The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-04-04

tured by an English frigate. Again we aN
carried back past the age of gunpowdef
and are examining great crossbows of steel
that wind up with Il crank, bows too pow
erful for even Robin Hood naked strength.
A French warrior in armor seems to
grasp his terrible double handed sword,
the blade about feet long and the han
die giving it another foot and a half.
There is no more blood chilling weapon
among them all than that curved knife 16
inches long, that was taken 800 years ago
from one of the famous reef pirates off the
coast of Morocco. The blade is an inch
and half wide and has an edge to split a
hair; a large diamond shines In the britt of
the handle and the scabbard is strongly
bedded with small polished ocean shells.
In the armory hangs one trophy from the
sale of William Henry Hurlbert's collec-
tions-the collection that was sold when he
took himself to England 1t is the smoked
head of an Amazon chief, head that still
shows that the chief was a man of powerful
physiognomy, 1t is not repulsive looking
thing, because the uninitiated would al
ways take it for a curious piece of clever
workmanship, black hair and all, but when
you find you are looking at the head of a
mantle veritable head in which he once
did his thinking-it is rather startling.
Cruelty to Burglars.
In passing through the halls one comes
upon odd barriers, steel gates something
like those that bar the way of the adven.
turous on the ferryboats. They show that
beyond is some one of the many rooms de-
voted to what have called Mr.. Morosini' 3
museum, and that without his permission
you cannot get even so far as its locked
door The guarding of the whole house is
as complete and effectual as modern inge-
nuity and money can make it. A big alarm
bell hangs above the roof, and electricity
helps the Waterman. Any untoward fun
bling with locks, at windows or doors after
the house is closed results in ringing not
only the alarm bell, but bells in all the
bedrooms and at the same time all the
lights are automatically turned on. 1t is 6
case of real cruelty to burglars, for they
could never find place more to their minds
if only they could get in it,
How fitted to their needs, for instance, il
this case of 500 Chinese and Japanese coins
They are of the purest gold. Four hundred
are about the size of $40 gold piece, anC
100 are 6 inches one way, the other anC
half an inch thick. A model of the toni
of an Egyptian king is in pure silver anC
weighs hundred pounds
One cabinet is given up to 100 snuffboxes
all having historical as well as artistic
and intrinsic value, and nearly all have fig
ured as royal gifts-neaTly all have indeed
been given by one sovereign to another
Gold and diamonds they are oftenest made
of and many contain some of the fines
specimens of miniature painting IN tn,
world.
A Fortune In Precious Metals.
Another cabinet contains so pieces of golC
plate. Among other things it contains 81
solid gold plates foot in diameter, foul
gold loving cups = feet high and of pecu
harly fine workmanship two urns of thu
same metal 2 feet high, 8 inches across thu
mouth and fitted with covers,
The gold in the cabinet above would coil
into as much as 100000. More valuable
than its silver is the artistic quality OF /
statue OF Isis Though 1t is feet high, II
Is made Of the solid metal and weighs 800
pounds.
Strange gods perch and squat above the
cabinets, idols from India and China and
Japan, and many a one among them il
fairly encrusted with crude diamonds.
They look down upon such piece of mod
ernity as the Ascot cup won by the horse
La Grange.
The medal presented by congress to Gen
eral Jackson for his defense of New Or
leans holds its place among things historic,
and the spoons and knives and forks that
once belonged to Thomas Jefferson keep II
company. They were obtained through the
Randolph family of Virginia, who had
themselves got them by inheritance.
Much more imposing, but not more i'm
pressive to the good American, is writing
desk given by Napoleon to his brother
jerome. 1t is furnished with inkstand
candlesticks and shutters of solid gold, and
on scale that can BIO inferred from the
fct that the top of the inkstand measures
4 by 3inches and is half an inch thick.
Before History Dawned.
Things more interesting to the imagina-
ton than the gold and diamQnds that bays