The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1889-05-23

one claimed that he had the cheapest shop
These brokers are found in every Indian bazar.
They get a commission on the goods sold to the
purchasers they bring, and there are thousands
of them engaged in this business in India. In
one Province, according to the last census,
one tenth of the men i'll commerce were brokers,
and there were 1900 of them. The rate of
commission they receive is generally one cent
in %, with the understanding that if for
eigner be taken in they shall have about half
the profits These brokers are of special caste.
and they have their own customs. They DO no
hard work, and the Indian name for them
means cheat.
Calcutta has a botanical garden of 800 acres,
and here is the big banyan tree of the geogra-
phies. It is, perhaps the most wonderful tree
IN the world, and it grows as luXuriantly now
as it did when you and I were boys at school.
The biggest political meeting in America could
be held under its branches, and its trunk
would fill good-siZed parlor From It's great
branches smooth round shoots have darted
down into the ground, aud these stand like
props under them. Some of them are like the
trunks of trees, and the banyan is one of the
most wonderful things in nature 1t is like
family where each child represented by a root,
puts his savings into the common capital, and
the whole works on together. There are 10
of these root-like children Of the great banyan
tree, each of which draws nourishment from
the earth, and its sap carries it up to feed the
leaves of its magnificent parent. There are
mahogany trees in this garden, and there is
herbarum which has collection of dried
plants of 10000 species. The orchid-houses are
wonderful, and India is the home of the
orchids. You drive through avenues of palms,
and among the trees you note the cinchOna,
the bark of which produces quinine This
tree was brought from South America to India,
and this is the first place in which quinine was
ever reared artifcialIy. The Government took
hold of it and distributed seeds and plants to
such people as would take care of them. The
result is that there are now over 5000 acres of
such trees in India, and the profits of the busi-
ness run well up into the hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars year.
From NC NC botanical gardens We drove to tho
geological gardens, anu lad fair chance to
study there the animal creation OF vi.ls part Of
the world.
Calcutta is in the Province of Bengal, and
there are here dozen royal Bengal tigers.
One OF them measures II feet from nose to tail,
and it has q record OF having eaten 200 natives.
1t had been fed just before l passed by the iron
bars of its cage, and [ poked my umbrella
through and touched the meat. With a roar it
sprang against the bars, and my face paled and
my heart went into my boots as / thought Of
the possibilities in case the bars should break.
The keeper warned NE away, and told me the
record of tho beast. Hundreds of men are
killed by tigers in India every year, and hun
dreds of tigers are killed by sportsmen. Vii
lagos are often depopulated by single tiger
visiting them night after night and taking off
dog or baby. The people become frightened
and move. The Government gives a big re-
ward for dead tigers The skulls of such as are
brought in are crushed, in order that the re-
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