Omaha daily bee., 1888-12-29


country, and thousands of them must emi-
CRATE every year or starve. Therefore, it
seemed inevitable that they would still pour
into this country in spite of the law against
them. But a new door has been opened in
place of the Que Just closed, and it will be in
teresting to watch how they will fare in their
new habitat Russia has opened southern
Siberia to the ChiuGmau, and ten thousand
coolies have been promised work on the new
railroad that is TO connect KiaChta on
an aIlluent of Lake Baikal with
Nladivosstock on the Pacific ocean. Many
parts of southern Siberia are capable of being
highly developed, particularly in the Baikal
region, kaChta is well-kuown TO the Chi.
nese of the north, for it is the frontier town
where they carried their goods for sale aud
barter. They crossed the Desert of Cobb on
dromCdaries, but this system was becoming
insupportable and impractICable as the trade
developed, and the railroad is to take its
place. Doubtless many of the Chinese will
settle down cOntentedly in southern Siberia
and make it their home as it is almost their
own land Aud 1t may be that under an
autocratic government they will be better
behaved than IN the states whose freedom
was too much for them.
-.
Whilst English news agencies are fabricat-
ing the most obvious falschoods with regard
to Stanley's whereabouts, King Leopold of
Belgium has taken the matter to heart, and
has shown more agitation and sorrow than
kings are in the habit of feeling when any
one of their agents comes to grief on their
business. 1t was always surmiscd that
Stanley would not have accepted the com
mission to relieve Emin Bey, if it had not
been his intention to do something in the in
tcrest of the Congo state of which Leopold
is the founder. What that something was
is not known. But Leopold has shown real
grief, as if blaming himself for the misfor-
tune which has befallcn Stanley. This king
of the brave f3clgiaus is a wonderful fellow,
very queer, an undcuiaOle crank, and vet
possessing sound, good sense. He uses his
royal privilege of doing what he likes by
going barcheadcd on all possible oppor-
tunities, which is the reverse of
kings generally, for they keep their hats on
whilst all the rest of the crowd around them
are rcverently uncovered. Some may think
that the king is inclined to be baldheaded
and does this to preserve his hair, but the
fact is that he has "a strong aversion to Il
cold III the head, and believes that this may be
averted by accustomng his unprotected nod
die to weather ut all times. He has spent very
large sums over his west Africa state aud
probably would have reaped considerable
benefit from his venture had it not been for
the outbreak of the mahdi. Things look
gloomy for LeopOldville now for the ivory
comes from the regions around Albert Ny
ANA lake, and tnerc can be no doubt that
this whole region is up in arms against the
W
English 1t probably will be long years be-
fore tranquility is restored.
The girls of Aphrodites' isle are being criti-
ci2ed very freely by "a correspondent in
Cyprus. of the Chicago Times. He cannot
sec any beauty in them, but detects resem-
blenccs in their physiOgnomy to the image of
Venus Aphrodite found by General Di Ce-
suola in his temple on the island. 1t is, says
this correspondent, an interesting fact that
all the women of CSprus except the most de.
cidedly ugly ones have the same contour to
the nose as seen in the image of the goddess
made COO to l,OO0 years before the christian
era And then he attacks the characters of
the poor things, and says that their want of
beauty is caused by their want of virtue. 1t
is the prevalent belief that General Di
Cesnola never founda statue of Aphrodte in
Cyprus in any temple, and the warfare be-
tween him and Mons f'euardent which so
thrilled New York, was based on that pecu-
liar fact Dl CesnOla believed that a small |
statuette of Il female mni1led up in garments |
obviously fashioned by the milliners of a cold |
country, with long loose sleeve like those |
that Chinese and japanese ladies weep in,
was Aphrodte, and he WAS confirmed in this |
view by the fact thai she held pressed against |
her side a mirror similar to those manufac- |
tured of bronze by Both Phoenicans and |
Etruscans. Feuardent said that this was a |
statuette of the goddess Elpis, and volun- |
tecred to make an affidavit to that effect. and |
he charged that Di Cesnola had employed a |
workman to carve the mirror out of the |
abundance of the lady's robe. Di Cesnola |
declared that this fabricated lie, and |
microscOpical investigation showed that the |
stone had been untouched for thousands of |
years. But its position also showed that in |
the remote past. ages before Romulus and |
Remus were suckled by the she wolf, the |
mirror had been added. No one has ever dis |
covered who Elpis was, and why Feuardent |
knew that this was a statuette of her. But this |
is the only statue of Aphrodite that D Ces- |
nola found, and as the nose is decidedly |
Clipped, the resemblance that the correspon |
dent found must be largely the creature of |
his imagination.
-.
For the first time in his long career as an |
heir apparent, the prince of Wales is under q |
cloud of unpopularity. He who is colonel of |
so many regiments and has worn SO many |
uniforms gracefully and uncomplainingly, |
has found one of them too much for him, and |
has resigned his command, and possibly |
given away that particular uniform to his
valet. He was captain general of the An
cient and Honorable Artillery of the City of
London, which was originally an archer or
ganzaton, but did not disband when bows
were broken and arrows flung away, simply |
yielding to the inevitable and adopting match
oldfashioned and were succeeded by the
arquebuss, the London artillery company
adopted the arquebuss. The day came when
the arquebuss was superseded by the musket
and the London artillery armed themselves
promptly with muslSets. Following |
the American idea of the rife, the
Britt sh army chiefs furnished their soldiery
with Enfield rifles, and the London artillery
promptly repudiated Brown Bess and pre-.
sented arms with the Enfield. Lastly came
the days of the Martini Henry and the
Sharp, and the London artillery have hand
led both. But did the London artillery ever
go forth to battleG Not precisely; that is
not for some time past. They distinguished
themselves highly in the middle of the sew
enteenth century, and under the leading of
Fairfax and Cromwell wiped the floor with
some of the kings choicest troops. Since |
the coming in of the Protestant succession
they have not done any fighting. In the
present time these bold artillerymen are
rich bankers, brokers and merchants, and
they never even fire off their guns Public
opinion for the moment is swayed against
the prince by the moneyed men of Lombard
and Threadnecdle streets, but the whole of
4 ha and the militia and |