The Washington herald., 1913-07-15
Court Gossip of Interesting
Events on Two Continents
,cOpyr,sh,. lsIs. b. A. D. Jacobson,

COPYRIGHT. 1914 By A. D. Jaeobson.)
The London west-end always is ablaze
with lights on the evening Of the Kings
birthday: but no living Londoner can
claim to have seen a general illumination
of the British metropolis. The last gem
eral illumination OF London was that In
celebration of the Battle Of Waterloo.
Nowadays there are more beautiful dis
plays; but this one really was general.
Not a window in the smallest court but
had its candle stuck In q lump of clay.
while in houses Of more pretensions one
biased In every pane Mobs paraded the
metropolis from Hyde Park Corner to
whitechapel with cries of Light up" and
smashed every window that did not
swiftly display a dip In answer to the
summons.
The young King OF Buganda, now as
tonishing and being astonished by Lon
don. rules q country that has a special
interest to the British. For his little
province. one Of the five that make up
the Uganda Protectorate. has given its
name to the great region that is now
the key to the backdoor OF Egypt When
Speeke discovered Buganda in the sixties
of the last century, he found that the
natives treated the "B' as non-existent.
and so the country came to be styled
Uganda, q mistake which has drifted
down to our own time. to Judge from
the varying titles bestowed upon the king.
But the error was ofiicially corrected few
years ago. 1t In declared that the young
kings royal ancestors can be traced to
the year 400, a tribute to the internal
government to this model State. which
also has a Parliament. or Grand Council.
of its own.
Mistakes, such as that which made
Uganda of Buganda, are frequent when
the white man bases his geographical
nomenclature on his understa nding Of
the native tongue. Sometimes they are
amusing when one gets the explana-
| ton. For instance. Damaraland really
should be Damaqualand. just as Mama
qualand and Griqualand: for Qua" Is
the masculine plural meaning Men"
.'Ra" is the feminine dual The ex-
plorer. with . sweep of his hand. ques-
| TONED his native guides as to the
name Of the country. But they thought
that he was pointing to two Dana
women in the distance. and answered.
Dana ra-" Hence this portion OF Ger
man Africa bears a name which sig
miles land of two Dana women"
Every one who has collected stamps
must have noticed the surprising abb
sence of sovereigns' heads from those
of Turkey. That this Is due to the
fact that Mohammedans consider a
representation Of the human face or
figure unlawful Therefore, Turkish
stamps carry the crescent. which the
Turks borrowed from the Byxantines
and Ostogoths after the fall OF Con-
| stantinople. They also used compli-
Gated. arbitrary sign. supposed to be
the signature Of the Sultan
Egyptian and Grecian stamps are ex.
pressive Of the history Of the countries
| which they represent. The pyramids
the mystic Sphinx tail palm lines against
| tne n,gnt Sky, a tram or cameis stop
| ring to drink from the Nile-all carry
| US back to the very beginnings OF his
tory and remind us that Egypt, the
mother of civilization. still is called by
her ancient name. and Is once more q
growing power in the world she has
| known SO long. Artistic Greece. the
| home Of beauty, from which scuiptors
and architects draw their first inspira-
tions. gives US pure classic lines on her
| stamps, which show the famous discus
4 thrower. Hermes Of the winged feet, OF
| a chariot race, or a tall. slim vase. ar
antique mold.
The stamps Of Persia show the lior
! and the sun-the lion as a symbol OF
power and the sun as an emblem Of the
! ancient fire worship in old Iran.
Korea displays the plum blossom or
| her stamps. 1t is the royal flower OF
her last dynasty, one which reiened so
years. until the Japanese wrested 1t from
/ them.
The Mexican stamp bears the coat OF
arms OF the country-an eagle on a cac.
tus, holding a serpent in its talons. Thi.
device is the outgrowth Of a legend tina,
| the first Aztec settlers chose the site Of
their city from seeing an eagle % en-
| gagged On that spot