The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-08-19

h - \ ness In which his firm Is engaged.
kNA ~ There are nearly dozen firms
kesSSSSSaaErrA in New York city that carry
&aakzAsnaaA2aa1~ an immense business in the trans
portation of animals fresh from
the jungle. And this number, of course, does not
include such immense foreign animal firms as the
Hagenbacks. 1t Is paying business, as indeed
are all businesses where the demand exceeds the
supply. The demand for wild beasts is far greater
than the supply, and as consequence prices are
good and the dealers men of wealth. The extent
of this demand may be appreciated when one con-
siders that most Of the great cities in the United
States have geological parks or menageries, and
that the animals are constantly being purchased
by them. Then there are private collectors and
circuses and the like, that are ever ready to pay
the highest prices for desirable animals. The ami
NAL dealer who could secure and bring to this
country three or four gorillas would make small
fortune But no dealer has ever succeeded In do
ing this. The gorilas die in few weeks In cap
tivity; they could not stand an ocean trip for
day.
rusty old German liner lumbers noisily into
Quarantine and then lies motionless on the tide.
An officer, with broad, red, bewhiskered face,
stands at the head Of the companion ladder, and
he smiles peculiar SMILE as husky screaming
ululation rises from below. The animals are get.
ting hungry" he explains; "you know we have
several hundred of them on the tween decks
Want to see them? All right" In another minute
probably the most competent animal man IN the
world is at our side. He is not trainer, or even
tanner; he Is more. He Is sort of animal COOK,
and his special business Is the personal manage
ment of wild animal tours. He receives them
| everything
at Hamburg, where they have been brought
! fresh from their native wds and not only super
intends their shipment aboard vessel bound for
New York but he sails with them to make sure
that they arrive safely and in good health. And
be sure that If the tiger gets off on his diet and
needs nice fresh live rabbit to tone up his sys-
tenn, this man will be aware of the fact almost
before the tiger is-and, ergo nice big jumping
bunny is sacrificed in accordance with the pre-
cepts of wild beast matera medica. Then, too,
one can never tell Just when the big boa Is go
ing to rouse from his last gorge; when he does
he wants toothsome young goat, and he wants
1t quick. It is part of the animal mans duties
to anticipate the boa's appetite with all possible
expedition.
He Is q quiet, unassuming man, with stoop
shoulders and bushy whiskers and he leads the
way to the tween decks without word Per-
haps the unntiated may believe that tour
through the animal section of freightcarryng
vessel Is an unimpressive experience. Well let
them try it and see! This be said at the out
set-it is somewhat different from menagerfe
1t means something to come into close proximity
| to hundred and odd wild animals that have been
ruthlessy snatched from their lairs In Africa or
Asia, or elsewhere, and clapped into little barred
| boxes, not as large as dry goods cases; slammed
! to- A. IL, 90 npnt
seas on the way to Hamburg; then finally placed
| in the stygian tween decks of German hooker
The swinging cross seas of the North Atlantic
| have not improved their tempers, or their nerv.
| GUS systems and the visitor at Quarantine Is
! quickly impressed with that fact. The bowls and
| whines and the banks cease abruptly as the stran
gers enter. For they bring the smell Of land, and
the great beasts sniff inquiringly, and hungrily
too.
The cages lined both sides OF the gloomy space
with little passageway between the boxes. Per-
haps this passageway was three feet WIDE not
more. The cages were piled two and sometimes
three deep. In the bottom cage, for instance
would be tiger; In the next above smaller AMI
nal, say, leopard or lynx, and above that
parrot or a bunch of neerkats Think OF 1t!
three-foot passageway, with ferocious animals,
stretching along for 100 feet on all sides. Talk
about nightmares! The reporters hair stifened
out like so many pieces Of wire, and he wished
most fervently that he had not come 1t was more
agreeable he felt, to see these animals in me-
nagerie where the cages are ample and the bars
an inch thick.
Better keep in the middle of the AISLE" says
one of the animal men; these fellows sometimes
reach out for you"
Words such as these. of course hardly tended
to reassure.
It really was too dark to see much. One
caught view Of the cages stretching away in
gloomy perspective until lost in the darkness, Of