San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-03-09

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use at all. Inever use cruelty in train.
ing them. Only patience When i
take on g new cage OF beasts i work
10 get them used TO me; feed them |;
cleaning the cage; talking 10 them; all
that sort OF thing; before go in among
them. Then do that. It's ticklish
piece OF business going in the first
time, and pick my chance for it when
they are specially peaceable. 60
right in, Just as il IL were u matter OF
course, but I keep my eyes about me,
It's all humbug that mans eye has
any power over wild beast Your
eyes are to watch their motions-that's
all. They'll find out quickly enough
il You are getting very careless.
They are always sure enough TO
be watching you all the time. Are
they intelligent? Well, there's ms much
difference among 'em rs there is among
men. i can train really-intelligent
lion, right from the wilds, in about four
weeks, so he will do all that the lion
kings make them do. A lioness always
takes couple of weeks longer, and so
does leopard or tiger. You can't
get hyena we'll in hand inside OF two
months. They're the meanest of brutes.
They never understand anything but n
club. The easiest to train, because
they know the most, are pumas.
1 can teach puma all it needs to know
in four weeks. Affection? Teach
those fellows to love you? That's all
nonsense. They'll fawn and fawn on
you, and You'll think you've done it,
may be. Then you get into the cage,
if You want to, without your whip, or
when they're in bad temper, and find
out for yourself what they'll do. See
that dent in the side of my head and
those deep scars on my arm! There are
more down here"-patting his leg.
Got 'em from the best-trained lions
You ever saw. It's awful, sometimes,
10 have one of those fellows kind o.
smell of you, and yawn and shut his
jaws, say, close to one of your knees
See my wife, there? She's the Pan
ther Queen just as I'm Lion King.
Her pets are playing with her now, but
they've scratched her we'll, tell you.
There's great odds among them, though,
and that young puma with her head up
to be kissed is what you might call
gentle. Only they're all treacherous.
Every lion king gets sick of it after
awhile. could name more than Il
dozen of the best who have given it
up right in the prime of life. Once
they gave it up, nothing II tempt 'em
inside of cage again. You see, every
now and then, some other tanner gets
badly clawed and bitten. They've all
been clawed and bitten more or less
themselves. The strain on mans
nerves is pretty sharp-sure death
around him all the while. And the pay
isn't anything like what it was"
1t may be true that the strictly pred
atory animals of the cat kind are never
to be trusted, but the now three-year-
old hippopotamus of the leading Amer
lean "show" seems to have formed a
genuine attachment for his keeper, a
young Indian. He is savage enough to
all other men, and when out of his den
for his very limited exercise it is fun
for all but the person chased to see how
clumsily, yet swiftly, he will make a
sudden charge" after luckless by
stander. After that, he will crustily
and gruntingly obey his keeper, and
permit hisself to be half. enticed, half
shouldered into his den again. There
should be more room for brains and,
consequently, for affection, in the
splendid front of lion, than between
the sullen eyes of even u very youthful
hippopotamus.
The keeper" question is one of
prime importance in collecting and ma
naging wild animals, Trainers of the
right kind are scarce, and, although
high pay hardly can be afforded, it will
not do to put rare and costly animals
in the care of stupid or ignorant men.
Such qualities as courage, patience,
good temper and natural aptitude for
the occupation are also needful and
they are not always to be had for the
asking. Unless the right men are Sc
cured, however, the failure OF the
menagerie is only question OF time.
AS for the specimens themselves, 1t
is much easier to obtain them than it
once was, owing to the better facilities
for transporting them from the several
"wild-beast countries" Catching them
in their native wildernesses has been a
regular trade for ages.
The market price of a menagerie
animal of any kind varies from time to
time, like that of other merchandise,
according to the demand and supply.
A writer stated recently that zebras arc
sold at little over $4,000 pair, gnus
at about $500 a pair, while rhinoceroses
! cost some $4,000 per pair and tigers
about 81 500 each. A short time ago,
however, and perhaps now, a very good
"uneducated" tiger could be bought in
London for from $500 to $500. The
same beast, the moment he takes kind
dly to learning and promises to be
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