A TRAVELLING SHOWMAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7002, 18 January 1901, Page 2

A TRAVELLING SHOWMAN.

CIRCUS PROPRIETOR AND GLOBE-TROTTER. HE'S 'EARD THE EAST ACALLING. THE ELEPHANTS OF BURMAH. ..-.'•-■« ["Star "Special.] . . . . The globetrotter, who kak plenty of money, anid travels simiply as a pieasare*se«ker andi fiagiWb-seeri witnesses many living pictures, many Scehiesof lif^'invits'diferent ! phases, as well as abundance of Nature's, beauties. But. o>f all the travellers v/ko swarm over the surface olf ,the earifli there are few whose opportunities for seeing things, as they are,- are better than those of the circus (proprietor. , Forty years ago the. circus confined, itself to a very limited area, of travel. Bu* with the extension of (railways andi ocean sfteamer. service, the. circus proprietor has;, been, enabled to make successive tours of the world, and to see all that as to be seen uaaHer many skies. • ... ; .; t '. ■ • .■ ■ This fact: is soon realised in a conversation with Mr Philip Worth. Mr Wirbh, witih his • brother George, has made tftie circuit, of the globe several times/ Regarding the various p&oplfes wMch he ha» seen Mr Wirth was greatly impressed' with, the Burmese, andi he js hardly sure; whether they or the Javanese "are the ! mo&t interest-; ing. ' ' • ■■■. ■ ' '■ Naturapy, to a man/ who has Ko make his living out of a " show," the weal'bny portion of a <people> will ibe -tike most attractive. Both in Java and Burmah- a circus must provide private boxes on. <Ie dflargimof the ■ring , for ' the accammodation of the salt of the carth — t/he princes who coon© to witness the performance-— and (tihose-maginaficent. products of the East can be easily idenaTlßed. Any of .our sprigs of (royalty may walk quietly along a London street, and aiever be recognised by the ordinary passer-by, butt ia either oSf the places mentioned the , whole populace knows, when a prince elects to take his walks abroad. Usually/ four natives maTdh 1 sulomgeid© itihe very great personage, holding over him huge umbrellas 'of about eight feet •in diameter,' and. 1 with, •handles eight feet-long. BchSod 1 'ham follow a retinue of servants, gorgeously clad, andi often armed to tfhe .teelf?h, ibutall wearing the livery or uniform that belongs to the great man's house and rank. ' ? The Maori prince or warrior is content to hang a shark's; tooth from has ear, having the ribbon thait Suspends it rove through the lobe of the ear. The use of the ear. as a means of wearing ornaments is as old) as history, and readers of scripture know .that it is of great antiquity i<n the East-. The Burmese and Javanese add the cartilages of £he nose to the ear. in this connection, and wearr in both ear and nose the largest diamonds , they possess. Jewels of every rich and "rare kind are displayed on their vesture ; but they draw the line at boots and stockings, and prefer to move about barefooted. In Rangoon and Maridalay many princely parties perambulat© the streets, and one is not long in either place' before he discovers that ''both' are well supplied with native princes. ", " •' ' For these great ones, as has been said, private boxes at tho ring side ihave* to be provided, so that the different tribas may sit separate ir&m each other, and each, little or great potentate have his own, particular box. The princes' clothing, though costly with jewels, is not very extensive, and one; of Mr Wirth's staff j' who, was taking part' in the interview of which this article as tih© outcome, said "Clothing? Oh ye 3! They've clothing. Diamonds, and a smile of seraphic innocence." But Mr Wirth said that hardly enumerated all tie items of the . princely wardrobe, although tile catalogue would be somewhat short. Soldiers and police are told off- by the authorities to protect circus property, but Mr Wirth soon discovered that both soldier and constable were equally guilty of the practices they had been sent to prevent, »nd anything that was not too hot nor too heavy to carry away was stolen with marvellous promptness. While the performance was going on .those guardians 'of the peace and property used' to rip the .teat so that they could see what was gping on in the ring. The pagoda of Buddha, in Rangoon is one of the sdghibs of that city. Some ten thousand Budddsts use it as a place of. worship, amd the priests burn., by way, of\ incense 'several kind? •of aroma'tio bark, and ■'. ! fche. smell is not . at,all offensive. , The. priests are clean-shaven — 'both head and chin — arid the offerings of the people ore left on the altar, i; There is no collection plate or bag-; but if there is no direct solicitation on the . party of tho priests there are in attccidiiiice at the pagoda about one hundred! girls and boys, who are very sturdy beggars. ? ; • Then there are beggars everywhere, and the begging children are •. a sore pest, as they? will run after a passing vehicle, anrl if alms bs not thrown to them ithey will bombard the vehicle with stones. The lepers, who are very numerous, are also beggars,' and Mr Wirth gave a terrible description of the horrible appearance some of these, poor : . creatures presented!. All the begging fraternity;, are tlfteves, but the.. worst .of' all is an. impudent kind' of crow, which is. to he, found in .la'ijg-e.. 1 ' uumbers-r-ih^ Rangoon . iho^e' especially; These birds will,,. wake one up a.fc, five -in the . morning with, tlieir disagreeable erode. One of : 'these . birds -, will 1 " eqiter oine's bedropm, ami carry, off aily- " thing it ein, lift, but it has- a spscda! ■ fondness for spectacles, which it likes to make use of in its nest-bui:lding. No ■ sleep after six o'clock when these birds are about, i * Naturally] Mr Wirth took an interest in the elephants of Burmah. He made, ithe acquaintance cf an English saw-miller, who used many elephants in working his sawmills. Two of these were remarkable animals. One- of them was said. : to be ■two -hundred and seventy years old. It was the male, andi the sire of many of ihcae at the mill. This noble beast had tusks 9ft or lOffc long, ' and stood from 17ft to 18ft in height, and his body was about the same in circumference, while his trunk was 10ft long. The female was said to be two-humdredl and forty >years! old. She was smaller in height and general dimensions than her mate, but her girth was much less. There, was an eightesn-months-oid baby elephant of this large breed, that Mr Wirth wanted 'to secure, but though the miller was not' averse to a. deal he was quite sure that tthe, animal, was top youug to take away. Ori; his next _ visit to., Rangoon, M.r,..Wia i tb wilji bring' . the. baby , back withi him. v . . The work those elephants do at the mills is very valuable; A huge teat kg i^ seizedi by the large elephant. He. puts liis. large, tusks under it, and his trunk over it, and . the 2ft thick log is lifted arid placed iipon the ran.ne-r with, \ oas eni fto-', wards the saw. The female takes her place ■at; the far end of the log aiid 1 pushes it with her head against the saw. When the log has gone half-way through, th»- : elephants leave their position, and taking the. sawn portion in charge pu!d it -tihrougb till the whole log is sawn, and the work is done as well as if human beings had done it. There is no "Government stroke" with the elephants, except the stroke of twelve o'clock, which is dirjner time, and when that sound is heard the beasts drop every lining* and make for -their, feedingboxes. They are wonderful adepts 'in stacking sawn timber, lifting up the planks and patting them into position in the pile with their trunks aod fore feet. „.. / . :Mr . Wirth iound that, in the., main,: hotels were much tne sain© all, .over Vthe East where he had been, as welf as in the Brazils and Argentina, but in \ the Matter countries the hotels. and: railways were ; all nut- by English aied r Amecioaai' -sjyndaoafces.^

The trains are admirably furnished. . There are dining-cars, card-cars, bar-cars, and (what not, so that the passenger can. get pn his journey anything he wants in the shape of food or liquor,, and at any time. The cars are all lit with 1 electricity.