Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-07-09

In Demand.
Strolling over the Mission hills that form
vhe southern border of the San Gabriel val
ley, / suddenly came upon an old man
who was walking along In "A STOPPING po-
sition examining the ground carefully ut
every STEP About his neck was IA broad
band from which hung canvas bag. He
seemed astonished to see me and said was
the first person he had ever met there ex-
cept the Basque shepherd / showed him
some fossils had found not far away and
amazed him by promising to point out the
spot.
"You are not a collector" said the old
fellow. ~ can see that. +"
"Whyf" asked
"Why collectors never give away place
when they find anything. That's one Of
the principles Of the business. +"
assured him / was not collector
whereupon he gave me his confidence.
"Well, I'm a regular collector" he said.
"Three days week / leave Los Angeles
and take to the woods and collect No,
haven't any store to speak Of, though
have place, such as 1t is My business Is
selling to curiosity dealers all over the
country, and you would be astonished to
know how much stuff they take. There is
hardly city In the United States that
does not have curiosity store, and they
all want material from California and
Mexico Then there are the resorts Take
the old Cliff House. They used to sell tons
Of shells, corals bugs, spiders, sea fans and
stuff from all over the world Take Cata-
lima island You'd think they would have
curiosities enough there, but they buy tons
of stuff to sell to the tourists. So IL Is In
Florida and all over the country. It's nat
ural for people to want to buy something
at q place to remember IL by, and this
makes the demand. help to fill 1t, you
see Take spiders, for instance Why,
collect 8, 900 at least year on the average,
and I'm not doing 1t for my health or
pleasure, warrant you that. They sell,
and the bigger and uglier they are the bet
ter they go
"How do / catch them Why, this way"
and the old fellow took out OF his bag
bottle of water. This" he said, laugh
ing, lis the elixir Of spider life AS an ex-
ample, here Is trapdoor spider that i was
about TO take as you came over the hill. ~
Dropping upon his knees on the soft
grass and deity spreading 1t aside, the
collector showed IA rough object about as
large as half dollar. That" he said,
lis the door of the trap spider, or taran-
tula. Now watch" and he inserted "A little
hook under the edge and lifted. Something
was tugging at the other side.
THAT is the spider, 4" said the old man.
"He has heard us, and the moment l
touched the door up he rushed and took
hold Of the undcrside OF the door, which
is silken pad, and held on.
To prove this he lifted the trapdoor so
that could see the hairy legs of the tun-
mel maker and then with a jerk pulled it
open, the spider retreating to the bottom
of the silken column. 1t was then that the
bottle came into play, and little water
poured In soon drove out the hairy mon
ster, that was quickly transferred to an
other bottle and killed with chloroform.
II suppose have dug up thousands, but
still they come and still they go.
What people want them for / can't see.
Here is the ugliest thing on earth, and
my companion held up TO view a bottle
containing various many legged insects,
centipeds with frightful claws or claspers.
The average person would avoid such
horror, yet, according To my informant,
there Is an active demand for them. 81 get
them beneath old stones and the trunks OF
trees" he explained, and thousands are
sold every year. Then there are regular
tarantulas like this" taking from the bag
another bottle containing several gigantic
spiders. These live in holes and don't
build traps. They come out at night, and
the time TO catch them Is early In the morn
ing when they are going home after
nights forage Iprcserve them, stuff them
with cotton, and when stuck on card they
bring from to bits
sl..t- l~rt.x
tinued the old man, land that they are
deadly poison, but that Is not So have
been bitten several times, and here am.
them in Mexico and killed, but it's rare,
and you can put the majority OF such sto-
rtes down as yarns.
What do people want with such horri-
BILE creatures" / asked.
THE more horrible the more they want
them, - replied the collector 1.-The ten
derfoot buys one TO send home TO show his
girl or some one what big chances he is
taking So with the tourist. He wants
something remarkable to send back, and
we supply 1t. Some people want butter
iies some want beetles, and In one beetle
we have trade for the practical jokers
It's "a black fellow and found everywhere In
the early morning crawling along the sur
face. The moment you touch IL IL stands
on its head, and from gland shoots fluid
that looks like iodine, stains like IL and
has a most noisome odor.
THE birds OF southern California are In
great demand People want bluebirds and
hummers and the nests of humming birds,
especially when on an orange twig Then
the herons and aigrets-the big white fell
lows found down on the mArshes-are sold
as screens and for various ornamental pur-
poses. But birds are getting scarce, and
where you could get them In any quantity
with their eggs a few years ago they are
now very rare They have been killed of
by collectors
You'd be surprised at the amount of
curiosities made out OF wood, said my
communicative companion, who had made
himself comfortable on the sod 1--WE git
rid Of cords Of It, The bark Of the big trees
Is In great demand made into pincushions
and all kinds Of things Then our native
woods, as the manzanita, are cut into
canes, napkin rings and numberless 9TH
er articles The yucca stalk Is also In re
quest, TO be turned into all sorts Of things,
from furniture To pincushions One stalk
that is not supposed to be worth the carry
ing away would I'm the hands Of the curl
n. ~