Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-12-10
MANY Wild BEASTS.
e HAMBURG FIRM THAT is READY
TO SUPPLY ANY ANIMAL.

TO SUPPLY ANY ANIMAL.
A City to VThicl, Merchants All Over the (
World Go for wild Animal Supplies .
and Ro.ins Sea1aen Bring Their Strange !
MISUNDERSTANDING Expeditions.
The animal importers have their heed !
quarters in that part OF Hamburg known |
to tourists and others Us ''St. Psul's," IA !
lii reputed suburb OF che Old Esnsa torn |
where sailors of all countries meet. Here !
the big building Is situated. and from she |
exterior one gets the viz n e+rucsure |
which looks more IKE a ST. .cUse for cot |
ton, oil and general merrhandise than it |
does like anything else Il is plein build |
ing, but within there is enough to occupy
ones attention for nonths, that is If he be
possessed Of animal instincts. Within she
four walls is mammoth yard or garden,
and this is divided into 600 or 700 smaller
yards or pens, which are occupied by ami
mails from all zones and eountries crowded
together The strong, ferocious gorilla
from the primeval wood Of Africa, the
cotton tails" from San Gabriel valley,
| California as well az the bold, soaring con-
| dor from the highest mountain peaks of
! Che Andes are represented by many speci-
| mems.
Ordinarily only purchasers known or in
! troduced to the firm are allowed to inspect
| the garden, but limited number of cards
I Of admission are issued every month and
presented ~ those who wish them. On
entering one passes the office, where are
employed forty clerks or more, Of whom
several are occupied in keeping account
of the arrival and departure of animals, as
these only stay there a few days before
leaving for their final destination. In the
garden there Is an energetic corps OF men
who, armed with sharp knives and pistols,
are willing to dare most any danger. Many
OF the keepers have been there ten years or
more, and are accordingly acquainted with
all the peculiarities of the profession, They
are, or ought TO be for their own safety, ex-
cellert marksmen, acquainted with the life
of an explorer, they being sent as assist
ants in the searches for animals in all parts
of the world. Not few of these men have
been to South America. where they have
been sent to capture ostriches. There they
were compelled to spend days and some
times weeks upon the llanos the hottest
u1aces on earth, and on horseback chase
the feet mosssters and throw the bola at
their necks.
| Six, seven and eight expeditions are sent
,
wholly of experienced men. They general
ly consist OF few OF the old hands, few
apprentices and volunteers mostly anna
teur sportsmen, under the direction of a
staff officer. They start out maybe for
the plains OF America, jungles of Africa,
Tasmania or Alaska, and when they ar
rive at their destination they employ a
many natives as they think necessary and
plan the work of capturing certain ami
mails in that district. There is some diff
ference between catching tigers and ele-
plants alive and shooting quail or SPUR
| rels, and if a naturalist wants to have fun
and thrilling experience he should send
in his application TO accompany the next
expedition in search of gorillas or grizzly
bears or some other animal known to be
no respecter of persons or anything else
| Through the large menagerie Of the
house of Hagenbeck are long rows Of
cages, which vary FROM small wooden ones
built one above the other, for birds and
, other small animals, to high cages formed
of heavy bars OF iron, some OF the bars Of
which are two inches thick, running at the
top and bottom on small wheel or ball
bearings. Every cage or pen is marked in
| Latin. The keeper said it was a q eat
| sight to Deis0ia some wild Quadrupeds ac-
, customed to unlimited freedom confined
]
stretch their iegs, much more turn around
a few months seems to break many of
their savage habits, but they are never too
| good to claw at n piece Of human flesh
when within reach of their cages, and the
majority of the keepers there can exhibit
marks of claws as well as those of teeth
! upon their hands and arms made by a
ferocious tiger, perhaps Tasmanian wolf
or some other species of the cat family
The tanner animals are merely fenced in,
as it were, in small yards, and here and
!, there are groups of Japanese chamois,
Gillian alpacas, antelopes, deer 1ebras
and the like.
The firm has no little difficulty in get
ting Asiatic elephants since the govern
ment passed bill for their protection. But
there are their African brothers on hand
all the time, and occasionally visitor
there may Sc q herd of a score or more of
well cared TO- elephants The expeditions
find ii no easy matter chasing these mon
sters in the jungles, and it's only by sharp
! games and traps that elephants are cap
tured. They can fight as no other animal
can, and one blow IF an elephants trunk
has laid many "A sportsman low. The same
hardships are experienced in getting croco-
diles from the Amazon and upper Nile
The firms expedition sent out for them
when it returns to the garden it carries
crocooiles some thirty feet long with it.
1t cannot be said that all of the animals
are secured by such expeditions; for in
stance, the dromedaries are simply ordered
from Crimea, while a large number of
other animals fall into the concerns hands
by chance. Everything in the line of rare
and peculiarly formed creatures of the for
est. field and seas is bought by the Hagen
becks, and people who devote time to trap
ping are aware of this fact. The German
city Is a good place for bargains, as nearly
every deep sea vessel carries something to
that port which the firm is anxious to get
and for which it is willing to pay good
prices. Every sailor is armed with some
fine specimen from the tropics or arctic re-
gions. and from these rare and unlocked
for quadrupeds are sometimes secured
Providence Journal
I Professor Holders Views of Mari