Morning journal and courier., 1883-04-20
A Trader in Wild Animals.


 MT. Carl Hogendeck's Pursuit of Rare
 Beasts all Over the World.
 From the New York Times
 Six boxes of snakes were carted to the Central Park menagerie Saturday afternoon. MT. Carl Hagenbeck, the owner, of Ham, burg, Germany, arrived here on Saturday on the Bremen steamer Elbe. He is one of the largest dealers in wild animals in the world, and his geological garden in Hamburg is one of the chief attractions of that city, and he says it has contained at one time or another a greater variety of animals than any other one building since the dayof Noah's ark. Mr. Hagenbeck intends to stop in this eoun- try only fortnight He will visit Phiia- delphia, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis. Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls, see the various shows on exhibition along the route, sell them what they want, and buy from them what they do not need. for he relies upon the nenageries as well as the iungles and forests to supply his geological brokers office with material. He said to Times reporter yesterday afternoon, in one of the upper lofts of the museum, where he had retired to avoid the crowd. elf you think this is large menagerie should like to have you see mine. I have got S0,0O0 square feet of ground in my garden and sew eral strong buildings all connected with each other. In one keep the carnivorous ani mals in heavy wire cages. Sometimes have 20 lions there at one time. In another I have my elephants, ostriches, dromedarles, and antelopes. In another I keep my rep tiles-snakes, alligators, and the like. In the garden outside this building have cages under cover where I keep my birds and lit tie animals. I have 24 ostriches there now, four dromedaries, and great variety of every other kind of animals and birds. Be- sides that have several shipments on the way from the jungles and some on board ship bound to this country, which expect to receive in day or so.
 ''You think am rather young to have so extensive a business! am 3S years old, and began when I was 15. My father was a large fsh-dealer. The fishermen used to catch seals alive and bring them to my father. Once some one sold him polar bear, which he exhibited. That is how he came to look into the business. In 1864, about Il years after the importation of wild animals into Europe for show purposes was first attempt ed, an Italian named Casanova brought over large stock of animals. He couldn't sell them and couldn't make much money out of exhibiting them. Seeing something in the business, my father and made contract with Casanova to return to Africa and have the animals captured, and we would pay him so much per head. That is the way it began, In 1870 Casanova and another Italian named Migolette, both animal agents, had accumu lated large stocks and got into quarrel went to Algiers and bought them both out I think that was the largest shipment of ani- malls ever made. Among others that it con- tained were 15 giraffes, 5 elephants, l. n African rhinocerous, 6 lions, leopards, 30 hyenas 20 boxes of monkeys and 12 of birds and P Abyssinian goats to furnish milk for the young animals. The old animals are killed when they cannot be taken alive without loss of human life, and the young ones, If there are any, are secured, and the little mother less brutes had to be fed on goats milk. I have agents in Nubis, on the Somale coast, in Ceylon, at the Magellan straits in South America, in British America, and two agents in Central India. When 8 menagerie is sold out, buy the entire stock. I have bought and sold the same animal as many as five times. I send my agents out into the forests to capture the animals. I furnish them with money to remain out six months, or longer if necessary. I send my Nubian men out in September and they return in July. They hire large number of hamrans, or native hunters, who beat the jungles and do the manual labor of securing the prizes. They seek suitable locality, where they build 8 large corral They live in this and keep the animals there until they are ready to return to the coast. The return trip is abont the hardest part of the expedition. It takes nearly two months, and the hot sands of the Nubian desert have to be crossed The young animals have to be carried on camels, and the ostriches and large animals have to be lead or carried. It requires host of camels to follow the caravan and carry the provisions. When our party comes back 1t usually numbers 200 men and twice that number of beasts of prey and burden. From tho Nubian desert they go Cassala, which is the headquarters of visitors in that region. Thence they go to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, where the animals and necessary at tendants are shipped direct to Hamburg. Fromthere distribute them all over the world. send Louisiana alhgators to New York. African elephants to India, and llamas to Brazil. We capture our snakes by build- ing fires in the rocks where they hide, and when they come out, attracted by the flames, they are caught in nets. We only take boas and pythons. Whenever get poisonous reptile I give it away immediately
 ''If you will come down into the engine room will show you the largest snakes you eversaw. had twenty-four boxes sent to America containing 276. have sold number. These boxes hold huge Pythons, which were taken at Sundabunts near Calcutta" In the engine room there were two large dry goods boxes and number of visitors Mr. armed with stout cudgel and piece of carpet, raised the lid of the larger l box. There were five of the largest snakes ] ever brought to America. The largest was 20 feet long and inches through. They writhed around the box, coiling themselves l into innumerable hard and double knots, and discounted the rlcoholic serpent in real I istic effect. An inquisitive observer stuck l his head over the box and presented fine I mark for the big snake, who would most | have disfgured his countenance if l it had not been hampered by its companions. | It had to be pounded on the head with a | stick before it would retire, and the timid | members of the company armed themselves with rakes and hoes and viewed the second box from a safe distance The snakes had | not been fed for three months.