Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-10
WILD ANIMAL MARTS
Ports Known as Slave Mar
kets of Brute World.
LIONS FROM ZEIL e
PUTTING THE JUNGLE INTO
CRATES TO SHIP OVER SEAS.
Troubles of the Animal Man-Sickness
of Beasts During Voyage-How
They Are Unloaded.
LIONS FROM zEILAH

Written for The Star.
II the beast could sing his wrongs these
are the places of earth that would be
cursed: Hongkong, Rangoon. Singapore,
Bangkok. Calcutta. Bombay, Zeilah and
Cape Town. They are the slave markets
of the brute world.
There are many other shipping places
for animals but these eight are the true
jungle gates. Beyond them lies cageland.
There Is never a day in a year when
any of these places is without it's bands
of beautiful prisoners in striped, spotted
and tawny glory of hide. They come in
from the unknown some sulen. some raw
ing but all watching with fierce. unwearied
eyes through the bars for a chance to leap
back to the splendid freedom of their
primeval twilight
Through Hongkong, Singapore, Ran
COON and Bangkok come the kings of the
broo6ng, damp mystery of lndo-Chlna-
elephant tiger, rhinoceros and crocodile.
In Singapore too, there is the market for
the half men-the great apes. chimpanZee
and orang outang-carted by proa and
junk and tramp steamship across Sunda
and Malacca Straits from Borneo, Sumatra
and Java.
Panther leopard and tiger come growl-
ing aboard ship at Calcutta and Bombay
At Cape Town come herds OF the gentle
wild belSts-the antelope. gaZelles and
other beauties of the plain. with the savages
that hunt them-wolf, jackal and lion
All these towns familiar, by name
at least to every with a rudimentary
knowledge Of geogra ply, but probably not
one person i'm five hundred will know even
the name of Zeilah To the animal buyer
however. Zeilah IS as familiar as LONDON
is to the banker.
When the beast dealer wants lions. Eel
bah is the bank on which he draws with
assurance that the draft will be honored
Zetlah is town of 1890 Somau fnhabl-
tauts 300 bad smells and poisonous drink
ing water. II sits frying on the southern
shore of the GULF of Alden, with hot winds
from the interior deserts blowing over us
mud novels. II is the port of Abysslhla
and the man who visits 1t can see ana
hear and smell wild animals day and night
The Lions of zeilah.
Chief Of the wilderness captives of zeilah
are lions The annual shipments of the
tawny-maned kings run from $50 70 2oo'
There Is never an hour when their roI does
not rumble through the town; when the
passion of the sorrowing things does not
throb forth across the glimmering levels OF
- the hot sea.
Through the laundering of the lions OF
Zelah sounds the rafting, snarling plant
of leopards for the gaudy spotted cats are
another staple export of the little town. Al
leas- one i week is the record. ana WITH
them come many of the smaller cats 70
their bamboo crates while waiting for the
iron ships of the white man to carry them
to the far places where their desert glory
serves to make holiday show for curious
crowds that would scatter like wind-blown
dust before the eager teeth and claws OF
the smallest of them If the bars should
once give way.
They come into Zeilah in 'beftting state,
carried as the captives of old Rome We're
carried With lances shining, swords and
daEgers jangling, enter their cOnquerors
mounted on swift camels and strong horses
The Somalis are true hunters-the great
est in Africa-making wild sport Of their
trade. Often in sheer bravado they fight
lion and leopard face 10 face. Brave and
keen as their prey. they follow the big
cats spoor unwearied over the baking
sands However cunningly the dun and
yellow hides may blend with the dun and
yellow earth and vegetation of Abyssinia
their sharp eyes see the beast quickly as
the green eyes of the beast see them.
Gdlloplng to form a great ring around
the cover where the hunted brute lies in
deadly watchfulness. they close in till their
horses, broken though they are to hunting
carnivora, dare not approach further. but
stand stock still, trembling. Then they dis
mount and bait the great cat TIL he leaps
him in steel lightning. Before the creature
has made many leaps. bullets are sped into
him from ranges close that they can
hardly miss.
Wonderful SomaH Hunters.
White men who have accompanied these
unfearing desert hunters tell wonderful
tales of their bravery and skill. There are
stories of Somalis who have walked on
Hon or leopard and speared him as a man
in our tanner lands would spear a fish
Wild animal collectors tell of SomaIis who
capture lions and panthers by noosing them.
and, having pulled them down, fall over
them in a horde and so wrap the giants in