Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-05-09
Wbente Gagged Beasts Come
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AaoAS nonS' RdA6oon, 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
cageiand. There is never a day in
q year when any of these places Is
without its bands of beautiful prison.
ers in striped spotted and twany glory
OF hide. They come in from the un-
known, some sullen, some raying, 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 Hong Kong, Singapore
Rangoon and Bankok come the kings
OF the brooding. damp mystery of
IndoChina-elephant tiger, rhinocer.
os and crocodile. In Singapore, too,
there is the market for the halm-men
the great apes, and orangoutang-
carted by proa and junk and tramp
steamships across Sunda and Maiac
ca straits from Borneo, Sumatra apd
Java. Panther, leopard and tiger
come growing aboard ship at Cal
cutta and Bombay. At Cape Town
come nerds of the gentle wild beasts
the antelope, gazelles and other
beauties OF the plain, with the saw
ages that hunt them-wolf, Jackal
and lion. Al, these towns are IA.
mihar, by name at least, to every one
with a rudimentary knowledge of
geography, but probably not one per.
son in 500 will know even the name
OF zeilah. To the animal buyer
however, Zeilah is as familiar as Lon
don is to the banker. When the
beast dealer wants lions Zeilah is
the bann on which he draws, with as.
surance that the draft will be honor
ed.
lellah is town of 5000 Somali in
nabltants, 5000 bad smells and poi
sonous drinking water. 1t sits frying
on the southern shore of the gulf OF
Alden. with hot winds from the inter
lor deserts bolwing over it's mud how
els. 1t is the port of Abyssinia,
and the man who visits it can see
and hear and smell wild animals day
and night. Chief of the wilderness
captives OF Zeilah are lions. The an
nual Shipments of the twany-maned
kings run from $50 to 200. There is
never an hour when their roar does
not rumble through the town: when
Z the passion of the sorrowing things
does not throb forth across the glim-
mering levels of the hot sea.
through the laundering of the
lions of Zeilah sounds the rattling.
snarling plant of leopards, for the
gaudy spotted cats are another staple
export OF the little town. At least
one a week is the record, and with
them come many smaller cats to
wear out the menace of their wrath
In their bamboo crates, while waiting
for the iron ships of the white man
to carry them to the far places,
wnere their desert glory serves to
make a 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 would once give way. They
come into Zeilah in BETTING state,
carried as the captives of old Rome
were carried. With lances shining.
swords and daggers jangling, enter
their conquerors mounted on swift
camels and strong horses.
The Somalis are true hunters
the greatest IN ALTERNATING wild
sport of their trade. Often in sheer
bravado they fight lion and leopard
face to 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
the dun and yellow earth and vegeta-
ton OF Abyssinia, their sharp eyes
see the beast as quickly as the green
eyes of the beast sees them. Gallop-
ing 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 dismount
and bait the great cat till he leaps
out raving. In a moment spears flash
at him in steel lightning. Before tho
creature has made many leaps, bull
lets are sped into him from ranges
so close that they can hardly miss.
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 lion or leopard
and speared him as a man in our
tanner lands would spear a fish. Wild
animal collectors tell OF Sonalis who
capture lions and panthers by noos-
ing them. and. having pulled them
down. fall over them in horde and
so wrap the giants in ropes tina. they
are helpless. screaming. frothing
bundles before they have time 20
sink a claw into an enemy.