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J“»R‘-‘ch(<-. , __ _, f ‘5' a l l l. ‘ '~ mm 111st ms srosts home Queer Happenings in the rnlns of an Old Town in India. Between the towns of \lysore and Coim- oatore, India, and on the left bank of a stream called the Houhollay, are the ruins of three or four large villages. The second one west of the foothills of the Mysore range of mountains is called (larrow, and amid the general desolation are the ruins of what was once a great temple. These vil- lages am only three or four out of hundreds to be found in the great empire. Now and then their history can be traced back to some terrible plague which de pulsted them in a month, and again the esolatiou is due to war between tribes and factions. As a rule, no native will approach one of these ruins, and no attempt is ever made to rebuild the towns. In lSGS, while I was at the village of Bhects, about thirty miles from Garrow, the Government sent a commission of three officials to survey and inspect the village with a view of restoring it by offering to re- build the temple and give free deeds to all settlers. I was invited by the commission to go along, and this appearing a splendid opportunity for an extended inspection of the historic ruins I gladly accepted. Includ- ing servants there were twelve of us in the part y. On arriving at a small village called Mussan, six miles east of the village we meant to survey, we were told of some strange things that had lately happened. It was declared that spirits had taken pos- session of the ruins. Strange lights had been seen flitting about at night, and a hun- ter whose ardor had led him in among the ruins had heard the sound of stones being moved and had been I’IILTED \VITII ROCKS. He had a bad bruise on the shoulder to prove the latter statement. While the most intelligent natives of India. are full of l superstition, the common villagers and farmers are so thoroughly imbued with it that signs and dreams guide most of their daily transactions. The commission was headed by an Englishman named Grant of the civil service. The second was a Mr. Artwell of the same brunch, and the thirds Mr. Martin, who was a civil engineer. With them as secretary and clerk, was 1). young man named Thomasson. Little attention was paid to the stories of the villagers, and next day we moved over and camped in a grove on the stream. about half a mile above the head of the desolated town. The site was covered with shrubs and grass and vines, and here and therel were groves of young trees. No tigers had been seen in that neighborhood for years, but the place looked like a paradise for anthers, wolves, hyenas, and serpents. ‘he town had extended along the bank of the stream for a mile and a half. That evening, while we were settling down in our new quarters, a number of stones from some unseen assailants were suddenly thrown with real. force at one of the natives who had strayed beyond the limits of the camp, hitting him on the head and rendering him insensible for several minu tea The missiles came from a thicket between us and the first ruins of the town, and after we had located the direction we fired a volley from our guns and put an ,end to the disturbance. The native servants were thrown into a state of great consternation, believing and arguing that our presence had offended the spirits keeping guard over the ruins, and but for Mr. Grant's threats the crowd would have bolted and left us. “ I think I can see into this business.” he explained to us after the servants had been quieted down. “These ruins have either been taken possession of by a band of rob- bers or there is a party here hunting for treasure. In either case our presence is un. desirable, and that demonstration was to drive us away. We’ll try to make it a bad job for them, whoever they are.” The explanation was a reasonable one, and when I asked the gentleman if a rain as old as this ever yielded up treasure he replied: “ Bless you, yes! It has been my luck to be 'in' on two jobs as old as this. If a tribal war depopulated this town, then more or less treasure was hidden away because it could not be carried off. If a plague ap-t pcared,thcn those who hurried away thought onl of saving theirliyes, and took little or not ing with them. Somewhere in or about that temple we are pretty sure of finding a plant worth ickiug up.” He was sti l talking when queer lights ap- peared at intervals among the shrubbery, and STRANGE, wan cams were heard from among the ruins. The na- tiv ts fell down and covered their heads with cloths, too frightened to even cry out, but the Commissioner calmly continued : “ You have been wondering how it- came about that such treasures were left. undis- turbed so long. Here is the explanation at hand : Such survivorsas knew of its exis- tence feared to return. No native of India would give an Englishman a pointer on treasure. “'0 have gathered in plenty of loot since the mutiny, but never With their assistance. They call it robbing the dead. It the party there are after treasure they belong to some clan u ‘ . among the moun- tains. They rob eac others ruins, but never their own. By and by the lights disappeared and silence reigned over the ruins and we turn- ed in again. Soon after daylight came one of the natives, who had now recovered a portion of his natural courage, inspected the shrubbery and found plenty of evidence thatit had been occupied by men during the night. Some of the stones thrown at us were found to have been freshly broken from large blocks. “ It’s a gang of treasure hunters for sure," said the Commissioner after this last proof had been submitted, “ and it is quite need- less to caution you that we must be very careful. No one man enter the shrubbery alone, and we must be constantly ready for an attack. They are doubtless Sholaga men from the hills, and they will stick at noth- ing. ' " But why not send down to Bheeta for a detachment of soldiers Y" I asked. “ Andre give away our ‘ find ’ in case there is one! We are not quite so green as that. The Government must have its share, of course. but» we want no further division. I think we are strong enough to rent ’em out, and we will begin business right away." After breakfast the five of us moved down on the head of the village, leaving the camp in charge of the natives. As soon as we got strong the ruins we found it tough work to-gzt along. It had been a very substantial town. filters being plenty of building stone at hand, more or less of it had been used in every house. It must have taken an earthquake to fling the blocks about in such confusion. Here and there a piece of wall was standing, but in most cases everythin had fallen in a con- fused heap. The ifiiculty of climbing over the blocks was added to by the vegeâ€" tation, and wherever the sun beat down on a stone we were Star. TO FIND A serEs'r. sunning himself. “'e were heading for the walls of the temple,“ but after an hour's work we had not advanced over half a mile. Mr. Grant called a halt, and we Were sitting on the huge blocks of stone in a glado about fifty feet across when something very queer happened. The foliage was dense enough to throw the glade into a shadow approaching twilight. Our ears were and denly saluted with groans and moans, as of some person in deep distress, and while we were looking about and at each other a figure came out of the thicket on the south side and slowly floated across the glade. It looked like a human figure, though draped and muffled, and though it passed over the ground at about an ordinary height, the motion was that of floating along instead of walking. It wasn’t over twenty feet from us, and when it disappeared into the thicket on the other side the air was heavy with a strange perfume. “ It’s nothing but; a trick to scare us 03." whispered Grant, after the figure had dis- appeared, " If it comes again, everybody open fire on it.” “Is waited in nervous silence for five or six minutes, when the apparition appeared again, preceded by the same distressing It was scarcely clear of the bushes | noxses. when we opened fire, each one of us with a revolver. It floated along as before and at the same pace, and we got in three shots apiece before the smoke obscured it. _ i “ We’ve riddled one of them, anyhow l” chuckled Grant, as we waited for the smoke I to clear ; but a minute later, when it had . floated away, the fi ure was not to be seen. \Ve had fired point lank at a distance of eighteen or twenty feet, and it was absurd to suppose that all fifteen bullets had missed. “ And how do you account for that 2” I asked, as I felt my hair trying to climb up. “ It’s one of their conjuring tricks,” an- swered the engineer, “and was pretty well I worked. I’ve seen stranger things than that. We had better get out of this at i once ‘2" “’13 were hardly off the blocks before a rock weighing at least twenty pounds crash- ! ed down through the tree tops and fell where we had been sitting. Ten seconds earlier I would have resulted in one death at least. As we made our way along I asked the engineer how such a rock could have been heaved into the air to fall with such exactness, but he could not. explain. In, ; stead of pushing to the temple we now made l our way to the right to get out of the ruins, ' and soon were on the open plain. “ The temple is our objective point,” ex- , lained Mr. Grant, “ and its no use pushing [through those ruins to get there. We’ll go 5 down opposite and then strike in. Now look ‘ at that will you ‘2” ! About 100 feet away from us and right in 'our course was a. bushy-topped tree about i thirty feet high. There was only a light air stirring, and yet the top of the tree was ! waving to and fro as if in a heavy gale. We lslowly advanced until we stood at the foot 2 of the tree. I had expected to see a native ' up there‘, but nothing whatever was in sight. 1 While We stood there the tree continued its antics, and none of us was sharp enough to solve the mystery. ' “It’s just a trick to scare us ofl’,” said Mr. Grant, “and we’ll see more of ’em before we’re through. How they do these things I can't pretend to say, but they are done for r effect and would frighten a native out of his senses. We must push along and. not mind them.” Opp0site the ruins of the temple we en- tered the thicket again, Mr. Grant leading, iand the rest following in Indian file. We - had not advanced a hundred feet when we HEARD SOBS AND MOANS .from both sides of us, and one would have i sworn that a dozen women Were wandering 3 about in distress. The sounds appeared quite close to us, but yet we could not de- i tect the presence of a human being. All of in. sudden, as wo continued to push ahead, the thicket echoed such screams and shrieks that my knees gave out and I had to clutch a limb to support me. I expected to be rid- iculed for my exhibit, but the others came to a halt with serious faces and the engineer said: “ I’m blessed if the sounds don’t- give me a chill, though I know it’s all a blooming trick of the gang to keep us out. There must be a lot of the fellows in there. ” “And I’m thinking it would be a wise thing to send for more help, ” added Mr. Grant. “ Good Lord ! but see that ! ” A block of stone which seemed to be four feet long, a foot thick, and three feet wide was lying in the grass within four feet of us . as we stood in a group. This blobk suddenly lslood on end, rose into the air fully six feet, and then fell to the earth with a jar which made things tremble. I.tell you simply what five of us saw or thought we saw. What sort of jugglery it. was I don‘t pre- tend tosay, but it was jugglery of some sort, of courso. Direcon alter the stone 1 full four or five large pieces of rock came crashing about our ears, and no one hes- itated to beat a speedy retreat. “I’m not running from their tricks, ” said Grantas we headed for camp, “but I'm satisfied they are a large party and desperate fellows. They are probably strong enough to wi e us out, and I’ll have up a company of sol lots to beat the cover.” A messenger was at once despatchcd to Bhecta, which is a military post, but it was three days before the soldiers came up. There Were ninety of them, and though we had heard nothing further from the treasure hunters while waiting we felt sure they were 'still among the ruins. The troops entered from three different directions, having orders to shoot down anything they sighted, but the whole place was beaten up and only one native found. He was lying among the ruins of the temple with a broken leg. He was a Sholaga from the hills. ard after having been carried to camp and his injuries attended to he talked freely. The party had numbered fifty men, and had been working for two weeks when we ap- peared. The leader had been told of the ex- istence of a cavern umlcr the ruins of the temple. and they had laboured hard in their efforts to secure it. As we afterward saw for ourselves they had moved at least a thou- sand tons of dciuis before openin the cav- on). Their appliances wore of t e rudest sort, and everything had been accomplish- ed by main strength. During the riod of their labors five of the party ha died of snake bites and two had been killed in Al “Portal! Phase of English Country moving the blocks. The cavern was found the day before the soldiers came, and in opening it this native had been hurt. His friends had deliberately abandoned him, but he bore them no grudge. On the con- trary, he was highly gratified to know that the treasure had escaped the English. When asked as to its value his eyes sparkled and he answered : “ Sahib, there were millions ! Over thirty men had each a heavy load made ready to carry when l fainted away. It would have made a hundred Englishmen rich for life l” We found the room to be a cavern eight feet long, six broad, and ten high. It had been swept clean. The native said it was nearly full of gold and silver and plate and jewelry. If so, the gross value was a tre- mendous big sum, and the fellows must have made two or three trips to carry every- thing away. ’ SMALL FEET OE OHIN£SB WOMEN. Produced by Torturlng Bandages Placed About Them in Childhood. A peculiarity of Chinese maidenhood is the famous custom of producing small feet by compression. The origin of this deforms ity is not known; even the most educated know nothing of it. It is said that the Empress Takki of the Shang dynasty had club feet and implored her husband to order the court ladies to produce a similar de- formity of their pedal extremities. Accordin to another authoritya favor- ite of. the mperor Tiug-Hain-Chio (Tang dynasty, 800 A. D.) had the idea of com- pressing her feet, which was quickly im- itated. . These versions are both improbable, for the ruling race of the Empire, the Tartars, never dishgurc the feet of their daughters, and girls with deformed feet are excluded from the imperial harem, and are not even permitted to en ter the palace. An unusual- ly small foot is looked upon, however, as an evidence of refinement, although not always as an indication of wealth. The diminution of the feet is generally produced in a very simple manner. The growth of these ex- tremities is usually checked in the fifth or sixth year. The foot. is so firmly bandaged that the circulation almost ceases, and the toes are tightly compressed. After being bandaged the foot is put in a short, narrow- poiuteJ shoe, in which a little block of wood is often used to support the heel. This makes it appear as though the girl walked upon her toes. The ankles always retain their natural size. Thercupon the shoe is again wrapped in bandages, which gives it an awkward appearance. ~ Stockings are not worn. A foot that is so treated assumes the fashionable form in two or three years by a gradual atrophy. The poor, deluded victims, of course, endure terrible pains during this time. The skin and parts of the flesh often u’lcerate, and, incase of neglect, incurable‘disease not infrequently results. The idea current in this country that iron or wooden shoes are employed for this pro- cess is erroneous; only cloth bandages and leather shoes are used. The soles of the lat- ter are from 3 to 4% inches in length. Girls with these deformed feet cannot walk natur- ally, but possess a. mincing gait and waddle. The steps are short. No matter how strong, it is impossible for a girl with such feet to carry any burden or to perform any work that necessitates locomotion. The parents of girls with small feet only marry them to men whose mothers and sisters likewise pos. sess diminutive feet, thus forming a sort of casteâ€"the only one in China. MURDERâ€"WILL 663‘. A Criminal Convicted on the Testimony of Two Chops. Quite anovelty in the annals of justice has been the conviction. of-a murderer by the tacit but effective testimony of the re- mains of a couple of pork chops which gnaWed to the bone, ‘had been left on the table in the dining room of the unfortunate lady whom he had just done to death. At the end of last year, says a Paris corres- pondent, Madame Leblau, the widow of a doctor in practice at Tilly-sur-Meuse, sud- denly disappeared. She lived quite alone, and her absence was not noticed by the neighbors for some days. The door of the house was broken open, and all the rooms were found in astute of the utmost disorder, the floor of the kitchen being covered with blood. The plate and various other articles of value had, however, not been touched, though several bank notes, a list of which was afterwards DISCOVERED IN A DRA\\'KR. had been removed from the desk in which the money was kept. It was soon ascer- tained that two of these securities were in the possession of a peasant named Aubert-in, who resided in the neighbourhood, and was known to be deeply in debt. 'When Auber- tin was arrested he denied that he had had any band in the crime, but it shortly tran. spircd that on the very day when the mur- der was committed he had bought a couple of pork chops from alocal dealer, and there on the diningoroom table lay the tell-tale debris. Aubertin, in fact, had known be- forehand that the sinister task which he had set himself to do would demand a cer- tain amount of time in its accomplish- ment. He had determined on sawing into pieces the corpse of the poor lady, and several hours were devoted to this horrible work. A few days afterwards some frag- ments of flesh were found near the pier of one of the river bridges, and on the morrow the remains of a body which had been cut into several pieces were discovered in the Mouse. Aubertin has just been tried at the Meuse Assizes,and condemned to hard labor for life. _ Finding Your Mission. To find your mission you have but to be faithful wherever God uts you for the present. The humbler l. ings He gives in the earlier years are for your training, that you may be ready at length for the larger and particular service for which you were born. Do these smaller, humblcr things well, and they will prove steps in the stairs up to the loftior heights where your " mis- sion” waits. To spurn these plainer duties and tasks and to neglect them is to miss your mission itself in the end, for there is no way to it but by these ladder-rounds of commonplace things which you distain. You must build your own ladder day by day in the common fidelities. mapâ€"â€" Loveis never satisfied until it gets both arms lull. PHEASART SHOOTING. ure. Baxnrar, England, July 30.â€"-From any point of consideration the English pheasant is the frost splendid bird that reaches the English market. Somebody. perhs an Irishman, has call- ed it “the sacred This of Great Britain.” It is certainly all but. worshiped. The idol- atry is an ex ensive one ; for it surely costs England, Ire and and Scotland more than £1,000,000 to rear,to shoot and to finally eat such beasants as anuuallypome to the gun. If t e vast area of valuable inclosed land comprised in gentlemen’s seats and parked demesnes of the nobility, which are ‘ almost solely devoted to runs and coverts for pheasants, should be taken into account, and anything like a fair rental for these be added to the actual current sums expend- ed, the outlay upon this one bird alone would annually reach millions upon millions of dollars, and be found to exceed all other forms of outlay by British sportsmen com- bined. . Indeed the pheasant is an interesting bird in all its relations to life upon the great En lish estatesâ€"in its extraordinary personal eauty ; as the ilnmemorial worry of keepers and prey of poachers; in its oc- cupying greater attentionfrom titled sports- men than do all other birds of Britain. and, above all, from its superb and matchless glues among the delicacies of the table. very one has heard how Sydney Smith, and he was no mean epicure, asserted that he knew of no pure earthly joy equal to roast pheasant with rich ravy, chipped potates and bread sauce. for an Ameri- can’s understanding it may truly be said that the pheasant is our turkey, partridge and quail in one ample and delicious frame. The limitations of shooting in Great Brit- ain undoubtedly add much from the sports- man standpoint to the deep British interest at all times in these splendid birds. It is almost inconceivable to an American how universally the “ sportman ” craze prevails an England, Ireland and Scotland, and how every acre of land and rod of shore, outside of and distinct from all other uses to which it may be put, is sportman’s property yield- ing extraordinary returns in rentals for the “ shooting ” and “ fishing ” rights alone. On a former occasion I demonstrated that the exercise of these rights and privileges annually cost. British sportsmen the enor- mous sum of £6,000,000 or $30,000,000 in American money. This vast expenditure is almost wholly confined to whatever pleasure may be got in poking about moors, other waste though thoroughly guarded tracts and tenant farm- ers’ fields for snipe, quail and grouse, ca - ercailzie and deer. Pheasants, then, \vhi e they may eventually come to the tables of the vulgar tradesmen and literary folk, are really the game birds of the British aristoc- racy, and of the landed aristocracy at that. They are found only within the grounds of gentleinen’s seats and lordly detnesnes, save where as in pheasant farms, they are excluswely bred to increase the numbers upon the estates. All the conditions of their existence in the first place, their breeding, their increase and retention are necessarily alone found within the walled in parks of the country gentry and nobility. All the sport found in their annual destruc- tion is so absolutely exclusive that; they Ican only reach the common mortal’s table, :at from a. crown to a guinea a brace, by way of the ubiquitous poacher’s net or after “ coming to the guns ” of the rich, the titled and the rest. Every ritish nobleman’s estate and every English, Irish or Scottish gentleman’s coun- try seat is in point of fact to a greater or less degree a pheasantry, and the increase and protection of this one game bird are paramount to all other duties or pleasures. From every accessible means of information, I believe that fully 1,000,000 pheasants are annually slaughtered in the United King- dom. Of these over 100.000 reach the Lon- don market stalls alone ; and this number represents only those which have legitimate- ly come from the “ battues ” or “ shoots” in October, November and early December ; and do not take into account the heavy an- nual drafts by poachers upon the rich and well stocked preserves. The Prince of Wales is by no means first among the breeders, and yet on his estate of Sandringham and the adjoining property of Castle Risingham, which be has leased for sporting purposes, as many as from 7.000 to 8,000 pheasants are annually provided by His Royal Highness for his sportsmen friends. In two or three of the dukeries, and on other large estates as well, immense pains and expense are given to ensure abun- dant supplies of the bird of Colchis. The killing of from 2,000 to 4,000 at one “bat- tue ” has often been recorded, and it is well known that 9,500 were shot during one season at Elvedon, in Norfolk, which has an area of 17,000 acres. There are other game farms, as they 'are called, in other parts of England, and there is at least one such huge pheasantry in Scotland, on the Marquis of Allsa’s estate in Ayrshire. On all estates of average area the head gamekeeper will be allowed a half dozen keepers to assist him in breeding and caring for the game, and in protecting it from in- roads of poachers. Often the number of under keepers will be increased by drawing, at certain seasons upon the under forcsters ; so that where from 2,000 to 4,000 heasants may be required for the autumna guns of milord‘s sportsmen guests, with the wives and children of the helpers who may live in cottages within the demesne walls, a score of persons will be employed in the breeding and caring for pheasants upon one estate alone. Usually these birds which have escaped both the poacher’s nets and the sportsmeu’s guns are allowed to run wild during the winter ; cars principally bein taken to keep their runs and coverts c ear of too great obstructions by snow, to have their haunt occasionall provided with dry straw or leaves, and to cop their drinking wells or water troughs open and clear of refuse, and that they are well fed with oats and corn. On some estates during October and November a certain number are caught, taken to the aviary or pheasantry, their wings regularly clipped every two or three weeks, and they are thus kept and fed during the winter to provide the required egg sup- ply during the spring months, the scarcity of eggs being one of the most serious draw- backs in pheasant breeding. Usually, however, the old birds are not “ taken up " until the last of Febru ary. Then they are systematically “starved ” by non-feeding for about a week, when large “ figure 4 " traps are set near their haunts. Then trails of oats are scattered between The pheasants readily follow these to the in the traps, which are sprung by spriu number hands of the keepers, any desi being thus easily secured. These birds are taken to the aviaries which the keepers, among whom I have many good friends, insist on callin “areas.” These are simply largo wooded spaces in the demesue grounds. inciosed by fences of wire netting, Sometimes 12 feet high. The wings of the birds are constant- ly clipped or they would escape ; but breed- ers liq the labor required lesscostly than a wire netting covering for such necessaril ' large tracts. These aviaries are provides with mock coverts of bark and bough, with nestling places and watering tron hs, while some are secured against vermin y curved iron hates to the inclosing netting charged with electricity, which causes death to all rodents attempting an entrance. The pheasants begin laying by April, and they lay very much like the ordinary hen. Each can be counted on to furnish from 20 to 30 eggs. These are daily carefully gath- ered not only from the nests in the aviarios, but from those of the unimprisoned birds. The latter is not a difficult task for the keepers ; for it is a singular fact that not- withstanding tho. pheasants’ wild nature they nest most freely in shrub clumps along the edges of walks and drives. The keepers tell me they love the sound and sense of companionship. though themselves wonder- fully secretive and sly. And here the element of poaching is ridiculously observable. From April to June pheasant eggs are worth from £4 to £5 per hundred or from 20 to 25 cents each. A regular scramble for them is begun, and this season provides one of the richest of the poacher’s harvests. It is a welLknown fact that one-half of the pheasants’ eggs exposed for sale by the shopkeepers are stolen. Expert poachers know every haunt of the pheasants upon the demesnes as well as the hue ere. They are often ahead of the latter at t 1e nests of the unimprisoned birds. Not only this, but keepers themselves do not scruple to sur- reptitiously dispose of milurd’s‘ supply, or help themselves from the nests on neighbor- ing demesuos. However great may bubs care in the breedin of pheasants, not over one-half of the chic a come safely to maturity. Then the preserves are ready for de lotion by poaching in its various forms. of. only do the birds suffer in diminution from the pro» fessional poacher, but milord’s pheasants prove an irresistible temptation to every tenant and cotter living round about the demcsnes as well as many whose interests should make them their protectors ; while on many estates much of the poachin attri- buted to genuine poachers is done by the employcs themselves. On great estates from 20 to 50 men are regularly employed. There are the “ agent " and his clerks. The bailiff, who looks after the home farm and cattle, and his helpers. There are the head forester and perhaps a dozen under foresters, all of whose bird and wood~craft are quite equal to those of the gamekeeper and his several underkecpers. There are a master sawyer and three or four men engaged in cutting timber and posts from forest trees and repairing gates, walls and fences. The head gardener has several assistants. There are painters, glaziers, carpenters, etc., all of whom are familiar with the castle and the surrounding rounds. And on some demesnes you will nd a half dozen lodge keepers and their families. All of these poorly paid folk love a pheasant after it has come from the oven, pot or grill as well as do the aristocracy, and they all know how to get them without bothering the village marketman. Professional poaching is a far less danger- ous pursuit than it is usually considered. During the shooting season all sorts of vil- la e hangers-on are pressed into service as “ stars” and to carry and fill the game bags. It is an easy thing during the excite- ment to hide a generous portion of the game at convenient points from which it is taken under cover of night. Clamor and fright also break up the rocks or covoys into de- tached files of pheasants which retreat as high as possible among the branches of larch and fir, when the poachers can easily take them from their roosts at night by hand. Other methods are smudging or smoking them into half insensibility and knocking them from their perches with clubs ; corn kernels into which short bristles are insert- ed are greedily devoured and the birds run choking to the hedges to be easily taken by hand ; while an ingenious and successful device is to fita gamecock with artificial spurs, and stealthily place him alongside a covert, when the pugnaeious pheasant cock instautl responds to the gamecock’s crow- ing chal cage, and three or four brace of the valuable birds are taken. Pheasant shooting usually begins the lat- ter art of October and closes with the fins Christmas “ battue.” Notwithstanding high walls, gentleness of keepers, and all possible preventatives, many pheasants leave the demesnes, seeking the outer hedges and bog grasses, where they fall a prey to the snares of tenants and uns of the poachers. Therefore a few days fore heasaut-shooting begins', all the out- side he p at the castle starts in a circle miles from the demesnc and concentrating to- ward the same, shout and, “ beat" with a terrific hullabuloo, thus driving many back within the preserves. Then milord and his friends dressed as for snipe-shootin on the moors and rovided each with two doubled- barrelled, reech-loading. center-fire fowls ing pieces of,No. 12 bore, a man for reload- ing and another for carrying cartridges, be- gin the slaughter. The sportsmen aro sta- tioned in advance at the edges of open places. The gamekccpcr, who is a sort of master of ceremonies, brings his assistants or “ boaters ” into line behind. Then the move forward, perhaps ten yar - apart, the keeper, who knows every bush, bed 9, co so or tree, direct- ing the “ leaters' in every movement. In an instant the preserve is a perfect bed- lem of yells and explosions. The men yell “ Ili-yi-i-i!" asthey “beat"the bushes, call- ing, as the startled birds flash from copso to co 0, “Cock to the right!" “Cock above!" “ T1) the left, cock! “Hi~yi-i-ilâ€"â€"cock, cock, cock!-â€" right ahead, cock!”‘while the death-dealing guns answer with such rapid- ity that they often get too warm to be held in the sportmen’shands. This goes on all day, with an hour for a lunch of stew and beer a: 2, when the “heaters” are furnished a liberal amount of bread, cheese and beer; and their assistants. who follow the hunters with carts and donkeys, by night have of ten thered up from ‘2. 0 to 1,000 slaughtered irdu. These are shipped direct to London to dealers, who rovi c hampers and tags and pay for the firm; from 4 to 9 shillings per braceâ€"[Edgar L. Waknnan.