The morning news., 1897-04-18

OF the Paris papers took its readers into its
confidence Nand revealed the secret that
the quarries of Montmartre were full 0!
the precious material that people were tax.
ing long Journeys to procure. That was
a discovery sufficient to put into the SHADE
the adventures of Rocambole himself. But
unfortunately, the high hopes of the good
people of Montmartre were doomed to dis.
appointment.
Later the geographers affirmed that the
Crimea was the land of promise for thoss
who were seeking magnesite quarries
During the siege of Sebastopol a captain
in the engineer corps, while digging
trench, fancied that he had struck one Of
those precious deposits, and at the close
of the war brought back for his share Of
the booty a box containing some blocks
of the material which he had found whils
, under fire. He presented his specimens to
Partisan manufacturer, and asked him
to turn them as quickly as possible into
pipes, which he intended to present to soma
of his brother officers as souvenirs of the
Crimea. The meanufacturer told the story
as follows:
This officer, now returned with the
epaulettes of colonel made haste to pay
me the visit which he had previously an
nounced by letter and showed me his find.
The appearance of the material was fine
and bore so strong resemblance to meer-
schaum that a trained eye might easily
at first sight be deceived by it. l did not
like personally to disappoint him. My
foreman undertook the painful task. He
took up one of the blocks, examined 1t
minutely for some little time.
We'll, my friend, said the colonel you
are going to make us some handsome
meerschaum pipes
You mean chalk pipes, colonel
"'What? Chalk?
"'That is just what 1t is, but must
h I'M n
kind that could compare with it in quail
ity. 1t would be just the thing Tor the
tailors.'
And going over to the door OF ths
workshop, he traced some clear mes
with the supposed meerschaum.'
Several European specimens OF "hds
was believed to be genuine meerschaum'
on being examined We're found TO be SIM
liar to the one described above. In real
ity Asia Minor is the only country whsie
the real thing exists, and 1t was a tTehCh
merchant r. Carbon, who, in lS4i' eslau-
lished the first direct relations Det"eeA
Europe and those distant regions III AsIfS
Minor where the tale exists. HIS uan @
cling impressions, gathered In that coen Jun
try, were published in a little volume i9ll .t
of humor and giving an t t
dramatic episodes of his Dolu
tempt Even at the present time 80
cling is not very safe in that country ~ 80
half a century ago trip there ms. a1,
most be called rash. Carbon was less
larly blackmailed by the functionaries d -
several districts, and was captured ana
robbed by brigands in the less cltil'[ 70
nortions of the country. In short ne -
turned with nothing but the cargo VIII WIZ
the pirates imagined was mere rupSai
not worth conhscating. But ne ihah's 5bs
to establish communication with So S'
Arabs. with a view of procuring tne u
sired materials. The result for nii
trade was something that nobody eoora s1on,
afford to despise. France was treeu IL -
the German monopoly in meerschaum' aiu
on account Of the variety of the moass,s,,
French pipes became the mistress IN ,i0t no
branch of trade in the European MAJ man A' IN
The manufacture of meerschaum plPesn
France, which, in 1860, was not even e.u NJ ~.
toned by the report of the commission -, ,S
curing into Partisan industries "O
amounts to millions of france year. "a
It would be well to inaugurate pus -
Carbon at the coming centenary ana
have II made Of the purest meersch'U'''