The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-04-28
Our @liu.
A MENAGERIE AT SEA.
From the Ne,c York Sun.

Quillmane for water, some of our casks
having been stove We had scarcely
made fast at warf when German came
abroad to offer us some queer freight He
was an agent of a great wild animal firm at
Hamburg, and had just come down to the
coast with rare lot. There was black
two horned rhinoceros, or borele, three
lions, two panthers and three monstrous
serpents. He had expected to find the
firms ship at this port, but through some
misunderstanding she had not shown up.
He wanted to get the animals to Cape
Town as soon as possible, and was willing
to give us good price to take them. We
were chock full below matches, and the idea
Of taking the cages on deck was far from
pleasant.
good taIker, and before we had our water
in the captain had decided on taking the
freight A couple of natives were to go
along to care for them, and there would be
no expense to the brig. We looked over
the cages and found them apparently strong
and secure, and when the work of loading
began we had very little trouble. The
rhinoceros was transferred to a pen of
wood and iron, which gave him very little
room to spare, and he behaved himself like
a gentlemen while we were getting him
aboard. Indeed, the whole collection SEEM
ed to be under spell. The lions acted
like frightened dogs and the panthers
never uttered snarl, while the big serpents
seemed to sleep through it all. We made
our offing about sunset, and darkness had
no sooner settled down and the brig got
her motion in the seas than we found our
selves treated to a concert which made
every mans hair stand on end. 1t may
be that the animals were seasick, or that
the motion of the ship frightened them.
They broke out with howls and roars and
yelps and screams, and nothing would quiet
them.
The rhinoceros didn't propose to stand
neutral in that affair, and he uttered such
snorts aud "woofs," and made such efforts
to break out of his pen that some of the
men were ready to make for the crosstree.
1t came on darkish night, with the wind
blowing in gusts, and not q man aboard
that brig closed his eyes in sleep. When
the lions were not roaring the panthers
were screaming, and about once in five
minutes the borele would utter loud
''woof p and made an attack on his pen.
1t did no good to throw feed to the brutes;
hunger had nothing to do with their con-
duct. Each one had been captured singly,
and each was full grown and dangerous.
g fha 1rrhf Of
each other and the rough motion of the
brig conspired to throughly excite each
and every one The serpents were wide
awake and vengeful, and the rhinoceros
was mad clear through. A more danger
GUS and vindictive creature than the black
rhinoceros cannot be found on earth. He
is afraid of nothing under the sun. He is
boiling over with the sulks twenty-tliree
out of the twenty-four hours each dag in
the week. Odds is the difference to him
whether he charges an elephant or lion.
The first thing which comes in sight sets
him off on mad charge, and he will never
cool down while there is show to wreak
vengeance.
The fellow we had on deck was piece
of ugliness weighing from l 200 to l 400
pounds. He had been caught in pit,
and there had been no end of trouble to
get him down to the coast. While he was
in close quarters and had little show to
smash things, it was evident from his ac-
tions that he would do the best he could.
He kept raking his great horn back and
forth across the bars of his pen, and when
ever any one went near him he exhibited
his anger in dozen ways.
The night wore away at last, and when
daylight came the beasts ceased their racket.
They were less noisy on the second night,
and on the third we had no trouble at all.
On the fourth morning after leaving Quill
name, having had good breeze all the
time, we were to the. south of the lower
end of Madagascar, and well into the In
dian ocean. Soon after breakfast the
breeze died away, and by 9 o'clock we were
in dead calm, and it was hot enough on
deck to start the pitch in the seams. Every
sign indicated that we had lost the wind
for several hours. The surface of the
ocean was like glass, with only ground
swell running, and we had scarcely lost
steerage way when we were surrounded by
sharks l believe that fully 100 of the
monsters came prowling about us, and as
we had little or nothing to do the captain
readily granted us permission to bait them.
We threw over the shark hook, baited
with piece of salt beef, and it had scarcely
touched the water when fifteen foot shark
ran away with it. We tailed on to the
line and hauled him alongside in order to
get moose over his head to lift on, and
we were about ready to heaye and haul
when there was great crash on deck be-
hind US.
The captain and first mate were below,
and the second mate, who had the watch
on deck, was blessing tbe job of hauling in
our captive. We were all aft on the port
quarter, and for few minutes the animals
had been left to themselves. The cause Of
the smash was the rhinoceros breaking out
of his pen. The beast worked it in cute
way. He leaned his whole weight on one
side, and by and by, as the brig lifted and
then went down heavily in the next hollow,
the great jar, added to his dead weight,
broke the fastenings of the bars. As we
turned he was just emerging from the pen,
and at the same moment the lions and
panthers began to roar and scream. They
knew the ugly nature of the beast, and
they probably suspected what was coming.
The natives rushed forward, shouting and
gesturing, and hoping to drive the borele
back, but he was not to be intimidated.
His eyes began to snap and his tail to
switch, and all of sudden he lowered his
head and charged at US. Being small
craft, the space between the cabin roof and
the bulwarks was not wide enough to admit
of the body of the borele, but he made
several determined attemps to come at us
before he turned away
You would have thought the rise and
fall of the brig would have thrown him
down, or at least made him careful how he
moved about, but he never minded it, and
his legs were as firm under him as an old
sailors. We were after ropes to lasso him
when he drew back, wheeled around, and
charged forward. The first thing he came
to was the cage containing the serpents.