The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-20
GREAT GLoBE-TRoTTER.
Robert Dance Tells of Strange Adven-
lures in PARKWAY Lands.
81, D..

! From the Denrer NeTs.
There is no county under the canopy OF
heaven in which a man that's dead broke
can recover his fortune so quickly as he can
| in the United States Of America"
! Ire speaker was seated in chair In the
rotunda Of the Victor hotel. and as he con-
cluded the sentence he gave several huge
whiffS at his cigar. filling the atmosphere
| in the vicinity with cloud OF smoke
! which hung like dense fog over the head
of the smoker. He was small, spare,
nervous man, with face OF unusual in
telhgeuce and the air of a man who had
seen much of the world and was
| fully prepared to sustain any position
he might assume. He was clad in
neatly fitting suit Of blue. On one of his
fingers was a curiously wrought ring of
pure gold, consisting of fine bands ending
in the head and tail of a snake. A green
stone about three inches long did service as
a watch charm. 1t was afterward learned
that the ring was present of a native
prince of India, and that the stone was
| formerly nose ornament of one Of the
bellies of the island of New Zealand.
The stranger proved to be Robert Dance,
| one of the most extensive travellers that mas
| ever lived, and a man whose history reads
stranger than fiction. Born in Australia
! thiTty-eight years ago. his peregrinations
| began while he was still child, and his en-
| tire life has been passed in a succession of
| excursions into countries, kno WI and IN
known, civilized and barbarous. At one
season of the year he has basked in the hot
sun of Central Africa and at another shiv-
cred on the snow-covered peaks of the
! Himalayas. If there has ever been literal
globe-trotter, Robert Dance is that man.
| Whether peering into the catacOmbs of
| Rome, climbing the pyramids of Egypt,
| drawing water from Jacobs well or trav-
ersing the Andes on the back of a patient
/ Il - l.
| permit the passage of air in t1at high alti-
tude, Dance is the same dissatisfied, erratic
beng, pushing forward for new worlds to
conquer. To obtain connected history OF
his travels from such man was soon found
to be an impossibihty, SO new tack was
taken with some degree OF success.
How have l raised funds for such ex-
tensive journeys" repeated the traveller in
answer to an inquiry. "Well, principally
through luck. l am in turn merchant
horse trader, Spectator, anything thar
gives show for raising the cash. l bet on
horse races, and am almost invariably sue
cessful. One day on the Island of Ceylon
bought pile of pearl oysters. which was
selling at auction. Paid $40 for the pile;
hired some natives to 60 through it,
and before night had realized 81, 400
on my little investment. | was one of
the first persons on the diamond fields
of Africa, and soon afterward sailed
for England it'll $4,000 worth Of stuff in
the rough in my possession. In fact, fort
une seems to come my way whether | make
any particular exertion to obtain it or n IT.
1t is true have made several long trips
from England in company with others who
bore all the expenses, but it has generally
been my custom to travel alone l have
visited almost every country of the globe,
some of them many times. and l suppose
have made the circuit Of the world at least
ten times"
What are some of the striking scenes
you have witnessedF
ITO an old traveller everything becomes
monotonous as time passes, but will name
few interesting points; for instance the
Island of st. Helena, where Napoleon Bona
parte was first buried. Everybody knows
how the great rock rises out of the sea. You
ascend from the ship by means of 365 steps,
and the first object visited is the little cot
tage where Napoleon lived and, next, his
tomb. The tomb is square, and is built of
marble, with steps leading down to where
the body was placed seventy years ago. The
spot is made beautiful by the most lovely
flower beds 1 ever saw. Then there are
many interesting points in India. The
towers of silence, in which the Parsees bury
their dead, are striking objects TO a trav-
eler. These towers are round and are $50
feet high. The top is reached by means of
ladders. On the top is an iron grating, and
here the bodies of the high-caste Parsees
are laid to be torn to pieces by the vul-
lures An excavation, carried to a great
depth, connects beneath the tower with the
river to convey away those portions of the
body which fall through the grating.
1.-The most beautiful building | ever saw
was the Tai, at Agra about l 400 miles in the
interior of Northern India, above Calcutta.
The structure is built of w-white marble,
and looks as if it were completed yesterday.
| A = h. g I'll; A.
British soldiers gained entrance to the Tai,
and with their bayonets they scooped out
| bushels of rubies emeralds, sapphireS and
| other precious stones with which the in
terror of the editice was ornamented. The
bayonet marks may be distinctly seen. 1t
is said that the entire Koran is engraved in
stone in the interior of the building.
didn't stay long enough to verify the truth
| of the assertion.
cat one time" continued Mr.. Dance, 81
saw 700 elephants camped under the mango
trees. 1t was the annual picnic which the
princes of Northern India enjoy about
Christmas time. Some of the princes travel
500 miles on the backs of these animals in
order to reach the camping place. l Staid
several days on the spot AMI witnessed many
curious featS of juggling, for the best Jug
glers of the country were there.
| Zone juggler brought out a little animal
about the size of ferret. 1t is called a
mongoose A string was attached to the
mongoose and at the distance of about
twenty feet was fastened to stake Then
big cobra was produced and let loose
upon the defenseless little creature. Do
you believe it9 The mongoose killed the
cobra. There was hot fight and the snake
tried to crush his antagonist to death by
winding round his body, but the little fell
low had no bones and crept out of the Shiny
folds uninjured.
ION the same day a juggler brought out
an empty basket and turned it upside down
on the ground over a little boy. Then he
thrust his sword repeatedly through the
basket. We could hear the screams of the
child and see the blood flow, and just as the
crowd was rushing at the man he kicked
over the basket and the boy was nowhere
to be seen. A few moments later he came
running from the crowd. This trick has
never been revealed to foreigners. l also
tasted mango fruit grown apparently from
seeds planted in flower-pots sitting in a row
on the ground. We could see the young
tree grow and the green fruit appear aud
ripen."
Mr. Dance said that on one trip in India
his palanquin-hearers became frightened at
the presence of Bengal tigers, and, wading
out into the Ganges river, they stood all
night IN to their shOulderS in the wafer