Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-08

| snakes, but the traveller in Madagascar has
nothing to fear from ferocious beasts, and
the huntsman will find little sport the re 'ex-
cept in shooting ducks and crocodiles.
Familiar With . Sacred Nobleman.
Mr.. Taylor, becoming interested as he pro-
ceeded with his description, narrated the
story OF his sport shooting crocodiles. Said
he: 'There is sacred island in the Lake
Itasy on which lives a sacred nobleman,
along with his wives I was determined to
see this old fellow, but found that my
porters had an unutterable horror of cross
ing the lake. They believed that it would
be death for them to 60 to that sacred
island.
IT said to them, You will CO.. That noble
man Is not your king, but I am now, and
I used another argument more awe-inspir-
ing than the sacred presence of
shat mysterious nobleman could posi-
bly, have been. So the men padded
me out and at last I touched the island, and
there stood the nobleman, with much as
sumed dignity and real establishment, his
robe wrapped around him and he glaring at
me- But went up to him and hit him
humping whack on the shoulder, saying:
'Hullo, old man, how are your and he
melted at once. He was very courteous to
me, showed me around the island, where
there was nothing particular to see, and then
indicated where the crocodiles were.
My men padded me out to a point near
the shore and there, summing upon the
banks were hundreds of enormous croco-
diles. Some of them must have been fifteen
feet in length. I shot number of them
but it was dangerous to try to capture any.
In fact the water swarmed with them SO that
I thought at one time they would overturn
the canoe. I have seen crocodiles in other
y,op pfc nf ho nr11 hut r %lo&
would equal these. One Of the porters took
me to place where found some crocodile
eggs. They are very large and have some
in my collection of curiosities which am
going to loan to the Worlds Fair
Taylor Attacked by the sakalavas.
I asked Mr.. Taylor if he met with any re-
sistance from the natives or whether he
found any of the cannibal tribes said to live
in Madagascar. He replied: "Exceptine
on the west coast of Madagascar I was
treated everywhere with the utmost court
esy. As evening approached when we en-
tered the village would select my hut for
the night and the people with perfect court
esy abandoned it to me and for the night I
was the guest of the tribe That is their
Idea of hospitality. Even in the capital
they gave me special honors, but as I ap-
preached the west coast where the ferocious
SakalaVas live had reason to understand
why it is that they are dreaded by the white
people. We approached that country in
canoes on the river. A party just ahead of
mine, of which French physician was the
leader, was fired upon by these fellows from
ambush and most of them were killed I
heard of it. I could not turn back, nor
could remain where I was, and began to
prepare to defend myself and party. I did
so successfully"
Mr.. Taylor seemed 1oath to 90 into
particulars of what. must have been
bloody skirmish. He admitted that he
was attacked; that two of his party were
killed; that battle was fought for some
hours, and that the savages were at length
He seemed sincerely to regret
that he had been compelled to use his
weapons and declared that that was the only
unpleasant recollection of his trip.
Exquisite Specimens of the Orchid.
Upon the west coast Mr.. Taylor found
some exquisite specimens of orchids. He