The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-12

mounted by Dom Paurs statue is an in
teresting relic of an earlier war In the
Transvaal. 1t is a quaint old cannon,
made out of the iron tires of ox-wagons,
and figured with mighty effect az Matuoa
hill in 1889. Another odd exhibit is
reproduction of one of the famous OK
wagons, in which Boer families trek
from place to place in their vast coun-
try. Grouped nearby, in the forms Oh
pyramids. are the quaint bones or skins
of giraffes, hippopotamuses. lions ana
crocodiles killed by the earliest settlers
among the Dutch emigrants.
The railing of the gallery overhead is
hung with furs, such as the Beers use
in their homes; with Kaffir and Zulu as
segais and war implements and with the
skins of mammoth pythons. on che up
per floor is an interesting collection OF
landscape illustrating the grand scenery
of that rugged country, and a series OF
comparative photographs, showing Pre-
toria, johannesburg and the other Trans
vaal cities as they appear to-day, when
contra sted with their condition only ten
years ago. Here are also found many
Kafir relics, demonstrating the develop
ment of that race from savagery under
the influence of the Boer neighborshlp.
Among these objects Is one styled A
Kaffir Piano." which proves the truth OF
what has often been said of that black
race, that they possess an Incompetent
sible appreciation of the harmony OF
sweet sounds" 1t is a crude arrange
ment of carved blocks of wood, Strung
on cords, behind which. serving the pur-
pose of a sounding board, are series OF
calabashes and earthen jugs. The mu-
stefan strikes each block with muf-
fed hammer, and the white man is as
founded to learn that the notes are ar
ranged with absolute precision, Just IKE
our civilized musical gamut
The Boer farm is an exact reproduc-
ton of such domiciles as are 10 be FOUND
scattered all over South Africa. IL IS
long square, native stone, hewed in roug n
blocks and surmounted by a peaked root
of thatch The floors are on the level
Of the land outside. but are laid in spe-
cies of peak. which keeps them dry. The
house is crude comfortless, and with no
attempt at interior decoration. The rooms
are large and lighted aud ventilated by
high windows, too far removed from the
ground, it would seem, for wild animal
to enter. yet beside each bed stands a
musket in case of sudden need. A couple
of coarse sheets and furry hide consti-
tute the only bed clothes. The houses
for the cattle, in appearance much the
same as the Beers home, stand nearby.
Frenchman's picture, and, like Kruger IS
statue, it, too, is always decorated with
flowers. 1t represents Col. Villebols-
Maremil who was killed some months
ago while fighting on the side of the
Beers. Every day some admirer adds
new wreath, but the most conspicuous
of all these days is one from which floats
red and white and blue ribbon bearing
the words; I'm honor of Villebois7Mare-
mil, the Lafayette of South Africa. From
some Americans, July 4, 1900" The
Frenchman's portrait probably hangs on
the wall of hundreds of such farm
houses in che Transvaal.
The Gold Mining Exhibit.
The most practical and conspicuous of
all the South African exhibits are those
devoted to an exposition of the methods
of gold mining in that distant land. On
one side you see the towering nose of a
derrick; nearby, the massive frame of the
ore crushing machine. and elsewhere the
high turbine wheel used for washing the
metal. Over there is the pulley at the
mouth of the shaft, and just beyond that
the smoke arises from the tall chimney of
the laboratory and smelling works. You
hear the noise of the running machinery,
and every little while a car rushes by you,
loaded with chunks of stone or discharg-
bristles thereabouts and the visitor needs
no stretch of Imagination to realize he is
thick in the midst of gold mining camp
He is there. literally for the exhibit is nc
make-believe, but the genuine thing. Vast
loads of ore-bearing quartz have beer
shipped to Paris, and right there on the
grounds the varied operations of tho
science are performed under the eyes OF
visitors. When the stranger has acqusint-
al r1-ffh &c oh
from the rough rock and is fashioned into
the shiny brick. he sees produced from
the smelling furnace, he walks across the
grounds and stands wonderingly before a
yellow metal pyramid, fifty feet in hight,
tapering from a base seven feet in width.
On the face of the column he reads:
pyramid representing the total value
of gold produced in the South African re.
public from 1884 to 1897
This" says ahe contemplahve observer,
rs what, next to the bravery of her peo-
pie, has made that little corner of the uni
verse so famous throughout the world
and SO popular in England"
So much for the things "above ground. "
The actual exhibit space below the sur
face far surpasses in measurement, and
equals in interest, the varied display in
the six buildings overhead. A wide pass
age leads from the open air into the sub
terranean regions. Here couple of miles
of galleries, walled in rocks imported
from South Africa, represent the various
peculiarites of a Transvaal gold mine
Working miners. each with a lantern in
his hand, pass you instantly in the SOM
Der stretches, and all along the route you
see white and black men, with pick or
other implements in hand. hard at work
breaking precious blocks from the rock
Though the miners who salute you in
the galleries are living creatures, the
other men who seem so busy Whereabouts
are not. They are lay figures. copied to
the life from Boer miners and Kaffir SER
wants, and sent TO Paris to perform their
part in the wonderful Transvaal exhibit
ton. Wonderful h really is, and. as has
been said. more infinitely typical and
characteristic of the land ia represents
than almost any other national exhibit
at Paris V. Gribayedof.
JUNK EATER CRITICALLY ILL.