Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1893 — THE WORLD’S FAIR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WORLD’S FAIR.

The Cape Colony—Zula Trophies— A Kaffir Prohibitionist—Uncle Sain at the Fair. Chicago Record

ULU war trophies, the products of the great veldts, rugs and pelts of rare animals, adorn the Cape Colony exhibit in the Agricultural Building. The section is near the stairway in the east

end of the building, and is crowded with lovers of the curious all the day long.- Much of the interest attaching to the display centers in the personality of the man in charge—Robert Lee. He is an Englishman, has resided in the South African country for twenty years, has seen service In the Zulu wars, the Buchuanaland expedition and a dozen minor expeditions where men risked their lives by venturing into a hostile country. Mr. Lee is a great admirer of the Zulus as fighters. “I have seen them,” he said, as he stood before a collection of assegais and shields, “I have seen those blacks rush right at a gatling gun, twenty at a time, only

to be blown to pieces. It didn't seem to make any difference to the men behind “them They would come right on, spearing all over the place and going away in bits as the gun cleaned them up. White men might fight that way, but it takes a lot of courage to stand it. They are a oueer lot, anyway. We call them ‘Kaffirs. “When a Kaffir is unmarried his his aim in life is to get enougn cattle together to buy himself a wife. He works in the diamond mines or does anything else that will make him money As soon as he gets enough to buy ten or twenty cattle he goes back home to bargain for a wife. If he gets the right kind of a woman he is at ease for the rest of his days. He quits work and turns over the lard labor to the woman. The more vives he has the richer he gets. Then they have a beautiful arrangement for securing satisfaction in matrimony. If his wife proves a disappointment Mr. Kaffir takes her back to her family and demands the return of the cattle he paid for her. It works well all around. The wife doesn’t like to be taken back with a sort of a certificate that she is worthless, because that makes the rest of the men a little slow to bargain for her, and she does her best "m stay. “Seriously, the Cape country and ! the Cape people are making great'

progress. We have about 4,000.000 sheep and 500,000 goats. The sheep will average six pounds of fleece each, worth 16 cents a pound in London, while the goats average 5.2 pounds of wool apiece, worth 35 cents a pound in the same market. Naturally, the growers are extending their operations in every direction and are paying particular attention to the breeding of Angora goats. Their

wool is used in the manufacture of alpacas and fine dress goods, Which gives it additional value. The goats aro hardy, which makes them the more desirable for ranges. A peculiarity of our woolsis the difference in color and texture of fleece raised in the different districts. In the kroo veldt, or bush land, the wool is

bluish, the high veldt gives us the lighter wool while the Idw veldt wool is reddish. The kroo veldt is called the “bush,” because the vegetation is principally short, stubby bushes scarcely higher than six inches and resembling sawed-off sage brush. The sheep feed on this bush and, as it is wild and hardy, the feed is generally plentiful. “Perhaps the most valuable ani-

mal we have is the fat-tailed sheep. I, myself, have seen a single tail weighing fifty-two pounds and, as it is pure fat, it is very valuable. It is the custom to give the caudal appendage artificial support made of a short, stout branch of a tree attached to the animal’s legs. The hides, too, are very much sought in the London market. One glove-

maker takes all of them he can get and his gloves are brought to this country in large quantities, chiefly, T fancy, because the material is so durable and finishes up so well. ‘ ‘When it comes to game, there is almost no end tj the variety to be had. Of course the big game, such as elephants and lions, is almost altogether in the north country, up about Mashonaland. The springbook, blessbok and reitbok, all very muSh like the American antelope, are very plentiful and furnish valuable pelts. Mashonaland, where the big game is hunted now, is the new gold country, and I know it is a good field. There is a great deal of free gold to be had for washing, and all of the richest fields are what is known as “rotten reefs,” needing only crushing and ordinary treatment to extract them. Some Chicago men are working with me now, going out on expeditions to explore for gold and to organize a company on a financial basis. “To return to the same question. Since the slaughter of wild animals has reached such alarming proportions as to threaten the extinction of the game, two of the native chiefs, Kamo and Lobunglo, controlling large sections of country, have stopped shooting within their boundaries and are protecting the game as rigidly as any civilized landlord would protect his preserves. Kama is

; quite a character in his way. He has absolutely stopped the sale of liquor to his subjects and is the best prohibitionist in Africa. Those chiefs are odd people. When I was with Gen. Warren, in the telegraph and balloon corps, we got Monsieo, the parliamentary chief, to go up with us in a baloon. He would not go until Col. Clinton Carrington and Gen. Warren said they would go. When we Igot up in the air we saw a most remarkable spectacle. Every one of Monsieo's forty-five wives made a circle under us and prayed for his safety until we came down again. They made an awful fuss about it, too, and pretty nearly broke up our trip. natives are splendid workmen in some lines, especially in the manufacthre of robes from skins of wild animals. Some specimens of their work are here. One is a zamr besi, another a tiger cat, still an- , other is from a lynx hide". The prettiest are from the leopard, golden jackal and laughing hyena. We also have ope lion skin with the skull preserved. Any one of these robes is worth $l5O to S2OO or more. “The Kaffirs do not know the use of opium, but they have what they call the daughey pipe, and when one of them smokes the daughey he is ready to dream dreams to order or go into the prophecy business. The daughey is a plant with a broad leaf which they dry and powder in the hands. After the pipe beads are the ornaments of the native women.

They wear them in circlets around theiE waists, their ankles, then wrists and anywhere else they can hang them, but they do not seem tc care for much else in -the way oi clothing. Their baskets are realty wonderful. They are made from the river willows and are practically water tight. “While talking about Cape industries one should note the fact that the ostrich business is. still an important feature in our commercial life. The change in fashions sine* 1882 has made it less profitable than it used to be, but it is still kept up. In 1882 we exported almost 110,000,000 worth of feathers; in 1891 th* exports fell to a little over $2,400,000 The price in the same time fell from £7 17 shiillings to £2 7 shillings a pound of feathers. To meet this condition the breeders have stopped raising so many birds, and blow th* surplus eggs to be sold in Europe and America as curios. The eggs bring about $1 apiece and they have proved quite a source of revenue.”

INCLS BAM AT TH® FAIR. Captain Charles King in Lippincott's. Many a visitor, foreign and domes tic both, has not scrupled to saj that in her share of the show the United States of America has little to be proud of, but people so saying do not stop to think. To begin with, when France, Great Britain, Germany, and Russia opened to the public gaze the treasure-houses oi their products, there was no minoi exhibit by department, county oi principality, to detract from th* magnificent whole of the Nation. How is it with us? Each one of oui forty-four States is perfectly at liberty to set up shop for itself, be its own exhibitor, and let that inconspicuous dot on the map, the District of Columbia, with all that therein is, do the best it can with what the Senators and Representatives in Congress of these several and sovereign States saw fit to afford it. England and France, Germany, Austria and Russia liberally endowed their exhibits and exhibitors. Columbia, ever saving at the spigot and running at the bung, could indulge in little of self-glorification on the allowance allotted toher.Leaving to her children the pride and pleasure of showing their visitors through homes of plenty and prosperity such as the masses of the old world have never equaled, she points with calm satisfaction to a new-made city the like of which, in grandeur of design, in beauty of architecture, in splendor of no other nation ever dreamed of building for such a purpose, hnd, coupling this with the characteristic and often beautful edifices erected by the States, she declares these to be America’s exhibit, and this affair in the drab-col-ored chicken-coop merely a sideshow. Were there the least pretense or ostentation about it the socalled government exhibit at the World’s Columbian Exposition would remind one irresistibly of the poor relation at a family festival.

JAPANESE TEA GARDEN LANDING.

CAPE COLONY EXHIBIT.

PYRAMID OF OSTRICH EGGS.

THE ANGORA GOAT,