Part 15

The photograph given below depicts two very curious pieces of ordnance--more curious than useful, one would imagine. They are wooden Chinese guns, captured from the Taku Forts by the Royal Marines during the operations of 1900-1. Nine feet in length, they have a six-inch bore, and are composed of thick staves, firmly bound together by wooden hooping, for all the world like a barrel. These remarkable weapons are reputed to be over three hundred years old, and are at present mounted on the parade-ground of the Royal Marines at Wei-hai-wei.

Ladies have won renown in various spheres of activity usually looked upon as the prerogative of the sterner sex, but really skilful female big-game hunters are still few in number. Here is a photograph of a lady who has achieved quite a reputation as a killer of crocodiles. The picture shows her standing over a newly-killed man-eater, at a place called Belochpore, on the river Jumna, in India. When this particular crocodile was cut open there were found inside it two pairs of silver bracelets, several copper rings, some boars' tusks, two human skulls, and a new rupee, a truly heterogeneous collection.

Cock-fighting is as keenly enjoyed by the native of Porto Rico as bull-baiting was by his Spanish ancestors. In the old days enormous sums were staked on these birds, and not a few men were ruined by their passion for the sport. Since the American occupation of the island, however, cock-fighting has been made a criminal offence and persons detected in its pursuit are severely punished. But it is too deeply-rooted a habit to be suppressed in a few years, and notwithstanding the vigilance of the police it is still extensively practised. On Sundays and other holidays lovers of the sport select a secluded place and fight their birds as of old. The foregoing photograph shows a retired spot in the country where the birds are trained. They are staked out in the morning sun after having been trimmed up, sprayed with rum, and fed. The peasants seen in the background are their guardians and trainers. The Porto Rican game-cocks are fierce fighters, and, though they fight only with their natural spurs, often kill each other with a single blow.

They have a happy-go-lucky way of running their prisons in easy-going Portugal. The annexed photograph shows a corner of a Portuguese lock-up, and concerning it a correspondent writes: "The prisoners seem to spend their time in wrangling among themselves and begging food and money from the passers-by. They have a bag on a string for this purpose, and dangle it before the pedestrian's nose. The snap-shot shows a kind-hearted gentleman just putting some coins into the bag, while excited inmates protrude their heads and arms through the grated windows."

That it is possible to give scope to one's artistic feelings even in the building of so commonplace and utilitarian a thing as a pile of firewood for winter use is proved by the next photograph. This depicts a châlet in the village of Toffeln, near Berne, in Switzerland, which is celebrated far and wide for its wood-stack, which is seen in the foreground. Each year the good folks of this particular house endeavour to make their pile more ornamental-looking than before, and they usually succeed. The stack is entirely composed of cut logs, extending right to the centre of the pile, and the structure reaches to the second storey of the châlet. There is not such another wood-pile to be found in the length and breadth of Switzerland, and the villagers are very proud of it.

We are requested to state that the picture of a bear appearing on page 236 of Mr. R. A. Haste's article, "Through New Ontario on a Jigger," in our June number, was from a photograph taken by Mr. F. C. Ballard, of Banff, Alberta.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.

Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

Enclosed italics markup in _underscores_.

Enclosed small caps markup in +plus signs+.

End of Project Gutenberg's Wide World Magazine Vol. 22, No. 127, by Various