in this singular repository are wei
worth inspection They include paintings ny olh
and nulern masters, watercoors' IVORY types eocH-
jngs. enravIngS. photographs, original she1chcS'
paintiurs on lsinglass, and forth. Above the
mantel in magnificent bronze frame hahgs
q genuice Guido Rcni, found in SPAN Win Il can
vas fifty by thirty inches in size. The painting,
Biblical in character though in comparatively good
condition has been twice "restored," once by an
owner one hundred years ago, ana latciy Dy Se"-
York artist. Another large picture IS that OF
n clipper ship entering the harbOr of Hong g-hong
upder full sail The frame of itself is remarkaDe'
being of beautifully and intrcately carved wood
Then there are a fruit piece by Preyer' German
winter scene by Tang, and French landscape Oy
Blasseti. very curious work is the representation
of a Hndoo wedding, painted on islnsIass' Inc
collection is enlarged by copy of Geromes Egyp
tan Sword Dance; and an etching OF Nun
lacsv's Milton debating Paradise Lost to hl'
daughters" Some paintings on ivory by Moham
medan artists are extremely unique ana beautIui
They are executed in the highest style OF that pc
culiar order of ait SO delicate are their lines ina
ther were necessarily painted under the microscope
and one of them--a small vignette OF moo
.Jehan "-monopolized not less than three months
this fatiguing kind of labor
But the cabinets are more interesting than eithe
hoo fi.r4a FllftfTa aqr
specinens of minerals and stones are CAREFUL
classified One case contains about five THOUSAND
shells aud corals another about one thousand mis-
celancons curiositiCs gathered in every quarter 0
the globe In the last mentioned, io1 instance
Is the hand Of a royal Egyptian mummy; atIaoho
20 one of the fingers is a green Jasper scaraoau'
the cartouch of which friend of Mr.. Vincent
skilled IN the antiquities Of Egypt, has decphcred
This enbalmed hand-fOr there IS no question ot II
genuneness-was originally part Of the body
the son of Thotmes ". (and the great grandson O
the famous ThUtmes ILL., Of the eghteent
DYNASTY. This was the dynasty under which tn
exodus OF the Israelites occurred. Thotmes ".
spppcsed TO have erected the Great Sphinx, or a
least the small temple between its paws. The caI
touch is unusually symmetrical. indicating that II
owner lived in the golden age of Egyptian history
Besides il contains symbols of his rank and Ollie
and the name of the city where be lived. Aa-Nel
which Is of course historic 1t may therefore b
said that in visiting the author OF Ihrongh al
Through the Tropics" and " NorsS Lapp and fInn'
one literally shakes hands with three thousau
years ago, and is brought face TO face with Nose
and Aaron by the uumnied fingers OF a Pharaoh
In another portion of the room is numisinatIc co
lection, arranged in nine large trays. The Aslati
coins collected during the arluOus process oil ra'
elIinn. are very rare and valuable. Thibet, Mon
ol;a. China and Persia ara largely repTeSented.
peichboring table is covered with a heap of in
mense albums, plethoric with many hundreds q
photographs of strange places and peoples in tn
I;,.to Lnoyn nOoLs of the world.